by An Indian company, which spreads in the fields of farmers to draw the fields of farmers from the atmosphere, was awarded a main prize of $ 50 million at a global competition financed by the Elon Musk’s Foundation.
Mati Carbon belonged to more than 1,300 teams from 88 countries, which took part in the four-year XPRISE COODAL REASIONSTION competition, which was introduced in 2021 to promote the use of carbon removal technologies. Many scientists believe that removing carbon in the fight against global warming is of crucial importance caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as petrol, coal and oil that release carbon dioxide.
“It is important that we do not promote the removal of carbon dioxide as a replacement for emission reduction,” said Michael Leitch, the technical lead for the competition. “But the race really takes both to dramatically reduce our existing emissions (and).
The prize is awarded at a time when Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency have strong cuts in federal finance and employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Weather Service and other scientific authorities, which carry out important climate research. The Trump administration has also withdrawn countless environmental regulations, including some that regulate carbon emissions.
While the Musk Foundation Xprize Coods removal, which distributed a total of $ 100 million, has not officially connected to the organization based in California, according to Xprize officials.
Xprize conducts other competitions to solve social challenges. Nikki Batchelor Nikki Batchelor said that the organization mentioned that more climate -medical competitions are considering problems such as removal of the strong greenhouse gas methane, the reforestation, adaptation and the resilience of the climate.
Shantanu Agarwal, CEO of Mati Carbon, is of the opinion that the relatively inexpensive approach of his company “has the potential to solve problems with the planet” and to help small farmers who often bear the main load of climate change because extreme weather events such as drought and floods are harvesting.
The method, which is referred to as enhanced rockwitterering, is quite uncomplicated, said Jake Jordan, the company Chief Science Officer: When it rains, mix water and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that forms carbon dioxide and finally falls into small parts of silicon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is converted into a mineral called bicarbonate, which is not gasped again in the atmosphere and finally was washed to the ocean, where it is kept for about 10,000 years.
Mati Carbon is already spreading with basaltstick-in many parts of the world, “to accelerate something that happens anyway,” said Jordan. The crushed rock also releases nutrients that help regenerate floors and increase productivity.
Smaller prices were awarded to several other teams in the last year of the competition, which were also successfully removed 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide, a threshold that shows the ability to remove gigatons in the coming decades.
This included $ 15 million for the second-placed Netzzero, the harvest like coffee shells into biochar, charcoal-like particles that can be used in fields to store carbon in floors and at the same time improve nutrient and water retention.
Other projects consisted of storing organic waste deep underground and improving the ability of the oceans, storing carbon and removing carbon directly from the air.
Scientists have examined the range of so -called geoengine solutions for climate change, from drying the upper atmosphere to pumping minerals in the ocean to absorb carbon.
Rick Spinrad, former administrator at NOAA, described the finalist solutions as “scientifically extraordinary concepts” and said that the best approach to reducing carbon will probably be a combination of technologies.
KEISCH from XPRIZE said that some solutions that have not won – including direct air and direct ocean recording of carbon dioxide – could have an advantage if they are used on a large scale.
“It takes a lot of time and money to build, so I think the time will say,” said Leitch.
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