Britain's Prince William has selected LanzaTech as one of 15 finalists for the Earthshot Prize.
Founded by the British Prince and The Royal Foundation in 2020, the Earthshot Prize is a global environmental prize that looks to uncover, accelerate, and scale ground-breaking solutions to repair and regenerate the planet.
The Chicago-based cleantech company was selected for its carbon transformation solution.
In addition to their eligibility for the 1 million-pound prize (about $1.14 million), all finalists will receive support and resources from Earthshot Prize Global Alliance Members, a network of private sector businesses around the world that are committed to helping scale climate and environmental solutions.
Founded by CEO Jennifer Holmgren, LanzaTech develops carbon recycling technology that converts carbon waste into sustainable fuels and chemicals. LanzaTech has worked with companies like Unilever, Loreal, lululemon and Indian Oil to develop everyday products such as a new laundry detergent pod. Lululemon uses the technology to create fabric, resulting in the first fabric born from recycled carbon emissions.
The company went public earlier this year in a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, AMCI Acquisition Corp. II (Nasdaq: AMCI) in a deal that valued the business at $2.2 billion. It also launched a sustainable jet fuel company called LanzaJet in 2020 with backing from British Airways, Shell, All Nippon Airways and others.
LanzaTech was the only U.S.-based company named as a finalist. The Earthshot award is split into five challenges: Protect and restore nature; clean our air; revive our oceans; build a waste-free world and fix our climate. LanzaTech was featured in the last category.
Other companies featured in its category included Low Carbon Materials, out of the U.K., which is working on a new material that uses un-recyclable plastic waste to make traditional concrete blocks zero carbon, and 44.01, a company out of Oman that is developing a technique to turn CO2 into rock and permanently store it underground.
The five winners will be selected by The Earthshot Prize Council, whose members include Prince William, Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, Cate Blanchett, Sir David Attenborough, Yao Ming and others.
The Earthshot Prize awards ceremony will take place on Dec. 2 at the MGM Music Hall in Boston.
