--- title: "New Facility Aims to Capture 40 Million Trees’ Worth of CO2 Every Year" description: "A startup says it's building a futuristic facility that'll suck as much CO2 out of the atmosphere of every year as 40 million trees." date: "2019-03-22" modified: "2019-03-22" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/canadian-facility-capture-co2" categories: - "Energy" - "Renewable Energy" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "Bill Gates" - "carbon" - "CO2" - "the digest" --- # New Facility Aims to Capture 40 Million Trees’ Worth of CO2 Every Year ![A startup says it's building a futuristic facility that'll suck as much CO2 out of the atmosphere of every year as 40 million trees.]() *\Image: Carbon Engineering\* ## Carbon Capture A Canadian startup called Carbon Engineering [says it's secured]() the funding to build a futuristic facility that'll suck as much carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere every year as 40 million trees — and its financial backers include Microsoft founder Bill Gates and several major energy companies. "This financing round — the largest of its kind into a \[direct air capture\] company — shows the growing recognition of both the benefits and commercial readiness of our DAC technology," said CEO Steve Oldham in [a statement](). "As the world assesses how to address climate change while keeping economies running with the energy they need, our technology can provide a key part of the solution." ## CO2 Crew Carbon Engineering is vague on the precise technology its 30-acre facility is going to use, but its website promises that it'll be able to store the captured carbon underground or use it to synthesize fuel that could be used to power regular vehicles. In an interview with the *Calgary Herald*, Oldham teased the possibility that some investors — which include oil companies Chevron and Occidetntal Petroleum Corp — might be interested in using the technology to offset their own carbon emissions. "It’s a reasonable deduction for anybody to say those companies that have invested in Carbon Engineering would also be interested in becoming the first customers," he told the newspaper. **READ MORE:** [Billionaires back Canadian company to build first ‘negative emissions’ plant]() \[*National Post*\] **More on carbon capture:** [*New Carbon Capture System Generates Electricity by Sucking up CO2*]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()