

Climeworks’ new carbon dioxide removal plant bridges the gap between nature and technology.
The challenge. Climeworks has big ambitions: they want to inspire 1 billion people to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Climeworks’ direct air capture technology captures carbon dioxide directly from the air. The air-captured carbon dioxide can either be recycled and used as a raw material in a circular economy, or completely be removed from the air by safely storing it. Therefore, Climeworks captures CO2 from the air and Climeworks’ partner, the Icelandic company Carbfix, mixes it with water and pumps it underground where it mineralizes through natural reactions. The CO2 is then permanently removed from the air.
Now, Climeworks is scaling up its carbon dioxide removal technology in Iceland. The new plant will be able to remove 4000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. However, a scale up like this goes hand in hand with sophisticated design tasks.
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Climeworks’ technology can help save the world. A unique visual identity can help it articulate its vision, driving awareness and take-up.
Climeworks’ strategic goal is to take its technology global, so making the technology blend with the Icelandic landscape was, for the design team, part of a larger challenge.
These plants must be aesthetically pleasing, they must ‘fit’ the environment. However, to capture the imagination of the world and to inspire people to become climate positive, the CO2 extraction plants need to send a strong message—they need to reflect what Climeworks stands for, driving awareness and inspiring action.
The mission. The mission for designaffairs was therefore to create a design process that would assist Climeworks to create a distinctive solution that would fit into any location, with variables such as materials and structural considerations catering to differences in environment and application. At the same time, our structure must visually reflect its action: it inhales a CO2 charged air and exhales a carbon free one.
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Our vision is to inspire one billion people to remove carbon dioxide from the air. That is why we required an inspiring design. And we got it. The design presented by designaffairs bridges the gap between nature and technology, showing that direct air capture complements natural solutions in the fight against climate change.
The process. The first part of the task was to render what the plant would look like from various aspects. To ensure designaffairs met the government of Iceland’s stringent requirements, we sent a team to Iceland to experience and study its unique landscape and architecture. Onsite, our team used drones and photogrammetry software to create a virtual 3D map of the landscape.
There were some key considerations:
We created a mood board detailing its considerations and presented Climeworks with three design options. The aerial photography allowed us to create a 3D landscape into which we could insert a 3D model of the redesigned plant. We used this to present the design for approval to Climeworks and the Icelandic government.
The outcome. With our understanding of the power of design—how to marry form and function but also how to create a unique visual identity for a brand to articulate its vision and purpose—we knew we could make a difference in driving awareness and take-up.
The design of Climeworks’ CO2 removal plant in Iceland has now shifted from industrial to ‘minimalist eco’. It is functional, eco-friendly, blends into landscape, and is modern. But most importantly, the new design is inspiring—it makes visible the invisible problem of global warming, driving awareness of this technology and stimulating demand. Additionally, an exciting future application for Climeworks will be to use this 3-dimensional scene, or material captured at a potential client site, together with a VR headset to present Climeworks’ technology to clients.
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This creative journey and design process template will help Climeworks define its presence and drive sales, which equates to action on climate change. Everyone wins, but especially the planet.
Climeworks chose Accenture as its innovation partner to accelerate the business. Being a part of Accenture Industry X, innovation consultancy designaffairs was chosen to assist with the redesign of the plant.
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We are very proud of our collaboration with Climeworks and want to make Climeworks more competitive and successful in their mission to clean the air.
Alexandre has been growing and developing his creativity at designaffairs for over 8 years, working on a wide range of projects with a preference for investment goods, his love and passion. Currently he is producing economically and environmentally sustainable concepts – using transformative emerging technologies. The world of tomorrow is always on his mind.
Anna Lena uses design to effect positive change. When she gets the opportunity to work on a “Game Changer”, she simply feels amazing. Whether it is a product or a service, Anna Lena is convinced that good design should care about its user and not the other way around.
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