A nature-based solution to turn greenhouse gases into a resource to make sustainable products for foodware and fashion.

Website : https://www.newlight.com/

Founded date: 2003

Industry: Carbon sequestration, biotechnology

Business model: B2B, DTC

Applications: Foodware (Restore), fashion (Covalent)

Country HQ: United States

CEO: Mark Herrema

YOUR JOURNEY TO FUNDING

The idea started in June 2003 when I read a newspaper article in the LA Times about methane emissions from cows, which listed the specific amount burped per day—600 liters of methane per dairy cow, which worked out to be about $20 in value per cow per year.  This made carbon emissions quantifiable as an underutilized resource in a way that had not been striking previously, and I started a journey with Kenton Kimmel to answer the question: what if we could harness greenhouse gas as a resource to make high-value products?

“What if we could harness greenhouse gas as a resource to make high-value products?”

THE INNOVATION

We wanted to create a market-driven solution to reduce the amount of carbon in the air by turning greenhouse gas into a resource to make sustainable products. We discovered that nature uses greenhouse gas to make high-value materials every day, and that there are microorganisms in the ocean that eat methane and carbon dioxide as food, and use it to create a special, meltable molecule called PHB—a material we call AirCarbon. 

We figured out how to copy this process by using those same natural microorganisms and giving them a home on land to make AirCarbon.  Part of what is so special about AirCarbon is that it is made in nature, so if it ends up in the ocean, the ocean knows how to biologically degrade it. Therefore, we can use it to replace plastics that would otherwise take hundreds of years to go away with something natural that goes away as fast as cellulose.  The other part that is special is that because we combine air and renewable methane to make it, AirCarbon is net carbon-negative, resulting in less carbon in the air as a result of the production process—similar to what happens when a tree grows. 

“AirCarbon is net carbon-negative, resulting in the less carbon in the air as a result of the production process—similar to what happens when a tree grows”

APPLICATIONS

AirCarbon can be used to replace plastic and leather in a pretty wide array of applications, but we looked to see where we could have the most immediate impact.  Since it is natural and ocean-degradable, and since foodware—things like straws, forks, cups, bottles—represent the majority of plastic product types in the ocean, we are focused today on using AirCarbon under our Restore foodware brand to make natural foodware to replace plastic foodware, so that if it gets thrown away, it goes away. 

The other application space we are focused on is fashion—we have developed a way to use AirCarbon to replace high-performance plastics, like acetate, and also animal and synthetic leather. So we are producing AirCarbon eyewear and AirCarbon Leather goods through our Covalent fashion brand to bring carbon-negative products into fashion, and help try to turn fashion into a force for environmental good.

VALUE IN CIRCULAR ECONOMY TRANSITION

There are a few places where we want to contribute. First, we want to show that greenhouse gas is a valuable resource, and we don’t have to let it go into the air—we can harness it the way nature does, and use it to make valuable things.  If we can do that at scale, we think that can have an important impact. Second, we want to show that nature-made materials offer distinct advantages over synthetic materials—they can be just as strong, while also preventing environmental destruction, because nature makes things that are designed to be circular. Third, we want to show that materials don’t have to do environmental damage—if we mimic natural processes, we have a guidebook for how to do things that are not only sustainable, but regenerative, and help us heal, re-build, and re-grow. 

“If we mimic natural processes, we have a guidebook for how to do things that are not only sustainable, but regenerative, and help us heal, re-build, and re-grow”

Finally, we want to help bring traceability to a new level through the application of blockchain technology.  We have introduced the Carbon Date to each of our Covalent products, which is the time when the AirCarbon used to make that product was made—when you plug the Carbon Date into our online blockchain tracker, you can see every step in the production process of that product, with the associated time as well as the precise carbon footprint of that specific product, including who independently verified it.  Our goal is to give people the information they need to make an informed decision, and then let them decide for themselves what kind of impact they want to make. 

FUTURE PLANS

With regard to the oceans, our aim is to use AirCarbon to introduce over 90% of the plastic product types that end up in the ocean within the next 5-7 years, to show that by using AirCarbon and similar nature-based technologies, we can end the accumulation of plastic in the ocean in this generation. To help get there, we want to grow as quickly as we can to 20 billion pound per year production – the amount of plastic currently flowing into the ocean every year. 

“By using AirCarbon and similar nature-based technologies, we can end the accumulation of plastic in the ocean in this generation”

With regard to the air, we want to use AirCarbon Leather and AirCarbon Resin in our Covalent products and the products of our partners to show that we can make products that have a neutral or negative carbon footprint, and eventually help decarbonize the fashion industry. We have just launched our products to market, so right now we want to help build awareness – of what’s possible with AirCarbon, and what we can start to hopefully do together by harnessing the incredible technologies that are within nature.

VISION FOR THE DECADE OF ACTION

What impact will your innovation and complementary ones achieve to solve systemic problems we are assisting to?

Perhaps the biggest thing we want to do is show that the future is not yet written.  No one could be faulted for feeling like climate change and plastic pollution are problems perhaps too big to be solved, but when you hold a Restore fork or a Covalent handbag, those products demonstrate in physical form that there is something beautiful in greenhouse gas, and we don’t have to let it go into the air, we don’t have to let plastic keep choking our oceans—we can harness nature to make things that are regenerative, and start to turn things around. 

If we know this, if we know it is possible, then we cannot say that climate change and plastic pollution are foregone conclusions.  We can change; step by step, not discounting a long, hard journey ahead, but we can change.  That gives us inspiration to fight and keep going, even when the road seems long, and we hope it does for others as well.

October 2020

A conversation between Mark Herrema (CEO, Newlight) & Emanuele Di Francesco