The 2024 Carbon Removal Challenge

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A student innovation challenge for carbon removal solutions

Join the Challenge!

The OpenAir Carbon Removal Challenge is a worldwide challenge for students to create new processes, approaches and prototypes to remove carbon from the land, waters, or air.

Student teams will design and build creative solutions to the carbon pollution problem.  The very best approaches will be selected as finalists for an in-person showcase at the Carbon Unbound conference in May 2024.

Carbon removal is far from where it needs to be in the near future to avert the worst effects of climate change.

The Carbon Removal Challenge provides students from colleges and universities around the world an opportunity to work towards safeguarding their future. They will not only design and build solutions that remove excess carbon from the environment, which will help accelerate carbon tech innovation, but also build connections that will bring the next generation of talented engineers, thinkers, and designers into this important sector.

Please check out the 2023 Carbon Removal Challenge page for information about last year’s Challenge, including our 5 Finalist teams!

Key Dates

 

Sept 20, 2023 2024 CRC Launch, Applications open
Fall 2023 Info Sessions
Dec 15, 2023 Applications closed
Winter 2023-2024 Teams work with faculty advisors and OpenAir mentors to design and build carbon removal challenge submissions
March 4th, 9am EST, 2024 Teams submit designs and documentation of final prototypes
March 18, 2024 Judges choose 5 finalist teams for the final showcase at Carbon Unbound
Late May, 2024 Final showcase at Carbon Unbound

Questions? Or do you want to be Sponsor, Partner, Judge or Mentor?

Want more info about the Challenge?

Check out the Carbon Removal Challenge FAQ!

Still got questions or just want to contact us? Are you interested in being part of a participating team, being a mentor, or sponsoring the challenge, but need more info? Contact us using the form below:

Why Carbon Removal?

There is already too much CO2 in the atmosphere, and some essential industries – namely, commercial aviation and steel and cement manufacturing – will be very difficult to decarbonize in time. Any chance we have of limiting average global temperature change to a survivable threshold (1.5C or below) must include the removal of carbon from the atmosphere. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has called for Carbon Dioxide Removal (Negative Emissions Technologies), to help us stay below 1.5C above preindustrial temperatures – the threshold scientists agree is the point at which we will irreversibly impact our climate for the worse.

Goals

  • Introduce a new generation of students to the world of carbon capture
  • Highlight and showcase the carbon removal work already happening in higher ed
  • Give students a hands-on opportunity to create brand new solutions to the carbon pollution problem
  • Promote new innovations through open source licensing, which will allow more rapid advancement of students’ technologies and enable others to build on the success of earlier submissions
  • Build talent networks for employers and future job seekers

Teams

Each team must submit an application, complete with a full list of team members, a faculty advisor, and an overview of their design, by the end of November 2022 Jan 8th. Suggested team size is 2-8 members.

The 2023 Carbon Removal Challenge

Watch the 2023 Carbon Removal Challenge Showcase

For more info about the 2023 Carbon Removal Challenge, check out the 2023 Carbon Removal Challenge page. The 2023 CRC was part of NYU’s 2040 Now Initiative.

Playlist for 2023 Info Sessions, Webinars, & Related Videos

From December of 2022 through Feb 2023, the 2023 Carbon Removal Challenge participants were invited to attend multiple info sessions, webinars, and office hours. This is playlist of the sessions of the webinars.

Advisors

Tom Igoe Dr. Lehman Marks
• Founder of the Solar Car Challenge, the top project-based STEM Initiative helping motivate high school students in Science, Engineering, and Alternative Energy
• Long time Educator
• Extensive Experience in Project Development & Management
Tom Igoe Tom Igoe
• Co-founder of Arduino
• Professor, NYU ITP
• Area Head for Physical Computing
Dr. Evvan Morton Dr. Evvan Morton
• American Association for Advancement of Science
Science & Technology Policy Fellow
Dr. Gregory Nemet Dr. Gregory Nemet
• Professor, University of Wisconsin
• Lead Author, UN IPCC Report
• Author, How Solar Became Cheap
Michael Weinberg Michael Weinberg
• President of the board of the Open Source Hardware Association
• Executive Director of the Center on Innovation Law and Policy at NYU

Judges / Mentors

Coming Soon

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