An exciting engineering experiment began this October, when Climeworks and Reykjavik Energy launched the world’s first ‘negative emissions plant’ at a geothermal power plant in Iceland. The plant will extract carbon dioxide from the air and transform it into rock, capturing it permanently underground.

Climeworks plans to suck 50 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over a year – roughly equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of one family in the USA, or 10 households in India.

Right now, the technology costs hundreds of dollars per ton of carbon dioxide extracted. But it’s the first system to convert emissions into stone, ensuring they do not escape back into the atmosphere. The company hopes to scale up from this small experiment, and hopes to bring costs down to around $100 per ton of carbon dioxide.

To find out more, visit the Climeworks website:www.climeworks.com