Supercharging carbon removal: a focus on DAC technology

21 July 2023

The direct air capture (DAC) industry is entering rapid growth phase, as the fourth Climeworks Direct Air Capture Summit recently highlighted. The industry is scaling up through an increasing number of customers in the voluntary carbon market, and legislation coupled with demand signals from governments.
In this third edition of the Climeworks industry snapshot, our bi-annual publication focusing on the DAC industry, we feature contributions from scientists, industry and policy experts discussing DAC technology and exploring how it can help to ‘supercharge’ carbon removal.
First, we explain the technology behind DAC, with perspectives summarizing the different DAC technologies existing today, how DAC works and what it can be used for.
Second, we examine the potential of DAC and storage (DAC+S) as a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solution, outlining its role within a CDR portfolio. Here, we hear from experts on what life cycle assessments can tell us about DAC’s potential as a CDR solution, how scalable DAC is and why its measurability is key to a responsible deployment of the technology.
As the viewpoints in the following pages outline, DAC has great potential to supercharge carbon removal as its technological features enable CDR that is highly durable, verifiable and scalable. Rigorous industry standards, investment from the private and public sector as well as further optimization of the technology will help to unlock DAC’s potential in the coming years.

Thank you to the expert contributors: Edwin Alders (DNV), Giana Amador (Carbon Removal Alliance), Christian Bauer (Paul Scherrer Institut), Christian Breyer (LUT University), Sarah Deutz (RWTH Aachen University), Sam Dresner Barnes (DNV), Matteo Gazzani (Utrecht University), Shashank Samala (Heirloom), Chris Sherwood (Negative Emissions Platform), Samantha Tanzer (Bellona) and Maxime Tornier (Climeworks).