Climeworks and how they are reversing climate change

Céline Olesen from Climeworks talks about their mission and how they are reversing climate change. 

Climeworks was founded in 2009 with a mission to develop, build and operate direct air capture (DAC) technology. Essentially they remove CO₂ directly from the atmosphere directly and store it safely underground and reduce the harmful CO₂ in the Earth’s atmosphere. We had a chat with Céline, their Senior Manager in Corporate Partnerships, to talk a bit more about their mission and what you can do to join their community! 

About Céline:

Céline Olesen is originally from Lausanne, Switzerland and now resides in Zurich where she works for Climeworks as a Senior Manager in Corporate Partnerships. Celine is passionate about preserving our natural world and enabling people as well as companies to act meaningfully and reach their climate targets. She is well recognized for being instrumental in the establishment of the company’s crucial and initial collaborations with renowned corporations such as Microsoft, Swiss Re and Shopify. She believes that in order to fight climate change and take meaningful action, a portfolio of solutions is needed to reach global climate targets and is excited to see the field of Carbon Dioxide Removal growing very fast.

Hi Céline! Welcome to #agoodcommunity and thank you so much for joining us. 

What made you want to work for Climeworks?
For a long time I’d been interested in climate science and sustainability, and I got to a point where it was important for me to work in a role and for a company that could really make a positive impact on the planet. I had been following Climeworks for a few years, so when a role was advertised in my area of expertise, I jumped at the opportunity to work for such a company.

What is the main benefit of Climeworks over other methods that remove CO₂ from the atmosphere?
There are many benefits to our solution, however the main two are that it’s permanent and measurable. Once the CO₂ is captured from the air and pumped deep underground, it is permanently removed and can no longer harm our environment. At the same time, we know exactly how much CO₂ we are removing from the atmosphere; therefore our technology is fully measurable.

Apart from subscribing monthly to Climeworks, do you have any other sustainability tips?
There are so many impactful ways that you can live a more sustainable life and reduce your carbon footprint. One that I find easy to incorporate into my lifestyle is eating a predominantly plant-based diet.

For people who do not know about Climeworks, can you explain in 3 simple sentences what Climeworks actually is about?
At Climeworks we’re all about inspiring people to take climate action by removing CO₂ from the air, permanently.

We use ‘direct air capture and storage’ technology which means we remove CO₂ directly from the air and store it deep underground where it mineralizes. Meaning it will never re-enter the atmosphere. Every kilogram or ton of CO₂ that we remove is an amount that is directly having a positive impact on our planet.

Thank you Céline! That was a very informative conversation and I am sure our community will be inspired by the work that you do. 

Learn more about Climeworks here or if you want to reduce your carbon footprint, check out their subscription service.