Direct Air Capture
This report was last updated in October 2021. It may no longer be accurate, both with respect to the evidence it presents and our assessment of the evidence. We may revise this report in the future, depending on our research capacity and research priorities. Questions and comments are welcome.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most abundant greenhouse gas (GHG) in our atmosphere. To combat the worst effects of climate change, we need to reduce the amount of CO2 that we produce. However, we will also need to remove the CO2 that already exists or will be difficult to abate in the near term. An important avenue for removing CO2 is direct air capture (DAC). This is a process wherein a machine pulls CO2 from the surrounding air and, in many cases, permanently stores that CO2 underground to prevent it from contributing to warming our planet.
Giving Green primarily recommends that individuals direct their donations to organizations pushing for policy change: the more CO2 mitigated, the less we have to remove via CDR. However, for individuals and businesses who prefer their donations to support immediate and certain GHG removal, we recommend one direct air capture firm, Climeworks, which offers a subscription service for individuals to support carbon removal directly from its website.
DAC as a Carbon "Offset"
Mechanism
Causality
Project-level additionality
Marginal additionality
Permanence
Co-benefits
Cost-effectiveness
Giving Green’s Assessment of DAC
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