$1 million Climate Solutions Prize awarded to three groundbreaking technologies

A $1 million climate solutions prize, now in its second year, has been awarded to the developers of three breakthrough technologies.

Prof. Shanny Barath and Prof. Yechezkel Kashin from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, in the northern city of Haifa impressed judges with their CyanoCementation project.

This uses cyanobacteria, a type of bacteria that absorbs carbon dioxide as it photosynthesizes. The integration of cyanobacteria into building materials has the potential to cut CO₂ emissions, as well as to produce a sticky material, or biofilm, that can replace less sustainable adhesives in cement.

Prof. Brian Rosen from Tel Aviv University scooped part of the prize for his work on producing green ammonia fast and with low temperatures. Green ammonia has the potential to become a clean fuel source for generating electricity.

The third recipient was Prof. Menny Shalom from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in southern Israel for his rechargeable zinc-air batteries — a possible future replacement for lithium-ion batteries.

Jeff Hart, the executive chair of the Climate Solutions Prize, said, “Over the past few months, we received tens of submissions from Israel’s top research institutions that vied to be recognized by The Breakthrough Climate Solutions Prize presented by JNF Canada in collaboration with our partners – KKL-JNF Jewish National Fund, and Start-Up Nation Central.

“Once again, we have been inspired by the vision and ingenuity of the Israeli scientific community and the remarkable innovations in various Climate Tech fields.”

This was the second annual awardןמע of the prize.

Next month, Startup Nation Central will be awarding over $1 million in prizes in the startup track.