Here’s the problem with carbon dioxide capture
In September 2021, Swiss company Climeworks opened its first large atmospheric carbon dioxide capture plant, the largest in the world, in Iceland. The idea is exactly what you would imagine: huge fans blowing air through a series of filters and extracting carbon dioxide, then injecting it into porous basaltic soils for permanent capture. The idea of extracting the carbon dioxide from the air that accounts for most of the problem generating the climate emergency is a good one, were it not for the fact that, although it is indeed the root of the problem, the concentration of carbon dioxide we are talking about is only around 0.04%, which means that its extraction is tremendously inefficient.
For Climeworks, processing enough air to extract one ton of carbon dioxide costs approximately $600 to $800. Given the pricing system for emissions credits, there are a lot of companies and institutions who want these credits so they can say they are carbon neutral (they still emit, but pay to offset it), and are willing to pay amounts in the $1,200 range, which allows Climeworks to maintain a profitable business.
Another player is Project Greensand, a Danish company that injects carbon dioxide from countries like Belgium into a depleted oil field in the North Sea by capturing it in industries that would otherwise be pumped into the atmosphere.
