Newlight Technologies' AirCarbon Material has been certified carbon negative by the Carbon Trust

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Newlight Technologies, Inc., a biotechnology company based in Southern California dedicated to making materials that improve the environment, has worked with the Carbon Trust, an independent organization with a mission to accelerate the move to a sustainable, low carbon economy, to calculate and certify the cradle-to-gate carbon footprint of Newlight's AirCarbon product. The footprint analysis reveals that AirCarbon has a carbon negative cradle-to-gate product carbon footprint.     

Every day, natural microorganisms in the ocean consume air and greenhouse gas dissolved in saltwater to produce a meltable energy storage material inside of their cells called PHB.  Over 10 years of research, Newlight learned how to replicate this process on land by combining natural microorganisms from the ocean with renewable power, air, saltwater, and captured greenhouse gas emissions that would have otherwise been released into the atmosphere to produce PHB—a material that Newlight calls AirCarbon. 

Newlight reached out to the Carbon Trust to calculate and certify the cradle-to-gate product carbon footprint of AirCarbon.  As a result, the Carbon Trust found that for every one kilogram of AirCarbon produced in Newlight's production process using methane seeping from abandoned coal mines, 88 kilograms of CO2e are sequestered.

"We are pleased to have worked with Newlight to determine the cradle-to-gate carbon footprint of AirCarbon," said Hugh Jones, Managing Director Business Services at the Carbon Trust. "By consuming greenhouse gas as a resource, and doing it with renewable power, we found that AirCarbon has a net carbon-negative cradle-to-gate carbon footprint."

"Independently audited information allows consumers to make informed decisions," said Newlight CEO Mark Herrema. "The Carbon Trust, one of the most well-respected firms in the carbon accounting field, has certified the cradle-to-gate carbon footprint of AirCarbon and found it to be carbon negative. This gives consumers the information they need to decide what kind of impact they want to make.  We are grateful for the world-class work that the Carbon Trust carried out in their lifecycle analysis report."

Newlight's mission is to use AirCarbon to help end climate change and plastics pollution and start to restore the world's ecosystems through the use of carbon-negative materials inspired by regenerative, carbon-negative processes found in nature.  The Carbon Trust's certification of AirCarbon's carbon footprint helps enable Newlight to move closer to achieving that mission.

About the Carbon Trust

The Carbon Trust mission is to accelerate the delivery of a sustainable, low carbon economy by helping businesses, governments and organizations across the globe to reduce carbon emissions and achieve greater resource efficiency. It advises businesses on their opportunities in a sustainable, low carbon world and measures and certifies the environmental footprint of organizations, supply chains and products.

About Newlight

Founded in 2003, Newlight Technologies is a biotechnology company in Huntington Beach, CA dedicated to producing materials that help improve life.  After over ten years of research, Newlight developed AirCarbon: a regenerative, carbon-negative material that is being used to replace synthetic plastic and fibers to help solve plastics pollution and climate change.  AirCarbon was named "Biomaterial of the Year" by the Nova Institute and "Innovation of the Year" by Popular Science.  Newlight was also recognized as a "Technology Pioneer" by the World Economic Forum and awarded the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

For more information, please visit carbontrust.com and newlight.com

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SOURCE Newlight Technologies