XPrize: how these companies develop Direct Air Capture

The XPRIZE Carbon Removal is a $100 million global competition aimed at tackling climate change and rebalancing Earth's carbon cycle. Funded by Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation, this competition is the largest incentive prize in history. The competition seeks to incentivize the development of carbon removal solutions that can achieve net negative emissions, including nature-based, direct air capture, ocean-based, mineralization, and other approaches. The goal is to develop efficient solutions that can collectively achieve the 10-gigaton-per-year carbon removal target by 2050.

The XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition will run for four years, from April 22, 2021 (Earth Day) to Earth Day 2025. The grand prize winner must demonstrate that their innovation is capable of removing 1,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere or oceans and storing it in a safe, cost-effective way.

Direct air capture (DAC) is one of the methods being explored by various teams participating in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition. DAC involves extracting CO₂ directly from the atmosphere and storing it permanently in an environmentally benign way. In this article, we introduce some XPRIZE Carbon Removal companies who specialize in DAC technology.