“Prize will help NFW tackle plastic health emergency. Microplastics may be the new asbestos, but worse," said Dr.Luke Haverhals, CEO NFW
24 SEPTEMBER 2024 (NEW YORK) – Today, NFW, an innovative biomaterials company based in Peoria, Illinois, was announced as a Finalist for Prince William’s Earthshot Prize. As a Finalist, NFW is in the running to receive one of five £1 million prizes, which will be awarded at The Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa on Wednesday 6 November.
NFW is the only company worldwide that’s replacing a range of petroleum-derived plastics with non-toxic biomaterials at scale in the fashion, footwear, and automotive industries with brands like BMW, H&M, Ralph Lauren, and Stella McCartney. NFW’s innovative plant-based materials span textiles, leather alternatives, outsoles, and foams.
The Earthshot Prize unveiled NFW as a Finalist in its fourth cohort of 15 Prize Finalists at the third-annual Earthshot Innovation Summit held at New York Climate Week, which includes global innovators, entrepreneurs, community leaders, and advocates pioneering solutions to our most pressing climate and environmental challenges.
This year’s Finalists were selected from nearly 2,500 nominees submitted by the Prize’s network of more than 430 nominators from 75 countries. The 15 Finalists were chosen by The Earthshot Prize based on assessments done by its selection partners and Expert Advisory Panel, a global group of more than 100 subject-matter experts with deep backgrounds in conservation, science, technology, business, finance, academia and policy.
“Today, we celebrate the incredible achievement, unwavering dedication and urgent optimism that drives our fourth class of Earthshot innovators,” said Prince William, Founder and President of The Earthshot Prize. “The passion of these Finalists is a testament to what can be achieved when we tap into the enormous creativity, ingenuity, and optimism of communities around the world. Representing every corner of the globe, these Finalists are leading the way in solving some of the most urgent environmental challenges. Their groundbreaking work is inspiring hope and action as we work to create a sustainable future for generations to come.”
“I am honored and grateful that Prince William and his leading partners and advisors have recognized our work and selected NFW as a Finalist for the Earthshot Prize, because we urgently need to solve the plastics waste and health emergency,” said Dr Luke Haverhals, Founder and CEO of NFW.
Microplastics may be the new asbestos, but worse. Microplastic pollution is much more ubiquitous than asbestos. It is literally everywhere—it's in the soil, the air, the water. We’re eating it, drinking it, and we are breathing it in. It’s no surprise researchers are therefore finding microplastics in nearly every part of the human body including our brain. We’re increasingly understanding the links to serious health problems like cancer, infertility, hormone disruption, and cognitive decline. Plastic is quite literally poisoning us and the planet.
NFW’s solution to this seemingly wicked problem is to create useful, beautiful materials that come from the Earth and can safely return to the Earth when they're done being used, staying within nature's own circular economy. We’ve developed biomaterials to replace plastic in fashion, footwear, and interiors. Instead of using crude oil to create synthetic plastics, we start with natural materials to create high-performance yarns, fabrics, foams, and outsoles—all from plants, not plastic.
Our system of materials makes it possible to replace not just a single plastic in a shoe made of a dozen different types of plastic, but to design the whole shoe – from outsole to midsole to upper – entirely without plastic. We are empowering consumer brands and designers to create plastic-free products and set new standards for their industry. Plastic-free design is critical to stop the deluge of toxic plastic waste from flooding the biosphere and our bodies.”
Said JB Pritzker, Governor of Illinois: “Since day one of my administration, we’ve taken bold steps to position Illinois as a national leader in the fight against climate change. From our nation-leading Climate and Equitable Jobs Act to our investments in environmental protections across the board, the global recognition of Peoria-based NFW is proof that Illinois is at the forefront of building a greener, more sustainable world.”
NFW was selected as a Finalist in the Earthshot Prize ‘Build A Waste Free World’ category for their unique solution to displacing plastics in fashion, footwear, and automotive. There are five categories in total that include: Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build A Waste-Free World and Fix Our Climate. The Illinois based company joins Finalists from six continents including the first Finalists from France, Ghana, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and Nepal in a cohort the 2024 Earthshot Prize celebrates as its most competitive cohort to date.
As The Earthshot Prize continues its journey to repair and regenerate the planet, it has become a powerful global search engine unearthing the best environmental solutions and a platform for impact to catalyze critical investment and resources towards these solutions. Today’s announcement brings the number of global solutions honored as Prize Finalists to 60, a major milestone in The Prize’s efforts to uncover and elevate the most promising climate solutions around the world. The Prize has also helped unlock more than £75 million in direct and in-kind support for Finalists since its founding in 2020.
The five Winners of this year’s Prize will be selected by Prince William and his fellow members of the prestigious Earthshot Prize Council, a diverse group of individuals dedicated to championing urgent and innovative action to protect the climate and our natural environment. The Earthshot Prize Council is chaired by The Earthshot Prize Board of Trustees Chair, Dame Christiana Figueres, architect of the Paris Agreement.
Members of The Earthshot Prize Council are HRH Prince William, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, Cate Blanchett, Sir David Attenborough, Indra Nooyi, Stella McCartney, José Andrés, Wanjira Mathai, Nemonte Nenquimo, Luisa Neubauer, Naoko Yamazaki, Ernest Gibson, and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
The 2024 Earthshot Prize Winners will be announced at the fourth Earthshot Prize Awards, taking place on Wednesday 6 November in Cape Town, South Africa. The awards ceremony will be part of Earthshot Week, a series of events convening global leaders, investors, philanthropists, businesses and NGOs to explore opportunities with The Earthshot Prize Winners and Finalists and work together to address the roadblocks preventing solutions and sectors from speeding to scale.
The Finalists’ eligibility for the £1 million prize is only the beginning of their Earthshot journey. Each Finalist will receive dedicated mentorship, resources and technical support to help accelerate the growth of their solution during the Earthshot Prize Fellowship Programme. That support includes access to the Prize’s robust network of influential businesses, investors and climate experts, including The Earthshot Prize’s Global Alliance of Partners, composed of some of the world’s largest businesses, donors, investors and environmental organizations committed to climate action. Finalists will also have access to Launchpad, Earthshot’s bespoke online innovative finance platform to matchmake Earthshot solutions to a growing community of members made up of mission-aligned donors and investors seeking to speed proven environmental solutions to scale.
Contact:
Frankie Oliver at New Society Communications on frankie@hellonewsociety.com / +44 7713842046
About NFW
Founded in 2015 by chemist Dr. Luke Haverhals, NFW is a biomaterials company on a mission to address the plastics crisis. NFW is the only next-gen materials startup replacing plastic with a range of non-toxic, plastic-free materials at scale in fashion, footwear, and automotive, working with brands like BMW, H&M, Ralph Lauren, Camper, and Stella McCartney. NFW’s materials range from textiles and leather alternatives to outsoles and foams. Using patented technology, they transform plant ingredients like natural rubber and recycled cotton into high-performance, non-toxic alternatives to toxic petroleum-derived materials like pleather (polyurethane and PVC), petro-coated leather, polyester, synthetic rubber, and more.
NFW is proud to work with a host of leading brands around the world that include:
AllBirds, Baabuk, Anita Dongre, AreanaMend, Bellroy, BMW, Brave GentleMan, Camper, Chaco, Deckers, H&M, Karl Lagerfeld, IWC, Melina Bucher, Modher, New Balance, Nooch, Stella McCartney, Reformation, Richemont/IWC, Patagonia, Pangaia, Purified, Unless Collective, RLX, Veshin, Vivobarefoot, Woolly.
For more information about NFW please visit and follow: NFW.Earth. Connect with us on social media: Insta | LI | FB | X
About The Earthshot Prize:
For more information about The Earthshot Prize, visit: www.earthshotprize.org.
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Founded by Prince William and incubated in the The Royal Foundation in 2020 for a year before becoming an independent platform/organization, The Earthshot Prize is a global environmental prize and platform designed to discover, accelerate and scale ground-breaking solutions to repair and regenerate the planet. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot, which united millions of people around the goal of reaching the moon, The Earthshot Prize aims to catalyze an Earthshot challenge to urgently encourage and scale innovative solutions that can help put the world firmly on a trajectory towards a stable climate, where communities, oceans and biodiversity thrive in harmony by 2030. The five challenges are: Protect and Restore Nature; Clean Our Air; Revive Our Oceans; Build a Waste-Free World; and Fix Our Climate.
The Prize aims to turn the current pessimism surrounding environmental issues into optimism by championing inspiring leadership and helping to scale incredible cutting-edge solutions. It will discover 50 winners over 10 years with the power to repair the planet. More than an award, The Earthshot Prize works in partnership with a Global Alliance of Partners to support the scaling of the solutions discovered and selected each year.
The Global Alliance Founding Partners are a group of leading global organizations and philanthropists, which act as strategic funding partners to the Prize, including Aga Khan Development Network, Bezos Earth Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Breakthrough Energy Foundation, Coleman Family Ventures, DP World in partnership with Dubai EXPO 2020, Eleven Eleven Foundation, Giving Grousbeck Fazzalari, Holch Povlsen Foundation, Jack Ma Foundation, Law Family Charitable Foundation, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, Marc and Lynne Benioff, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Rob Walton Foundation, Sandy and Paul Edgerley, Standard Chartered Bank, Temasek Trust, and Uber.
Global Alliance Partners are non-profit environment and sustainable development organizations that bring expertise, global reach and serve as nominating organizations each year. For a full list of our Global Alliance Partners, visit: www.earthshotprize.org/global-alliance.
Global Alliance Members are some of the world’s largest and most influential companies and brands that will support The Earthshot Prize, implement ambitious changes within their businesses and accelerate the advancement of the solutions of Prize Finalists and Winners. They are Arup, Bloomberg L.P., Deloitte, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hitachi, Ingka Group (IKEA), Microsoft, The Multichoice Group, Natura &Co, Safaricom, Salesforce, Unilever, Vodacom Group, and Walmart.