Our 5th Summit, 3rd Gen technology, and 2nd TIME award

Dear friends of carbon removal, 

We hosted the fifth edition of our annual flagship event at the beginning of June: the Climeworks Carbon Removal Summit. In light of last year's global temperature records, which 2024 is likely to follow, the urgency to scale high-quality carbon removal solutions became clearer than ever during our program. A major highlight of the conference was the reveal of Climeworks’ Generation 3 direct air capture technology, which marks a major step forward in our mission to gigaton scale.

Racing to zero with our fifth Summit 

Hundreds of guests and 24 speakers joined the Climeworks team to discuss how we can accelerate the marathon race to net zero. While major U.S. and EU policy advancements are underway, speakers highlighted that companies will continue to lead the “next wave” of demand for carbon removal before sizable public procurement becomes possible. The monitoring, reporting, and verification of carbon removal, in addition to cost reductions and continued policy support, were reinforced as top priorities for buyers.  

From an introduction to the State of Carbon Dioxide Removal 2.0, an exploration of early mover advantages, to a deep dive into financing the scale-up of capital-intensive climate technologies, the Climeworks Carbon Removal Summit was a resounding success. Thank you to everyone who joined us! Your dedicated engagement made this event truly exceptional. 

Watch the recordings of the Summit 

Generation 3 technology: a breakthrough in innovation 

As a main highlight of the Carbon Removal Summit, we showcased the success of our new Generation 3 direct air capture technology: doubling CO₂ capture capacity per module, halving energy consumption, increasing material lifetime, and cutting costs by 50 percent. We plan to deploy it in the U.S. in 2026 as part of the megaton DAC Hub Project Cypress in Louisiana and then replicate it globally on secured project sites.  

The technology uses novel structured sorbent materials and the collector concept has transformed into sleek, modular cubes. Over the past five years, our R&D specialists accumulated 15,000 hours of testing new sorbent materials and ran 5,000 CO₂ capture and release cycles before implementing it at full scale for the first time at Climeworks’ largest direct air capture testing facility in Switzerland. 

Read all about Gen 3 

Climeworks is one of the TIME100 Most Influential Companies 

TIME recently revealed its list of the Most Influential Companies of 2024 and we’re excited to share that Climeworks is featured in the ‘Disrupter’ category. Our co-CEO Christoph Gebald bald said: “Carbon removal went from a niche ‘could be’ topic when Climeworks was founded in 2009, to a globally recognized solution required to achieve net zero.”

To assemble the list, TIME solicited nominations across sectors and polled its global network of contributors and correspondents, as well as outside experts. Then, TIME editors evaluated each on key factors, including impact, innovation, ambition, and success.

Thank you, TIME, for the recognition! 

View our entry on the list

We can get to net zero. And beyond.

So long friends, let's do this!

Your Climeworks Team