en.Wedoany.com Reported - On July 2, Ucaneo officially inaugurated Germany's largest Direct Air Capture (DAC) facility in Berlin's Marzahn-Hellersdorf district, marking a critical step toward an industrial carbon economy in the country. The company held a launch event at its newly built DAC campus, where political leaders, industry executives, and climate technology investors witnessed the transition from pilot innovation to commercial-scale deployment.
The facility, based on Ucaneo's patented electrochemical platform, captures CO2 directly from the air and supplies it as a resource for industrial applications such as fuels and chemicals. Many industries are currently facing a shortage of pure CO2. Company founders Carla Glassl and Florian Tiller, together with Christian Rickerts of the Berlin Industrial Group (BIG), inaugurated the event, emphasizing that the plant is not just a new facility but the starting point for a scalable carbon economy in Europe.
The project went from groundbreaking to full operation in just 18 months. Ucaneo stated that this pace demonstrates how carbon removal infrastructure can be built at the speed required by the climate crisis.
The political speeches at the event focused on the urgency of climate action, a topic made particularly pressing by recent heatwaves—just days earlier, temperatures in parts of Germany and across Europe exceeded 40 degrees Celsius.
Markus Röhner, Vice President and Head of Engineering at Everllence, delivered a speech and later participated in a panel discussion titled "Scaling the Carbon Industry," moderated by Ucaneo's Olivia Suchy, alongside Aaron Neuville from EY, Simone Less from Aramco Ventures, and Dennis Rendschmidt from VDMA Power Systems. During the discussion, Röhner offered a sharp perspective on the pace of industrial decarbonization: "Rather than talking, let's act."
At noon, the official inauguration ceremony took place, including the formal opening of the Ucaneo DAC campus and the handover of the building by construction partner Vollack. Participants then toured the facility in groups and visited the newly opened "Future CO2 Store."
Looking ahead to the next phase, Ucaneo plans to build a commercial-scale facility in northeastern Germany with ten times the capture capacity of the Berlin plant, though the site has yet to be determined. The company expects the facility to be operational by the first quarter of 2028 and views the Berlin DAC campus as a validation base for future larger-scale projects.
