i ve come to switzerland to look at an exciting and relatively new way to clean up the planet s atmosphere, and it s being pioneered right here. climeworks is one of the companies hoping the answer to the great carbon clean up is in the thin air around us. these huge intake fans called collectors are sucking in the air from around them and they re taking out the c02, and because c02 is around us everywhere, you can place these, well, pretty much anywhere on the planet. they can be cleaning up the environment. natalie casas leads the team here. she moved from carbon capture to direct air capture after seeing expensive projects scrapped because of their cost. so we have a 2 stage process. in the first stage, we blow air through. c02 sticks on the material,
so now, another way to capture carbon is gaining ground, one that doesn t have to be where the pollution is created. in fact, you could put it in some of the cleanest parts of the world. i ve come to switzerland to look at an exciting and relatively new way to clean up the planet s atmosphere, and it s being pioneered right here. climeworks is one of the companies hoping the answer to the great carbon clean up is in the thin air around us. these huge intake fans called collectors are sucking in the air from around them and they re taking out the co2, and because co2 is around us everywhere, you can place these, well, pretty much anywhere on the planet. they can be cleaning up the environment. natalie casas leads the team here. she moved from carbon capture to direct air capture after seeing expensive projects scrapped because of their cost.
projects scrapped because of their cost- their cost. so we have a 2-stage their cost. so we have a 2-stage process, - their cost. so we have a 2-stage process, in - their cost. so we have a 2-stage process, in the| their cost. so we have a - 2-stage process, in the first 2 stage process, in the first stage we have c02 sticking to the material, they are purified so the material, they are purified s0 air without c02 or with very little c02 leaves the box, and the filter is full, close the door and start heating. we heat up door and start heating. we heat up the collector up to 100 degrees, c02 is released and we take it out. degrees, c02 is released and we take it out- take it out. once the filters are cleaned, take it out. once the filters are cleaned, the take it out. once the filters are cleaned, the carbon - take it out. once the filters - are cleaned, the carbon capture can start all over again. it is a pleasure for can start all over again. it is a pleasure for me can st
so far, is not a big winner. despite concerted efforts over the past two decades, really, it has not taken off as a successful, economically viable technology at commercial scales, and that s because it s very costly you know, you cannot fit carbon capture to the exhaust pipes of cars, for example, you know, the technologyjust is not downscalable to that sort of size. so now, another way to capture carbon is gaining ground, one that does not have to be where the pollution is created. in fact, you could put it in some of the cleanest parts of the world. i ve come to switzerland to look at an exciting and relatively new way to clean up the planet s atmosphere, and it is being pioneered right here. climeworks is one of the companies hoping the answer to the great carbon clean up
once the filters are cleaned, the carbon capture can start all over again. it s a pleasure for me to introduce you to our testing laboratory. we re the first camera crew allowed into climeworks labs, where they have been experimenting with thousands of materials to try to find the most effective at absorbing c02, and at which temperatures. because nobody s interested to remove a bit of c02, we are all interested in removing large amounts of c02, millions of tons, so we have to rely on materials that can be produced in the large scale in a very short time. our focus is showing the world we can remove c02 from the atmosphere with a reasonable cost that can be improved in time. there s some cause for optimism too. this is one of the first collectors and it takes out about 60 tons a year of c02 from the atmosphere. now, next year, the company say they can reach triple that efficiency 200 tons a year and that bodes well for 2050.