In March, the world’s largest carbon-capturing plant ‘Mammoth’ started up in Iceland, marking a significant milestone in direct air capture (DAC) technology. Constructed by the Swiss firm Climeworks, Mammoth is 10 times bigger than Orca, which debuted in 2021. Carbon dioxide is extracted from the air by the plant using DAC technology, and it is either stored underground or used for other purposes. Climeworks is converting collected carbon into stone for long-term storage in collaboration with the Icelandic company Carbfix.

All of the facility’s electricity comes from Iceland’s plentiful geothermal resources. Mammoth’s modular design enables the stacking and moving of 72 collector containers, which are carbon-capture units. There are currently 12, and more will be added in the upcoming months. Mammoth will eliminate 36,000 tons of carbon per year when it is fully operational, which is the same as removing about 7,800 gas-powered vehicles from the road.

Challenges and Costs of Carbon Capture

DAC technology is still debatable despite its potential. Its detractors claim that it is costly, energy-intensive, and has not been tested on a large scale. Climeworks has not revealed the precise cost per ton of carbon removal, although it has said that it is presently closer to $1,000 per ton than the generally favored $100 per ton. By 2030, the company wants to cut costs to $300 to $350 per ton, and by 2050, it wants to achieve $100 per ton.

Mammoth is “an important step in the fight against climate change,” according to Stuart Haszeldine, a professor of carbon capture and storage at the University of Edinburgh. However, experts stress that projects like the world’s largest carbon-capturing plant ‘Mammoth’ must be scaled up significantly to meet global climate targets, as current carbon removal methods extract only a fraction of the required CO₂.

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Debate Over Carbon Removal’s Role in Climate Action

Many scientists stress that cutting carbon emissions from the atmosphere must be supported by significant cuts to fossil fuels as global temperatures rise. Some experts, however, are concerned that DAC might be used to support the ongoing use of fossil fuels. Carbon capture is “fraught with uncertainties and ecological risks,” warned Lili Fuhr, director of the Center for International Environmental Law.

There are currently other significant DAC projects in progress, like the Stratos plant in Texas, which will remove 500,000 tons of carbon annually for Occidental Petroleum. Climeworks says it wants to remove carbon permanently and on a large scale, whereas Occidental uses collected carbon for enhanced oil recovery. By 2030, the company wants to grow its operations to capture one million tons a year, and by 2050, one billion tons.

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