Capturing Carbon at Scale: Jan Wurzbacher on Engineering Climate Solutions

Dr. Jan Wurzbacher, ETH alumnus and co-founder of Climeworks, joins host Susan Kish to talk about the urgent need—and emerging science—behind removing CO₂ from the atmosphere. Born out of a vision shared with fellow ETH engineer Christophe Gebald, Climeworks has grown from lab experiments at ETH Zurich to building the world’s first large-scale direct air capture plants in Iceland. Jan explains the mechanics of carbon capture using sorbent materials, the hurdles of scaling such a system, and how engineering and climate science must work together to meet the planet’s carbon removal targets. He also reflects on the importance of market creation, policy support, and public trust as Climeworks moves toward its ambitious goal of gigaton-scale CO₂ removal by 2050. This episode is a deep dive into innovation at the edge of climate action—and a rare look inside one of ETH Zurich’s most impactful spin-offs.

books mentioned in this episode:

Jim Collins «From Good to Great».

Verne Harnish «Scaling Up»

chapters:

(00:27) Meet Dr. Jan Wurzbacher: Co-Founder of Clime Works

(00:56) The Origin Story: Meeting at ETH

(02:19) Applying Mechanical Engineering to Climate Change

(02:31) How Clime Works Extracts CO2 from the Air

(03:26) Building and Scaling Clime Works

(05:16) Challenges and Innovations in CO2 Removal

(08:03) Early Prototypes and Market Development

(11:39) Scaling Up: From Pilot to Gigaton Scale

(17:48) The Future of CO2 Removal and Personal Actions

(19:34) Leadership and Organizational Growth

(22:44) Closing Thoughts and Personal Insights