Can vacuums slow global warming? Administration bets $1.2 billion on it.

The Biden administration is betting big on giant carbon-sucking vacuums as a climate solution, announcing that it will help jump-start two mammoth projects in Texas and Louisiana that will be a global testing ground for the new technology.

The move positions the United States as a leader in trying to mitigate emissions by installing hulking, costly machinery that aims to pull greenhouse gas emissions out of the atmosphere and bury them underground. The Texas project, led by the Occidental Petroleum Corp., also known as Oxy, already ranks as one of the world’s largest experiments in “direct air capture.”