Belém, Brazil – November 15, 2025
The 2025 Net-Zero Industries Award ceremony took place on Saturday, November 15, 2025, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. Hosted at the UK Pavilion, the ceremony celebrated the extraordinary achievements of individuals and projects driving innovation in industrial decarbonisation.
Celebrating Global Innovation in Industrial Decarbonisation
In addition to the nominees and winners in the three main categories, the member countries of the Net-Zero Industries Mission highlighted the following submissions as the best national submissions:
In the category of Young Talents:
- National Winner Austria: Rene Baumann, AEE Intec
- National Winner Australia: Dr Ming Jiang Gan, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of New South Wales
- National Winner Finland: Sai Kagitham, University of Oulu
- National Winner United Kingdom: Dr Natanael Otavio Favero Bolson, MTC Manufacturing Futures Fellow, University of Birmingham
In the category of Female Innovators:
- National Winner Austria: Dr Sara Vecchiato, IFA Tulln
- National Winner Australia: Zhila Amir Zadeh, MCi Carbon
- National Winner Canada: Dr Christine Gabardo, CTO, Cert Systems Inc.
- National Winner United Kingdom: Dr Christine Enowmbi Tambe, Carbon Capture Machine
- National Winner Germany: Dr Christine Gröll
In the category of Outstanding Projects:
- National Winner Austria: “Green Bricks – The Carbon-Neutral Brick Factory” – Wienerberger AG, Wienerberger Österreich GmbH, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
- National Winner Australia: “Innovative Beneficiation Technologies for Green Ironmaking” – Alfonso Chinnici, Wei Saw, Nigel Cook, Mario Magaldi, Fulvio Bassetti, Gus Nathan, University of Adelaide, Magaldi Power, HILT CRC
- National Winner Canada: “First-of-Its-Kind 200,000 Tonne per Year Low-Carbon Cement Substitute Plant in North America” – EnviCore Inc.
- National Winner China: “Si+ Hydrogen Generator Set” – Lau Lee Cheung, Albert Pui Sang Lau, EPRO Advance Technology Ltd
- National Winner Finland: “Sand Battery – Industrial-Scale Thermal Energy Storage for Decarbonising Heat” – Polar Night Energy
- National Winner United Kingdom: “Flue2Chem” – Unilever, SCI, BASF, Croda, JM, P&G, Reckitt, CCUI, CCSL, Tata Steel, Confederation of Paper Industries, Holmen, UPM, CPI, LanzaTech, University of Surrey, University of Sheffield
- National Winner Germany: “ReConcrete” – Heidelberg Materials AG, Global Research, Development & Innovation
A Platform for Global Recognition
This year’s award ceremony celebrated 83 submissions from 22 countries across the globe, showcasing the widespread commitment to tackling industrial emissions. The finalists and winners were selected by an independent international jury, who evaluated submissions based on breakthrough innovation, impact, and scientific excellence.
The ceremony was livestreamed, allowing a global audience to join in celebrating groundbreaking work across sectors such as iron and steel, cement and lime, chemicals and refining, and other energy-intensive industries.
Follow us on LinkedIn for ongoing updates, project insights, and global decarbonisation highlights.