KAPSARC and Climeworks partner to advance DAC in Saudi Arabia

King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Centre (KAPSARC) and Climeworks have joined forces to advance direct air capture (DAC) technologies in Saudi Arabia.

The partners today (4^th Dec) announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the effort that will explore the deployment of new DAC systems that utilise subsurface carbon dioxide (CO2) storage.

Christoph Gebald, Co-founder and co-CEO of Climeworks, described Saudi Arabia as an ideal location for DAC technology due to its low-carbon resources, underground CO2 storage potential, and supportive policies.

Saudi Arabia has several policies in place that look at emissions reduction. One example is the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI), which was launched in 2021 and hopes to reduce CO2 emissions by 278 million tonnes annually by 2030.

News of the partnership comes at the same time as Aramco, Linde, and SLB also announced a similar effort that will focus on carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the country.

Axel Pierru, Vice-President of Knowledge and Analysis at KAPSARC, said, “This collaboration marks a significant step in exploring innovative carbon removal solutions tailored to Saudi Arabia’s unique context and large geological CO2 storage capacity.”

“Our research shows the key role that the development of DAC in the Kingdom will potentially play in achieving a Net Zero energy system, both domestically and globally.”

The partnership was signed during the 4th edition of the Saudi Green Initiative forum.

The partners hope that the partnership will help to develop a full-scale DAC facility, advancing the Kingdom’s sustainability goals under Vision 2030 and contributing to global decarbonisation efforts.