Elon Musk Offers $100 Million Prize for ‘Best’ Carbon Capture Technology

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Elon now the richest man on the planet after recently dethroning Jeff Bezos according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index on Thursday took to Twitter where he teased his latest philanthropic endeavor, promising a $100 million prize for development of the “best” technology to capture carbon dioxide emissions.

“Critical feedback is always super appreciated, as well as ways to donate money that really make a difference (way harder than it seems),” Musk tweeted earlier this month.

"Am donating $100M towards a prize for best carbon capture technology," Musk tweeted, adding that he would provide "details next week."

Capturing planet-warming emissions is becoming a critical part of many plans to keep climate change in check, but very little progress has been made on the technology to date, with efforts focused on cutting emissions rather than taking carbon out of the air.

The International Energy Agency said late last year that a sharp rise in the deployment of carbon capture technology was needed if countries are to meet net-zero emissions targets. Tesla officials did not immediately respond to a request for additional information.

Musk, who co-founded and sold Internet payments company PayPal Holdings Inc, now leads some of the most futuristic companies in the world. Besides Tesla, he heads rocket company SpaceX and Neuralink, a startup that is developing ultra-high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect the human brain to computers.

Newly-sworn-in U.S. President Joe Biden has pledged to accelerate the development of carbon capture technology as part of his sweeping plan to tackle climate change. On Thursday, he named Jennifer Wilcox, an expert in carbon removal technologies, as the principal deputy assistant secretary for fossil energy at the U.S. Department of Energy.

In 2012, Musk signed the Giving Pledge, an initiative launched by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett that asks signatories to donate at least half of their wealth within their lifetimes, and has primarily donated toward science and engineering education, renewable energy research, pediatric research, and human space exploration research.

But an estimate by Forbes in September found that Musk has donated just $100 million so far — less than 1% of his net worth. Still, Musk’s proposed carbon capture contest would go toward a cause that is likely to play a major role in fighting climate change moving forward, especially under the Biden administration.