Technology for sucking CO₂ out of the air in Iceland turned out to be a common fraud
21 May 08:01
The CO₂ capture technology stations installed in Iceland’s geothermal fields have failed to absorb even their own emissions. This is stated in an investigation by the Icelandic edition of Heimildin, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
Since the start of operation in 2021, the so-called “carbon vacuum cleaners” have collected only 2400 tons of CO₂ from the air, although the developers have repeatedly announced an annual capacity of 4000 tons. In almost four years of operation, the technology has shown an efficiency five times lower than the declared one.
Paradoxically, the company that operates the plants itself became a source of 1700 tons of carbon dioxide in 2023 through transportation and other operational activities. That is, the plants are not able to compensate even for their own carbon footprint.
The newest and largest plant, Mammoth, which was inaugurated with the promise of collecting 36 thousand tons of CO₂ annually, was able to absorb only 105 tons in the first ten months of operation, a result that disappoints investors and environmentalists.
The project’s financial situation is also a cause for concern. According to accounting reports, the company’s Icelandic division has a negative capital of about $30 million. Due to the failure to meet targets, the company has already been forced to devalue the original Orca unit by $1.4 million.
Despite the disappointing results, the company continues to actively sell “carbon credits” – more than 21 thousand people pay monthly fees for the promise of future CO₂ capture. Under the terms of the contract, the waiting period can be as long as six years, but at the current pace of work, most customers will have to wait decades.
Stanford University professor Mark Jacobson is highly critical of such technologies:
“Directly capturing CO₂ from the atmosphere is a waste of resources that could be used for truly effective climate solutions.”
According to his calculations, the energy needs of these plants are so high that Iceland alone would need four times as much electricity as the entire country produces to offset its annual emissions.
However, as it turned out, energy efficiency was not even taken into account when developing the Mammoth plant. Jan Wurzbacher, CEO and one of the founders of Climeworks, admitted this himself.
One of the company’s disappointed customers, former scientist Michael de Podesta, who paid for the service for two years, admits:
“I feel cheated. I paid every month for the removal of two tons of CO₂, but I still haven’t received any confirmation that this has actually happened.”
The situation with the contract for 40 thousand tons of CO₂ signed with the investment bank Morgan Stanley is particularly ironic – at the current rate of capture, it will take about half a century to fulfill it.
