Nigerian foodtech start-up ColdHubs and Global Mangrove Alliance win the world’s biggest environmental award.

Stockholm, 15 November 2022

The Curt Bergfors Foundation is humbled to award the 2022 Food Planet Prize to anti-food loss champion ColdHubs and mangrove advocate Global Mangrove Alliance. Each winner receives $2 million, the world’s biggest award in the environmental and food sectors.

The Foundation admires both winners for putting the livelihoods of those who produce food first in the fight against global warming, biodiversity loss, and more. While ColdHubs increases smallholder farmers’ income to cut greenhouse gas-emitting food spoilage, the Global Mangrove Alliance creates economic avenues for fishers to protect vital ecosystems.

ColdHubs

Every year, smallholder farmers in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia lose a quarter of their income to spoilage. Solving this massive problem weaves in environmental and human benefits. By extending the shelf life of produce tenfold and cutting post-harvest loss by 80%, ColdHubs’ cool rooms have ripple effects on food safety, poverty reduction, clean energy, gender equality, and then some. 12 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, to be precise.

A vendor who can preserve its produce for 21 days instead of 2 will sell a bigger share of its stock, which alleviates poverty and food insecurity. The solar panels that power the Hubs, in combination with a pay-as-you-store model, keep the cost so low that even the very poorest farmers can afford the service. All this facilitates large-scale adoption. Launched in 2015, ColdHubs has built 72 solar-powered cold rooms across its native Nigeria – 54 of which are self-operated in outdoor markets – as well as two refrigerated trucks. It’s now gearing up to launch 40 more hubs, some of which will serve farm clusters in remote areas of the country, and soon enter Benin, Rwanda, Kenya, and more.

“Rising temperatures and growing populations will multiply the need for sustainable and affordable cooling systems. It is incredibly impressive that ColdHubs has pulled off running a profitable, fit-for-purpose social enterprise with limited means. We are convinced that the $2 million funding will help them achieve more, faster.” The Food Planet Prize Jury.

Global Mangrove Alliance

50% of the world’s mangroves have disappeared in 50 years, with devastating impacts on food sovereignty and climate change resilience. Mangroves act as natural buffers against storms and floods. They are also biodiversity hotspots that sustain local economies and global seafood supplies since they function as nurseries for fish. The Global Mangrove Alliance aims to reverse mangrove loss by combining restoration science and community engagement.

Its five coordinating NGOs – Conservation International, Wetlands International, Nature Conservancy, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and World Wildlife Fund – leverage their resources to lift up local solutions. They help cooperatives obtain fishing permits or access preferential markets. They also support communities in gaining protected area status. Which, in turn, allows the latter to continue practicing sustainable fishing. Local best practices are then shared across five continents, including mangrove-rich countries such as Indonesia and México.

 “We praise the Alliance for shedding much-needed light on mangroves and embedding food production in a sound ecological framework. Influential global NGOs coming together to foster collaboration between local research and conservation efforts rather than creating centralized solutions is as rare as it’s scalable at its core.” The Food Planet Prize Jury

The two winners were selected from a list of ten finalists representing all parts of the food system. The culmination of a thorough process that starts with hundreds of nominees, which the Food Planet Prize team vets and assesses before subjecting the highest-ranking candidates to external evaluation and presenting them to an international jury of food system and environmental experts who elect the winners.

About the Jury

The Food Planet Prize has enlisted ten jurors on four continents to ensure the diversity of views needed to evaluate a broad range of initiatives. Together, they cover the entire food system, from farmers and entrepreneurs to civil servants and researchers. Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and Magnus Nilsson, Director-General of the Food Planet Prize, co-chair the Jury.

About the Food Planet Prize

The Food Planet Prize awards initiatives that solve the dilemma of feeding a growing world population while saving a planet in peril. Each year, two winners receive $2 million each to rapidly scale up their initiatives. The Prize welcomes solutions from all over the world and any field as long as they can help humanity shift to sustainable food systems within this decade. Unlike traditional awards, anyone can apply or nominate—all year round.

About the Curt Bergfors Foundation

The Curt Bergfors Foundation was established in 2019 to fast-track the imperative shift towards sustainable food systems by providing potential food planet game changers with the means they need to succeed. It hands out the Food Planet Prize solely with the founding capital donated by its late founder Mr. Bergfors.

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Press contacts

Paola Kibingua Norström
Communications Manager
Food Planet Prize
press@foodplanetprize.org
+46 73 660 73 76