GRST has come up with a cleaner process to make batteries that pollutes less and uses components that can be more easily recycled – Prince William’s Earthshot awards named the company a winner this week
Scientists who developed a cleaner and more sustainable way to make batteries for electric cars were among the winners of this year’s Prince of Wales’s £1m Earthshot prizes.
The awards, announced at a ceremony in Singapore on Tuesday, are aimed at rewarding innovative solutions to tackle the climate and biodiversity emergencies.
Speaking at the event, named after the former US president John F Kennedy’s Moonshot challenge in the 1960s, the prince said “hope does remain” even as the effects of the climate crisis become “too visible to be ignored”.
Co-founded by Justin Hung, GRST (which stands for Green, Renewable, Sustainable Technology) has come up with a cleaner process to make batteries that pollutes less and uses components that can be more easily recycled. Instead of using toxic solvents and hard-to-recycle materials, GRST has created a way to build the battery using a water-soluble binding composite, so that at the end of the battery’s life, the lithium, cobalt and nickel can be more economically recovered and reused again in another battery, reducing demand for further extraction.
Justin Hung, CEO and co-founder of GRST, said: “The electric vehicle revolution is here, but the world needs a sustainable battery revolution to accompany it. Our technology is better for the environment, better for people, and more efficient than conventional battery technology. Thank you to The Earthshot Prize for spotlighting our important work”.
GRST’s method not only reduces greenhouse gas emissions from production by 40%, but also produces a battery that lasts up to 10% longer than average – characteristics that will accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and enable more people to breathe cleaner air.
GRST batteries are already being sold in multiple countries. Following the recent completion of a new factory, GRST is ready to scale the battery technology. They are targeting a five percent share of the global green battery market by 2030 and aim to establish several circular supply chains over the next few years. GRST’s efforts are key to enabling the electric vehicle revolution to drive forward sustainably.
The five winning projects, which each received a £1m prize, were:
GRST’s project to build and recycle lithium-ion batteries in a cleaner and more sustainable way.
WildAid Marine programme’s initiative to bring together governments, scientists and campaigners to tackle illegal fishing and strengthen ocean conservation.
S4S Technologies’ scheme to develop solar-powered dryers and processing equipment to enable small-hold farmers to preserve crops and turn what would have been waste into valuable products.
Boomitra’s project with 150,000 farmers in some of the poorest parts of Africa, South America and Asia to reduce emissions and boost profits by incentivising land restoration through a verified carbon credit marketplace.
Accion Andina, a project that unites tens of thousands of people in local and Indigenous communities in the Andes mountain range to protect and restore the native forests and ecosystems.
The winners were selected by the prince and the Earthshot Prize Council, which was chaired by Christiana Figueres, one of the architects of the climate agreement signed in Paris in 2015.
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