Associated PressSir Richard Branson, head of Virgin Group, has offered $25 million for the first person or group who can come up with a technology to remove one billion tons of green house gases from the atmosphere per year for ten years.

Branson told reporters at a news conference that he created the Virgin Earth Challenge because, "The Earth cannot wait 60 years. We need everybody capable of discovering an answer to put their minds to it today."

The contest will be open for five years and entrants will be judged by a panel including Branson, Al Gore, climate scientist James Hansen, and Gaia hypothesis creator James Lovelock.

The financial incentive provides an added push intended to spur innovation faster than would otherwise come about through policy mandates or current research tracks. Currently, the most promising mitigation measure for removing CO2 is a practice known as carbon sequestration, which grabs CO2 before it reaches the atmosphere, captures it and puts it deep underground. There is some uncertainty in this technology however, as the long term consequences and success are unknown.

TreeHugger via BBC