Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has entered a long-term strategic partnership with tech pioneer neustark, the first company in the world to store carbon dioxide generated by biogas facilities in demolished concrete to remove it permanently from the atmosphere.

The Swiss-based start-up has already demonstrated the viable benefits of its new technology. And its new partnership with SWISS should permit this Swiss innovation to be more rapidly further refined and internationally expanded as a key element in achieving the world’s carbon reduction goals.

The air transport sector is facing a major challenge. Flying brings people and cultures together; but it generates emissions, too. So firm action is needed today if future generations are also to enjoy all the benefits that mobility brings.

This is why SWISS is consistently pursuing its own objective of making its business and operations carbon-neutral by 2050 via various measures ranging from deploying more efficient aircraft and using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to promoting pioneering new solutions that permanently remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

SWISS’s new partnership with Swiss-based start-up neustark is a further key element in these sustainability endeavors. SWISS is the first airline in the world to support the mineralization technology that this ETH Zurich spinoff has developed.

The technique takes carbon dioxide generated in biogas facilities and stores it in recycled concrete (sourced from demolished buildings and the like) to permanently remove it from the atmosphere. SWISS has concluded a partnership agreement with neustark which will remain in effect until 2030, with options for enlarging the volumes covered and/or extending the agreement’s duration.

SWISS’s early involvement in its venture will enable neustark to accelerate the development of its technologies and drive its international expansion. In forging such partnerships, SWISS and the Lufthansa Group are underlining their commitment to pursuing and promoting scalable science-based solutions for decarbonizing the air transport sector.

A strategic partnership for scalable CO₂ removal

“Our journey to net zero demands actions as well as words,” stressed SWISS CEO Jens Fehlinger. “Switzerland is a land of innovation. And we’re proud to help carry this strength out into the world.

“In teaming up with neustark, we’re supporting a Swiss idea that can have a global impact. Permanent CO₂ removal is key to the future of the aviation sector; and we are intentionally getting involved in this technology as early as possible, to help scale it up and drive its further development. And as the first airline in the world to do so, we’re saying: At SWISS, we don’t wait; we lead the way.”

“We are delighted to have secured SWISS as our first airline partner,” added Valentin Gutknecht, Co-CEO and co-founder of neustark. “Our new collaboration shows how even difficult-to-decarbonize sectors like air transport can help to scale up core climate technologies.

“Pioneers like SWISS are playing a vital role in further developing our carbon removal technology and in enabling us to achieve our ambitious growth plans to permanently remove exponentially more tonnes of hard-to-avoid CO₂ emissions from the atmosphere every day.”

Partnerships key to achieving ambitious objectives

SWISS’s new partnership with neustark further expands the already extensive involvements of the company and the Lufthansa Group in the fields of sustainable aviation fuel and CO₂ removal. SWISS was the first airline in the world to use the solar fuel developed and produced by Swiss-based start-up Synhelion. And SWISS is also the first airline to team up with the Climeworks company to help scale up its ‘direct air capture’ carbon removal technology.

Sustainability: a shared task and commitment

SWISS and the Lufthansa Group are adopting a range of actions to achieve net-zero CO₂ emissions by 2050. These include reducing their carbon emissions at the source through operating advanced aircraft, raising the efficiency of flight operations, and using sustainable fuels.

This is complemented by investments in climate projects and promoting the development of promising new technologies such as neustark’s that enable permanent CO₂ removal. Air transport can only become more sustainable if all its various parties and partners work together: airlines, their customers, tech pioneers and the political world.

More about SWISS’ partnerships with Swiss cleantech pioneers like neustark in the SWISS Magazine.

neustark in brief

Swiss-based start-up neustark has developed an innovative technology that takes concrete from demolition sites – the world’s biggest waste stream of more than a billion tonnes a year – and other mineral waste and turns it into a carbon sink. To do so, CO₂ generated by biogas facilities is captured, liquefied and transported to nearby demolition waste recycling centers, where it is injected into the now- granular recycled concrete and permanently bound therein through an accelerated mineralization process that transforms the CO₂ into rock. The CO₂-enriched recycled concrete granules can be re-used in construction – in road building, for instance, or to produce fresh recycled concrete. With more than 30 active CO₂ separation and storage sites in Europe and more being planned, neustark is pursuing its vision of permanently storing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO₂ in mineral waste in the next few years.

Neustark is a spinoff of ETH Zurich. Founded in 2019 and domiciled in Bern, the company is one of the leading developers of CO₂ mineralization and is rapidly expanding in Europe with active projects in Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Austria and elsewhere.

About SWISS

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is Switzerland’s leading air carrier. With one of Europe’s most advanced aircraft fleets, SWISS is a premium airline that provides direct flights from Zurich and Geneva to keep Switzerland connected with Europe and the world. Its Swiss WorldCargo division offers an extensive range of airport-to-airport airfreight services for high-value, time-critical and care-intensive consignments. SWISS embodies Switzerland’s traditional values and is dedicated to delivering the highest product and service quality. The company has also set ambitious CO₂ goals and plans to halve its 2019 net CO₂ emissions by 2030 and make its business and operations entirely carbon-neutral by 2050, particularly by promoting the use of sustainable aviation fuels. SWISS is part of the Lufthansa Group, and is also a member of Star Alliance, the world’s biggest airline network.

All images credited to SWISS