Carbon removal companies whose revenue streams go beyond the voluntary credit market just got a $100 million vote of confidence for their diversified business models.
Today, the Elon Musk-backed XPrize announced the winners of its massive carbon removal prize, bringing an end to a four-year competition aimed at accelerating the development of technologies capable of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at the gigaton scale.
Enhanced rock weathering startup Mati Carbon notched the top prize with $50 million. Runners up NetZero, Vaulted Deep and UNDO Carbon were awarded $15 million, $8 million and $5 million, respectively.
The winners and honorable mentions span carbon removal pathways: from nature-based solutions like enhanced rock weathering and biochar, to direct air capture and ocean alkalinity enhancement. And each of the chosen approaches feature business models that generate additional economic value for existing, scaled industries, in addition to the nascent carbon removal market.
Mati Carbon’s winning solution involves applying finely crushed basalt on rice paddies, accelerating a natural weathering process that permanently draws down carbon dioxide. The approach also improves soil health by adding macro-nutrients like silicon, calcium, and magnesium. According to the company, adding basalt to rice paddies in India, Zambia, and Tanzania, where they currently operate, has increased crop productivity in those paddies by 20%.
First runner-up NetZero converts unused crop residue into biochar and applies it to agricultural soil for long-term sequestration, likewise contributing to higher yields. NetZero’s partner farmers also spend less on fertilizers, the company said. Second runner-up Vaulted Deep uses slurry injection technology from the oil and gas industry to inject organic waste into deep wells — storing carbon, but also acting as a waste disposal service, sourcing from municipal wastewater treatment plants, papermills, and agricultural facilities.
Those additional revenue streams — plus the ability of the winners to deliver tons quickly — may be key in the environment in which today’s CDR companies find themselves — demand has not grown as quickly or broadly as many had hoped. A handful of large tech companies remain the dominant buyers, while most other sectors have yet to purchase at any meaningful scale.
The XPrize, which is the largest incentive prize in history, drew more than a thousand entrants from around the world, representing a wide range of CDR pathways. To win, teams had to demonstrate that their solutions could remove at least 1,000 tons of CO2 each year, and show a viable pathway to gigaton scale.
The $100 million in prize money is being disbursed as the Trump administration, helped along by Musk himself, is pursuing several actions that could negatively impact CDR companies: rolling back emissions requirements, weakening climate policy, withholding federal funding, and generally undermining regulatory and market support for CDR.
