The Department of Energy on Friday announced $1.2 billion in funding for direct air capture projects in Texas and Louisiana, in what officials said was the largest-ever investment in engineered carbon removal.

The funding is part of the department’s five-year, $3.5 billion grant program for four regional direct air capture projects aimed at capturing carbon emissions from the atmosphere and storing them deep underground.

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DOE said the awards will fund both Project Cypress in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, and the South Texas DAC Hub in Kleberg County, Texas.

Once operational, the projects are slated to remove more than 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere per year, or the annual equivalent of emissions from 445,000 gasoline-powered cars.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm described the carbon removal projects as “essential” to achieving a net-zero global economy by 2050.

“With this once-in-a-generation investment made possible by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, DOE is laying the foundation for a direct air capture industry crucial to tackling climate change — transforming local economies and delivering healthier communities along the way,” she said in a statement.

DAC technology does not yet exist on a commercial scale, but is considered crucial to deliver on the Biden administration's goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. Energy Department officials said Friday that the Texas and Louisiana projects will play a key role in helping demonstrate the ability of carbon capture and removal at scale.

The administration has estimated that between 400 million and 1.8 billion metric tons of CO2 must be removed from the atmosphere and captured from emissions sources annually by 2050, and said the new projects will help further demonstrate the ability to build out and store atmospheric CO2 at scale.

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Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) praised the decision Friday, which he said provides his state with the single largest investment to date under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which he voted for in 2021.

“Carbon capture opens a new era of energy and manufacturing dominance for Louisiana. It is the future of job creation and economic development for our state,” Cassidy said in a statement. “It’s for this reason that I wrote the original Direct Air Capture Hub program and ensured its inclusion in the infrastructure bill.”