Swiss climate-tech firm chooses Austin for US HQ
Climeworks captures, stores carbon dioxide
A fast-growing Swiss climate-tech firm has chosen Austin for its new U.S. headquarters.
Climeworks, based in Zurich, was founded in 2009 and specializes in direct air capture carbon removal. Its plants and turbines use minerals and chemicals to suck carbon dioxide out of the air and put it in the ground for storage.
Company officials said Austin is an ideal location for its U.S. headquarters because of its strong talent pool, business-friendly environment and central location. The city’s quality of life also makes it an attractive place to draw talent from outside Texas, they said.
Another draw, officials said, is that Austin is a leader in climate change, with a goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2040.
The announcement of Austin as Climeworks’ new U.S. headquarters comes after the U.S. Energy Department selected all three of Climeworks’ direct air capture hub projects to be eligible for a total of more than $600 million in government funding under its initial Funding Opportunity Announcement.
Last year, Climeworks announced plans to scale up in the United States. Its new Austin headquarters joins the company’s offices in New York, Washington, D.C., and California. It has 450 employees worldwide, including 31 employees in the U.S.
The company plans to triple its U.S. headcount by year’s end, with a majority of hiring at the Austin headquarters, which will be led by Douglas Chan, chief operating officer. The Austin offices are at 2043 S. Lamar Blvd., near the West Oltorf Street intersection.
In Austin, Climeworks will build teams across engineering, project management, supply chain, technology and other functions.
Commercial and corporate finance professionals will form the majority of teams operating from satellite locations on each coast. The company also operates subsidiaries in Germany, and Iceland. Climeworks said it is currently exploring or developing projects in Kenya, Canada, Norway and the Middle East.
Climeworks’ largest working project removes about 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year. The $800 per ton price is about eight times more expensive than what experts think is likely to spur wide-scale adoption, illustrating the challenges facing the technology, according to Reuters.
Still, the world is expected to need to capture billions of tons of greenhouse gases annually to avoid disastrous climate change, U.N. scientists have said.
Climeworks customers include Microsoft, UBS, Shopify and Accenture. In December, Climeworks said it has agreed to sell 80,000 metric tons of carbon credits to consulting firm BCG over 15 years, its biggest and longestduration deal.
Still, the world is expected to need to capture billions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually to avoid disastrous climate change, United Nations scientists have said.