Kelp Blue has been named as one of the 20 finalists by the XPRIZE Carbon Removal Competition.
The 20 finalists will vie for a N$929 million (US$50 million) grand prize to be announced in 2025.
The XPRIZE is a four-year, N$1.9 billion (US$100 million) global competition open to innovators and teams that can create and demonstrate solutions for pulling carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or oceans and sequestering it durably and sustainably.
Kelp Blue is a sustainable oceanic aquaculture enterprise founded in 2020 based in Lüderitz, Namibia and harvests kelp canopy year-round to produce alternative agri-food, bio-stimulant, and textile products, converting them into a variety of products, including bio-stimulants.
“We are thrilled to be named as one of the top 20 finalists for XPRIZE Carbon Removal’s grand prize out of 1,300 vetted submissions. Our project achieves a number of things: locking away carbon, restoring and enriching marine biodiversity, and bringing meaningful diverse employment opportunities to fragile coastal economies—thereby reducing extractive pressures on marine resources,” said Kelp Blue Founder and CEO, Daniel Hooft.
“As we move into the final stage of this prestigious competition, we are confident that we will be able to showcase Kelp Blue as a viable, proven, and sustainable solution to combating climate change while contributing to local economies and livelihoods. To make a positive change and impact on the environment, we need a collaborative effort and a diverse range of high-quality carbon removal solutions to avoid the worst effects of climate change, and we are proud to be listed among the top 20 companies offering carbon removal solutions around the world.”
The grand prize from XPRIZE will be granted to the candidate that demonstrates a working solution at a scale of at least 1,000 tonnes removed per year, models their costs at a scale of 1 million tonnes per year, and can show a pathway to achieving a scale of gigatonnes per year in the future.
“This cohort of exceptional teams represents a diversity of innovations and solutions across a range of CDR pathways and shows the significant progress the industry is making in a short period of time. Over the past three years, this competition has helped accelerate the pace of technology development for a whole new industry of high-potential solutions aimed at reversing climate change,” said Nikki Batchelor, Executive Director of XPRIZE Carbon Removal.
Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE, said, “For the world to effectively address greenhouse gas emissions, carbon removal is an essential element of the path to Net Zero. There’s no way to reverse humanity’s impact on the climate without extracting carbon from our atmosphere and oceans. We need a range of bold, innovative CDR solutions to manage the vast quantities of CO2 released into our environment and impacting our planet. The teams that have been competing for this Prize are all part of building a set of robust and effective solutions, and our 20 teams advancing to the final stage of XPRIZE Carbon Removal will have an opportunity to demonstrate their potential to have a significant impact on the climate.”
