Earth’s atmosphere contains more carbon dioxide now than at any other time in human history, accelerating climate change and posing one of the greatest challenges we face today, and will continue to face in the coming decades. 

WHAT IS THE NRG COSIA CARBON XPRIZE?

In 2015, XPRIZE launched the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, a $20 million global competition that challenged competing teams to develop breakthrough technologies to convert CO2 emissions into valuable products.

CarbonBuilt (formerly CO2Concrete) co-won the competition in 2021 with their technology to create building supplies from ultra-low carbon concrete that sequesters CO2 sourced from power plants.

CarbonBuilt developed their technology in the Institute for Carbon Management at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. Their mission is to address climate change by sequestering industrial CO2 emissions in concrete, through economically viable approaches. 

WHAT IS LOW-CARBON CONCRETE? 

While the competition was open to any technology that could convert carbon dioxide into a reusable products, CarbonBuilt identified the cement industry as both a large problem, and enormous opportunity: if the cement industry were a country, it would be the world’s third largest carbon dioxide emitter, behind only China and the USA.

CarbonBuilt is addressing this problem with their Reversa Binder that replaces carbon-intensive ingredients in traditional concrete and reacts with CO2 as it cures to permanently store carbon within the concrete. 

HOW IS LOW-CARBON CONCRETE MADE?

The company creates its sustainable cement by mixing captured CO2 emissions, often sourced from power plants, with calcium hydroxide (portlandite) and curing it using the same process and equipment that are used in standard concrete manufacturing today.

HOW MUCH MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT IS CARBONBUILT’S CEMENT THAN TRADITIONAL PRODUCTS?

CarbonBuilt allows concrete producers to reduce the carbon footprint of their products by an average of 70%, all while performing as well as traditional products.

By using concrete as a long-term storage solution for carbon dioxide, CarbonBuilt’s technology can play a pivotal role in slowing–and reversing–harmful carbon dioxide emissions. 

WHAT IMPACT HAS CARBONBUILT MADE?

CarbonBuilt have been honored with awards across industries including awards in three categories of the Fast Company's Innovation by Design 2023 awards. In 2024 CEO Rahul Shendure was named on Builtworld’s Top 50 Mavericks list honoring innovation in the building and infrastructure industry.

In 2020, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy and the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, CarbonBuilt’s technology helped produce over 10,000 concrete blocks at a full-scale curing chamber in Wyoming with CO2 sourced directly from a coal power plant. 

Watch CarbonBuilt share their story in our XPRIZE Innovators series and discover how you can get involved in competitions that change the world at xprize.org.