Skokie-based Lanzatech has been named the only United States finalist in the international Earthshot Prize competition founded two years ago by the United Kingdom’s Prince William. Earthshot aims to find and grow solutions that will repair the planet —through means such as cleaning the air, reviving the oceans, building a waste-free world and more — within a decade.
After asking a scientific panel to review more than 1,000 applications, the Earthshot Prize announced LanzaTech was one of 15 worldwide finalists for its award on Nov. 4. All finalists are eligible for the prize of one million British pounds, and also receive support and resources from a worldwide network of private sector businesses to help them scale their environmental solutions, according to prize officials.
“Fixing our climate is one of the greatest challenges of our generation, and we believe that with the support of The Earthshot Prize we can accelerate and scale our carbon transformation solution (and) rethink how the world procures, uses and disposes of carbon,” said Jennifer Holmgren, LanzaTech CEO, in a statement.
LanzaTech Chief Sustainability Officer Freya Burton spoke of Lanzatech’s journey. It was launched in New Zealand with the goal of making environmentally-sensitive energy.
“It was founded as a company to try and find new ways to make fuel and chemicals that were sustainable and not from fossil (fuels),” she said. “They realized there are living organisms naturally occurring in the environment that actually eat the carbon in gases that go into the atmosphere.”
Today LanzaTech has three plants in China, with six more under construction and eight others in design, with the overall goal of creating a post-pollution future.
“We need to get stuff built and we need to get carbon abated and keep fossils in the ground,” Burton said. “Our goal is to get as many of these plants running as possible.”
LanzaTech moved its headquarters to Skokie in 2012.
“We looked at where there is a lot of talent and great infrastructure,” Burton said about the company’s selection of Skokie.
LanzaTech has more than 200 employees working at Skokie’s Illinois Science and Technology Park.
Burton described the nomination as “humbling,” as she awaits a Dec. 2 ceremony in Boston to announce the five winners of the Earthshot Prize.
“It’s really awesome,” Burton added. “We don’t want to think about the next few weeks, we just want to hope, hope, hope.”
The nomination serves recognition for LanzaTech, as nearly two decades ago, two of the company’s employees realized synthetic biology might be the key to cutting down on pollution and reducing climate change.
They worked toward developing a gas fermentation technology with the goal of preventing the spread of carbon emissions. Eventually, they developed a carbon transformation solution that can be used in available waste streams, and the solution is now applied to commonly-used products including sustainable fuels and fashion, tires and cosmetics, according to a company statement.
Prince William commented in a statement, “The innovators, leaders, and visionaries that make up our 2022 Earthshot Finalists prove there are many reasons to be optimistic about the future of our planet.”
Earthshot prize officials said the name and concept of the prize were inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot program to put a person on the moon by the end of the 1960s.
