Carbon Capture Just Got 10x Cheaper — And Oil Companies Are Worried

Climeworks and a consortium of researchers have announced a new direct-air-capture (DAC) system that reduces the cost of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to roughly $75 per ton — a tenfold decrease from the $600-$800 per ton typical of existing facilities. The breakthrough, based on a novel solid sorbent material and modular reactor design, could transform carbon removal from a marginal technology into a mainstream climate tool.

How the New System Works

Traditional DAC plants use large amounts of heat to release captured CO2 from chemical sorbents, making them energy-intensive and expensive. The new system uses an electrochemical regeneration process that operates at room temperature and requires far less energy. Modular container-sized units can be stacked and deployed near renewable energy sources or geological storage sites.

• Energy use: Reduced by 70% compared to thermal DAC
• Capital cost: Modular units cut construction costs by half
• Capture rate: Each module removes 500 tons of CO2 per year
• Lifetime: Sorbent material lasts 10 years without replacement

"At $75 per ton, direct air capture begins to look economically viable at scale," said Dr. Jennifer Wilcox, principal deputy assistant secretary for fossil energy and carbon management. "This is the price point the market has been waiting for."

Why Oil Companies Are Nervous

The fossil fuel industry has long promoted carbon capture as a way to continue producing oil and gas while reducing emissions. But cheap atmospheric carbon removal threatens that narrative. If CO2 can be pulled directly from the air, the argument for capturing emissions from power plants and refineries becomes harder to justify — especially when those captured emissions often enable more oil extraction through enhanced oil recovery.

Scaling Ambitions

Climeworks says it will deploy 1,000 modules by 2028, creating the equivalent of a 500,000-ton annual removal facility. Combined with renewed U.S. tax credits and corporate offtake agreements from companies like Microsoft and Stripe, the industry is accelerating toward gigaton-scale removal by the mid-2030s.

Environmental groups remain cautious, warning that carbon capture must complement, not replace, emissions reduction. But with the cost curve collapsing, direct air capture is becoming harder to ignore as part of the climate solution.