Elon Musk Makes Unique Competition With Prizes Of IDR 14 Trillion. Interest?

Elon Musk (Twitter/@elonmusk)

JAKARTA - Millionaire and founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk has a unique way of tackling climate change. Dubbed the Xprize Carbon Removal contest, the prize provided by Musk is called the greatest in history.

The Tesla CEO also promised a reward of 100 million dollars or the equivalent of Rp.14 trillion to scientists who managed to find a way to reduce levels of CO2 or carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere.

This is based on the fact that Musk is aware that humans only own Earth, so it cannot be denied that great dangers also continue to lurk, including extreme climate change in the future. Although he himself wants to make a colonial on Planet Mars.

"At the moment we only have one planet. Even if there is only 0.1 percent chance of a disaster, why not fix it? That's crazy," Musk said as quoted by CBS News, Sunday, April 25.

It is known that the funding for this contest came from Musk himself. Those interested in participating will be given four years to find the best possible solution, until the arrival of Earth Day in 2025. Everyone from high school students to beginners, as well as students, companies, individuals, or community-based organizations, are welcome to enter the contest. this.

The goal of this program is to remove 1,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the Earth's atmosphere every year, with a technology that is completely implementable, at a cost that makes sense and also has the ability to remove more CO2 in the future.

"I'm also still open to increasing the prize pool over time," said Musk.

Those who enter this race must have a fully operational system to remove CO2 at a rate of at least one kiloton per year. The system must also prove capable of sustaining carbon captured over 100 years and provide a pathway for measuring at gigatonnes of CO2 removal per year.

Musk said that currently humanity on Earth is actually still doing well. However, if it continues to be ignorant, then the threat of climate change can cause serious disruptions in the future.