Elon Musk pledges $100 million for new X Prize carbon removal competition

Elon Musk is putting up $100 million as part of a new X Prize Foundation competition focused on carbon removal technology. The contest, announced Monday morning, will run for four years and is open to teams around the globe.

Fifteen teams will be selected for the competition within 18 months. They will each get $1 million, and 25 separate $200,000 scholarships will be given to student teams who enter. The grand prize winner will be awarded $50 million, second place will receive $20 million, and third place will get $10 million.

Winners will have to “demonstrate a solution that can pull carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or oceans and lock it away permanently in an environmentally benign way,” according to the X Prize...

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