• Partners Group co-led a CHF 600 million fundraising round for Climeworks
• The funding will enable Climeworks to scale its Direct Air Capture capacity
• Direct Air Capture technology is critical to reaching global net-zero goals

Partners Group, a leading global private markets firm, has agreed, on behalf of its clients, to invest in Climeworks (or “the Company”), a designer, developer, and operator of carbon dioxide Direct Air Capture (“DAC”) plants. Partners Group co-led a CHF 600 million fundraising round for the Company, together with GIC. Other new investors in the round included Baillie Gifford, Carbon Removal Partners, Global Founders Capital, M&G, and Swiss Re.

Founded in 2009 as a spin-off from ETH Zurich, Climeworks generates revenues through selling carbon dioxide removal services to businesses and individuals. Today, the Company has built 15 DAC plants, including the world’s largest DAC and storage plant, which started operations last September in Iceland. The capital from this equity round is anticipated to be used for capacity scale-up and geographical expansion – pilot projects have started in the US, the Nordics, and the Middle East – as well as investment into technology development and scaling the organization. The Company aims to become a dominant platform in the growing DAC market.

Partners Group will work with the management team and other investors to help scale Climeworks, as well as support its commercialization strategy and international expansion.

Alfred Gantner, Co-Founder and Executive Member of the Board of Directors, Partners Group, says: “Climeworks’ DAC plants are part of a portfolio of carbon removal technologies that are essential to achieving the Paris Agreement goals. The scalability of Climeworks’ technology makes it ideally suited to our transformational investing strategy and positions the Company to make a significant contribution to global carbon removal efforts. We are also attracted to Climeworks due to its close fit with our commitment to achieving lasting, positive stakeholder impact.”

Dr. Christoph Gebald, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Climeworks, comments: “Climeworks is a pioneer in the DAC market. We have been working on our DAC technology for over a decade and are now in a position to scale-up. Partners Group’s extensive experience in building next-generation infrastructure platforms and working with fast-growing businesses makes them an ideal long-term partner. We look forward to working with the team alongside our other investors.”

Esther Peiner, Managing Director, Co-Head Private Infrastructure Europe, Partners Group, adds: “Investing in DAC technology has never been more important as the atmospheric concentration of CO2 globally continues to climb. Our research shows DAC technology benefits from several advantages over other emissions reduction technologies, such as location-agnosticism and limited land area requirements. Together with our co-lead investor GIC, we believe Climeworks has the potential to become a category leader in the DAC market due to its premium product and strong brand presence.”

Decarbonization is one of the giga themes guiding Partners Group’s thematic investing across asset classes and the firm has identified carbon management as a key focus within that theme. In a recent research paper, The next generation of decarbonization infrastructure, Partners Group estimated that approximately USD 250 billion will be spent on carbon management this decade, expanding to over USD 1.6 trillion by 2040.