🤜 The path to gigaton scale: insights from CDR’s Top 100 companies

📑 XPRIZE just released their “Getting to Gigatonne Report” which is an analysis of the Top 100 Teams who made it to the finals of their competition.

🌎 In case you’re not familiar, the $100M XPRIZE Carbon Removal is the Oscar of CDR: supported by the MUSK FOUNDATION, it challenged Teams from around the world to remove 1,000 net metric tonnes, or one kilotonne, of CO2 from the air or ocean over a one year demonstration period. 

🏆 While over 1,300 Teams from 88 countries took on the challenge, after 3 hard years of work and several rounds of judging, we are now at the final Top 100 most promising carbon removal innovators. The final winners of the prize will be announced in Spring 2025.

🤓 Be sure to check out the report for some really interesting insights, https://lnkd.in/d2K5yR4F, but I’ve pulled out a few of my favourites:

🇺🇲 The US dominates with 45/100 teams. 

🌲 The Top 100 Teams project that they will cumulatively remove a total of 802,979 net tonnes of CO2 in 2024 with over half 57% of this being from ‘land-based’ companies (456,017).

🤑 Over half of the Top 100 Teams (51) have sold credits, totalling nearly 5M tonnes sold (4.975M). Yet only 120,207 tonnes have been delivered to date.

📊 Across the Top 100 cohort, the average price for 2024 credit sales was $417/tonne (median  $290/tonne) with AIR being highest and LAND lowest.

💰 More than half (52%) have raised more than $5M USD, with 8 Teams having raised more than $50M. The Air Teams have a larger median capital amount raised.

🚀 Collectively, the Top 100 Teams project removing 788 million tonnes (megatonnes) per year by 2030. Air Teams represent the largest portion of this at 403 megatonnes, followed by Land at 194 megatonnes and Oceans at 176 megatonnes.

🤯 What stands out most to me is the sheer quality, diversity, and ambition of these 100 finalists. Just a few years ago, you would have struggled to find 50 CDR companies. Now XPRIZE had over 1,300 to choose from across dozens of different removal pathways. We will need many shots on target to achieve gigaton scale, and this report makes me hopefully it can be done!

👏 Shout-out to authors Nikki Batchelor, Michael Leitch, Laura E. Franzini, Ongeleigh Underwood, and Reinaldo Juan Lee Pereira Pereira. And of course a massive congratulations to all the finalists for helping the world get to gigatonne scale!

❓ What is your read of this report? Are you equally excited about where the industry is heading?

#carbonremoval #carbonmarket #ClimateSolutions

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