Climeworks

This award recognises a direct air capture company that has become the undisputed global leader in carbon removal, combining rigorous science with bold engineering. In 2025, its Mammoth plant in Iceland, with a nameplate capacity of 36,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year, became the largest DAC facility ever built. While operational challenges remained—with only 12 of 72 planned collector containers running and technical difficulties slowing deployment—the company’s willingness to pause, diagnose, and recalibrate in real time demonstrates an unusual level of integrity. This commitment to doing the job right, rather than merely reporting nameplate numbers, sets a new standard for transparency in the carbon removal industry.

Beyond Mammoth, Climeworks raised USD 162 million in July 2025, bringing its total funding past USD 1 billion, the largest carbon removal investment round of the year. The company remained on track toward its roadmap: multi-megaton capacity in the 2030s and gigaton scale by 2050. Its partnership with Carbfix for permanent mineralisation of CO₂ in basalt and the use of ON Power’s geothermal energy anchor the operation in verifiable, low‑lifecycle‑emission storage. While 2025 exposed the hard realities of scaling nascent climate tech, Climeworks’ resilience and its refusal to compromise on rigour have made it a cornerstone of the global effort to turn carbon removal from a distant promise into a measurable reality. For combining scientific integrity with industrial ambition in the hardest frontier of carbon removal, Climeworks receives this recognition.

Score: 92

Reference: https://climeworks.com/press-release/climeworks-switches-on-worlds-largest-direct-air-capture-plant-mammoth