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Elon Musk has been spending the first few weeks of 2021 flirting with the title of richest person on the planet, and on Thursday he took to Twitter to announce his plans for less than a percent of his net worth.
“Am donating $100M towards a prize for best carbon capture technology,” Musk tweeted. “Details next week.”
Am donating $100M towards a prize for best carbon capture technology
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 21, 2021
Carbon capture refers to a wide array of mostly nascent technologies that can take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and either store it somewhere (underground, for example) or convert it into products ranging from fuel to sunglasses.
The goal here is to reduce levels of CO2, which is a key driver of climate change.
What exactly Musk has in mind isn’t clear, but it’s worth noting that the Carbon XPrize is now in its sixth year and looks to finally wrap up in the coming months. Grand prize winners in three categories will get $7.5 million each.
Musk has supported the XPrize Foundation in the past, and TechCrunch reports that it will be involved in Musk’s announcement next week.
Over the years, Musk has said his two main business ventures, Tesla Motors and SpaceX, are motivated by his desire to address climate change and to provide a backup plan for humanity (on Mars), respectively.
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