Climeworks AG claims to have achieved a breakthrough that could halve the cost of removing a ton of carbon from the air. While this could be significant progress for the company and the carbon removal sector overall, the costs are still well above the industry’s target for broad adoption.
For years, experts have aimed for a $100 per ton threshold for carbon capture to be economically viable. However, costs remain high, leading some companies to reconsider this target.
This shift could potentially undermine confidence in an industry crucial for mitigating global warming.
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Climeworks anticipates its new technology will reduce carbon capture costs to $250 to $350 per ton by 2030. However, current costs are significantly higher, with the company’s expenses hovering around $1,000 per ton rather than the industry’s target of $100.
Buyers are presently paying an average of $715 per ton to companies employing direct air capture (DAC) methods, like Climeworks, to extract carbon from the atmosphere.
In 2017, Christoph Gebald, co-CEO of Climeworks, told Carbon Brief that he was “very confident” that the company could achieve a cost of $100 per ton for carbon capture. Around the same time, David Keith of Carbon Engineering Ltd. also outlined a plan to reach this target.
However, according to Climeworks’ co-CEO Jan Wurzbacher, achieving such a low price is now deemed impossible due to inflation. He stated that in today’s economic climate, the $100 per ton goal is widely recognized as a significant challenge.
