XPRIZE, the world’s leader in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges, today proudly announces the winners of its $100 million XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, the largest global incentive competition award in history. The four-year competition was designed to combat climate change by challenging teams around the world to develop high-quality carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions that are scalable to gigatonne level and durably and sustainably remove carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere and oceans. The grand prize and runner-up winning teams, selected from 20 impressive Finalists across 11 countries, each successfully removed more than 1,000 net tonnes of CO₂ in the final year of the competition, meeting XPRIZE’s bold demonstration requirements, the first step towards scaling sustainably to remove billions of tonnes globally.
Mati Carbon received the $50M grand prize for their enhanced rock weathering solution. Runners up NetZero, Vaulted Deep and UNDO Carbon were awarded $15M, $8M and $5M, respectively. Two XFACTOR awards of $1M each were awarded to Planetary and Project Hajar, a partnership between Aircapture and 44.01. This announcement, timed during Earth Week, coincides with recognition of the winning teams as part of the TIME100 Summit in New York, where XPRIZE is a supporting partner.
Excess CO₂ in the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans is the main driver of climate change, with human-produced CO₂ emissions accounting for more than two-thirds of all greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to dramatic emissions reductions, scientists agree that sustainable and scalable carbon removal solutions are necessary to keep average global temperatures from rising 2°C above pre-industrial levels, a critical threshold above which dangerous and cascading effects of human-generated climate change will occur. As we approach this “tipping point,” rising temperatures are contributing to higher sea levels, longer and hotter droughts, and more frequent extreme weather events.
“At this critical turning point for our planet, the technologies developed by these winning teams represent hope with a broad range of approaches that are suitable for different geographies and can help the world reach net zero and ultimately reverse climate change,” said Anousheh Ansari, chief executive officer, XPRIZE. “We cannot stabilize our climate without sustainably and safely extracting carbon from our atmosphere and oceans at large scales. I’m incredibly proud of the ways this XPRIZE competition catalyzed and fostered the innovation and collaboration necessary to build this critical new industry that was missing prior to our competition.”
The 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 evaluation criteria – operational, sustainability, and cost metrics – giving the XPRIZE judges the highest confidence in Mati Carbon’s solution’s long-term scalability.
“Being named the grand prize winner of XPRIZE Carbon Removal is not just a validation of our approach to CDR, it also represents a major catalyst to building out the science and infrastructure needed to deliver on our mission – generating climate resilience and economic empowerment for the more than 100 million smallholder farmers in developing economies worldwide,” said Shantanu Agarwal, Founder and CEO of Mati Carbon. “I am very proud of our Mati Carbon team and the thousands of smallholder farmers who have partnered with us in India, Tanzania, and Zambia.”
XPRIZE named additional runner-up teams for their compelling carbon removal demonstrations in the final year of the competition. NetZero, a French biochar company operating in Brazil, earned recognition as first runner-up and $15M for a highly efficient circular model to source and process tropical crop residues, then returning the biochar to local farmers to improve crop yields and resilience. Vaulted Deep, a U.S.-based waste management company, earned recognition as second runner-up and $8M for permanently storing otherwise unusable organic waste deep underground. UNDO Carbon, an enhanced rock weathering solution operating in Scotland and Canada, earned recognition as third runner-up and $5M for accelerating the natural process of rock weathering to permanently remove atmospheric CO₂ and boost soil health. $1M XFACTOR awards were also given to Planetary and Project Hajar for coming closest to meeting XPRIZE’s stringent demonstration criteria in the Ocean and Air tracks. Planetary’s solution, with operations in Canada, enhances the ocean’s natural ability to fight climate change through ocean alkalinity enhancement; Project Hajar, a partnership between Aircapture and 44.01, removes atmospheric CO₂ using direct air capture and mineralizes it in peridotite rock formations deep underground in the United Arab Emirates’ Hajar mountains.
In May 2024, 20 Finalist teams were selected to advance to the final round of the competition and challenged to demonstrate their CDR solutions at kilotonne scale over a one-year testing period, model their expected cost at megatonne scale, and show a viable pathway to scaling sustainably to gigatonne scale. The Judges assessed that all 20 Finalists performed exceptionally well in the competition and represent compelling examples of high-quality, scalable carbon dioxide removal solutions with the potential to make a meaningful difference in the fight against climate change. They also represent a diverse portfolio of carbon dioxide removal solutions that will all be necessary to scale in different geographies around the world.
“We’re incredibly proud of all the teams whose work contributed to significantly advancing the carbon removal industry,” said Nikki Batchelor, executive director, XPRIZE Carbon Removal. “Over the course of the four-year competition, more than 8,400 dedicated individuals – from scientists and engineers to students and technologists – came together to drive this critical industry forward. Their work is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, ensuring the solutions needed to confront climate change are available now.”
Launched in 2021, XPRIZE Carbon Removal catalyzed the development of a generation of new carbon removal solutions that laid the groundwork for an emerging $3.9B carbon credit market for high-quality durable carbon removal in the last four years. XPRIZE Carbon Removal galvanized over 1,300 teams from over 88 countries to develop new methodologies for CDR across four removal pathways – air, rocks, ocean, and land. Half of these teams formed specifically to compete in the competition. Over the course of the competition, $5M was awarded to student teams, and $15M in Milestone Awards were granted to teams with early demonstrations of their CDR solutions.
“This is a monumental milestone for the climate movement at large,” said David Babson, executive vice president, Climate and Energy, XPRIZE. “The vast potential of the carbon removal solutions coming out of this competition highlight the profound impact incentive competitions have in accelerating innovation. We’re proud to serve as a powerful catalyst for transformative solutions to tackle the most pressing global climate challenges.”
XPRIZE Carbon Removal builds on a decade of work in the carbon management sector, which includes the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE that offered $20M to innovators to develop technologies that captured and converted industrial CO₂ emissions into usable products. Awarded in 2021, the competition resulted in winning technologies that mineralize carbon into concrete to reduce the carbon footprint of the built environment. XPRIZE has been analyzing the growth of the circular carbon industry, and according to the latest annual Circular Carbon Market Report almost $28B has been invested in the industry, with $6.6B in 2024 alone.
XPRIZE Carbon Removal is funded by the Musk Foundation.
