XPrize Carbon Removal: What You Need to Know about the Elon’s Carbon Capture Prize.

XPRIZE Carbon Removal is aimed at tackling climate change and rebalancing Earth’s carbon cycle. This is one of the biggest challenges facing the world today. The $100M competition is funded by Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation. It is the largest incentive prize in history.

Climate change is a big problem. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates the need of approximately 10 gigatonnes of net CO2 removal per year. This is in order to keep global temperature rise under 1.5 or 2C by 2050. The global average temperature could increase 6˚(C) by the year 2100 if things continue the way they are. 

Teams & Registration

The competition invites innovators and teams from anywhere on the planet to create and demonstrate solutions that can pull carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or oceans, and sequester it durably and sustainably. To win the grand prize, teams must demonstrate a working solution at a scale of at least 1000 tonnes removed per year; model their costs at a scale of 1 million tonnes per year; and show a pathway to achieving a scale of gigatonnes per year in future.

Any carbon negative solution is eligible: nature-based, direct air capture, oceans, mineralization, or anything else that achieves net negative emissions, sequesters CO2 durably, and show a sustainable path to achieving low cost at gigatonne scale.

Team registration opens with the announcement of the full competition guidelines on Earth Day, April 22nd 2021. The competition will last for 4 years through Earth Day 2025.

Prizes

After 1 year of competition the judges will review all submissions received by that time and award up to 15 Milestone Prizes of $1 million each. After 4 years, judges will select the winners. $50 million paid to the single Grand Prize Winner. $30 million will be distributed among up to 3 runners up

XPRIZE will also award up to US$5M to student teams in the Fall of 2021. These awards may also fund participation in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal or the development of key supportive technologies. For more information, please refer to the Competition Guidelines. Register here