DACCS (Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage) technology is considered a promising solution for reducing CO ₂ emissions into the atmosphere: it filters CO ₂  emissions  from the air and stores it permanently.

Lufthansa Group started to explore this innovative process at an early stage and sees it as a complementary tool in its sustainability strategy and has signed a contract with Airbus for the pre-purchase of verified and long-lasting carbon removal credits of 40,000 tonnes of CO₂ .

The carbon removal credits will be issued by Airbus through its Airbus Carbon Capture Offer (ACCO) service.

Certificates will be available from 2026 and an annual purchase of carbon offset credits equivalent to 10,000 tonnes of CO ₂  has been agreed for four years. The contract signing follows a 2022 joint declaration of intent.

“ Lufthansa Group is strongly committed to making aviation more sustainable and achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. This includes billion-dollar investments in continued fleet modernization and our strong commitment to sustainable aviation fuels. Technical CO emissions ₂  Removal solutions, such as advanced and direct carbon capture and storage processes, will play a complementary role in achieving our decarbonization goals ,” says Caroline Drischel, Head of Corporate Responsibility at the Lufthansa Group.

“ Lufthansa Group was one of the very first airlines to work with Airbus to explore the potential of direct carbon capture and storage solutions in the air,” says Nicolas Chrétien, Head of Environment & Sustainability at Airbus. “ As the aviation industry moves towards net-zero CO ₂ emissions by 2050, carbon sequestration will play an important role in addressing remaining emissions. We are very pleased to take another step forward with Lufthansa Group and maintain the momentum to make decarbonized air travel a reality.”

This is how DACCS technology works

Direct air carbon capture and storage is a high-powered technology that involves filtering CO ₂  directly from the air using high-powered fans. Once removed from the air, CO ₂  is stored deep underground in geological salt formations. Since the aviation industry is unable to capture CO ₂  emissions released into the atmosphere at the source, a direct air carbon capture and storage solution would allow the industry to capture carbon _directly  from the atmospheric air. In addition to the global measures that businesses are taking to reduce CO ₂  carbon emissions, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), carbon removal is necessary to support the achievement of net-zero goals.

Additionally, Direct Air Carbon Capture technology will be an important building block for the production of next-generation sustainable aviation fuels. For the production of SAF from renewable energy with the innovative Power-to-Liquid or Sun-to-Liquid technologies, CO ₂  is for example captured from the atmosphere and further processed. For this, a direct air capture infrastructure will be needed. In IATA’s Infrastructure Roadmap, the development and promised success of SAF is closely linked to the adoption of direct air capture infrastructure. Lufthansa Group is involved in numerous initiatives to bring these promising next-generation SAF technologies to market maturity.

Airbus’ carbon removal initiative builds on Airbus’ partnership with 1PointFive which includes the pre-purchase of carbon removal credits of 400,000 tonnes of CO ₂  to be delivered over four years. The US-based company is working closely with leading organizations to develop practical pathways to achieve global climate goals.

Lufthansa Group pursues ambitious sustainability goals

Lufthansa Group has set itself ambitious climate protection goals and aims to achieve a CO₂-neutral balance by 2050.

Already by 2030, the Lufthansa Group wants to halve its net CO₂ emissions compared to 2019 through reduction and offsetting measures . The reduction rate of the 2030 target was validated by the independent Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in August 2022.

Lufthansa Group was the first airline group in Europe with a science-based CO₂ emission reduction target in line with the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. For effective climate protection, Lufthansa Group is focusing in particular on accelerating fleet modernization, the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (S AF), the continuous optimization of flight operations and offers for its private travelers and corporate customers to make a flight or the transport of goods. Furthermore, Lufthansa Group has actively supported global climate and weather research for many years. Lufthansa Group’s commitment to sustainability is rated positively and above the industry average by independent rating organizations.