Carbon Engineering receives millions in investment from Airbus and Air Canada

In Canada, climate solutions company, Carbon Engineering (CE), has received millions in investments from Aviation industry leaders Airbus and Air Canada. These investments support the advancement of CE’s Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology that pulls carbon dioxide (CO2) directly out of the air at large, industrial scale.

This funding will contribute to CE’s ongoing technology development work at the CE Innovation Centre, the world’s largest dedicated DAC research and development facility. Located in Squamish, Canada, this centre is the site from which CE is continuously improving its technology so that greater efficiencies and cost reductions can be incorporated into commercial DAC facilities worldwide.

DAC delivers two of the most promising pathways to decarbonizing aviation: through carbon dioxide removal (CDR) as well as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from atmospheric CO2. Funding part of CE’s technology development efforts is a collaborative approach by Airbus and Air Canada to help accelerate scalable, affordable decarbonization solutions.

This transaction follows Airbus’ purchase of 400,000 metric tons of CDR credits from CE’s U.S. development partner 1PointFive, and subsequent announcement of airline interest in CDR at the Farnborough Air Show. It is another example of concrete steps the aviation sector is taking to reach net zero, and highlights the industry’s confidence in DAC as a tool to support aviation decarbonization goals.

CE’s DAC process uses large fans to pull in air and then, through series of processes, extracts the CO2 while returning the rest of the air to the environment. The captured atmospheric CO2 can be used to reduce aviation emissions by producing SAF that is drop-in compatible with today’s aircraft. The captured CO2 can also be safely and durably stored in geologic reservoirs to deliver CDR that can counterbalance residual emissions.