GRUENHEIDE, GERMANY – SEPTEMBER 03: Tesla Chief Elon Musk speaks to the press as he arrives to view the construction site of the new Tesla Gigafactory near Berlin on September 3, 2020 near Gruenheide, Germany. Musk is currently in Germany, where he met on Tuesday with vaccine maker CureVac, with which Tesla has a partnership to build devices for producing RNA vaccines, as well as Germany’s Economy Minister Peter Altmaier yesterday.
Maja Hitij | Getty Images
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has announced that he is donating $ 100 million towards a prize for the best technology that can capture carbon dioxide.
Musk, who this month caught up with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to become the richest person in the world, made the announcement on Twitter late Thursday, saying he would share more details next week.
“I’m donating $ 100 million towards an award for the best carbon capture technology,” Musk tweeted to his 42.7 million followers.
Carbon capture is the process of capturing waste carbon dioxide directly from the air, or just before it is emitted from factories and power plants.
In the latter, the first step is often to install solvent filters on factory chimneys, which trap the carbon emissions before they enter the Earth’s atmosphere. Once captured, carbon dioxide can then be transported or directed to a place where it cannot escape (often deep underground) to avoid contributing to global warming.
Most of the carbon dioxide captured remains underground, but some of it can also be used to make plastic and carbonated drinks.
Why is carbon capture necessary?
Global carbon dioxide emissions have skyrocketed over the past 100 years, leading to unprecedented global warming and climate change.
According to the International Energy Agency, there are currently about 20 carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) projects commercially active worldwide.
The agency said 30 new projects had been agreed since 2017, but stressed that many more were needed to prevent carbon emissions from raising global temperatures by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The IEA believes that CCUS projects can cut CO2 emissions by nearly one-fifth, while also reducing costs for tackling the climate crisis by 70%. Adapting heavy industry to run on clean energy is relatively difficult and expensive compared to installing carbon capture systems.
US President Joe Biden has pledged to pay more attention to cutting emissions than his predecessor and said he wants the US to be carbon neutral by 2050.
‘Plant more trees’
The award that Musk has said he will contribute is tied to the Xprize Foundation, TechCrunch reported, citing an anonymous source. The foundation is a non-profit organization that organizes competitions to promote and support innovation.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Musk has a total net worth of $ 201 billion, while Bezos has $ 193 billion. Microsoft founder Bill Gates is the next richest person, with a total net worth of $ 134 billion.
Musk recently asked his Twitter followers what to do with his money.
“Critical feedback is always super appreciated, as are ways to donate money that really make a difference (much harder than it seems),” he tweeted on January 8.