NFW selected as finalist for Earthshot prize

NFW, an innovative biomaterials company based in Illinois, USA, has been announced as a finalist for this year’s Earthshot Prize – a global environmental award launched in 2020 by Prince William and the biologist and natural historian, Sir David Attenborough. The company is now in the running to receive one of five grants each worth GBP 1 million to continue its environmental work, with the awards being made at a ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa in November. The five categories were inspired by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: ‘protect and restore nature’, ‘clean our air’, ‘revive our oceans’, ‘fix our climate’, and the category in which NFW is competing, ‘build a waste-free world’. This year’s finalists were selected from nearly 2,500 nominees.

According to NFW, it is the only company replacing petroleum-derived plastics with non-toxic biomaterials at scale within the footwear, fashion and automotive industries. Its products are said to use plant-based natural materials rather than crude oil to create high-performance yarns, fabrics, foams and outsoles. These are marketed by NFW as ‘coming from the Earth and able to safely return to our planet when no longer being used, thus staying within nature’s own circular economy’.

The photograph above shows Biomaterials production at NFW’s Jefferson Avenue facility.

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 3 of the October 2024 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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