SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mohamed Adow, Director of Power Shift Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, and Nicole Rycroft, Executive Director of Canopy in Vancouver, Canada, are the newest recipients of the Climate Breakthrough Award. The award is given to extraordinary strategists to afford them the time, space, and resources to develop and implement bold new strategies to confront and mitigate the growing climate crisis. Over the next three years, the awardees will each receive a US$3 million dollar grant and tailored support from the Climate Breakthrough Project to bring visionary new strategies from idea to fruition.
“The Climate Breakthrough Project finds exceptional leaders capable of pursuing strategies that would affect entire industries or countries and materially change the lives of millions of people. Mohamed and Nicole have the drive and the rare ability to make change at an immense scale,” said Climate Breakthrough Project Executive Director Savanna Ferguson. “It is truly an honor to support Mohamed and Nicole with their visionary work and help bring their breakthrough strategies to life.”
Mohamed Adow said, “It’s such a privilege to be chosen for the Climate Breakthrough Award. For a long time, Africa has been the victim of a climate crisis its people did almost nothing to cause. Now the continent is emerging as an example for the rest of the world as it starts to power its development using clean, renewable energy, rather than dirty fossil fuels. But this seismic shift in approach is far from guaranteed and requires African leadership to make it happen.”
“I will use this award to help build a platform that brings together leading political and economic voices from the continent, along with experts and grassroots organizers, to ensure Africa fulfils its true potential as a progressive force for climate action. With Africa hosting the UN climate negotiations in 2022, there has never been a more crucial time to put the African voice at the heart of the global climate conversation,” added Adow.
Nicole Rycroft plans to use her award to catalyze investment in creating commercially viable, low-carbon fiber alternatives that will rapidly shift paper, packaging, and clothing production away from forests.
“I’m incredibly honored to receive this award from Climate Breakthrough to address the challenges we face in this turn around decade for our planet,” said Nicole Rycroft. “No individual or single company can resolve the planetary crises of climate change and biodiversity loss by themselves. Whole supply chains need to shift and fast. This award puts wind in our sails to forge Next Generation solutions to save forests and turn the tide on the climate crisis.”
The Climate Breakthrough Project has selected eleven outstanding awardees since 2016, hailing from Australia, China, Canada, Argentina, Vietnam, Indonesia, the UK, the US, and Kenya.