1. Climeworks is selling carbon credits. Every carbon credit that is sold is used to legitimise 1 ton of CO₂ emissions from burning fossil fuels. Carbon credits are used to legitimise continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels. The CEO of Occidental Petroleum admits this: "We believe that our direct capture technology is going to be the technology that helps to preserve our industry over time. This gives our industry a license to continue to operate for the 60, 70, 80 years."
2. Climeworks is forward selling carbon credits. The company's business model involves selling carbon credits for CO₂ that it hopes to capture in the future. Climeworks has already sold one-third of the carbon that the company hopes its Mammoth plant will capture over the next 25 years. The company uses the money raised to build more carbon removal plants. Which allows Climeworks to forward sell more carbon credits. It’s all a bit like a carbon Ponzi scheme.
3. Climeworks has orders for 380,000 carbon credits. So far it has delivered only 1,058. This isn't like buying a car with a speedometer that goes to 140 mph but that can't be driven safely at 140 mph all the time. It's like taking orders for 380,000 cars but only being able to manufacture 1,058 cars. Last year, Climeworks started offering "carbon removal portfolios". These include carbon credits from afforestation/reforestation, biochar, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, and enhanced weathering. That looks an awful lot like an admission that Climeworks' direct air capture machines are not delivering fast enough.
I think Climeworks' problems are a bit worse than bad messaging: https://reddmonitor.substack.com/p/climeworks-the-carbon-capture-company
1. Climeworks is selling carbon credits. Every carbon credit that is sold is used to legitimise 1 ton of CO₂ emissions from burning fossil fuels. Carbon credits are used to legitimise continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels. The CEO of Occidental Petroleum admits this: "We believe that our direct capture technology is going to be the technology that helps to preserve our industry over time. This gives our industry a license to continue to operate for the 60, 70, 80 years."
2. Climeworks is forward selling carbon credits. The company's business model involves selling carbon credits for CO₂ that it hopes to capture in the future. Climeworks has already sold one-third of the carbon that the company hopes its Mammoth plant will capture over the next 25 years. The company uses the money raised to build more carbon removal plants. Which allows Climeworks to forward sell more carbon credits. It’s all a bit like a carbon Ponzi scheme.
3. Climeworks has orders for 380,000 carbon credits. So far it has delivered only 1,058. This isn't like buying a car with a speedometer that goes to 140 mph but that can't be driven safely at 140 mph all the time. It's like taking orders for 380,000 cars but only being able to manufacture 1,058 cars. Last year, Climeworks started offering "carbon removal portfolios". These include carbon credits from afforestation/reforestation, biochar, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, and enhanced weathering. That looks an awful lot like an admission that Climeworks' direct air capture machines are not delivering fast enough.