Marcius Extavour, XPRIZE

XPRIZE is a global future positive movement of over a million people and rising. They are a trusted, proven platform for impact that leverages the power of competition to catalyze innovation and accelerate a more hopeful future by incentivizing radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. The organization began supporting climate projects with a $20 million prize for breakthrough technologies to convert CO2 emissions into usable products. Now, they’re hosting their largest prize initiative in history funded by Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation, and awarding $100 million for Carbon Removal solutions.

This episode covers XPRIZE’s mission, how they decide on and evaluate competitions, key takeaways from their climate prize experiences, and how they measure success. We also dig into some of the nuances of the carbon removal conversation, how Marcius deals with naysayers, and why he focuses on solving the climate crisis instead of punishing polluters.

Enjoy the show!

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Episode recorded July 1, 2022.

In today’s episode, we cover:

An overview of XPRIZE and the organization came to be
XPRIZE's model expansion over time
Where XPRIZE's money comes from
How the org's external partnerships help XPRIZE support an innovative ecosystem
Marcius' climate journey and background in academia, utility, policy, and fundraising
An overview of the AAAS Science & Technology Fellowship Program
Characteristics XPRIZE uses to determine where prizes can be helpful, including impact, an identifiable problem, public awareness, and a specific and measurable goal
Differences between short and long-term impact
The NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE and key takeaways from the competition
How XPRIZE started to explore climate topics
The moral hazard argument
XPRIZE Carbon Removal, the org's largest incentive prize in history with Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation
How Marcius responds to critics
XPRIZE's plans to improve CDR measurements
Differences between measurement processes and tooling across solutions MRV
3 evaluation factors, including operational performance, cost, and scalability
Marcius' predictions for how CDR can develop
His thoughts on the role of voluntary and compliance markets
Marcius' stance on whether we should punish polluters or focus on solving the climate problem
How people can get involved with XPRIZE and the org's new Carbon Removal cohort
The community's role in moving things forward, growing globally, and maintaining inclusivity

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant