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The Keeling Curve Prize is an annual award celebrating remarkable achievements in the global effort to combat climate change. Each year, 10 organizations are chosen as winners across five distinct categories: carbon sinks, energy, finance, social and cultural pathways, and transport and mobility. These winning organizations have exhibited exceptional innovation and leadership within their respective fields. The list of this year's deserving winners is outlined below.
BIOSORRA is a technology company created by a group of young entrepreneurs from all over the global south. Their goal and mission is to make carbon removal solutions accessible to anyone. The technology they have created is BIOCHAR, a material used to enhance soil for farming. They hope BIOCHAR will become a cement replacement in the future. Since they started, they have worked with over 1,000 farmers, raising their income by 50%, sequestering 90 tons of CO2 waste, and replenishing 30% of water that would have originally gone to waste!
InPlanet was built by a team of passionate individuals who all contributed to their mission—helping farmers in the tropics remove CO2 from the atmosphere and transition to more sustainable farming practices. Their scientific approach involves accelerating rock weathering, effectively removing CO2 from the atmosphere, and helping cool down the planet. This process, which would normally take thousands of years, is accomplished in a matter of minutes.
Climatenza Solar is a company that focuses on decarbonizing the industrial sector using concentrated solar thermal technology. Their focus is not only on pulling pollution out of the environment but also on creating a safer industrial sector that the world relies greatly on.
SOLshare was founded by a team of tech pioneers from Dhaka. SOLshare aims to make clean energy more available to people all around the world. It uses solar panel technology that can be installed in almost any location, including houses and businesses, and it also offers electric transportation that can be charged by the solar panels. With a goal to reach as many people as possible, they have already managed to change 8,000 lives, and their vehicles have already driven over 2 million kilometers to make a difference. They have come a long way in only 10 years and are expected to continue to grow and make even larger positive footprints in the future.
Blue Forest is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising money for relief efforts in areas that have been ravaged by wildfires and other environmentally destructive natural disasters. They have facilitated the creation of protected areas and the restoration of lost lands in places such as Rogue Valley, Yuba, and Upper Monkelume. Since its establishment, Blue Forest has safeguarded over 18,000 acres of land and allocated over $14 million for ecosystem resilience. In addition, they have protected more than 62,000 acre-feet of water supply.
Climatize makes it easier for people to invest in companies that aim to improve the planet. Each company available for investment undergoes a rigorous vetting process to ensure its reliability. Once verified, these companies are listed on Climatize's website, where registered users can choose and donate to them.
Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance is "an alliance of 30 Indigenous nations in Ecuador and Peru with a shared vision to protect 86 million acres of bioculturally diverse tropical rainforests permanently." Since 2017, this group has developed a plan to convert millions of acres of rainforest into protected land and return it to the indigenous tribes who have lived there for hundreds of years.
Isla Urbana is a company based in Mexico that aims to reuse rainwater. Much of Mexico still struggles with getting clean water, and their goal is to change this in order to help people live healthier and happier lives. Since its founding in 2009, they have installed over 43,100 systems and collects upwards of 6.6 billion liters of water yearly. They also hope to start working with schools to collect water for students. With the systems they are developing, schools would be able to collect enough water to have for all their students and staff for 6 to 9 months. They are currently working with 877 schools around Mexico.
Itselectric focuses on installing curbside electric car charging stations in every city. They handle everything: working with property owners, securing permits, installing chargers, managing charging memberships, and ensuring that property owners receive their fair share. Their goal is to facilitate the switch to electric vehicles by providing more charging stations.
Seabound is a London-based climate technology start up on a mission to decarbonize the global shipping industry. Shipping is a hard-to-abate sector, responsible for approximately 3% of global greenhouse emissions. Seabound builds uniquely simple, affordable, and scalable carbon capture technology that can be installed directly onto ships to trap the 95% of CO2 in the exhaust gas from their engines.