Climatewire | Time The magazine chose Elon Musk as it “Person of the Year” in 2021 After completing the car market, the billionaire entrepreneur established the space industry and funded a $ 100 million competition for climatic technologies that would remove carbon dioxide from the air and sea.
But musk will not be present TimeTo confuse the winners of that groundbreaking competition in New York City on Wednesday. The $ 50 million gorgeous award will go into a startup Mati carbon in Houston, established three years ago, which works with crushed rocks and subsistence farmers to soak climate pollution.
It is not clear why Musk – an environment hero replaced Maga – leaving the Capstone event for a climate competition, which is tied through his name. Neither he nor Time Reply the requests for the comment. XPRIZE will be announced at the Time100 summit, which is characterized by 100 influential people in the annual program of the magazine.
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In addition to running the electric-vehicle-producer Tesla and aerospace firm SpaceX, Musk has led President Donald Trump’s attempt to reduce the federal government. Government’s efficiency department has reduced climate money for research, projects and agencies.
“We live in a very complex time,” said Nikki Bachelor who led the muscular carbon removal competition at the Expr someration Foundation. Before joining a non -profit organization, he worked as an innovation advisor for the American agency for international development – the first Federal Bureau Topped effectively by musk(There is no relationship with the three -decade -old foundation separate from being a donor of Musk.)
He said, “He was one of the leading voices trying to think about innovative solutions to pursue clean energy and deal with climate change,” he said about Musk, the world’s richest man. “We have continued on it.”
Batchelor spoke with the E & E News of Politico, before XPRize publicly announced the final carbon removal winners, each of which removed at least 1,000 tonnes of CO2 in a year and provided a professional plan for how they would reach 1 million tonnes annually. Since 2019, carbon removal companies have shut down a total of 650,000 tonnes – less than annual emissions of two natural gas power plants.
The runner-up-ups were Netzero, who were deep and pre-carbon, who purified prizes of $ 15 million, $ 8 million and $ 5 million respectively. Undo carbon uses an enlarged rock weathering similar to mati to remove CO2 from rapid air than in the natural carbon cycle. Netzero and Valt stopped CO2 by stopping carbon-rich organic materials from biodegrading both.
Carbon removal technologies are important because the world is Oil, gas and coal burns are unlikely to reduce To prevent construction of Dangerous levels of heat-trapped carbon dioxide In the environment and oceans. As a result, climate scientists have concluded that it will be necessary in the coming decades. Earth’s ability to remove carbon removal By billions of metric tons annually.
During the four -year experience competition, the then President Joe Biden signed the law and established programs that demanded to reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuels and sprinkle innovation of carbon removal. Now with the help of Trump administration-race and a Republican-controlled Congress-many of the federal climatic initiatives are proceeding to undo, which Trump has derived as “green scams”.
During the award of the award for the literacy of children in 2019, Elon Musk with the founder and executive chairman of XPRIZE, Peter Diamondis.
Jesse Grant for Global Learning/Getty Images
As a result, critics say that the Musk is probably in its biggest threat to one of the initial supporters of the carbon -removing industry.
“Musk sold himself, and I think it’s condemnable,” said Wil Burns, co-director of the Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal at the American University, who helped to establish guidelines for the exprise competition.
Musk’s $ 100m tweet
Musk announced competition four years ago With a deep tweet It seemed that a tour of technologies to remove carbon had already been emitted with those who capture the co2 from the smokstax.
“I am donating $ 100M to an award for the best carbon capture technique,” he wrote in January 2021. “Details next week.”
On Earth Day that year, XPRIZE founder Peter Diamondis Cape canverals joined Kasturi near Florida, For a lively conversation About carbon removal competition. Musk, who wore a black T-shirt and no shoes, reduced the risks of climate change and stated that he was more concerned about “super-Advanced” Artificial Intelligence and “Population Fall”.
At that point, carbon removal techniques were seen as theoretically possible rather than sound.
Unanimously shifted to 2021 when Swiss firm Climeworks opened the world’s first Carbon removal facility on commercial scale Reckjavic, outside Iceland. In the United States, MPs passed a bilateral infrastructure bill which included $ 3.5 billion to install. Four hubs capable of removing 1 million tonnes of CO2 per year It was pioneered using the Direct Air Captain Technology Climmworks.
Next year, the United Nations Inter government panel on climate change concluded that deploying technology to filter CO2 from air and oceans Will be necessary To avoid horrific global warming.
Economic matters for carbon removal were promoted in 2022 when A Coalition of technical companies Committed and US lawmakers to buy $ 925 million to carbon removal by the end of the decade Extended subsidy for direct air occupation,
Crushed rock and small farms
Musk helped to speed up a wave of support from large business and US policy makers, leading to an increase in carbon removal startups. Of the 1,300 teams participating in the musk-funded carbon removal competition, XPRIZE estimated that half was formed after the competition started.
It includes a Matty, Grand Prize winner, a public benefit corporation owned by a non -profit organization. According to CEO Shantinu Aggarwal, the unusual legal structure allows the company to prioritize its mission to deploy carbon removal by benefiting the company in the global south. He is a former oil field services engineer and venture capitalist, who first founded the Direct Air Capture firm Stestera.
“Funding is cut that the musk is affecting, and the government is removing expertise that is really important to run this development, of course, beating whatever benefits are received from XPRIZE.” -To Burns, Institute co-director to remove carbon responsible carbon in American University
Aggarwal said, “I saw the ability of increased rock weathering as a more scalable route in the current world, and important co-benfits, which bring to the small holder farmers,” said Aggarwal.
Mati works with farmers in India, Zambia and Tanzania to spread citrus minerals locally on their fields. Crushed rocks soak carbon and reduce runoff for fields dependent on rain. The company also sells carbon removal credit and shares revenue with farmers, which are unsafe for drought, extreme weather and other climate crises.
Aggarwal said, “We have to build business models that add values for human life (and) at the same time for climate.” “You can’t only climate in isolation. It just doesn’t work because it cannot be done because humans are not wired in this way, to clean and clean a common good.”
Aggarwal said that Mati’s $ 50 million award is five times higher than the first company. Cash infusion should allow it to expand it rapidly in many new countries, as it planned and reduced the cost of its expulsion to $ 100 per ton, which is nearly $ 400 today.
Musk effect
But the potential good soil can do the work done by the federal government through agencies like USAID for farmers and climate for climate, which has jointly spent $ 11 billion. Humanitarian and agricultural aid In fiscal 2024.
Musk in February Is called USAID “A criminal outfit” and said that it was time for the agency to “die.” 2026 budget request of Trump administration is expected Complete disintegration Roll out of six-post-old agency and the remaining programs in the State Department.
Mati and other carbon removing companies have also benefited Cooperation with researchers in academics And federal government. The Trump administration has canceled thousands of universities research grants and has given more information to the American bureaucracy about its carbon removal.
Carbon removal experts who are also an environmental policy professor at Northwestern University, “said Burns,” Funding is cut that musk is affecting, and the government is removing expertise in the government, which is really important to run this development, certainly the benefits from XPRIZE are beaten. “Those efforts have” tainted him, associated with him. “
“It’s unfortunate,” Burns said, accepting the importance of the capital and provided competition for the winners. “A lot of people are going to hear musk and are just walking away.”
XPRIZE, who previously collaborated with the divisive billionaire in a global education competition, seems to be ready to pursue Musk.
Bateller, the executive director of the group of carbon removal, said that there is no “interaction” with Musk Foundation to support future competitions.
XPRIZE hopes the declarations of the winners “to rally for people in climate for a bright place and carbon removal industry, especially, to rally about how much progress we have made in four years,” she said. “This may also be a jumping point for others to move around scaling, despite some of those distractions in the background.”
Risse from E&E News Politico, with permission from LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides the necessary news for energy and environmental professionals.
