Kelp Blue has been recognized as a top innovator for carbon removal in X’s top 100 rankings.
Kelp Blue cultivates giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) off the coast of Namibia, New Zealand, and soon Alaska.
The kelp grows on innovative submerged structures, ultimately forming a canopy at the surface, which is trimmed and processed into sustainable products for agriculture and packaging.
Kelp Blue is now poised to develop the world’s first large-scale kelp farm off the coast of Namibia, near Lüderitz, with the project having already created 45 permanent direct jobs in the town and two additional roles in Windhoek.
The Top 100 is a collection of leading innovators from 25 countries, representing all carbon dioxide removal pathways: Air, Ocean, Land, and Rocks.
XPRIZE Carbon Removal, backed by Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation, aims to tackle climate change head-on by rebalancing Earth’s carbon cycle.
XPRIZE will be selecting 20 Finalists from the Top 100 to demonstrate and test their solutions in the final year of the competition to remove 1,000 tonnes of CO2 from the air or oceans.
In April 2025, XPRIZE will award US$50 million to a Grand Prize Winner, and the remaining US$30 million will be distributed among runners-up chosen by the Judges.
XPRIZE previously awarded US$5 million to 23 Student Teams in 2021 and US$15 million to 15 Milestone Winners in 2022.
In December, Kelp Blue won the Zayed Sustainability Prize in the inaugural Climate Action category, which carries an $11.2 million (US$600,000) prize.
Kelp Blue, according to the organizers, was awarded the Prize for its efforts to cultivate large-scale kelp forests in deep waters, contributing to the restoration of ocean biodiversity, capturing 100,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere annually, while generating job opportunities in coastal communities.
