--- kind: sector slug: dac title: Direct Air Capture pillar: carbon-removal status: live as_of: 2026-05-26 updated_at: 2026-05-26 canonical_url: https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/sectors/dac/ json_url: https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/sectors/dac.json license: CC BY 4.0 --- # Direct Air Capture > The scalable backstop. Engineered systems that pull CO2 from ambient air using sorbent chemistry, sited anywhere and manufactured at factory scale — and the CDR method whose cost curve depends most directly on cheap electricity. **Pillar:** [Carbon Removal](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/sectors/carbon-removal) · **Status:** live · **As of:** 2026-05-26 ## Key claims - DAC is the backstop because every other removal method has a local constraint; DAC's is energy — the one input the thesis already drives down. _(AR6 WG3 Chapter 12: Cross-sectoral perspectives)_ - DAC cost is set by the price of electricity, not the calendar: about $400 to $1,000 per tonne at today's grid power, and about $80 to $200 per tonne at sub-2-cent electricity. _(Direct Air Capture 2022)_ - Operational durable-DACCS capacity today is roughly 5 kt per year, about six orders of magnitude below the ~1 Gt per year the IEA Net Zero scenario needs by 2050. _(Direct Air Capture Market Snapshot 2025)_ - DAC counts as removal only when the captured CO2 is durably stored; capture for utilization is not removal in IPCC accounting. _(AR6 WG3 Chapter 12: Cross-sectoral perspectives)_ ## Analysis The scalable backstop. Engineered systems that pull CO2 from ambient air using sorbent chemistry, sited anywhere and manufactured at factory scale — and the CDR method whose cost curve depends most directly on cheap electricity. ### What DAC is: Pulling carbon back out of the air. Direct air capture is the engineered version of what trees do, scaled to gigatons and run by chemistry instead of biology. A fan moves ambient air over a sorbent (solid amine pellets, liquid hydroxide solutions, calcium-looping minerals, or an electrochemical cell) and the sorbent binds the CO2 at the parts-per-million concentrations in the atmosphere. Heating the loaded sorbent (or running an electrochemical regeneration step) releases concentrated CO2, which then gets compressed and injected into deep saline aquifers or mineralized into stable rock. The technology has a long lab pedigree (Klaus Lackner sketched the modern case in the late 1990s) but a short commercial one. Climeworks's Orca plant in Iceland switched on in 2021 at 4 kilotons per year nameplate. Mammoth, also in Iceland, came online in 2024 at 36 kilotons. The first US commercial-scale facility (1PointFive's Stratos in Ector County, Texas, designed for 500 kilotons per year) begins Phase 1 operations this quarter. The field is at first-of-a-kind through scaling; the next decade decides which architectures win. > **DAC isn't the same as carbon capture, and capture isn't the same as removal.** > > - **DAC: direct air capture** — Pulls CO2 from ambient air (~420 ppm). Sited anywhere. Energy-intensive because the input concentration is dilute. The subject of this page. > - **Point-source capture (CCS / CCUS)** — Pulls CO2 from flue gas (5–15% concentration). Sited at the smokestack. Cheaper per ton than DAC because the input is concentrated. Reduces ongoing emissions but does not remove legacy CO2 from the atmosphere. > - **CCU: utilization without removal** — Captured CO2 used to make fuels, beverages, or cement additives. The captured molecule is released again on combustion or product use. This is not removal in IPCC accounting (AR6 WG3 Ch12). > - **The rule** — DAC counts as carbon removal only when paired with durable storage: geologic injection or mineralization. The MECP page treats DAC + storage (DACCS) as the relevant category; pure capture-for-utilization is a different industry with a different ledger. ### Capacity: Three quantities, three orders of magnitude. What's running. What scenarios pencil. What physics allows. The bars are separated by orders of magnitude, which is what makes the field both tiny today and structurally large by 2050: both true at the same time. Log axis, so the kt-scale operating capacity reads as real-but-tiny rather than literally zero against the gigaton ceiling. **Figure — DAC capacity: operational today vs credible 2050 deployment vs physical ceiling, on a log Gt CO2/yr axis.** Interactive chart and accessible data table: [/embed/dac-capacity-bands](/embed/dac-capacity-bands). ### Cost: DAC cost is electricity cost. At $400 to $1,000 per ton [^iea-dac-2022] today, DAC is expensive. That is the wrong metric to use in assessing it. DAC is a manufactured system. Manufactured systems follow learning curves. The binding cost is the heat or electricity that regenerates the loaded sorbent. So DAC's cost-curve spine is not a calendar year. It is an electricity price. At US industrial grid power near nine cents per kilowatt-hour, the cost lands in that $400 to $1,000 band. At sub-two-cent electricity (Energy Production's unlock threshold, already printing in Saudi Arabia's best solar PPAs at Al Sadawi, 1.29 cents per kilowatt-hour, commercial operation 2027), it drops to $80 to $200 [^iea-dac-2022]. Two anchor bands, not a smooth curve. The cost-curve data from IEA, CDR.fyi, and Frontier resolves to these two regimes, and the chart shows exactly that. **Figure — DAC cost ($/tCO2) at two electricity-price anchors: ~7–9 c/kWh US grid ($400–$1,000) and sub-2 c/kWh cheap-energy ($80–$200).** Interactive chart and accessible data table: [/embed/dac-cost-vs-energy-price](/embed/dac-cost-vs-energy-price). ### Durability: Capture is not removal. DAC counts as carbon _removal_ only when the captured CO2 is durably stored. The two paths today are [geologic injection](/sectors/carbon-removal) into deep saline aquifers (the Stratos / Project Cypress / South Texas DAC Hub model) and [mineralization](/sectors/mineralization) into stable carbonate rock (Climeworks's basalt-storage pathway with Carbfix). Both are IPCC-recognized durable; both come with their own siting, monitoring, and Class VI permitting layers that turn DAC + storage into a stack of two regulated industries, not one. Capture for utilization (turning the molecule into synthetic fuel, beverage carbonation, greenhouse fertilization) is a real business with real revenue, but it's not removal: the carbon comes back out when the product is used. The MECP page treats DAC + storage (DACCS) as the relevant category for the carbon-removal ledger; the CCU side is its own story. ### Why it matters: The backstop. Every other removal method has a local constraint. Enhanced rock weathering needs the right mineral. Biochar needs the right feedstock. Biomass burial needs cheap logistics. Nature-based methods need land and permanence both. Each caps how much it can do, where, and for how long. DAC's constraint is energy. Energy is the one input the thesis already has a plan to drive down. The ceiling is set by Energy Production; the floor falls every time clean electricity gets cheaper. If the other methods underperform their 2050 numbers, DAC absorbs the residual. That is the backstop. ### Policy drivers: 45Q, DOE Hubs, voluntary vs compliance. The single biggest policy lever for US DAC is **45Q**, the production tax credit. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (signed July 2025), DAC paired with secure geologic storage receives $180 per ton; DAC paired with utilization or EOR also got bumped to $180/t in the same bill (parity provision), and the inflation indexing on both begins in 2027. Of the IRA's clean-energy credits, 45Q is the one that survived the new administration intact, and got better for DAC utilization pathways. The **DOE Regional DAC Hubs program** funded four announced sites; the two flagship awards survived the 2025 review and were restored in April 2026. Project Cypress (Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana) is anchored by Heirloom and Climeworks at FEED stage with $550M in federal commitment. The South Texas DAC Hub (Kleberg County) is Occidental / 1PointFive with $500M, also FEED. Project Bison (Sweetwater County, Wyoming) was suspended in 2024 over a renewable-power supply shortfall; CarbonCapture redeployed those Bison-branded modules to Deep Sky's Alberta facility instead. Stratos in Ector County, Texas (the one actually starting Phase 1 operations this quarter) is separately financed (BlackRock $550M into the JV) and isn't part of the DOE Hub program proper. On the demand side, the bottleneck is voluntary versus compliance. Voluntary DAC prices today run $500–$1,800 per ton on Frontier-style purchase agreements; Microsoft's anchor deal with 1PointFive's Stratos (~500 kt over multi-year tenor) printed in the $200–$300 range, the lowest large-volume DAC offtake on record. CORSIA (international aviation) accepts DAC-with-saline-aquifer-storage in Phase I (2024–2026). The EU's Carbon Removals Certification Framework issues its first units in 2026, with EU ETS integration targeted for 2028. California's LCFS accepts DAC-to-storage credit generation (CARB DAC CCS protocol, 2023). The 2,000:1 contracted-to-delivered gap on the supply side is matched by a far larger needed-to-existing gap on the demand side: the supply curve is unblocking faster than the demand curve. ## Cost Today: 400–1000 USD/tCO2. With cheap energy: 80–200 USD/tCO2. Shape: two-anchor-bands. Physical scale potential: 20 Gt CO2/yr. Source: Direct Air Capture 2022. Key constraint: Energy intensity (sorbent regeneration); capital intensity of plant builds. ## Data | indicator | value | goal (year) | as of | source | |---|---|---|---|---| | Global operating DAC capacity (durable-DACCS, nameplate) | 5 kt CO2/yr (= 0.000005 Gt CO2/yr) | 1,000,000 kt CO2/yr (2050) | 2026-05-26 | Direct Air Capture Market Snapshot 2025 | | Credible 2050 DAC deployment (IEA NZE scenario) | 1 Gt CO2/yr | 1 Gt CO2/yr (2050) | 2025-11-12 | World Energy Outlook 2025 — Net Zero by 2050 | ## Companies - **[1PointFive](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/1pointfive)** (public) — Occidental subsidiary (includes Carbon Engineering acquisition closed Nov 2023 and Holocene amino-acid stack in reserve) operating the liquid solvent KOH/Ca-loop CE design; STRATOS Phase 1 in Ector County TX starts Q2 2026 at 500 kt/yr nameplate; South Texas DAC Hub permitting toward 500 kt → 1 Mt → 30 Mt long-run. - **[AirCapture](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/aircapture)** (series_a) — DAC technology operating in CCU (carbon-capture-utilization) mode — CO2-as-a-service for beverages and synthetic fuels rather than durable removal; durability caveat applies until offtake shifts to geological storage. - **[Avnos](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/avnos)** (series_a) — Hybrid DAC (HDAC™) solid-sorbent variant generating clean water as a co-product without external heat; Project Alpine Bakersfield CA pilot operating (~30 t CO2/yr + 150 t water/yr); Project Cedar targeting 3 kt/yr CO2 + 6 kt/yr water at end-2026; Shell + Mitsubishi backed. - **[CarbonCapture Inc.](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/carboncapture-inc)** (series_a) — Modular direct air capture company building containerized DAC units stackable for gigaton-scale deployment; Project Bison Wyoming paused 2024 with US operations now centered on the Mesa AZ manufacturing facility while the team relocates the Tamarack project to Canada. - **[Climeworks](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/climeworks)** (scaling) — Zurich-based DAC pioneer operating solid-sorbent direct-air-capture plants in Iceland, with a multi-pathway carbon-removal brokerage arm (Climeworks Solutions). - **[Deep Sky](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/deep-sky)** (foak) — Montreal-based DAC project developer/aggregator hosting multiple third-party capture technologies at shared Canadian sites with permanent geologic storage. - **[Heirloom Carbon Technologies](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/heirloom)** (series_b) — Mineral-looping DAC using calcium oxide and limestone to capture ambient CO2; the first commercial US DAC facility operating since November 2023 in Tracy CA (1 kt/yr), scaling to 17 kt/yr at Shreveport-1 (2026), 100 kt/yr at Shreveport-2 (2027), and ~320 kt/yr eventual capacity. - **[Occidental Petroleum](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/occidental-petroleum)** (commercial) _(primary: oil)_ — US E&P + chemicals + low-carbon ventures (NYSE: OXY). 1PointFive Stratos DAC (Ector County TX; 500 kt/yr; construction H2 2026); CrownRock acquisition Aug 2024 ($12B Permian). 45Q tax-credit-driven DAC strategy — the most aggressive oil-major bet on Pillar-3 carbon removal. - **[Spiritus Technologies](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/spiritus)** (series_a) — Passive solid-sorbent DAC pilot at Nambé Pueblo NM (1 kt/yr commissioning 2026); planned Orchard One central WY site up to 2 Mt/yr with Class VI permit filed; backed by Khosla, Aramco Ventures, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, TDK Ventures. - **[Sustaera](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/sustaera)** (series_a) — Solid-sorbent electro-thermal DAC (3rd-generation) selected for the Ankeron DAC hub in the Pacific Northwest; commercial pilot 2027 target; backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Neglected Climate Opportunities, Third Derivative, XPRIZE, Susteon. - **[Zero Carbon Systems (Global Thermostat)](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/zero-carbon-systems)** (acquired) — Solid amine sorbent (monolithic contactor) DAC operating since end-2022 at the Commerce City CO demo (~1 kt/yr); 2.5 kt/yr demo targeted 2025–26, 50 kt/yr commercial planned ~2 years after; operating as Zero Carbon Systems after acquisition. ## FAQ ### What is direct air capture and how does it actually work? Direct air capture (DAC) is the engineered version of what trees do, scaled to gigatons and run by chemistry instead of biology. A fan moves ambient air over a **sorbent** (solid amine pellets, liquid hydroxide solutions, calcium-looping minerals, or an electrochemical cell), which binds CO2 at the ~420 ppm concentration found in the atmosphere. Heating the loaded sorbent (or running an electrochemical regeneration step) releases concentrated CO2, which is then compressed and either injected into deep saline aquifers or mineralized into stable rock. ### Is DAC the same thing as carbon capture? No — **DAC isn't the same as carbon capture, and capture isn't the same as removal.** DAC pulls CO2 from ambient air (~420 ppm) and can be sited anywhere, while point-source capture (CCS/CCUS) pulls it from concentrated flue gas (5–15%) at the smokestack, which is cheaper per ton but only reduces ongoing emissions rather than removing legacy CO2. DAC counts as carbon removal only when paired with durable storage — geologic injection or mineralization — which is why the MECP page treats DAC + storage (DACCS) as the relevant category. ### Why is direct air capture so expensive right now? At **$400 to $1,000 per ton** today, DAC is expensive because the input concentration is dilute — the binding cost is the heat or electricity needed to regenerate the loaded sorbent. So DAC's real cost spine isn't a calendar year, it's an electricity price: at US industrial grid power near nine cents per kilowatt-hour, cost lands in that $400–$1,000 band, but at sub-two-cent electricity it drops to **$80 to $200 per ton**. DAC is a manufactured system, and manufactured systems follow learning curves. ### Why does DAC matter if other carbon removal methods are cheaper? DAC is the **backstop**. Every other removal method has a local constraint — enhanced rock weathering needs the right mineral, biochar needs the right feedstock, biomass burial needs cheap logistics, nature-based methods need land and permanence — and each caps how much it can do, where, and for how long. DAC's only constraint is energy, the one input the thesis already has a plan to drive down, so if the other methods underperform their 2050 numbers, DAC absorbs the residual. ## Charts (embeddable) - **DAC capacity: today, the scenario, the ceiling.** — https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/embed/dac-capacity-bands (https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/embed/dac-capacity-bands.svg · https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/embed/dac-capacity-bands.png) - **DAC cost vs. energy price.** — https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/embed/dac-cost-vs-energy-price (https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/embed/dac-cost-vs-energy-price.svg · https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/embed/dac-cost-vs-energy-price.png) ## Sources - **cdr-fyi-dac-market-snapshot-2025** — [Direct Air Capture Market Snapshot 2025](https://www.cdr.fyi/blog/direct-air-capture-market-snapshot-2025) _(analyst, dataset)_ - **iea-weo-2025-nze** — [World Energy Outlook 2025 — Net Zero by 2050](https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2025/net-zero-emissions-by-2050) _(primary, report)_ - **iea-dac-2022** — [Direct Air Capture 2022](https://www.iea.org/reports/direct-air-capture-2022) _(igo, report)_ - **ipcc-ar6-wg3-ch12** — [AR6 WG3 Chapter 12: Cross-sectoral perspectives](https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/chapter/chapter-12/) _(primary, report)_ ## Related sectors [Biochar](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/sectors/biochar.md) · [Biomass Burial & Wood Caching](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/sectors/biomass-burial.md) · [Enhanced Rock Weathering](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/sectors/erw.md) · [Mineralization](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/sectors/mineralization.md) · [Afforestation, Reforestation, Soil](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/sectors/nature-based.md) · [Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement](https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/sectors/ocean-alkalinity.md) ## Machine access - Structured data: https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/sectors/dac.json - Live data via MCP: https://mcp.moreenergycleanplanet.com/mcp — tools: get_sector, get_cost_curve, list_indicators, get_sources - License: CC BY 4.0 ```json { "schema_version": "1.2", "kind": "sector", "slug": "dac", "title": "Direct Air Capture", "pillar": { "slug": "carbon-removal", "title": "Carbon Removal" }, "status": "live", "theme_color": "#10B981", "summary": "The scalable backstop. Engineered systems that pull CO2 from ambient air using sorbent chemistry, sited anywhere and manufactured at factory scale — and the CDR method whose cost curve depends most directly on cheap electricity.", "analysis": "## What DAC is: Pulling carbon back out of the air.\n\nDirect air capture is the engineered version of what trees do, scaled to gigatons and run by chemistry instead of biology. A fan moves ambient air over a sorbent (solid amine pellets, liquid hydroxide solutions, calcium-looping minerals, or an electrochemical cell) and the sorbent binds the CO2 at the parts-per-million concentrations in the atmosphere. Heating the loaded sorbent (or running an electrochemical regeneration step) releases concentrated CO2, which then gets compressed and injected into deep saline aquifers or mineralized into stable rock.\n\nThe technology has a long lab pedigree (Klaus Lackner sketched the modern case in the late 1990s) but a short commercial one. Climeworks's Orca plant in Iceland switched on in 2021 at 4 kilotons per year nameplate. Mammoth, also in Iceland, came online in 2024 at 36 kilotons. The first US commercial-scale facility (1PointFive's Stratos in Ector County, Texas, designed for 500 kilotons per year) begins Phase 1 operations this quarter. The field is at first-of-a-kind through scaling; the next decade decides which architectures win.\n\n> **DAC isn't the same as carbon capture, and capture isn't the same as removal.**\n>\n> - **DAC: direct air capture** — Pulls CO2 from ambient air (~420 ppm). Sited anywhere. Energy-intensive because the input concentration is dilute. The subject of this page.\n> - **Point-source capture (CCS / CCUS)** — Pulls CO2 from flue gas (5–15% concentration). Sited at the smokestack. Cheaper per ton than DAC because the input is concentrated. Reduces ongoing emissions but does not remove legacy CO2 from the atmosphere.\n> - **CCU: utilization without removal** — Captured CO2 used to make fuels, beverages, or cement additives. The captured molecule is released again on combustion or product use. This is not removal in IPCC accounting (AR6 WG3 Ch12).\n> - **The rule** — DAC counts as carbon removal only when paired with durable storage: geologic injection or mineralization. The MECP page treats DAC + storage (DACCS) as the relevant category; pure capture-for-utilization is a different industry with a different ledger.\n\n## Capacity: Three quantities, three orders of magnitude.\n\nWhat's running. What scenarios pencil. What physics allows. The bars are separated by orders of magnitude, which is what makes the field both tiny today and structurally large by 2050: both true at the same time. Log axis, so the kt-scale operating capacity reads as real-but-tiny rather than literally zero against the gigaton ceiling.\n\n**Figure — DAC capacity: operational today vs credible 2050 deployment vs physical ceiling, on a log Gt CO2/yr axis.** Interactive chart and accessible data table: [/embed/dac-capacity-bands](/embed/dac-capacity-bands).\n\n## Cost: DAC cost is electricity cost.\n\nAt $400 to $1,000 per ton [^iea-dac-2022] today, DAC is expensive. That is the wrong metric to use in assessing it. DAC is a manufactured system. Manufactured systems follow learning curves.\n\nThe binding cost is the heat or electricity that regenerates the loaded sorbent. So DAC's cost-curve spine is not a calendar year. It is an electricity price. At US industrial grid power near nine cents per kilowatt-hour, the cost lands in that $400 to $1,000 band. At sub-two-cent electricity (Energy Production's unlock threshold, already printing in Saudi Arabia's best solar PPAs at Al Sadawi, 1.29 cents per kilowatt-hour, commercial operation 2027), it drops to $80 to $200 [^iea-dac-2022]. Two anchor bands, not a smooth curve. The cost-curve data from IEA, CDR.fyi, and Frontier resolves to these two regimes, and the chart shows exactly that.\n\n**Figure — DAC cost ($/tCO2) at two electricity-price anchors: ~7–9 c/kWh US grid ($400–$1,000) and sub-2 c/kWh cheap-energy ($80–$200).** Interactive chart and accessible data table: [/embed/dac-cost-vs-energy-price](/embed/dac-cost-vs-energy-price).\n\n## Durability: Capture is not removal.\n\nDAC counts as carbon _removal_ only when the captured CO2 is durably stored. The two paths today are [geologic injection](/sectors/carbon-removal) into deep saline aquifers (the Stratos / Project Cypress / South Texas DAC Hub model) and [mineralization](/sectors/mineralization) into stable carbonate rock (Climeworks's basalt-storage pathway with Carbfix). Both are IPCC-recognized durable; both come with their own siting, monitoring, and Class VI permitting layers that turn DAC + storage into a stack of two regulated industries, not one.\n\nCapture for utilization (turning the molecule into synthetic fuel, beverage carbonation, greenhouse fertilization) is a real business with real revenue, but it's not removal: the carbon comes back out when the product is used. The MECP page treats DAC + storage (DACCS) as the relevant category for the carbon-removal ledger; the CCU side is its own story.\n\n## Why it matters: The backstop.\n\nEvery other removal method has a local constraint. Enhanced rock weathering needs the right mineral. Biochar needs the right feedstock. Biomass burial needs cheap logistics. Nature-based methods need land and permanence both. Each caps how much it can do, where, and for how long.\n\nDAC's constraint is energy. Energy is the one input the thesis already has a plan to drive down. The ceiling is set by Energy Production; the floor falls every time clean electricity gets cheaper. If the other methods underperform their 2050 numbers, DAC absorbs the residual.\n\nThat is the backstop.\n\n## Policy drivers: 45Q, DOE Hubs, voluntary vs compliance.\n\nThe single biggest policy lever for US DAC is **45Q**, the production tax credit. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (signed July 2025), DAC paired with secure geologic storage receives $180 per ton; DAC paired with utilization or EOR also got bumped to $180/t in the same bill (parity provision), and the inflation indexing on both begins in 2027. Of the IRA's clean-energy credits, 45Q is the one that survived the new administration intact, and got better for DAC utilization pathways.\n\nThe **DOE Regional DAC Hubs program** funded four announced sites; the two flagship awards survived the 2025 review and were restored in April 2026. Project Cypress (Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana) is anchored by Heirloom and Climeworks at FEED stage with $550M in federal commitment. The South Texas DAC Hub (Kleberg County) is Occidental / 1PointFive with $500M, also FEED. Project Bison (Sweetwater County, Wyoming) was suspended in 2024 over a renewable-power supply shortfall; CarbonCapture redeployed those Bison-branded modules to Deep Sky's Alberta facility instead. Stratos in Ector County, Texas (the one actually starting Phase 1 operations this quarter) is separately financed (BlackRock $550M into the JV) and isn't part of the DOE Hub program proper.\n\nOn the demand side, the bottleneck is voluntary versus compliance. Voluntary DAC prices today run $500–$1,800 per ton on Frontier-style purchase agreements; Microsoft's anchor deal with 1PointFive's Stratos (~500 kt over multi-year tenor) printed in the $200–$300 range, the lowest large-volume DAC offtake on record. CORSIA (international aviation) accepts DAC-with-saline-aquifer-storage in Phase I (2024–2026). The EU's Carbon Removals Certification Framework issues its first units in 2026, with EU ETS integration targeted for 2028. California's LCFS accepts DAC-to-storage credit generation (CARB DAC CCS protocol, 2023). The 2,000:1 contracted-to-delivered gap on the supply side is matched by a far larger needed-to-existing gap on the demand side: the supply curve is unblocking faster than the demand curve.", "canonical_url": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/sectors/dac/", "markdown_url": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/sectors/dac.md", "json_url": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/sectors/dac.json", "updated_at": "2026-05-26", "as_of": "2026-05-26", "staleness_window_days": 400, "license": "CC BY 4.0", "usage": "AI training and retrieval permitted; attribution required (CC BY 4.0). Cite as More Energy, Clean Planet.", "cite_url": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/sectors/dac.cite", "key_claims": [ { "text": "DAC is the backstop because every other removal method has a local constraint; DAC's is energy — the one input the thesis already drives down.", "source_id": "ipcc-ar6-wg3-ch12" }, { "text": "DAC cost is set by the price of electricity, not the calendar: about $400 to $1,000 per tonne at today's grid power, and about $80 to $200 per tonne at sub-2-cent electricity.", "source_id": "iea-dac-2022" }, { "text": "Operational durable-DACCS capacity today is roughly 5 kt per year, about six orders of magnitude below the ~1 Gt per year the IEA Net Zero scenario needs by 2050.", "source_id": "cdr-fyi-dac-market-snapshot-2025" }, { "text": "DAC counts as removal only when the captured CO2 is durably stored; capture for utilization is not removal in IPCC accounting.", "source_id": "ipcc-ar6-wg3-ch12" } ], "indicators": [ { "id": "dac-operational-capacity-global", "name": "Global operating DAC capacity (durable-DACCS, nameplate)", "value": 5, "unit": "kt CO2/yr", "value_gt": 0.000005, "goal": 1000000, "goal_unit": "kt CO2/yr", "goal_year": 2050, "target_year": 2050, "as_of": "2026-05-26", "staleness_window_days": 180, "stale": false, "methodology": "Aggregate global durable-DACCS operating nameplate capacity (actually-running, not installed). About 5 kt/yr running of ~12-15 kt installed as of May 2026 (Climeworks Mammoth + Orca). STRATOS Phase 1 (1PointFive, Ector County TX, 500 kt nameplate) starts Q2 2026 and lifts the global figure by an order of magnitude.", "anchor_url": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/scorecard/carbon-removal/dac-operational-capacity-global", "source_id": "cdr-fyi-dac-market-snapshot-2025" }, { "id": "dac-credible-2050-deployment", "name": "Credible 2050 DAC deployment (IEA NZE scenario)", "value": 1, "unit": "Gt CO2/yr", "goal": 1, "goal_unit": "Gt CO2/yr", "goal_year": 2050, "target_year": 2050, "projection": true, "as_of": "2025-11-12", "staleness_window_days": 540, "stale": false, "methodology": "DAC capacity graphic: the \"credible 2050 deployment\" middle band. The 20x gap between this and the physical ceiling (20 Gt/yr) is the policy-and-economics headroom.", "anchor_url": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/scorecard/carbon-removal/dac-credible-2050-deployment", "source_id": "iea-weo-2025-nze" } ], "cost_curve": { "methodology_version": "1.0", "today": { "low": 400, "high": 1000, "unit": "USD/tCO2" }, "cheap_energy": { "low": 80, "high": 200, "unit": "USD/tCO2" }, "shape": "two-anchor-bands", "scale_potential": { "value": 20, "unit": "Gt CO2/yr" }, "energy_intensive": true, "key_constraint": "Energy intensity (sorbent regeneration); capital intensity of plant builds.", "as_of": "2026-05-26", "stale": false, "source_id": "iea-dac-2022" }, "companies": [ { "id": "1pointfive", "name": "1PointFive", "stage": "public", "one_line_description": "Occidental subsidiary (includes Carbon Engineering acquisition closed Nov 2023 and Holocene amino-acid stack in reserve) operating the liquid solvent KOH/Ca-loop CE design; STRATOS Phase 1 in Ector County TX starts Q2 2026 at 500 kt/yr nameplate; South Texas DAC Hub permitting toward 500 kt → 1 Mt → 30 Mt long-run.", "ecosystem_url": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/1pointfive" }, { "id": "aircapture", "name": "AirCapture", "stage": "series_a", "one_line_description": "DAC technology operating in CCU (carbon-capture-utilization) mode — CO2-as-a-service for beverages and synthetic fuels rather than durable removal; durability caveat applies until offtake shifts to geological storage.", "ecosystem_url": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/aircapture" }, { "id": "avnos", "name": "Avnos", "stage": "series_a", "one_line_description": "Hybrid DAC (HDAC™) solid-sorbent variant generating clean water as a co-product without external heat; Project Alpine Bakersfield CA pilot operating (~30 t CO2/yr + 150 t water/yr); Project Cedar targeting 3 kt/yr CO2 + 6 kt/yr water at end-2026; Shell + Mitsubishi backed.", "ecosystem_url": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/avnos" }, { "id": "carboncapture-inc", "name": "CarbonCapture Inc.", "stage": "series_a", "one_line_description": "Modular direct air capture company building containerized DAC units stackable for gigaton-scale deployment; Project Bison Wyoming paused 2024 with US operations now centered on the Mesa AZ manufacturing facility while the team relocates the Tamarack project to Canada.", "ecosystem_url": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/carboncapture-inc" }, { "id": "climeworks", "name": "Climeworks", "stage": "scaling", "one_line_description": "Zurich-based DAC pioneer operating solid-sorbent direct-air-capture plants in Iceland, with a multi-pathway carbon-removal brokerage arm (Climeworks Solutions).", "ecosystem_url": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/climeworks" }, { "id": "deep-sky", "name": "Deep Sky", "stage": "foak", "one_line_description": "Montreal-based DAC project developer/aggregator hosting multiple third-party capture technologies at shared Canadian sites with permanent geologic storage.", "ecosystem_url": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/deep-sky" }, { "id": "heirloom", "name": "Heirloom Carbon Technologies", "stage": "series_b", "one_line_description": "Mineral-looping DAC using calcium oxide and limestone to capture ambient CO2; the first commercial US DAC facility operating since November 2023 in Tracy CA (1 kt/yr), scaling to 17 kt/yr at Shreveport-1 (2026), 100 kt/yr at Shreveport-2 (2027), and ~320 kt/yr eventual capacity.", "ecosystem_url": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/heirloom" }, { "id": "occidental-petroleum", "name": "Occidental Petroleum", "stage": "commercial", "one_line_description": "US E&P + chemicals + low-carbon ventures (NYSE: OXY). 1PointFive Stratos DAC (Ector County TX; 500 kt/yr; construction H2 2026); CrownRock acquisition Aug 2024 ($12B Permian). 45Q tax-credit-driven DAC strategy — the most aggressive oil-major bet on Pillar-3 carbon removal.", "primary_sector": "oil", "ecosystem_url": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/occidental-petroleum" }, { "id": "spiritus", "name": "Spiritus Technologies", "stage": "series_a", "one_line_description": "Passive solid-sorbent DAC pilot at Nambé Pueblo NM (1 kt/yr commissioning 2026); planned Orchard One central WY site up to 2 Mt/yr with Class VI permit filed; backed by Khosla, Aramco Ventures, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, TDK Ventures.", "ecosystem_url": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/spiritus" }, { "id": "sustaera", "name": "Sustaera", "stage": "series_a", "one_line_description": "Solid-sorbent electro-thermal DAC (3rd-generation) selected for the Ankeron DAC hub in the Pacific Northwest; commercial pilot 2027 target; backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Neglected Climate Opportunities, Third Derivative, XPRIZE, Susteon.", "ecosystem_url": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/sustaera" }, { "id": "zero-carbon-systems", "name": "Zero Carbon Systems (Global Thermostat)", "stage": "acquired", "one_line_description": "Solid amine sorbent (monolithic contactor) DAC operating since end-2022 at the Commerce City CO demo (~1 kt/yr); 2.5 kt/yr demo targeted 2025–26, 50 kt/yr commercial planned ~2 years after; operating as Zero Carbon Systems after acquisition.", "ecosystem_url": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/ecosystem#company/zero-carbon-systems" } ], "faqs": [ { "question": "What is direct air capture and how does it actually work?", "answer_md": "Direct air capture (DAC) is the engineered version of what trees do, scaled to gigatons and run by chemistry instead of biology. A fan moves ambient air over a **sorbent** (solid amine pellets, liquid hydroxide solutions, calcium-looping minerals, or an electrochemical cell), which binds CO2 at the ~420 ppm concentration found in the atmosphere. Heating the loaded sorbent (or running an electrochemical regeneration step) releases concentrated CO2, which is then compressed and either injected into deep saline aquifers or mineralized into stable rock.", "source_id": null }, { "question": "Is DAC the same thing as carbon capture?", "answer_md": "No — **DAC isn't the same as carbon capture, and capture isn't the same as removal.** DAC pulls CO2 from ambient air (~420 ppm) and can be sited anywhere, while point-source capture (CCS/CCUS) pulls it from concentrated flue gas (5–15%) at the smokestack, which is cheaper per ton but only reduces ongoing emissions rather than removing legacy CO2. DAC counts as carbon removal only when paired with durable storage — geologic injection or mineralization — which is why the MECP page treats DAC + storage (DACCS) as the relevant category.", "source_id": null }, { "question": "Why is direct air capture so expensive right now?", "answer_md": "At **$400 to $1,000 per ton** today, DAC is expensive because the input concentration is dilute — the binding cost is the heat or electricity needed to regenerate the loaded sorbent. So DAC's real cost spine isn't a calendar year, it's an electricity price: at US industrial grid power near nine cents per kilowatt-hour, cost lands in that $400–$1,000 band, but at sub-two-cent electricity it drops to **$80 to $200 per ton**. DAC is a manufactured system, and manufactured systems follow learning curves.", "source_id": null }, { "question": "Why does DAC matter if other carbon removal methods are cheaper?", "answer_md": "DAC is the **backstop**. Every other removal method has a local constraint — enhanced rock weathering needs the right mineral, biochar needs the right feedstock, biomass burial needs cheap logistics, nature-based methods need land and permanence — and each caps how much it can do, where, and for how long. DAC's only constraint is energy, the one input the thesis already has a plan to drive down, so if the other methods underperform their 2050 numbers, DAC absorbs the residual.", "source_id": null } ], "related_sectors": [ { "slug": "biochar", "title": "Biochar" }, { "slug": "biomass-burial", "title": "Biomass Burial & Wood Caching" }, { "slug": "erw", "title": "Enhanced Rock Weathering" }, { "slug": "mineralization", "title": "Mineralization" }, { "slug": "nature-based", "title": "Afforestation, Reforestation, Soil" }, { "slug": "ocean-alkalinity", "title": "Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement" } ], "embeds": [ { "id": "dac-capacity-bands", "title": "DAC capacity: today, the scenario, the ceiling.", "permalink": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/embed/dac-capacity-bands", "svg": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/embed/dac-capacity-bands.svg", "png": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/embed/dac-capacity-bands.png" }, { "id": "dac-cost-vs-energy-price", "title": "DAC cost vs. energy price.", "permalink": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/embed/dac-cost-vs-energy-price", "svg": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/embed/dac-cost-vs-energy-price.svg", "png": "https://moreenergycleanplanet.com/embed/dac-cost-vs-energy-price.png" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "cdr-fyi-dac-market-snapshot-2025", "title": "Direct Air Capture Market Snapshot 2025", "url": "https://www.cdr.fyi/blog/direct-air-capture-market-snapshot-2025", "publisher_tier": "analyst", "source_type": "dataset", "note": "Live tracker for delivered + contracted durable CDR. ~1,200 t durable DAC delivered globally through mid-2025; ≈81% Climeworks; ~0.05% of >2M contracted DAC credits actually delivered. The contracted-vs-delivered gap is ~2,000:1 — the supply-side execution bottleneck on durable CDR." }, { "id": "iea-weo-2025-nze", "title": "World Energy Outlook 2025 — Net Zero by 2050", "url": "https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2025/net-zero-emissions-by-2050", "publisher_tier": "primary", "source_type": "report", "note": "Net Zero Emissions by 2050 scenario. DAC ~980 Mt CO2/yr by 2050 (≈1 Gt/yr); ≥85 Mt by 2030. The anchor for \"credible 2050 deployment\" on the DAC capacity graphic, distinct from IPCC's physical-ceiling number." }, { "id": "iea-dac-2022", "title": "Direct Air Capture 2022", "url": "https://www.iea.org/reports/direct-air-capture-2022", "publisher_tier": "igo", "source_type": "report", "note": "DAC $400-600/ton today. Cited in CDR table (fn62) and DAC discussion (fn65)." }, { "id": "ipcc-ar6-wg3-ch12", "title": "AR6 WG3 Chapter 12: Cross-sectoral perspectives", "url": "https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/chapter/chapter-12/", "publisher_tier": "primary", "source_type": "report", "note": "Canonical definition of CDR (\"anthropogenic activities removing CO2 from the atmosphere and durably storing it\"). DAC theoretical scale potential 20 Gt/yr; cumulative DACCS 2020–2100 range 29 (0–339) GtCO2. The \"capture ≠ removal\" rule lives here." } ], "mcp": { "server": "https://mcp.moreenergycleanplanet.com/mcp", "tools": [ "get_sector", "get_cost_curve", "list_indicators", "get_sources" ] } } ```