We all know scaling climate hardware is hard, and 2025 has been no exception. We’ve lived through huge uncertainty with the cooling of US federal support, growing scepticism from media impatient for impact, and a general sobering of funding — all against an intensifying backdrop of severe storms, extreme heat, wildfires, and flooding.

Yet, hope, optimism, and ambition are still very much alive. Funding is still flowing into our space and there are bold new policy moves to get excited about, from Japan and Canada, to the UK and EU. Beyond plant announcements, we have also witnessed a swathe of real-world direct air capture (DAC) deployments, with 84 facilities estimated to be operational globally before the year is out — three of which were delivered by our team.

Despite political headwinds, at Mission Zero we are quietly getting on with the job: deploying our technology as quickly, safely, and responsibly as possible this decade to scale it to where climate science tells us it needs to be in the next. Our second DACtion Report gives us an opportunity to reflect on what we’ve achieved together — and underlines that there is a tremendous amount of passion and progress to celebrate.