From rising sea levels to burning forests and super storms, the consequences of anthropogenic climate change are already being felt globally. Decades of environmental neglect and outright denial of a crisis that’s existence is accepted by overwhelming scientific consensus are impacting some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. While some government officials continue to ignore even the existence of climate change, businesses like Boston Consulting Group (BCG) have been keenly aware of its effect on client operations and future prospects, and are taking concrete steps to bring about meaningful change.
To that end, the global management consulting firm has committed to reaching net-zero climate impact by 2030 and recently signed a 10-year agreement with Climeworks, a carbon dioxide removal and sequestration company, to help attain that goal. Climeworks’ technology involves directly capturing carbon dioxide from the air, mixing it with water, and pumping it deep underground, where it reacts with basaltic rock formations and mineralizes—literally turning the CO2 into stone, where it cannot be easily released. The newly-deployed technology is highly scalable and does not compete for space with livable or farmable land.
“The carbon removal market’s ability to scale up fast relies on early action from pioneering companies”, said Christoph Gebald, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Climeworks. “After having brought the first carbon removal plant into operations earlier this year, we are proud to be partnering with BCG as the first direct air capture company and help them achieve their 2030 net zero ambition. Such partnerships also play a vital role in inspiring other businesses to support science-based and scalable solutions.”
In addition to utilizing Climeworks’ carbon capture and sequestration technology, BCG plans to provide consulting services to the company, with a goal of establishing long-term partnerships with direct air capture businesses to help them demonstrate the value of direct air capture as a tool to reach net-zero emissions. By accelerating the implementation of this technology, BCG hopes to scale the broader market and increase adoption by other businesses around the world.
With experts continuing to discuss climate change in increasingly dire terms and its effects continuing to manifest in more dramatic ways, it’s easy to miss the positive, tangible steps business leaders are taking to reduce their impact. Seeing as the carbon capture market is only set to grow over the coming years, BCG is getting in on the ground floor of a technology crucial to ensuring that Earth continues to be a livable place.
