Elon Musk donated $ 100 million to get the best carbon capture technology

Elon Musk tweeted Thursday that he “will donate $ 100 million to get a prize for the best carbon capture technology.”

The head of Tesla and SpaceX did not provide any details beyond the tweet, but said “details next week.” Cash rewards for innovation awards are not new. For example, the XPRIZE Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides cash prizes to encourage innovation.

So what is carbon capture technology?

The capture, use and storage or sequestration of carbon (CCUS), which is often abbreviated to “carbon capture”, is a process of capturing carbon emissions, either to store or reuse them, in order to to prevent emissions from being released into the atmosphere.

Excess carbon dioxide gases prevent heat from escaping from the Earth’s atmosphere and cause global warming. Since the Industrial Revolution, human activity has increased atmospheric carbon dioxide by 47% and is “the most important long-life” force “of climate change,” according to NASA.

Using a competition to drive innovation in carbon capture technology is “certainly a very good idea,” said Ahmed F. Ghoniem, an MIT professor who has a research interest in CO2 capture technologies. Innovation in carbon capture technology is needed to “reduce the cost and complexity of the technology and improve overall efficiency,” he told CNBC by email.

Carbon capture is not new. There are currently 21 large-scale commercial projects of the CCUS worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental energy organization based in Paris. The first was created in 1972.

So far, carbon capture has been a disappointment.

“The history of CCUS has been largely one of unfulfilled expectations: its potential to mitigate climate change has been recognized for decades, but its deployment has been slow and therefore has only had a limited impact on the global CO₂ emissions, ”says the International Energy Agency.

But that could change. “There are clear signs that the CCUS can gain strength,” the IEA says.

The US federal government “supports the research and development” of carbon capture in both the search and assessment of the viability of geological sites for carbon storage and the development of technology to better understand what happens to carbon. when stored for long periods of time, according to the Department of Energy.

Telsa did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Musk, currently worth $ 180 billion according to Forbes, has signed The Giving Pledge, a public pledge for billionaires to cede most of their wealth to philanthropy, but so far has made no significant charitable contributions, especially when compared with other billionaires. as Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.