Climeworks’ Direct Air Capture Technology Reaches a Turning Point

Christoph Gebald tells CarbonWire that breakthroughs in technology and developing global policy support are setting the stage for profitable carbon removal

SINGAPORE, October 30, 2025 – As governments around the world waver on their climate commitments, Christoph Gebald, CEO and Co-Founder of Climeworks, says the urgency for carbon removal has never been greater.

“The challenge we’re looking at isn’t something that can be negotiated. It’s physics — or what I call climate math,” Gebald told CarbonWire in an exclusive interview. “The more governments step back from carbon-reduction efforts, the more carbon removal will be needed.”

Founded in Switzerland in 2009 by engineers Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher, Climeworks is a global leader in Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology — a process that removes CO₂ directly from the atmosphere and stores it safely underground. The company operates two full-scale DAC facilities in Iceland — Orca and Mammoth — and is expanding project pipelines in the United States, Canada, the UK, and Saudi Arabia.

Climeworks’ Mammoth Plant

CO2 Collectors

Breakthroughs Driving Cost Reduction

Gebald revealed that 2025 has been a “breakthrough year” for Climeworks. “We’ve been able to extend the lifetime of our filter material by up to ten times and significantly cut energy consumption,” he said. “These are massive improvements that bring costs down — and cost reduction is key to scaling carbon removal.”

The company’s second plant, Mammoth, represents a ten-fold scale-up from its first Icelandic facility. “In August, we already surpassed our annual target,” Gebald shared. “After years of research and teething issues, the plant is now delivering strong results, and we’re scaling it up in phases.”

These advancements, coupled with Climeworks’ US $162 million fundraising round earlier this year, signal a pivotal shift from pure R&D to commercial viability. “Our strategy is clear — reduce cost and make carbon removal profitable,” Gebald said. “That’s the milestone we’re aiming for — the world’s first profitable carbon-removal plant.”

Expanding Horizons: From DAC to Diversified Carbon Solutions

While Climeworks remains synonymous with Direct Air Capture, the company has also launched Climeworks Solutions, a division that aggregates and verifies carbon-removal credits from a range of sources, including enhanced rock weathering, biochar, and afforestation projects.

“Clients want diversified carbon-removal portfolios — they want to manage these credits like any other asset,” Gebald explained. “So we buy non-DAC credits, perform due diligence, and resell them as part of a balanced portfolio.”

This approach helps corporates meet their sustainability targets while ensuring a de-risked, transparent framework. Climeworks today counts over 200 corporate buyers including Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase, Boston Consulting Group, Accenture, and ByteDance. “Most players in this industry have fewer than 10 clients,” Gebald said. “We have over 200.”

Asia Pacific: Policy Leadership and Market Potential

Gebald sees Asia Pacific as a region of immense opportunity for both technology deployment and policy leadership. “APAC really has a leadership role when it comes to climate action,” he said, citing that there was an 134% increase in Asian companies setting Science Based Targets over the last 18 months – the highest increase globally during the period.

He pointed to Japan which is expected to complete the voluntary trial phase for its Green Transformation carbon-trading system (GX-ETS) in 2026 and, subsequently, to establish a compliance carbon market, setting the foundation for the inclusion of carbon removal and direct air capture credits in Japan. The country has also signed carbon-removal MoUs with Singapore and India, fostering regional cooperation and technology exchange.

Meanwhile, China, home to some of the world’s largest carbon-capture and storage facilities, is rapidly advancing in scale and ambition.

“Singapore is a global leader in nature-based solutions and green finance,” Gebald noted. “Having GIC as one of our investors brings us very close to Singapore. It’s also the kind of place that could one day host carbon trading as a new asset class — much like it does for green bonds today.”

The company is actively procuring credits on behalf of its customers through its Climeworks Solutions business in Asia, including biochar projects in Indonesia and the Philippines and enhanced rock weathering projects in India.

Transparency, Regulation, and Market Evolution

Despite rapid corporate uptake, Gebald acknowledged that the carbon-removal market remains largely voluntary and fragmented. “We’re deeply committed to transparency,” he said, noting that Climeworks registers all its credits on Puro.earth, an open registry that audits and verifies carbon-removal tonnage quarterly.

“At the moment, not everyone does that — there’s no legal obligation. But we believe transparency is key to credibility.”

Gebald expects government-led frameworks to emerge within the next few years. “Once governments acknowledge the climate overshoot, they’ll start building frameworks and registries,” he said.

He cited Japan’s example and the European Union’s Emissions Trading System, which is expected to include DAC and BECCS credits by 2031. “We’re also seeing progress under the Article 6 negotiations at the COPs, which are working towards national-level standards and registries for carbon removal,” Gebald added.

On Critics and Climate Reality

When asked about critics who argue that DAC gives companies a “license to pollute,” Gebald was unequivocal. “That discussion might have been relevant twenty years ago, but not today. We’ve overshot,” he said.

He further emphasised that DAC has no land-use constraints, making it far more scalable than nature-based methods. “A tree might absorb 20 kg of CO₂ per year, whereas a DAC machine on the same area can remove 20 tons,” he said. “This is why we need to push all methods, from land-based to tech.”

Resilience Amid Growth and Realignment

Climeworks recently underwent an internal restructuring that saw a workforce reduction of about 100 staff. Gebald described it as a “right-sizing” following several years of rapid expansion.

“After years of rapid growth, we entered a phase focused on efficiency and profitability,” he said. “The emphasis now is on bringing down costs and making carbon removal commercially sustainable.”

Carbon as an Asset Class

Gebald believes that carbon will become a mainstream traded asset within the next decade. “We’re already discussing this with investors in Hong Kong and Singapore,” he revealed.

“Just as green bonds became a defining asset class, carbon-removal credits will be traded on exchanges — maybe even by everyday investors.”

Eighteen years after co-founding Climeworks, Gebald remains driven by both purpose and opportunity. “I’m passionate about entrepreneurship,” he said. “And there’s no market as large or as transformative as the transition to net zero. We’re living through a massive change, and it’s a privilege to contribute something essential to humanity’s future.”