Clean, sustainable fuels made ‘from thin air’ and plastic waste

"Scientists discover" isn't the story you're really looking for, it's "Engineers design and tradespeople build a scalable pilot plant".

Scientists long have discovered ways to transmute lead into gold. The only problem is they have to do it one atom at a time at massive expense using the world's most expensive equipment. They discovered how to do it, but it isn't worth doing for something as pedestrian as gold.