Sucking carbon dioxide from air in Iceland

The Swiss company Climeworks has started up the world's largest direct-air-capture (DAC) facility, in Iceland. The company mounts solid amine-containing compounds in containers to remove up to 36,000 metric tons (t) of carbon dioxide from the air each year. It dissolves the captured CO 2 in water and pumps it underground, where it reacts with basalt rock to form a solid carbonate material. Climatologists agree that we need to take billions of metric tons of CO 2 out of the atmosphere annually by 2050 to help prevent runaway climate change. But some climate experts say investing in DAC is less cost effective than investing in renewable energy to replace fossil fuels and thus prevent CO 2 emissions in the first place. Nevertheless, Climeworks and a raft of other companies are attracting substantial funding for DAC projects. The new plant in Iceland will go some way toward demonstrating whether the technology