Sign up for CleanTechnica’s Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott’s in-depth analyses and high level summaries, sign up for our daily newsletter, and/or follow us on Google News!
The global movement for durable carbon dioxide removal (CDR) received another cultural boost with the international tour of Legion44, a groundbreaking documentary that delves into the urgent quest to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it permanently.
Pioneered by the producers Paulina Villalonga and Fabian Nilsson, and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Leila Conners, Legion44 has made waves with a string of high-profile premieres in New York, Nuremberg, Singapore, Nairobi, Paris, Stanford, and Luxembourg, as well as appearances at several influential environmental film festivals. The movie has recently become available for streaming with an innovative CDR gift attached to it, and is highly recommended viewing.
At its core, Legion44 blends cinematic storytelling with technical insight, bringing viewers inside the emerging world of CDR, from biochar production facilities in sub-Saharan Africa to direct air capture hubs in North America and enhanced weathering pilots in Europe. The film follows a group of scientists, entrepreneurs, investors and local partners who together form a global coalition — a “legion” — dedicated to restoring atmospheric balance by scaling meaningful, verifiable carbon removal solutions.
“Carbon removal often lives in technical reports and policy briefs. Legion44 gives it a human face,” said one attendee at the Paris screening. “It reminds us that this is not only about parts per million, but about justice, innovation, and intergenerational stewardship.”
The Nairobi premiere, hosted in collaboration with youth-led climate organizations and African clean-tech founders, placed a spotlight on the continent’s growing role in carbon removal, particularly in areas like biochar, agroforestry, and soil carbon enhancement. Meanwhile, the Stanford screening fostered dialogue among the next generation of climate scientists, many of whom are researching novel CDR pathways in university labs.
With each stop, the film fuels critical conversations about the scale, speed, and equity of carbon removal, offering a hopeful but grounded narrative at a time when the climate crisis continues to intensify.
Legion44 is currently slated for additional festival appearances and academic screenings in the months ahead, with a broader digital release coming soon. As the global CDR ecosystem matures, the film serves as both a cultural artifact and a call to action: to build solutions that not only work, but work for everyone.
Whether you have solar power or not, please complete our latest solar power survey.
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Sign up for our daily newsletter for 15 new cleantech stories a day. Or sign up for our weekly one on top stories of the week if daily is too frequent.
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
CleanTechnica’s Comment Policy
