Elon Musk and XPrize team up for $100M carbon removal incentive reward

The $100 million reward from Elon Musk’s gigaton carbon reduction competition will be handled by XPrize, a charitable organization that designs and hosts public competitions aimed at improving humanity through creativity. Musk revealed that last month he would donate $100 million as a reward for the best carbon capture technology, which was funded by the Musk Foundation.

XPrize shared details of the 4-year global competition for carbon removal committed to addressing climate change and rebalancing the CO2 cycle of the Planet. Donations from Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation will be distributed in many ways.

XPrize team will manage the $100M carbon capture prize https://t.co/fSw5IanL0r

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 9, 2021

First, $1 million will be given to 15 teams with the best CO2 removal solutions. Teams and innovators from around the world are invited to show their Carbon Reduction strategies to competition judges with a validated scale model.

On Earth Day, April 22, 2021, teams will register to join the competition and learn more about its guidelines. Below are the fundamental conditions for the competition.

• A working carbon removal prototype that can be rigorously validated and capable of removing at least 1 ton per day.
• The team’s ability to demonstrate to the judges that their solution can economically scale to the gigaton level.
• The main metric for this competition is fully considered cost per ton, inclusive of whatever considerations are necessary for environmental benefit, permanence, any value-added products; and
• The final criteria is the length of time that the removed carbon is locked up for. A minimum goal of 100 years is desired.

Thanks to @elonmusk, Carbon Capture is having a moment! But why is it so important? Let Marcius Extavour, and one of the world's leading experts on Carbon Capture, sum up everything you need to know. ♻️ 💡#carbontech #elon #elonmusk #techforgood #techtalk #technews pic.twitter.com/ZLjFaFO1L3

— XPRIZE (@xprize) January 22, 2021

In addition to the $1 million each of the 15 top teams will earn, XPrize will also offer student teams in the competition a total of 25 student scholarships worth $200,000.

The remaining $100 million donation will be distributed to the competition winners, with a $50 million grand prize in first place, a $20 million prize in second place, and a $10 million prize in third place.

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