#FridayFacts: Ep.1 Capturing Carbon from the Air

In April 2025, the USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability launched #FridayFacts, a new short-form video series for the Institute’s Instagram and YouTube Channel to bring climate and sustainability topics to the forefront of your social media feed. Spotlighting innovative research and solutions led by Wrigley Institute-affiliated researchers, the series focuses on sharing timely, factual information in bite-sized, easily-digestible videos.

The first episode featured Wrigley Institute Director and Professor Joe Árvai, who recently traveled to Zürich, Switzerland with his undergraduate students as part of a course that focuses on decision-making around sustainable action. While there, the group visited Climeworks–the world’s first commercial-scale direct direct air capture (DAC) facility–to learn firsthand about an emerging climate solution for decarbonization.

In the video, Árvai walks viewers through key points: what is DAC. what are the challenges, and is it a feasible solution to address climate change?

The takeaway: DAC isn’t the end-all be-all solution—but it can play a key role in closing the gap once we’ve already done the hard work of decarbonizing. It’s one tool among many, and also one worth watching as the technology evolves.