BeZero Carbon awards first AAA rating to Climeworks

Climeworks' Orca plant near the Icelandic capital Reykjavik has been awarded an AAA rating by the London-based CO2 rating agency BeZero Carbon. The Zurich-based company has thus received further weighty confirmation that its efforts to scale up its technology for capturing CO2 from the air as quickly as possible have not been at the expense of quality, according to its press release.

This AAA rating is not only the highest rating in the industry, but also the first time a project has ever received such a high rating. Climeworks, a spin-off of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, had discussed the great importance of such independent verifications as a pioneer for its 2023 technology in a webinar entitled "Why third-party verification matters".

Orca went into operation almost exactly four years ago on September 8, 2021. The plant consists of eight collection containers, each with an annual separation capacity of 500 tons. The containers are arranged around a central process hall, which houses the entire electrical system and the treatment unit. This allows the plant to be operated and controlled remotely. The heat and electricity required for operation is supplied by the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant.

Climeworks shares the recognition received by BeZero Carbon with its Icelandic storage partner Carbfix, whose innovative solutions have enabled safe and permanent underground storage of the captured CO2. Praise also goes to Puro.earth from Helsinki, "our certifier, whose rigorous standards and validation were an integral part of this success". ce/mm