---
title: "Y Combinator Is Turning Its Attention to Carbon Removal"
description: "Y Combinator just sent out a request for startups working on carbon removal technology, which could help us address the problem of climate change."
date: "2018-10-24"
modified: "2018-10-24"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/carbon-removal-y-combinator"
categories:
  - "Energy"
  - "Renewable Energy"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "Carbon Capture"
  - "carbon removal"
  - "the digest"
  - "y combinator"
---

# Y Combinator Is Turning Its Attention to Carbon Removal

![Default Futurism featured image](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Futurism-Filler-Image.jpg>)

## Plan B

It's never a bad idea to have a back-up plan — especially when the fate of humanity hangs in the balance.

Climate change could render vast segments of the Earth [completely uninhabitable](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/hothouse-earth-paris-agreement>) to humans, and attempts to address the problem by [cutting carbon emissions](<https://futurism.com/new-data-shows-progress-in-fight-against-climate-change>) might not be enough to save the planet.

We need a Plan B, and startup accelerator Y Combinator wants to help develop it.

## Out of the Air

Y Combinator helps startups get off the ground by offering up to $150,000 in funding in exchange for a 7 percent stake in the company. The accelerator maintains a [Request for Startups page](<https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs/>) that lists areas it's particularly interested in funding. On Tuesday, it added carbon removal technologies to the list.

"We have conviction that it’s a worthwhile endeavor to remove CO2 from the air and transform it into something else useful or figure out how to store it safely, long-term," wrote Y Combinator CEO Sam Altman in a [blog post](<https://blog.ycombinator.com/frontier-carbon-removal-technologies/>). "They may seem like moonshots now, but our goal is to try to come up with technically feasible solutions at realistic costs."

## Chasing Rainbows

Some experts argue that carbon removal technology isn't a realistic solution to our climate woes — they've even gone so far as to [call the proposed machines](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/report-climate-change-unrealistic-tech>) "carbon unicorns," since they don't yet exist.

But just because we don't have adequate carbon removal systems right now doesn't mean some innovative entrepreneur couldn't develop them with a little seed funding — the kind Y Combinator is now offering up.

Who knows? Perhaps this unicorn funding could lead to a planet-saving breakthrough.

**READ MORE:** [Frontier Carbon Removal Technologies](<https://blog.ycombinator.com/frontier-carbon-removal-technologies/>) \[Y Combinator\]

***More on carbon capture: [A Tax Incentive Might Finally Make Carbon Capture a Thing](<https://futurism.com/tax-incentive-carbon-capture>)***

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)