ExxonMobil and Global Thermostat (GT) have expanded their joint development agreement following 12 months of technical evaluation to determine the feasibility and potential scalability of Global Thermostat’s technology that captures carbon dioxide directly from the air.

GT believes ExxonMobil’s financial and technological strength will enable it to scale up its carbon removal technology to pull a gigaton of carbon out of the atmosphere and to continue to grow to remove the 40 gigatons of CO₂ per year that the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says is required to avoid irreversible and catastrophic damage to the planet.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has said that CO₂ capture, use and storage “is a key technology for the decarbonization of the energy sector in the long term. ” In addition, the International Energy Agency recognizes that CO₂ removal is expected to play a “key role” in the energy transition.

Global Thermostat’s CO2 capture uses proprietary amine-based adsorbents to remove CO₂ from the air. These compounds act together like a filter to efficiently capture CO₂, which can then be stored safely underground, used to make chemicals, consumer products or construction materials.

ExxonMobil has a strong network of research partnerships across universities and national labs. As a part of the joint development agreement with Global Thermostat, ExxonMobil will leverage this network and engage the expertise of university partners that have strong expertise in material science and the US Department of Energy’s National Labs that offer expertise in CO₂ capture and utilization. Global Thermostat will also engage its network of universities and industrial partners to help scale its technology.