First carbon capture plant opens in the US to help avoid climate catastrophe

The world's largest carbon-capture plant has opened in Iceland. Run by Swiss company Climeworks, Orca sucks carbon dioxide directly from the air and buries it as rocks deep underground, using technology from Climeworks' Icelandic partner Carbfix. Orca has the capacity to remove 4,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency greenhouse gas calculator the number equates roughly the emissions from 870 cars or 9,281 consumed barrels of oil. The Orca plant is located in Hellisheidi, Iceland, and runs entirely on renewable energy. Climeworks claims it is the "world's first and largest climate-positive direct air capture and storage plant" and says it makes the capture of atmospheric carbon on an industrial scale a reality. Climeworks plans to achieve megatonne removal capacity in its global operations by the second part of this decade.