A Swiss company specializing in carbon capture has chosen Calgary as its base of operations in Canada. Climeworks pioneered the commercial direct carbon capture technology, which extracts carbon dioxide from the air for underground storage. Currently, a small team is working from a shared space at the Energy Transition Centre foundation in downtown Calgary.
In the upcoming fall, Climeworks will deploy a mobile testing facility to assess the technology’s performance in Alberta’s cold winter conditions. The facility is undergoing trials in Saudi Arabia before being transported to Alberta in the summer.
Future plans include constructing a large-scale plant, possibly the company’s largest endeavor to date. The specific timeline and location within Alberta are yet to be finalized. Climeworks presently runs two direct air capture plants in Iceland, with the larger one, named Mammoth, aiming to eliminate 36,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, equivalent to the emissions of approximately 8,400 vehicles in a year.
Moreover, Climeworks recently collaborated with Coca-Cola to use captured carbon from the atmosphere in carbonating sparkling water. The company, founded by Christoph Gebald in 2009, is gradually expanding its workforce and is set to hire more employees in the Calgary region.
According to Catie O’Neal of Carbon Removal Canada, Alberta possesses the necessary elements to excel in carbon capture, including energy sector expertise, a supportive regulatory environment, suitable geological formations for carbon storage, and crucial tax incentives from federal and provincial authorities. Jorden Dye from the Pembina Institute’s Carbon Dioxide Removal Centre noted that Alberta is emerging as a global leader in carbon dioxide removal initiatives.
With the United States scaling back its direct carbon capture support, Alberta is increasingly attractive for such projects. Deep Sky, a Montreal-based company, initiated carbon capture activities in Innisfail, Alberta, last year. Climeworks, with a global workforce of around 400 employees, is poised to expand its local workforce in Calgary after a recent minor reduction following a period of rapid growth.