Climeworks: direct air capture and measured carbon removal

Climeworks develops direct air capture technology and supplies carbon-removal services. Its industrial significance lies in the full process from capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide to permanent storage and accounting for the emissions created by that process. The company also offers portfolios containing other removal approaches. For its own plants, design capacity, operating output and delivered net removal are different quantities; understanding those boundaries is essential to assessing commercial progress.

Founded

2009

Icelandic DAC facilities

Orca and Mammoth

Mammoth design nameplate capacity

Up to 36,000 tonnes of CO₂ a year; not actual net removal

Mammoth H1 2026 net removal

675 tonnes, reported by Climeworks

Technology operations and portfolio services

Climeworks' company account traces its origins to work at ETH Zurich and its foundation in 2009. It describes both direct air capture operations and diversified carbon-removal portfolios using engineered and nature-based approaches. This distinction is commercially important: a portfolio purchase should not automatically be interpreted as demand for a particular Climeworks capture plant.

For industrial analysis, the relevant unit is therefore the project and removal pathway named in the contract. Equipment, storage arrangements and verification obligations differ across pathways. Our reading is that a broader service offering can address different buyer requirements, but performance from one method cannot establish the technical performance or economics of another. Each claim needs a clearly identified production boundary.

From design capacity to net removal

The Mammoth project page describes a design nameplate capture capacity of up to 36,000 tonnes annually and identifies Carbfix as its storage partner. That design figure is not a statement of annual output. The page also describes the plant as a source of engineering and operating experience for further development.

Climeworks' production-accounting explanation separates capture, storage and net carbon removal. Availability, process losses and lifecycle emissions affect the final quantity. Emissions associated with construction, sorbent replacement and energy must be deducted when establishing net removal. The analytical implication is straightforward: tonnes captured and tonnes of net removal delivered should retain their own labels in contracts, company reporting and technology assessments.

What the latest operating evidence establishes

In its September 2026 Mammoth performance update, Climeworks reported 675 tonnes of net removal in the first half of 2026, compared with 119 tonnes in the corresponding 2025 period. It attributed progress to sorbent and mechanical changes. This is company-reported operating evidence, not an independent assessment of the economics of the entire industry.

The update says two upgraded collector containers had operated for more than six months and were reaching their intended design run rates. Those results should not be extended automatically to every container or a full calendar year. The useful next evidence is sustained net output, maintenance and replacement requirements, and verified delivery across a larger operating base. Laboratory improvements and planned upgrades remain separate from that operating record.