Direct Air Capture

This World Resources Institute fact sheet describes Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology, its potential for carbon removal in the United States, and the federal policy and funding requirements needed to scale the technology by midcentury.

• Direct air capture (DAC) involves scrubbing carbon dioxide from ambient air for permanent underground geological storage or use in man-made products. To achieve net carbon removal, the process must utilize low-carbon energy and ensure long-term storage.
• In the United States, DAC could potentially remove more than 1 gigaton of carbon dioxide by midcentury. This assumes commercial deployment begins in 2025 with an annual growth rate of 20–30 percent, which is similar to the historical deployment of solar energy.
• The cost of current DAC technology could potentially drop to $100 per ton of CO2 removed through 'learning by doing,' though extended testing under real environmental conditions is required to fully understand cost reduction opportunities.
• Scaling DAC requires a dual federal policy approach: publicly funded R&D and private sector incentives. The National Academies of Sciences estimates that an average of $150 million per year is needed over the next decade for research, pilot testing, and demonstration, primarily through the Department of Energy.
• To stimulate private investment, the document suggests amending the 45Q tax credit by increasing its value for DAC, lowering minimum capture thresholds, and extending construction deadlines. Estimated tax expenditures to support deployment would be $360 million per year by 2025, rising to $1.3 billion by 2030.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Direct Air Capture. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/carbonshot-direct-air-capture.pdf

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Direct Air Capture. n.d. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/carbonshot-direct-air-capture.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Direct Air Capture |url=https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/carbonshot-direct-air-capture.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutenddirect, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Direct Air Capture}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/carbonshot-direct-air-capture.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }