World’s largest carbon removal plant to open at the end of 2026

illuminem summarises for you the essential news of the day, reviewed by our editorial team. Read the full piece on POLITICO or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: Occidental Petroleum says its Stratos direct air capture (DAC) facility in West Texas will begin operating by the end of 2026, after its original 2024 target was delayed
• The project is designed to capture up to 500,000 tonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere annually

🔭 The context: Stratos has been under construction since May 2023 and is intended to become the world's largest DAC facility
• It would dwarf the largest operating plant today, which can capture around 36,000 tonnes annually. Occidental is also exploring carbon-capture services for data centers and power plants

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Carbon removal is considered necessary in many climate scenarios to counterbalance residual emissions and eventually reduce atmospheric CO₂ concentrations
• However, DAC is energy-intensive, making its climate benefit dependent on the energy source, capture performance and durable storage of the CO₂
• Scaling the technology therefore requires both substantial investment and low-carbon energy

⏭️ What’s next: Occidental plans to start operations by the end of 2026 and is seeking commercial customers for carbon-capture services
• CEO Richard Jackson said continued investment in low-carbon projects will require support from regulators and other companies

💬 One quote: “We’re excited and have positioned ourselves, I think, to do that.” - Richard Jackson, Occidental Petroleum CEO

📈 One stat: The maximum annual removal capacity planned for Stratos was 500,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year, approximately 14 times that of the largest DAC plant currently operating

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