Airlines sign up to investigate carbon removal credits from direct air carbon capture

Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) filters and removes CO₂ emissions directly from air using high powered fans. Once removed, the CO₂ is permanently stored in geological reservoirs. As the aviation industry cannot capture CO₂ emissions released into the atmosphere at source, a direct air carbon capture and storage solution would allow the sector to extract the equivalent amount of emissions from its operations directly from atmospheric air.

According to Airbus, carbon removals via direct air capture technology complement other solutions that deliver CO₂ reductions, such as Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), by addressing remaining emissions that cannot be directly eliminated.

“We are already seeing strong interest from airlines to explore affordable and scalable carbon removals,” said Julie Kitcher, executive vice president Communications and Corporate Affairs, Airbus. “These first letters of intent mark a concrete step towards the use of this promising technology for both Airbus’ own decarbonisation plan and the aviation sector’s ambition to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”

As part of the agreements, the airlines have committed to engage in negotiations on the possible pre-purchase of carbon removal credits starting in 2025 through to 2028. The carbon removal credits will be issued by Airbus’ partner 1PointFive, a subsidiary of Occidental’s Low Carbon Ventures business and the global deployment partner of DACC company Carbon Engineering. Airbus’ partnership with 1PointFive includes the pre-purchase of 400,000 tonnes of carbon removal credits to be delivered over four years.

“DACCS represents an innovative way not only to remove net carbon from the atmosphere, but it also has the potential to play a part in the development of synthetic sustainable aviation fuels,” said Juan José Tohá, corporate affairs and sustainability director, LATAM Airlines Group. “There is no silver bullet for decarbonising the industry and we will rely on a combination of measures to reach our net-zero ambitions, including greater efficiencies, sustainable aviation fuels and new technologies, supported by the conservation of strategic ecosystems and quality offsets.”

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), carbon removal is required to help the world go beyond climate mitigation and to support net-zero targets. Additionally, according to the Air Transport Action Group’s (ATAG) Waypoint 2050 report, offsets (primarily in the form of carbon removals) will be needed – between six per cent and eight per cent – to make up remaining shortfalls in emissions above the goal.

Air Canada, Air France-KLM, easyJet, International Airlines Group, LATAM Airlines Group, Lufthansa Group and Virgin Atlantic are among the signatories to the Letters of Intent.