Climate + Energy
Carbon Removal
TK - OVERVIEW OF THE PRIZE. XPRIZE exists to create a world of To realize that vision, we set audacious goals in seven focus areas where breakthroughs will be truly transformative for humanity.
Impact
XPRIZE Carbon Removal is the largest global incentive competition award in history, with a total prize purse of $100 million.
Climate + Energy
The competition galvanized over 1,300 teams from over 88 countries to develop new methodologies for CDR across four removal pathways - air, rocks, ocean, and land.
Climate + Energy
All 20 Finalists represent compelling examples of high-quality, scalable carbon removal solutions with potential to make a meaningful difference.
Climate + Energy
The competition laid the groundwork for an emerging $3.9B carbon credit market for high-quality durable carbon removal in the last four years.
Winner
Grand prize winner Mati Carbon demonstrated a highly durable approach to CDR, by applying finely crushed basalt over agricultural lands in India to accelerate a natural weathering process that permanently draws down atmospheric CO₂. Beyond carbon removal, Mati Carbon’s process delivers significant benefits to smallholder farmers. These farmers are among the least responsible for and the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Mati Carbon’s deployments bolster farmers’ livelihoods through improved soil health, reduced agricultural inputs, and increased income at zero cost to them. Mati Carbon’s team has developed a scientifically rigorous approach to monitoring and verification, and excelled across each of XPRIZE’s prize evaluation criteria – operational, sustainability, and cost metrics – giving the XPRIZE judges the highest confidence in Mati Carbon’s solution’s long-term scalability.
Mati carbon
- Finalist
- Phase 2 Top 20 Finalist Team
- Phase 2 Top 100 Team
- Phase 2 Team
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Barrier
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), over the past 60 years atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) has increased at a rate 100 times faster than any previous increases, outpacing natural processes that remove carbon from the atmosphere.
Excess CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans drives climate change, increasing the risk of extreme heat, abnormal weather patterns, stresses on food production, and access to water as temperatures continue to rise.
Breakthrough
XPRIZE Carbon Removal is a $100M prize to advance novel solutions to remove carbon dioxide from our planet’s air and water.
Teams must create and demonstrate solutions that can pull carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or oceans and sequester it durably and sustainably.
Any carbon-negative solution is eligible: pathways include land-based, direct air capture, oceans or mineralization.
About The Prize
Launched in 2021, XPRIZE Carbon Removal was the largest incentive prize in history at its inception.
More than 1,300 teams of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs from 88 countries signed up to take on this challenge. In May 2024, 20 teams were selected as finalists in the competition. The grand prize winner will take home $50M in April 2025, while $30M will be distributed amongst the runners up.
To win the grand prize, teams must demonstrate a working solution at a scale of at least 1000 metric tons (tonnes) removed per year, model their costs at a scale of one million tonnes (one megatonne) per year, and show a pathway to achieving a scale of one billion tonnes (one gigatonne) per year in the future.
By analyzing and publishing data on each team’s performance, XPRIZE is not only fostering scalable solutions, but increasing trust and integrity in carbon removal, laying the foundation for future innovation.
The $100M prize purse will be distributed as follows:
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. At the discretion of the judges, these awards may be granted on a conditional basis, subject to the team’s demonstrated commitment to continuing to develop and advance their solutions and to compete for the Grand Prize.
After 4 years, judges will select the winners:
$50 million paid to the single Grand Prize Winner
$30 million to be distributed among up to 3 runners up