British billionaire Richard Branson has offered a $25 million prize for the scientist who discovers a way to extract greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

Richard Branson: “So the challenge Al Gore, James Lovelock, Jim Hansen, Sir Crispin Tickell, Tim Flannery and myself are laying down to the world’s brightest brains is to devise a way of removing greenhouse gases, at least the equivalent of one billion tons of carbon per year and hopefully much more. And you will have the satisfaction of saving thousands of species and possibly even mankind itself.”

Richard Branson made the announcement alongside former Vice President Al Gore.

Al Gore: “It’s a challenge to the moral imagination of humankind to actually accept the reality of the situation we are now facing.”