Climeworks has officially turned on the world's largestplant " direct air capture', located on a lava plateau in southern Iceland. On Wednesday, the Swiss company said it had started operations at its Mammoth facility, marking a major milestone in the world's burgeoning effort to remove planet-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and permanently lock it away.

The plant opening also helps lay the groundwork for a significantly larger direct air capture facility that Climeworks plans to build in the United States using federal funding, experts say. (Maria Gallucci, more at canarymedia.com)