Earth Day 2022 – Would You Buy A CO₂ Removal Subscription?

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22 April 2022 | Updated 30 March 2023

From £27 per month, you can pay for CO₂ removal through direct air capture technology.

Coinciding with Earth Day 2022, direct air capture (DAC) company Climeworks is encouraging people to take out a monthly CO₂ removal subscription.

Their CO₂ removal technology pulls carbon from the air and turns it back into rock to be stored safely underground, forever.

Picture: a photograph of a person holding a small piece of rock. Image Credit: Climeworks 

Subscriptions start from £27 per month for 30 kg of CO2 removal, or you can choose your own amount. #45 per month will get you 50 kg of CO2 removal, and £90 equates to 100 kg.

To put this into context, 35kg of carbon is generated by using a mobile phone for 10 hours, at a rate of about 3.5kg per hour. 12kg is generated for an hour-long hot shower.

Marking Earth Day 2022

Climeworks are positioning the scheme as an alternative and unique way to give back to the planet for Earth Day.

Alongside nature-based solutions such as planting trees, Climeworks’ technological solution is described as  “permanent, measurable, efficient and natural.”

How Does Direct Air Capture Technology Work?

Climeworks direct air capture machines consist of modular CO₂ collectors, which selectively capture carbon dioxide in a two-step process.

Firstly, air is drawn into the collector with a fan. Carbon dioxide is captured on the surface of a highly selective filter material that sits inside the collectors (“absorption”).

Secondly, after the filter material is full of carbon dioxide, the collector is closed. They increase the temperature to between 80 and 100 °C - this releases the carbon dioxide (“desorption”) and we can collect it in high purity and concentration.

The air-captured carbon dioxide can either be upcycled into climate-friendly products such as carbon-neutral fuels and materials, or completely removed from the air by safely storing it.

For more information, and to sign-up, see: https://climeworks.com/earth-day

Picture: a photograph of Climeworks founders Dr. Jan Wurzbacher & Dr. Christoph Gebald, taken Orca in Iceland, which is the world's first large-scale carbon dioxide removal plant. Image Credit: Climeworks 

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 22 April 2022

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