As the world confronts the urgent challenge of removing billions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, breakthrough innovation is essential to scale solutions fast enough to meet global climate goals. On this episode of Earth911's Sustainability in Your Ear, discover the groundbreaking results of the $100 million XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, a four-year competition among 1,300 teams from 88 countries that represents one of the most ambitious efforts to catalyze carbon removal innovation. We're joined by Nikki Batchelor, Executive Director of XPRIZE Carbon Removal, and Michael Leitch, Senior Technical Lead for the competition, to discuss what may be one of the most consequential moments in carbon removal innovation to date. They discuss how the competition's $100 million scope and multi-year timeline attracted breakthrough solutions and outline plans for continued engagement with the winning teams as they scale their innovations.[

Kenya-based Mati Carbon claimed the $50 million grand prize with an enhanced rock weathering approach that spreads finely ground volcanic rock on farmland, simultaneously capturing atmospheric carbon while improving soil health for local farmers. Mati Carbon's victory wasn't just about technical innovation; it demonstrated a cost-effective approach that delivers multiple benefits in Kenya and India's smallholder farming communities. Three runners-up—NetZero, Vaulted Deep, and UNDO—each received $5 million for their distinct approaches, which spanned biochar production, underground carbon storage, and large-scale mineral spreading.

In 2024 alone, humans released 41.6 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, adding to approximately 1.5 trillion tons emitted since the Industrial Revolution. Current carbon removal projects operate at a kiloton scale and must rapidly expand to millions of tons annually. The goal isn't merely offsetting new emissions—it's achieving net-negative emissions to reverse the climate damage already done, albeit slowly. Learn more about the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition and other grand challenges at xprize.org. Watch the documentary series about the competition and winners on the XPRIZE Carbon Removal YouTube channel.

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