Annual CO₂ removal capacity of the largest operational direct-air-capture plant (tonnes per year). The frontier number for the field: plants jumped from Climeworks' Orca (~4,000 t/yr, 2021) to Mammoth (~36,000) to 1PointFive's Stratos (~500,000, 2025), with megatonne sites next. Counts nameplate capacity of operating plants, not announced ones.
Capture capacity jumped from 4,000 t/yr in 2021 to 500,000 at Stratos in 2025 — a 125× scale-up in four years. Cost is the unsolved half: today's plants run $400–1,000 per tonne against a $100 target.