Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced Thursday that he would be awarding a $100 million prize for the “best carbon capture technology.”
Musk made the announcement on Twitter, following it with another tweet promising “details next week.” The tweets follow another last week, in which he asked for help in finding ways to donate his vast fortune.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO becamethe world’s richest person earlier this month before drop in his company’s stock price pushed him down to number two. Regardless, his net worth is, according to Forbes, estimated at $184 billion.
Am donating $100M towards a prize for best carbon capture technology
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 21, 2021
The good news for the centibillionaire is that I have a very easy suggestion for how he could donate to a vast system seeking to improve the world. By paying more taxes.
Also Read: Elon Musk Confirms He Has Moved From California To Texas
Although carbon neutralizing technology will doubtless be important in the coming years, income taxes help pay for government grants that help fund the actual research that goes into making the technology. It also helps pay for stuff like roads, which I guess you don’t need if your roadster is flying across the cosmos.
Carbon capture technology may become more important now that President Joe Biden has been sworn in and is about to make the U.S. rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement – which, to be fair, Musk has long supported. Moreover, President Biden has announced plans to increase federal investments and tax incentives for developing the carbon capture technology.
The global climate is set to pass levels targeted for 2100. Even if carbon emissions stopped by then, 33 metric gigatons of carbon dioxide would to be scrubbed from the atmosphere every year in order to maintain safe levels.