Rapid Response: Turning point for a climate-crisis solution, w/Climeworks' Christoph Gebald
Masters of Scale
WaitWhat
4.6 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 3 February 2023
⏱️ 33 minutes
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Summary
The carbon-capture industry notched a breakthrough in early 2023, when Climeworks became the first company to be third-party certified for taking carbon out of the air and mineralizing it underground. Climeworks co-founder and co-CEO Christoph Gebald is now racing to scale this new potential, from Iceland to Oman to the United States, by convincing investors, corporate partners, and governments to support a new pillar in the quest for net-zero goals. Christoph points to both serendipity and learning from mistakes as key in helping Climeworks navigate the steep path required in addressing climate-crisis.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm an avid mountaineer and so to me I always wanted to contribute to stopping climate change. |
| 0:08.0 | It felt wrong to put CO2 in the atmosphere and not take it back. |
| 0:14.0 | It's normal to ask that if we're using water, we're treating the wastewater, |
| 0:19.0 | but we don't really have a waste management system for the atmosphere. |
| 0:23.0 | As an engineer, noticing that there's no technical and no feasible solution out there for a treatment facility of our atmosphere, |
| 0:30.0 | it was clear to me that something has to be done. |
| 0:35.0 | We discovered weiser-intibuity the opportunity to take CO2 out of the air and store it in the ground. |
| 0:43.0 | Very air capture is suddenly becoming a billion dollar industry. |
| 0:48.0 | We are essentially going from a very young industry with a limited number of players and experience to the playground. |
| 0:56.0 | This is what we have to figure out going forward. |
| 1:03.0 | That's Christoph Guybald, co-founder and co-CEO of Climworks, |
| 1:07.0 | a Switzerland-based company that's become a leading player in carbon capture technology. |
| 1:12.0 | Earlier this year, Climworks became the first enterprise to be certified by a third party for taking carbon out of the air, |
| 1:20.0 | storing it underground and processing it into rock. |
| 1:23.0 | I'm Bob Safian, former editor of Fast Company, founder of the Flux Group and host of Masters of Scale Rapid Response. |
| 1:31.0 | I wanted to talk to Christoph because direct-air carbon capture has been the missing link in nearly all climate crisis solution plans. |
| 1:39.0 | While not a silver bullet to our warming planet, carbon capture would fill a multi-gigoton gap to bring us closer to net zero. |
| 1:48.0 | The question Christoph and his team face is how to scale the new technology, leveraging not just science but investors, corporate partners and governments. |
| 1:57.0 | Christoph emphasizes the role of serendipity so far in Climworks' breakthrough efforts, as well as the lessons learned through missteps and mistakes. |
| 2:06.0 | From supplying fizz to Coca-Cola to a chance encounter with the former president of Iceland, Climworks has found product market fit by pursuing a mountain climbers approach, |
| 2:17.0 | not focusing too much on the top peak above, but following the path ahead, step by step. |
| 2:23.0 | And in the process, they've given us a glimpse of what might be a better world for all. |
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