The viability of carbon capture is up in the air (literally and figuratively), but one Canadian company looks promising.
Driving the news: Montreal-based Deep Sky became the first North American company, and just the second company overall, to provide carbon removal credits via direct air capture (DAC). It stored 14 tonnes of carbon underground and gave credits to RBC and Microsoft.
Catch-up: Most carbon capture and storage tech pulls CO2 directly from emitting sources and must be stationed near them, but DAC is able to suck it right out of the air from anywhere. This makes it extremely promising, though it remains largely unproven at scale.
Deep Sky currently has a pilot facility in Alberta, but the viability of its DAC tech will really be tested when its planned $500 million Manitoba plant opens. The company claims the facility will remove 500,000 tonnes of CO2 annually when fully operational.
Why it matters: These first credits are a promising proof point that DAC isn’t just a pipe dream, and this news couldn’t come at a better time for Deep Sky. Carbon removal credits are a hot commodity as big companies look to offset AI-related greenhouse gas emissions.
Carbon capture (DAC or not) has also become an important policy wedge for Canadian energy projects — that new Alberta-B.C. pipeline isn’t happening without it.
Zoom out: More broadly, we need carbon capture to work at scale to offset the worst effects of global warming, with one report finding that capacity must dramatically increase. So far, the tech has left a lot to be desired. As of last July, operating commercial projects captured 64 million tonnes of carbon per year, a meagre ~0.1% of all global emissions.—QH
