Minister of Energy Inaugurates Riyadh's First Direct Air Capture Unit at KAPSARC
Riyadh, July 28, 2025, SPA -- Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz inaugurated on Sunday the live demonstration of Climeworks’ first Direct Air Capture (DAC) testing unit within KAPSARC’s facilities in Riyadh.
The mobile DAC unit is now operational, effectively capturing carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and validating Climeworks’ pioneering technology under the region’s hot and arid conditions.
The launch is a testament to the Kingdom’s leadership in advancing the Circular Carbon Economy (CCE), and reflects its commitment to pragmatic, scaleable solutions to achieving global climate goals, within the Saudi national context.
The demonstration underscores Saudi Arabia’s ambitious commitment to advancing Circular Carbon Economy (CCE) technologies, particularly Direct Air Capture (DAC). A key objective of the testing unit is to evaluate its performance under harsh, high-temperature conditions, significantly different from Climeworks’ traditional operations in colder climates such as Iceland. This will provide critical insights into the technology’s potential deployment across Saudi Arabia and similar climates worldwide.
Hosting the DAC testing unit within KAPSARC highlights the center’s role as the Kingdom’s leading energy think tank and its contributions to national climate and carbon management strategies. Leveraging its extensive expertise in carbon capture, techno-economic modeling, and climate policy analysis, KAPSARC serves as an ideal partner for piloting advanced climate technologies under realistic conditions.
These advantages drive the Kingdom’s efforts to lead cost-effective, industrial-scale carbon removal, reinforcing its contribution to achieving long-term climate goals.
The DAC unit is part of a broader feasibility assessment launched following a Memorandum of Understanding signed between KAPSARC and Climeworks at the Saudi Green Initiative Forum in December 2024. The initiative aims to identify and advance opportunities for DAC deployment in the Kingdom, supporting Saudi Arabia’s strategic drive towards achieving net-zero emissions.
Additionally, the collaboration has underscored the substantial economic opportunities associated with scaling DAC technologies within Saudi Arabia. By capitalizing on its abundant renewable energy resources, world-class infrastructure, and strategic geographic location, Saudi Arabia is uniquely positioned to lead the deployment of DAC, leveraging its abundant
energy resources and strategic capabilities to support scalable, cost-effective carbon removal and drive industrial-scale deployment, and significantly contribute to the Kingdom's net-zero ambitions.
This demonstration is one of many steps the Kingdom is taking to advance carbon management solutions. Saudi Arabia has announced an ambition to capture and utilize up to 44 million tonnes of CO₂ annually by 2035 through the development of large-scale CCUS hubs. These hubs, planned for both the Eastern and Western regions of the country, aim to consolidate industrial emissions and enable permanent storage or conversion of CO₂ into valuable products. In parallel, the ongoing DAC study is assessing the potential to localize critical materials and components, reinforcing the opportunity for domestic supply chain development. This ambition underscores the Kingdom’s proactive role in scaling technologies that support emissions reduction while fostering industrial innovation and economic diversification.
-- SPA
