Clean Tech Company, CarbonCure Wins NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE
CarbonCure selected as most scalable breakthrough technology to convert CO2 emissions into useable products.
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia—(BUSINESS WIRE)—CarbonCure Technologies, a Canadian company that develops clean tech solutions for the concrete industry, has been named one of two winners in the USD $20 million NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE. Each winner takes home a USD $7.5 million grand prize.
The NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE is a global competition that took place in three rounds over 54 months. It challenged participants to develop breakthrough technologies to convert carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions into usable products — with the ultimate goal of tackling climate change. CarbonCure became one of 38 shortlisted contenders for the Carbon XPRIZE in 2015 and in 2020 completed its final technology demonstration in Alberta, Canada.
“Climate change can seem like an insurmountable challenge. Team CarbonCure and our fellow Carbon XPRIZE contenders have demonstrated that the challenge is surmountable and that we have the solutions available today to create meaningful change,” said Jennifer Wagner, CarbonCure President and leader of Team CarbonCure. “The prize money will be used to accelerate our path to our mission of reducing 500 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually by 2030. We’re also committing to build an XPRIZE legacy by investing a portion of the prize funds into social equity initiatives.”
CarbonCure’s XPRIZE project aimed to decarbonize the carbon-intensive process of concrete production. The almost five-year competition showcased the portfolio of CarbonCure’s technologies, in addition to completing the world’s first integrated CO2 capture project from cement kiln emissions with beneficial reuse in concrete production. The final round introduced CarbonCure’s newest commercial technology focused on carbonating reclaimed water — the wastewater generated at concrete plants — to enable the production of concrete with a reduced water, cement, and carbon intensity.
“Buildings are the source of 40 percent of the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. The world’s building stock is expected to double by 2060 so it’s vital that solutions like CarbonCure’s scale quickly,” said Marcius Extavour Executive Director of the Carbon XPRIZE and VP of Climate and Energy for the XPRIZE Foundation. “CarbonCure’s solution for the concrete industry exemplifies XPRIZE’s ideal innovation — it is effective, commercially viable, and scalable — and it can make a real difference to climate change today.”
The use of CO2 in concrete is expected to become a USD $400 billion market opportunity so solutions like CarbonCure’s are both very timely to respond to climate targets and represent an attractive economic opportunity for heavy industry.
CarbonCure was established in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 2012 and its innovative concrete solution is now used in more than 300 concrete plants around the world. To date, producers have supplied nearly 10 million cubic yards of CarbonCure concrete to a wide range of project types. The company is on a mission to reduce embodied carbon in the built environment by 500 million tonnes annually by 2030.
“Governments are setting net-zero emissions targets, yet embarking on once-in-a-generation infrastructure renewal projects to restart the economy. Canadian companies like CarbonCure are helping the global construction industry with the critical challenge of managing embodied CO2 in building and infrastructure projects, by turning concrete into a climate solution,” said Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities in the Government of Canada. “Winning the Carbon XPRIZE demonstrates CarbonCure’s world-leading position as a negative emission and low-carbon concrete solution.”
Learn more about CarbonCure and the other NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE participants at carbon.xprize.org.
About CarbonCure
Architects, structural engineers, owners and developers are seeking proven ways to reduce the embodied carbon of their building projects. Recognizing concrete as a solution, CarbonCure Technologies, a fast-growing, clean tech company, has developed an easy-to-adopt technology that enables concrete producers to use captured carbon dioxide to produce reliable, low-carbon concrete mixes and achieve market differentiation. Available from hundreds of concrete plants, more than one million truckloads of CarbonCure-based mixes have supplied a wide range of sustainable construction projects around the world. CarbonCure’s investors include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Amazon, BDC Capital, Pangaea, Microsoft, 2150, Carbon Direct, GreenSoil Investments, Taronga Group, and Mitsubishi Corporation.
About XPRIZE
XPRIZE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is the global leader in designing and implementing innovative competition models to solve the world’s grandest challenges. Active competitions include the $20 Million NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, the $10 Million Rainforest XPRIZE, the $10 Million ANA Avatar XPRIZE, the $5 Million IBM Watson AI XPRIZE, $5 Million XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling, $5 Million XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing, and $500K Pandemic Response Challenge. For more information, visit xprize.org.
About NRG
NRG is the leading integrated power company in the U.S., built on the strength of our diverse competitive electric generation portfolio and leading retail electricity platform. A Fortune 500 company, NRG creates value through best in class operations, reliable and efficient electric generation, and a retail platform serving residential and commercial businesses. Working with electricity customers, large and small, we implement sustainable solutions for producing and managing energy, developing smarter energy choices and delivering exceptional service as our retail electricity providers serve almost three million residential and commercial customers throughout the country. More information is available at www.nrg.com. Connect with NRG Energy on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @nrgenergy.
About COSIA
Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) is a unique alliance of oil sands producers focused on accelerating environmental performance in Canada’s oil sands. COSIA enables collaboration and innovation between big thinkers from industry, government, academia and the wider public to improve measurement, accountability and performance in the oil sands across our environmental priority areas of greenhouse gases, land, water and tailings. COSIA members search the world for solutions to our toughest problems. And we have some of the best minds on the planet working on technologies to enable responsible and sustainable development. To date, COSIA has shared 981 distinct environmental technologies and innovations that cost over $1.4 billion to develop. Visit us at www.cosia.ca.
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