'Swiss Re' Signs World's First Long-Term Carbon Capture Deal

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Reinsurance giant Swiss Re announced Wednesday that it had signed the world's first long-term agreement to take carbon directly out of the air. The contract with Climeworks AG, one of the world's leading direct air-capture startups, will net the climate technology company $10 million over 10 years. Mischa Repmann, a senior environmental management specialist with Swiss Re, said the deal would not only help his company reach its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, it could inspire other business considering the use of carbon capture technology. 'It's a call for action, and we're hoping that others will follow,' he said.

Climeworks, a Switzerland-based company, is set to open a plant in Iceland in September that will filter CO from ambient air using geothermal energy. The captured CO will then be dissolved in water and pumped deep underground for permanent storage in nearby rock layers. While underground, the gas reacts naturally with its surroundings to form rock, preventing the carbon from reentering the atmosphere. The company says the facility will have the capacity to capture and store 4,000 tons of CO per year. Swiss Re and Climeworks didn't specify how much carbon would be removed in fulfillment of their contract and were vague about the cost, saying only it would be several hundred dollars per ton. Climeworks says the average price will decline as its operations grow, and may be as low as $200 a ton by 2030.

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