Zürcher Kantonalbank, a Swiss bank has entered into a multi-year agreement with Climeworks, a carbon removal company, to remove approximately 1,750 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This agreement focuses on removing carbon that the Swiss bank cannot eliminate through direct operational changes.
The collaboration between the two companies dates back to 2014, with Zürcher Kantonalbank being an early investor in Climeworks.
Andreas Aepli, Chief Financial Officer of Climeworks said, “Zürcher Kantonalbank has recognised the importance of direct air capture for our global climate goals early on. To deploy our technology at a gigaton-scale by 2050 at the latest, as demanded by climate science, we want to establish a long-term collaboration with forward-thinking partners.”
Climeworks operates several facilities, including the “Orca” a direct air capture plant in Iceland, the first of its kind whose deliveries are independently certified and documented in the public Puro registry. A second facility, “Mammoth,” also in Iceland, began operations in May 2024. Looking ahead, Climeworks plans to introduce a more efficient, third-generation technology in the U.S. by 2026. “Given the global efforts to combat climate change, I believe the market for removing CO₂ from the atmosphere holds significant future potential,” said Urs Baumann, CEO of Zürcher Kantonalbank.