The UN’s climate panel (IPCC) estimates that CO2 capture and storage solutions need to scale from the current 0.1 gigatons of CO2 annually to 10 gigatons to keep global temperature rise under 1.5°C.

As more organizations and companies commit to CO2 neutrality, including Scope 3 emissions, the need for innovative technologies and sustainable products also grows.

Professor Julio Friedmann, Chief Scientist at Carbon Direct, emphasizes that reducing emissions is crucial but cannot stand alone: “The science is clear: We must both significantly reduce global emissions and remove billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. This is not an either-or,” explains Julio Friedmann.

With different approaches, Apple, Stripe, and Heirloom each play a role in the CDR ecosystem. This allows some of the largest companies in the U.S. to provide inspiration for Danish leaders when navigating the climate agenda.

Apple aims to be CO2-neutral by 2030.

This includes the company’s Scope 3 emissions, which cover CO2 emissions from its own and directly controlled business activities, supply chain, and products. It’s a challenging task, as 98% of Apple’s emissions are not directly under their control.

The company plans to achieve its 2030 goal by reducing its total emissions by 75% compared to its 2015 CO2 footprint and implementing CDR solutions to capture and store CO2 to address the remaining 25%.

In Apple’s supply chain, over 300 manufacturers in more than 28 countries have committed to using 100% clean energy for production by 2030.In 2021, Apple launched its Restore Fund with a commitment of $200 million. In 2023, Apple further expanded its commitment to CDR by making an additional investment of up to $200 million in a fund aiming to remove 1 million tons of CO2 annually while generating financial returns for its investors.

While Scope 3 emissions are the most challenging for companies to measure and act upon, this area also offers the greatest potential for innovation.

A key example of this effort is Apple’s Clean Energy Charging. With the launch of iOS 16 in the fall of 2022, Apple devices in the U.S. can charge when electricity production has the lowest CO2 footprint. If all U.S. iPhone users utilized this feature, the CO2 reduction would be equivalent to removing 85,000 cars from the roads.

Several of the world’s largest companies have long since joined the climate fight. Apple may stand as one of the most ambitious giants globally, but companies like Stripe and Heirloom, both based in the USA, also illustrate how they focus on climate and CDR in their strategies in different ways.

Stripe, a financial infrastructure company, announced in 2019 that it would invest $1 million annually in CDR technologies, focusing on cost efficiency and scalability. The company also launched Stripe Climate - a platform that allows users to purchase CDR.

In 2022, Stripe collaborated with companies like Alphabet, Meta, and Shopify to launch Frontier, which has committed to investing $925 million in developing CDR solutions over eight years.Heirloom Carbon Technologies, founded in 2020, operates the USA’s first commercial DAC plant, which accelerates a natural process using limestone to capture CO2 from the atmosphere and turn it into stone. Their technology aims to reduce costs to $100 per ton of CO2 by 2035.

Heirloom has secured customers like Microsoft, Stripe, and Meta, with Microsoft committing to purchasing 315,000 tons of CO2 removal over several years.There are many paths forward on the climate agenda, and a ‘one size fits all’ approach does not exist. Climate has become a strategic parameter, and Apple is a shining example of commercializing doing the right thing.

Today, the real "climate fool" is not the so-called "climate alarmist" but rather the one who fails to address the climate crisis and act accordingly. For Danish companies, it is more important than ever to act and build climate resilience.