1 May 2025
Progress doesn’t pause so here are some of latest stories from our Finalists you might have missed.
From Sea Forest securing investment to grow its climate solution and major momentum behind the High Seas Treaty, to Green Spot Technologies turning food waste into a new cocoa-alternative product and 44.01 capturing CO₂ from cement production — see how our Finalists are driving change that shifts entire systems for the better.
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China has officially ratified the High Seas Treaty, adding the weight of one of the world’s most influential countries to a landmark agreement that is set to transform ocean protection.
Winner of the Earthshot Prize 2025, the High Seas Treaty covers nearly two-thirds of the world’s oceans and establishes the first global framework to create marine protected areas in international waters. In September 2025, the crucial threshold of 60 ratifications was met, meaning the Treaty would become legally binding and unlock the tools and mechanisms needed to regulate activities on the high seas.
As a major fishing nation and geopolitical power, China’s decision to ratify is particularly meaningful because it strengthens the Treaty just as it approaches full implementation in January 2026. With 75 countries now backing the agreement, China’s move provides a significant boost to momentum and adds to the likelihood that the Treaty will deliver real, enforceable protections.
The High Seas Treaty is the first global framework to create marine protected areas in international waters
2023 Finalist Sea Forest has successfully listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, raising A$20.5 million and valuing the Tasmanian-based business at about A$112.1 million.
The listing opens an exciting new chapter for Sea Forest, positioning the company to grow across Australia and internationally while accelerating its research in sustainable agriculture.
The funds will drive a major scale-up of Sea Forest’s seaweed-based products such as SeaFeed™, the Asparagopsis supplement shown to cut methane emissions from cattle and sheep by up to 80 per cent and potentially improve feed efficiency.
With new sites planned in Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia and an initial international expansion into South Africa, Sea Forest is shifting from national leader to emerging global player. As the world’s only listed climate-solutions company focused on this space, the listing marks a meaningful step in scaling low-emissions agriculture.
The new funding will help scale Sea Forest’s seaweed-based supplement that cuts methane emissions from cattle and sheep
Green Spot Technologies, a 2024 Finalist for its Ferment’Up technology, has raised €5 million to scale production of its fermented, upcycled ingredients that can replace cocoa in food manufacturing.
Each year, millions of tonnes of nutrient-rich by-products from food processing end up in landfill, yet these materials often contain some of the highest nutritional value. GST transforms this so-called waste into nutritious alternative ingredients through a solid-state fermentation process.
With this new funding, and under the brand MILATEA, they will bring their fermentation-derived cocoa alternatives to bakeries, chocolatiers and food producers at commercial scale.
The investment will also help expand GST’s production capacity tenfold, from 100 to 1,000 tonnes a year, and support the launch of powders, fillings and chocolate-style chips that can stand in for cocoa across a wide range of recipes.
This progress shows how waste-derived ingredients can play a vital role in modern food production and points to a realistic pathway toward a more sustainable global food system.
Green Spot Technologies are bringing their fermentation-derived cocoa alternatives to food producers at commercial scale
2022 Earthshot Prize Winners 44.01 and European building materials multinational Holcim have launched the world’s first pilot project to capture and store CO₂ directly from a cement plant.
44.01’s mineralisation process works by dissolving CO₂ in water and injecting it into peridotite, a naturally reactive rock that transforms the CO₂ into stable minerals within months. The new project will initially capture around five tonnes of CO₂ per day from Holcim’s cement operations in Fujairah and inject it into local peridotite formations for permanent storage.
The collaboration brings 44.01’s technology into one of the hardest-to-decarbonise industries and builds on the company’s successful earlier projects in Oman and the UAE, which demonstrated that mineralisation can be delivered safely and at scale.
As the first initiative to integrate carbon mineralisation directly into cement production, this new announcement offers a potential blueprint for how cement producers, and heavy industry more broadly, could lock away their emissions and move towards genuine net-zero operations.
44.01’s pilot project in Fujairah will capture and store CO₂ directly from a cement plant
LanzaJet, supported by 2022 Finalist LanzaTech, has announced that its plant in Georgia, USA has produced sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from ethanol at what it describes as the world’s first commercial scale ethanol to jet fuel facility.
The result of more than 15 years of R&D and investment, the fuel can be used once blended in approved proportions with conventional jet fuel, marking a major step in decarbonising aviation and providing commercial-scale evidence that ethanol can be used at large scale to make SAF.
Because the fuel can be made using ethanol derived from a broad range of sustainable feedstock including agricultural residues, waste and recycled carbon, it has the potential to address the supply limits of today’s sustainable fuels and could help expand SAF production across a wide range of countries where these raw materials are widely available.
Backed by long-term support from Earthshot Prize partners British Airways, Breakthrough Energy and Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, this progress sends a clear signal to investors and policymakers that scalable SAF is entering an important next phase of commercial deployment.
Derived from a broad range of sustainable feedstocks, LanzaJet’s advancement is a major step in decarbonising aviation
The Earthshot Prize Finalists represent the most ambitious and inspiring solutions to the world’s greatest challenges.
The impact they’re having around the world shows that a better, fairer future is possible for both people and planet.
