Three Canadian cleantech startups are among the 20 finalists competing for up to $50 million in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, a $100-million, four-year-long competition funded by the Musk Foundation. The competition aims to combat climate change by incentivizing innovators to create and demonstrate solutions for removing and sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or oceans.
The Canadian finalists, Skyrenu, Arca, and Planetary, have made it to the final stage of the competition and will now be challenged to remove 1,000 net tonnes of CO2 during the final year. The winner, to be announced in April 2025, will be selected based on their ability to successfully remove CO2, as well as the scalability and feasibility of their solution. This development follows the success of another Canadian cleantech startup, CarbonCure Technologies, which won the grand prize from the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE in 2021. The XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, funded by the Musk Foundation, is a $100 million, four-year global initiative aimed at incentivizing innovators to create and demonstrate solutions for removing and sequestering carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the atmosphere or oceans. With over 1,300 teams participating, the competition has generated a wealth of new ideas for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) across its four tracks: air, ocean, land, and rocks.