Dartmouth, N.S.-based Planetary Technologies will receive $1 million USD ($1.39 million CAD) after winning one of two XPrize Carbon XFactor Awards for its carbon dioxide (CO2) removal technology. Project Hajar, a CO2 mineralization team-up between the American firm Aircapture and Oman’s 44.01, won the other award.
The Musk Foundation-backed challenge is meant to foster large-scale solutions that will ideally, collectively, remove 10 gigatonnes (billions of tonnes) of CO2 per year by 2050, helping to “fight climate change and restore the Earth’s carbon balance.” The multi-year competition was launched in 2021 with a total of $100 million USD (about $138.7 million CAD) in awards.
“We share this milestone with the coastal communities, regulators, industry partners, and researchers who’ve helped shape every step of our journey.”
Planetary
Mati Carbon, a hybrid American, Indian, and African company, won the $50-million grand prize for its weathering-based, farming-friendly approach to carbon removal.
Planetary said it faced off against 1,300 teams at the start of the XPrize competition. The startup was selected as a milestone winner in 2022 and received $1 million USD for its development progress up to that point.
It was one of three Canadian finalists chosen in 2024 for a final challenge of removing over 1,000 net tonnes of CO2.
Planetary’s Ocean Carbon Platform pulls CO2 from the atmosphere by enhancing ocean alkalinity using magnesium hydroxide, a substance often used in wastewater treatment plants. The company introduces an antacid into wastewater plants and other existing coastal facilities (such as power plant cooling systems) that neutralizes acidic CO2 and turns it into a stable salt. Tanks, sensors, and pumps ensure the process is chemically safe, the company claims.
Planetary claims this method not only stores CO2 for 100,000 years, but supports sealife in the process. It also touts a standardized, independently-reviewed monitoring protocol that verifies the amount of removed CO2.
Co-founders Mike Kelland and Greg Rau launched Planetary in 2019 and had raised $7.8 million CAD in pre-seed and seed funding by March 2022. In addition to its XPrize recognition, the company made the 2022 Foresight 50 list as one of Canada’s “most investable” cleantech firms. It first tested its technology in the UK in September that year.
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The firm has secured multiple high-profile customers starting with Shopify, which forged a carbon credit partnership in January 2021. Other clients include payments giant Stripe as well as Frontier, a carbon removal alliance that counts Stripe, Shopify, Alphabet, and Meta as some of its members.
In a statement, Planetary said the win “isn’t just about us” and that it was the product of partnerships and teamwork.
“We share this milestone with the coastal communities, regulators, industry partners, and researchers who’ve helped shape every step of our journey,” Planetary said.
Feature image courtesy of Noémie Rys on Unsplash.