Climate, News

Earth Day 2022 – time to give back to the planet

For years, we have pulled carbon from the earth, but now it is time to put it back where it belongs. This Earth Day, let’s restore the planet by removing historic CO₂ from the atmosphere.

For over a hundred years, carbon has been extracted from the Earth’s core, releasing excess carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, instigating climate change. It can be overwhelming not knowing how to help, but together, we can restore the planet.

This April, Climeworks wants to empower everyone to let the planet breathe by removing carbon dioxide from the air, with a Climeworks subscription. The collected carbon dioxide is then stored permanently underground, where, through a natural reaction, it is turned to stone.

By removing carbon dioxide from the air, you can support the planet’s recovery whilst also helping to combat global warming.

Let’s put CO₂ back in the ground

Why is there too much carbon in the air? Carbon dioxide is released naturally by plants and animals, and when they die, their carbon matter becomes part of the Earth’s surface, forming layers of rock. The carbon in this rock would not usually be released, but unfortunately humans have been digging it up at an alarming rate to use as fossil fuels.

However, we can begin to restore the Earth’s surface: with CO₂ removal technology, carbon is pulled from the air and turned back into rock to be stored safely underground, forever.

Subscribe to the planet this Earth Day

Let Earth Day be every day by taking a monthly CO₂ removal subscription. Every kilogram of CO₂ removed, is a kilogram of CO₂ which no longer contributes to global warming. Restore the planet and fight climate change by helping Climeworks scale this essential technology. Be an Earth champion this April, remove CO₂ from the air.

Choose a level of climate-positive action that matches your lifestyle and complete the sign up. No strings attached, you can stop at any time. Each year, Climeworks will send you a confirmation of the amount of carbon dioxide removal you have ordered. No middle-men, no unintended side effects: easy and direct climate action.

Subscriptions:

  • Special Expedition: GBP £90 per month for 100 kg of CO2 removal
  • Discoverer: GBP £45 per month for 50 kg of CO2 removal
  • Explorer: GBP £27 per month for 30 kg of CO2 removal
  • Customize: you can choose an amount to suit your lifestyle

What are the benefits?

A Climeworks subscription is not only the most eco-friendly and sustainable subscription you can have, but it’s also an alternative and unique way to give back to the planet for Earth Day. Alongside nature-based solutions such as planting trees, we must also remove excess CO2 from the air, and Climeworks’ technological solution is permanent, measurable, efficient and natural.

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

Here is a 1 minute movie about the importance of carbon dioxide removal.

Additional information:

How does Climeworks’ 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. First, 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 (“adsorption”). Second, after the filter material is full of carbon dioxide, the collector is closed. We 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. You can find more information at https://climeworks.com/co2-removal

How does Climeworks remove the CO₂ I have subscribed for and how long does it take?

To remove CO₂ in your name, Climeworks does two things:

1) Build and install CO₂ capture plants at sequestration sites where CO₂ can be stored

2) Operate the CO₂ capture plants and hand over the CO₂ to our storage and monitoring partners (in Iceland this is Carbfix), who proceed with underground storage of the CO₂.

Building and installing a plant typically takes 1-2 years, the foreseen operational time of a plant is currently 10 years (and will presumably be even longer for future plants). Our CO₂ removal service and the safe and permanent storage underground are completed within 5 years or earlier following the subscription date.

For comparison, this is at least two times faster than for typical other CO₂ removal approaches (for example, if trees are planted, it will typically take at least 10 years until the CO₂ is removed from the air, for natural mineralization processes (enhanced weathering), it might take at least an order of magnitude longer to complete CO₂ removal).

What is the subscription money used for?

You pay for the removal of CO₂ from the air and the scale-up of our technology. Additional overhead costs (that include “behind the scenes” work from our R&D, marketing, finance & admin teams) are included in the subscription prices.

Is it safe to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turn it into stone?

The pioneering process of turning carbon dioxide into stone is safe. It happens through a combination of carbon dioxide capture from the air and rapid underground mineralization – a natural process whereby the carbon dioxide reacts with the basaltic rock to become solid calcite matter (another form of rock) within a few years. No weather conditions or fire can harm it or cause an outbreak of carbon dioxide: in this calcite form the greenhouse gas is removed from the atmosphere permanently and safely. The basaltic conditions at existing geothermal power plants in Iceland make it one of the best places to start the permanent storage of carbon dioxide. There are, however, more places that can have ideal conditions. For example, the Icelandic Rift System with a capacity of 50 million tons of carbon dioxide per year (source here). On a global scale studies have estimated an overall capacity of 30 trillion tons of carbon dioxide (source here). Other suitable locations can be found in North America, the Middle East or China.

You can learn more about an exemplary mineralization process that turns carbon dioxide into stone on the CarbFix website.

What is the difference between Climeworks’ carbon dioxide removal service and traditional carbon offsetting?

Traditional carbon offsets are typically a trade of avoided emissions: someone reduces emissions on behalf of the offset buyer who pays for the other party’s emissions reduction (= avoidance certificates). Thereby, the offset buyer continues emitting. If done in a transparent way, this trade will at best result in a short-term emissions reduction but never lead to the zero and negative emissions that we need to keep global warming in check.

What Climeworks does is fundamentally different. Rather than trading avoided emissions, we physically remove carbon dioxide emissions that are difficult to otherwise avoid. Climeworks’ carbon dioxide removal (= removal certificates) is further permanent and fully measurable, as every ton of carbon dioxide removed from the air and stored underground can be precisely measured using standard industry measurement equipment.

What does CO2 look like in kg?

We often don’t realize, or simply ignore, how much CO2 is produced by the objects we use in our daily lives. All objects and many of our daily activities generate more CO2 than we think. Here are the most common and unavoidable actions:

  • Mobile phone use: 35kg is generated by mobile phone use for 10 hours, about 3.5kg per hour
  • Hot shower: 12kg is generated for an hour-long hot shower, about 2kg every 10 minutes
  • Average meal: 5kg is generated by average meals of a week, 3 meals a day of approx. 600 Cal

(source: https://https//clevercarbon.io/carbon-footprint-of-common-items/)

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