Project Hajar wins $1mn award for breakthrough carbon removal in the UAE

Project Hajar, a partnership between 44.01 and Aircapture, has been named the top performer in the Air category of the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, receiving a US$1mn XFACTOR award.

The initiative, based in Fujairah, UAE, combines Aircapture’s Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology with 44.01’s mineralisation process to permanently lock away atmospheric CO₂—preventing it from ever re-entering the atmosphere.

The four-year global competition, backed by Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation, sought scalable carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies that could operate at the gigatonne level. Out of more than 1,300 teams from nearly 80 countries, 20 finalists were announced in May 2024, with the winners unveiled today in New York.

Local support

Project Hajar is one of the world’s first operations to durably store captured atmospheric CO₂ underground. XPRIZE judges praised it as a high-quality, scalable solution with strong potential to support global climate goals.

The project was supported by ADNOC and the Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation.

44.01 has already demonstrated its mineralisation process in Oman and the UAE and is now focused on international expansion.

Talal Hasan, founder and CEO of 44.01, said “The success of Project Hajar is testament to the leading role our region can play in decarbonising our atmosphere, providing new jobs and opportunities as we navigate the energy transition. Our climate needs decarbonisation solutions that can be deployed at scale, and we are working hard to scale up our technology in the Middle East and export it around the world.”

Matt Atwood, founder and CEO of Aircapture, said “This recognition from XPRIZE underscores the strength of our vision for deploying carbon removal infrastructure that is both rapidly scalable and economically viable. While many are focused on future capabilities, our modular system is already operating in the field—delivering measurable results today. We’re honoured that the XPRIZE judges acknowledged the commercial and technical merits of our approach, which is designed for near-term impact and long-term scalability.”

“At this critical turning point for our planet, the technologies developed by these winning teams represent hope with a broad range of approaches that are suitable for different geographies and can help the world reach net zero and ultimately reverse climate change,” said Anousheh Ansari, chief executive officer, XPRIZE. “We cannot stabilise our climate without sustainably and safely extracting carbon from our atmosphere and oceans at large scales. I’m incredibly proud of the ways this XPRIZE competition catalyzed and fostered the innovation and collaboration necessary to build this critical new industry that was missing prior to our competition.”