Stories of Impact Newlight Technologies

Overview

Name: Newlight Technologies
Founders: Mark Herrema, Kenton Kimmel
Country: United States
Website: Newlight.com

To End Climate Change in This Generation
A very audacious goal. Accomplishing requires the World to move beyond Net Zero and towards Carbon Negative. Newlight believes this is achievable, but understands that the public is skeptical to such bold claims.

Impact Innovation:
Newlight is changing how people view greenhouse gases; from problem to a valuable resource. Showcasing that informed choice reduces greenhouse gases.

Newlight’s innovation is AirCarbon, a regenerative plastic-like material certified Carbon Negative. Newlight’s unique process extracts greenhouse gases from the air and transforms it into a malleable, flexible, biodegradable material that has many of the same characteristics as single-use plastic and leather. Brands like Nike are incorporating the materials into their shoes.

Putting Carbon Negative central to your brand is risky, as proving it carries an added burden. Newlight achieves this in a transparent manner, allowing consumers to make an informed choice, which in turn, raises the bar for all businesses.

Cognition Foundry built a bespoke Blockchain-based platform to record the carbon footprint for each stage in the manufacturing process. Consumers can verify the end-to-end carbon transformation (from sequestration to polymer to consumable manufacturing) of their AirCarbon-based products. Consumers see their consumption choices are leading to a Carbon Negative world, all verified by a third-party.

Ah-Ha Moments

Using technology-enabled transparency to validate claims is central to avoiding a green-washing debate.

Technology can be the enabler for entering new markets.

Mark Herrema

CEO, Newlight

CF Contribution

IT Strategy and Architecture

Designed and maintained a hybrid cloud hosting infrastructure, including incorporating IBM LinuxONE with industry-leading 99.999% availability, scalability, resiliency and security.

Application Development

Blockchain-as-a-Service and Hyperledger.

Solution Design

Design Thinking Workshops revealed strategies to empower the advocated and convert the critic. Empathizing with divergent personas ensured the consumer-engagement strategy would be inclusive and effective.