Elon Musk donating $ 100 million to the best carbon capture technology

Elon Musk tweeted on Thursday that he “will donate $ 100 million to an award for best carbon capture technology”.

The head of Tesla and SpaceX did not provide any details other than 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 facilitates cash prizes to encourage innovation.

So, what is the carbon capture technology?

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

Excessive carbon dioxide gases block the 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-term ‘force’ of climate change,” according to NASA.

Using a contest to drive innovation in carbon capture technology is “certainly a very good idea,” said Ahmed F. Ghoniem, a professor at MIT who is interested in research into 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 via email.

Carbon capture is not new. There are currently 21 large-scale CCUS commercial projects 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.

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

But, that may be changing. “There are clear signs that CCUS may be gaining momentum,” says the IEA.

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, signed The Giving Pledge, a public pledge for billionaires to donate most of their wealth to philanthropy, but has not yet made significant charitable contributions, especially when compared with other billionaires like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.