HELLISHEIDI, September 10, 2026 — Climeworks has sharply increased the carbon removed by its Mammoth direct-air-capture plant in Iceland. The facility produced 675 tons of net carbon dioxide removal in the first half of 2026, against 119 tons in the same period a year earlier.

The near-sixfold rise is an operating result, not a new nameplate claim. Mammoth is designed to capture as much as 36,000 tons of CO₂ annually when fully built and running, but actual net removal is lower after maintenance, weather, plant availability and emissions associated with construction and operation are counted.

Two collectors reached their intended daily pace

The immediate advance came from two upgraded collector containers. Climeworks says each can now reach the design peak run rate of 1.37 tons of captured CO₂ per day under real operating conditions. That is approximately twice the throughput of the collectors first deployed at Mammoth.

The company changed both the sorbent — the filter material that binds carbon dioxide from ambient air — and parts of the mechanical design and operating routine. Better material capacity raises the amount caught during a cycle, while more reliable machinery keeps the unit available for a larger share of the day.

Rows of unbranded direct-air-capture fan modules stand across a dark Icelandic lava field as geothermal steam rises into a bright winter sunrise
The physical setting matters: modular collectors operate beside renewable heat and underground basalt storage in a demanding volcanic landscape.

Four numbers define the improvement

  • 675 tons of net removal in January through June 2026;
  • 119 tons in the comparable six months of 2025;
  • 1.37 tons of peak daily gross capture for each upgraded collector;
  • about 40% to 50% capacity factor for the upgraded units.

Gross capture and net removal answer different questions

Gross capture measures carbon dioxide taken from the air by a collector. Net carbon dioxide removal, or net CDR, deducts the operational and lifecycle effects and counts the carbon permanently stored. Climeworks sells the latter to customers, so it is the more consequential measure of delivered environmental service.

A collector can briefly reach its design rate without the whole plant sustaining that rate throughout a year. The reported capacity factor of roughly 40% to 50% shows how weather, maintenance and availability still separate peak performance from output delivered over time.

A cutaway sequence shows air moving through fans and porous filters, heat releasing concentrated carbon dioxide, water carrying it down a borehole and green minerals forming in basalt
Removing carbon permanently is a chain: capture is only the first step before concentration, transport and mineral storage underground.

Lower operating cost strengthens the scale-up case

According to the Climeworks performance update, Mammoth's operating cost per ton fell by more than 50% over the preceding year. The company attributes the change to higher throughput, improved reliability and operating refinements rather than to one isolated component.

That reduction does not disclose a final all-in commercial cost. Capital expenditure, financing, transport, permanent storage and corporate overhead can sit outside a plant operating-cost measure. Customers and investors therefore need consistent definitions when comparing projects or contracts.

One module will test whether the gains repeat

By the end of 2026, Climeworks plans to install the new sorbent and mechanical changes across all 12 collector containers in one Mammoth module. This next stage is important because success in two containers must be reproduced across connected equipment, shared utilities and maintenance schedules.

The company also reports a tenfold improvement in sorbent lifetime in laboratory work and a fourfold increase in process density within the same module size. Those results remain development indicators until next-generation equipment demonstrates durability, energy use and output in the field.

Iceland provides the operating laboratory

Mammoth stands at Hellisheidi in Iceland, where renewable geothermal energy and Carbfix's mineral-storage process support the system. Captured CO₂ is dissolved in water and injected into suitable basalt, where chemical reactions convert it into solid carbonate minerals.

Climeworks grew from research at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. Mammoth is therefore both a commercial plant and an engineering test bed connecting Swiss equipment development with Icelandic energy and geology.

The sixfold headline carries a narrower lesson

Bloomberg's report frames the output gain against a carbon-removal sector struggling to reach economic scale. The numbers show material progress from a low base, not that direct air capture has already become a mature commodity.

The next evidence will be repeatability. If the 12-container module holds its output, availability and cost gains through changing seasons, Mammoth will have supplied a more credible basis for larger plants. If not, the gap between design rate and delivered net removal will remain the industry's central operating challenge.