Earthshot Prize names NFW 2024 finalist

NFW is one of 15 finalists selected from thousands of nominations worldwide. The 2024 winners will be announced at a live event in Cape Town, South Africa in November.

Big news.  

NFW has been shortlisted for the 2024 Earthshot Prize. The Prize Council has chosen NFW as a finalist from thousands of nominated organizations, companies, and initiatives around the world. We’re over the moon about it – and the pun is intended.  

“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Famous words from a famous moment – when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. An achievement that seemed impossible – until it wasn’t.  

President John F. Kennedy's “Moonshot” challenge in 1962 to land a man on the moon within a decade was the result of an extraordinary collective effort across scientists, industry, and the government.  

Taking inspiration from this, HRH Prince William established the Earthshot Prize in 2020 to search for and scale the most innovative solutions to the world's greatest environmental challenges.  

Each year, the Earthshot Prize council, which includes luminaries from around the world – including Sir David Attenborough, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-I-Iweala, Nemonte Nenquimo, and Stella McCartney – selects 15 finalists across five Earthshot categories:  

• Protect and Restore Nature 

• Clean Our Air 

• Revive Our Oceans 

• Build a Waste-Free World  

• Fix Our Climate 

In its third year, nearly 2,500 thousand nominations to the Earthshot were made from 150 countries around the world. We are honored to have been nominated by the PDIE Group, a think tank for purpose-driven innovation and investment, who have nominated a number of finalists over the course of the Prize’s first three selection cycles, including the 2021 Fix Our Climate Winner, Enapter.  

At New York Climate Week, as part of the United Nations General Assembly, the Earthshot Prize Council announced NFW as one of three finalists for the Build a Waste-free World Earthshot, a recognition of NFW’s transformative approach to solving the plastic waste crisis with plant-based, nontoxic biomaterials across a range of applications and sectors.  

Previous finalists and winners for the Waste-Free World Earthshot include Notpla, the seaweed packaging startup, and Circ, the polycotton recycling company.  

The Earthshot Prize states “By 2030, we choose to build a world where nothing goes to waste, where the leftovers of one process become the raw materials of the next – just like they do in nature.”  

This is NFW’s fundamental design philosophy. As stated in our Ground Rules, we believe materials must: Start well. Stay clean. End well.™  

Where plastics are made with fossil fuels extracted through fracking or drilling, we start with plants. Where plastics are toxified with hazardous chemistries like BPA or phthalates we manufacture nontoxic biomaterials and validate through rigorous 3rd party testing like Oeko-Tex Standard 100 which includes safety tests for the presence of harmful substances. Where plastic becomes waste and ultimately toxic microplastic pollution, our materials do not leach harmful chemicals at end-of-use, and we create a path back to Earth through our EndWell Program. Being named as a finalist for the Earthshot Prize is game-changing recognition on the global stage that affirms how critical it is to scale NFW’s transformative approach to solving the plastic waste crisis with plant-based, nontoxic biomaterials. 

 A moment like this is only possible due to the determination and tireless efforts of our team members, our brand partners seeking innovative, plastic-free materials, and the investors and supply chain partners who back our vision and help fuel our growth.  

The winners of the 2024 Earthshots will be announced in Cape Town in early November. We are so honored to be named in the company of such other incredible change makers and solutionists. 

Learn more about NFW’s nomination on Earthshot’s website. Celebrate with us on social media by amplifying the news. Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | X