How I Built This with Guy Raz HIBT Lab! Climeworks: Jan Wurzbacher
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Jun 30, 2022 
Jan Wurzbacher, co-founder and CEO of Climeworks, leads the charge in carbon capture technology. He shares his journey from a mechanical engineer in Hamburg to building the world's largest direct air capture facility. Jan dives into scaling challenges and the financial needs to make carbon capture viable. He discusses the Orca plant in Iceland, showcasing its innovative use of geothermal energy. Wurzbacher also emphasizes the potential of major corporations in offsetting carbon and the optimistic belief in technology's role to reverse climate change.
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Funding for Scaling Up
- Climeworks' shift to large-scale carbon removal requires significant investment, demonstrated by their recent $650 million funding round.
- This funding supports the capital-intensive nature of building DAC plants, a small step toward the billions needed for impactful climate solutions.
Scaling the Solution
- Scaling DAC requires substantial growth, envisioning 750,000 shipping container-sized collectors for 1% of global emissions removal.
- This large-scale infrastructure, comparable to Shanghai's port traffic, highlights the industry's potential size.
Size of the Undertaking
- The necessary infrastructure will be substantial, but not larger than existing energy infrastructure like open-pit mines.
- The carbon capture industry is projected to become as large as the current oil and gas industry.