Climeworks Opens World’s Largest DAC Innovation Center to Accelerate Cost Breakthroughs, Global Scale-Up

ZURICH, Switzerland, December 10, 2025 — Climeworks has unveiled what it calls the world’s largest innovation center dedicated to advancing next-generation direct air capture (DAC) technology, marking a major milestone in the company’s strategy to deliver carbon removal at global scale and dramatically lower cost.

The new DAC Innovation Center, located between Zurich’s city centre and airport, consolidates more than 50 engineers, chemists, and technology specialists under one roof. Their mission is clear: tackle the sector’s biggest bottleneck — driving down the cost of pulling CO₂ directly from the atmosphere.

“The world needs carbon removals at massive scale – and that means cost reduction is mission-critical,” said Jan Wurzbacher, co-CEO of Climeworks. “This facility is how we turn our recent breakthroughs into deployable, efficient, more affordable solutions. Combined with our operating plants in Iceland, it positions Climeworks to lead the next phase of global carbon removal.”

A Strategic Engine for Scaling Direct Air Capture

Climeworks, widely regarded as a global leader in high-quality carbon removal, is using the innovation center as the engine room for its long-term strategy: lowering energy needs, strengthening sorbent performance, and increasing system reliability so that DAC becomes economically feasible for businesses, governments, and climate-finance buyers worldwide.

The company’s DAC Innovation Center brings together all key elements of DAC development in one integrated ecosystem:

Advanced material science – pushing next-generation sorbent materials with far greater durability and performance

Integrated prototyping – bridging lab innovations with small- and mid-scale real-world testing

System optimization – refining modularity, energy efficiency, and operational scalability

Reliability testing – ensuring DAC units perform consistently across climates

Climeworks says these capabilities will shorten innovation cycles and reduce deployment risk, enabling it to convert years of pioneering research into facilities that remove CO₂ efficiently at gigaton potential.

Recent laboratory breakthroughs include a tenfold increase in sorbent stability and a two-fold process densification, both of which significantly improve system economics and throughput.

“What makes this center unique is that it brings scientists and engineers together at unprecedented scale,” said CTO Helin Cox. “By testing and refining our technology collaboratively, we can move faster toward reducing the cost of carbon removal and deploying it globally.”

Showcase for Carbon Removal Technologies

Adjacent to the innovation center sits Climeworks’ new Carbon Removal Exhibition, a public-facing space designed to help visitors understand how DAC works and how it complements other engineered and nature-based solutions.

The exhibition places DAC within the broader ecosystem of carbon removal approaches — an important element in educating policymakers, investors, and corporate buyers about the critical role engineered removals will play alongside emission reductions.

Switzerland’s talent pool and research landscape continue to make it an ideal base for Climeworks’ technology development. The company’s decision to locate the world’s largest DAC innovation facility in Zurich reinforces the country’s reputation as a global hub for industrial innovation and climate technology.

The center also strengthens the bridge between Climeworks’ R&D teams and its operational DAC plants in Iceland, which remain the world’s first commercial-scale DAC facilities and the proving ground for the company’s engineering breakthroughs.

From Breakthroughs to Global Scale

Climeworks has spent more than 15 years developing DAC, and now positions itself as a leading high-quality carbon removal provider offering comprehensive end-to-end solutions. Its carbon removal portfolio blends engineered removals — including DAC — with tailored nature-based solutions, giving corporate clients diversified pathways to address residual emissions.

The company emphasises durability, transparency, and verifiability — factors increasingly demanded by regulators, markets, and corporate decarbonisation strategies. Its DAC plants in Iceland remain a cornerstone of this commitment, demonstrating that engineered removals can be deployed with scientific rigor and environmental integrity.

By advancing the most reliable engineered carbon removal solutions available, Climeworks says it aims to accelerate the global transition to net zero, unlock economic value for businesses and governments, and pave the way for meaningful gigaton-scale carbon removal by mid-century.