Project Hajar Earns Top XPRIZE Carbon Award for Direct Air Capture and Storage in UAE

Project Hajar, a joint initiative by 44.01 and Aircapture, has been named the strongest performer in the Air category of the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, earning a \$1 million award. The project demonstrates a rare combination of operational readiness, long-term storage integrity, and scalability—key features that many carbon removal ventures have yet to prove.

The project combines Direct Air Capture (DAC) units from U.S.-based Aircapture with 44.01’s mineralization process, which permanently stores CO₂ by converting it into rock underground in Fujairah, UAE.

This method provides one of the few carbon removal solutions capable of delivering durable storage—removing CO₂ from the atmosphere and locking it away for geological timescales. Unlike reforestation or soil carbon projects, which face risks of reversal, mineralization offers permanence by default.

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Why It Matters

Global carbon markets are shifting focus from avoidance credits to removal credits—solutions that physically extract CO₂ from the atmosphere. However, many technologies in this space are still in development or difficult to scale.

Project Hajar offers a counterpoint: a live, modular system that is already operating in the field.

The XPRIZE award validates this model as one of the few with near-term commercial viability. As businesses and governments work toward net-zero targets, solutions like Hajar’s will be essential to offset emissions from heavy industry, aviation, and sectors that cannot fully decarbonize.

44.01, which has already demonstrated mineralization in Oman and the UAE, is now preparing to scale globally. The company is also supported by ADNOC and the Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation, offering additional institutional backing.

Business and Investment Implications

Carbon removal is quickly becoming a high-interest category for climate-aligned investment. Major buyers—from Microsoft to Stripe—are looking for high-durability carbon removal credits, and are willing to pay premium prices for them.

Aircapture’s modular DAC systems, designed for flexible deployment and integration into industrial operations, support localized and scalable implementation. With both technical execution and commercialization in progress, Project Hajar is likely to attract attention from buyers, investors, and policymakers alike.

The XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, funded by the Musk Foundation, challenged more than 1,300 teams to create solutions capable of removing gigatonne-scale CO₂.