Also called: Direct Air Capture Engineer
Designs machines and processes that pull carbon dioxide out of the air.
Carbon removal engineers design direct air capture plants, test sorbent materials, and scale up projects that store CO2 underground or turn it into products.
New field; figures are estimates from job postings.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in chemical or mechanical engineering; many have a master's.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Environmental Engineering.
Growing faster than average. Depends heavily on climate policy and funding.
Low risk for 10 years. AI speeds sorbent screening, but designing and scaling capture plants is hands-on engineering; funding is the bigger risk.
Classes: AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP Calculus, Environmental Science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2041.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.