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LanzaTech CEO Dr Jennifer Holmgren
Fix Our
Climate
2022 Finalist

LanzaTech

Area of Impact:
Global

Carbon, released into the atmosphere, heats the planet. LanzaTech are using bacteria to recycle carbon pollution into profitable and sustainable products.

Their Story

Burning fossil fuels releases carbon, which traps heat in the atmosphere and drives up global temperatures, but it is also a prized element in chemicals, proteins and fuels.

While the world fights to combat the climate crisis and makes its transition to clean energy, we also need ideas that mitigate the harm caused by carbon pollution.

Enter LanzaTech. Its gas fermentation technology traps pollution and turns it into something useful. By targeting CO2, as well as industrial, municipal and agricultural waste, the company has discovered a way to produce large quantities of useful materials, while keeping fossil fuels in the ground.

Three ethanol plants in China, two at ferro-alloy plants and one at a steel mill, already use LanzaTech technology and have diverted over 190,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions into valuable products, such as sustainable fuels, packaging, cosmetics, cleaning products and textiles. Zara, Coty and Lululemon are some of the major consumer brands already making products using building blocks made by LanzaTech.

Dr. Holmgren dreams of a “circular economy in which carbon can be infinitely reused.” She aims to have 20 plants in operation by the end of 2024 and is well on her way. Seven LanzaTech plants are already under construction, with seven more in the design phase. With LanzaTech, the dirtiest feedstocks are building a clean future.

Their impact so far

Since becoming a Finalist in 2022, LanzaTech become a publicly traded and owned entity. This marks a key milestone of the first Earthshot Prize Finalist to go public. It is also the first Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) company to access public capital markets.

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Other 2022 Fix Our Climate Finalists

The Earthshot Prize