Name: neustark
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SWISS becomes neustark’s first CDR partner from the aviation industry
Long-term investment from SWISS will allow neustark to grow its carbon capture, storage and removal operations across Europe
Collaboration across hard-to-abate industries such as construction and aviation enables scale-up of durable carbon removal, essential to reach net zero

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS), part of the Lufthansa Group, has signed a multi-year agreement for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) from Switzerland-based climate tech start-up neustark. SWISS is the first airline partner to support neustark's solution as part of an agreement to remove CO₂ by 2030, with an option to expand the volume and duration.

The long-term strategic partnership will support neustark’s ambition to expand its technology deployment across Europe. Working towards its ambition to remove hundreds of thousands of tonnes of residual CO₂via mineralization in waste streams such as demolition concrete in the next years, neustark already operates 38 capture and storage plants across seven European countries.

The partnership equally underscores SWISS' commitment to scientifically sound, scalable solutions for decarbonizing aviation – and complements SWISS's comprehensive commitment to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and CO₂ removal, having already joined forces with other Swiss climate techs such as Climeworks and Synhelion.

Jens Fehlinger, CEO of SWISS, commented, «We are proud to be working with neustark to drive forward an effective and durable climate solution based on Swiss innovation. Permanent CO₂ removal is a key building block on the path to net zero in aviation. Together, we are taking an important and early step toward scaling this technology.»

Valentin Gutknecht, founder and co-CEO at neustark said, «SWISS is our first aviation partner – a hard-to-decarbonize sector. We applaud their multi-technology approach to enabling the scale-up of climate solutions. Pioneers like SWISS play a crucial role in further deploying our carbon removal technology to permanently remove exponentially more tonnes of hard-to-abate CO₂ emissions from the atmosphere every single day.»

Collaboration across industries

For the first time, the aviation and construction industries, two hard-to-abate sectors, will come together to further scale carbon removal. Neustark is the first company to commercialize the permanent storage of CO₂ through mineralization in demolished concrete and other mineral waste streams, and the first to deploy its solution at multiple sites across Europe. The scale-up of such climate technologies requires collaboration across tech pioneers, politics, business, and customers. The partnership with SWISS provides symbiotic support for both industries to scale permanent carbon removal capabilities.

How neustark’s solution works

Neustark’s technology repurposes concrete from demolished buildings and other mineral waste material (such as incinerator bottom ash and slags) as permanent storage for CO₂ captured nearby, using a process known as mineralization. Biogenic CO₂ is captured from partnering biogas plants, then liquified and transported to partnering construction waste recycling sites. There, as an add-on to the existing recycling process, the carbon dioxide is injected into demolition granules. Neustark’s technology triggers an accelerated mineralization process, thus binding the CO₂ permanently to the pores and surface of the granules. The CO₂ is permanently stored and removed from the atmosphere. The carbonated granules can then be used by recyclers to build roads or to produce recycled concrete.

Neustark’s CDR is measurable, verified by the Gold Standard, and permanent. The mineralization process stores the captured CO₂ for hundreds of thousands of years, and the risk of reversal is proven to be slim to none.

Founded in 2019, neustark is a spin-off from ETH Zurich. Based in Bern, it is the leading developer in the field of durable carbon removal via mineralization and is expanding rapidly in Europe with 38 active capture and storage projects in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, the UK, France, Italy and Liechtenstein already in operation – and 20+ new projects in the line-up for deployment in the next months.