On Earth Day 2022, XPRIZE and the Musk Foundation announced the 15 winners of the $1 million Milestone Awards in the $100 million XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition. These awards recognize early-stage success and help teams scale up their solutions to address climate change through durable and measurable carbon removal. Representing nine countries, including the U.S., Canada, Kenya, Iceland, and the Philippines, the selected teams were chosen from an initial pool of over 1,100 applicants and reflect a wide spectrum of innovative approaches.
This historic prize—funded by Elon Musk and the largest of its kind—seeks scalable carbon removal solutions that can eventually reach gigatonne levels of CO₂ capture. Solutions must prove they can sequester carbon for at least 100 years, achieve net-negative emissions, and demonstrate a viable path to global deployment. The top 15 milestone winners were chosen following an intensive vetting process, which involved rigorous review of their technical viability, life cycle analyses, and cost projections.
The selected teams are pursuing diverse methods, including direct air capture, ocean-based strategies, mineralization, soil carbon storage, agroforestry, and biochar production. Examples include Verdox and Carbfix’s work on air capture and geologic sequestration, Captura’s ocean carbon removal system, and Carbin Minerals’ rock-based solution. Notably, all 287 qualifying teams remain eligible for the final prize, and new entrants can still register until December 1, 2023.
The competition now resets ahead of the final round in 2025, where $80 million will be awarded. To qualify, teams must demonstrate removal of at least 1,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year, model cost-effective scalability to a million tonnes annually, and outline a third-party-verified path to gigatonne impact. This bold initiative reflects the urgent need for real-world solutions that move beyond theory into execution, with the ultimate goal of helping rebalance Earth’s carbon cycle.
