Climeworks DAC Carbonates Coca-Cola’s Vasler Water
Direct air capture (DAC) technology company Climeworks is fighting climate change and adding fizz to Valser sparkling mineral water, one of Coca-Cola’s beverages.
Through its partnership with Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (HBC) in Switzerland, Climeworks is removing CO₂ from the atmosphere and reusing it in the drinks industry, where CO₂ is vital in drink carbonation, dispensing and packaging.
Climeworks aims to capture 1% of global CO₂ emissions by 2025
Coca-Cola sells approximately two billion of its products each day, across the world. It is currently focusing on product innovation, sustainability initiatives and expanding its non-alcoholic offerings to meet evolving consumer preferences.
We included Coca-Cola in our Top 10: Food Manufacturers.
But while Coca-Cola is a household brand, Climeworks is not yet quite as iconic.
Climeworks’ DAC technology draws ambient air into collector units using fans, which are designed to capture CO₂ molecules. When the filters have been saturated, they are then heated to about 100°C, which releases concentrated CO₂ that can be collected and reused.
“We are very happy to be entering the beverage market in Switzerland together with Coca‑Cola HBC Switzerland, attaching importance to social and environmental aspects of business,” shared Dr Christoph Gebald, Climeworks Co-Founder and Co-CEO. “Coca‑Cola HBC Switzerland has been an exceptionally supportive partner and invaluable in moving the application of DAC in the beverage industry forward — something we are very thankful for.”
“We are excited by the chance to collaborate with a beverage industry leader as part of our overarching goal of capturing 1% of global CO₂ emissions by 2025,” said Jan Wurzbacher, Fellow Co-Founder and Co-CEO.
70% of the CO₂ produced in the US is used by the food and drinks sector. This application helps offset some of the costs associated with DAC technology, making it more economically viable. As Climeworks scales up its operations, the potential for carbon removal increases.
Climeworks’ global innovation in Oman
Engineers Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher founded Climeworks in Switzerland in 2009, with the goal of reversing climate change by permanently removing carbon dioxide from the air.
Climeworks’ Project Orca, based in Hellisheiði, Iceland, is a direct air capture with carbon capture and storage (DACCS) project which captures CO2 from ambient air (atmospheric CO2) and stores it durably in a geological formation.
Once it is captured, the CO2 is pumped out of the collector containers and prepared for storage below the surface in basalt rocks via mineralisation.
The entire process is run on geothermal energy and has been operational since 2021. Project Orca aims for an annual removal of 2,600 tonnes of CO2. DACCS is a growing part of the engineered carbon removal market and is projected to contribute up to 1 billion total CO2 to net zero targets.
Meanwhile in Oman, Climeworks and Omani company, 44.01, have teamed up to unlock the potential of geological storage of air-captured CO2 in the Middle East.
Oman has the potential to store trillions of tonnes of CO2 permanently and safely in peridotite rock formations. The CO2 is permanently removed in natural geological carbon sinks and cannot escape back into the atmosphere. Geological mineralisation in suitable rock formations is a safe, scalable and permanent approach to CO₂ storage.
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