NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dr. Graciela Chichilnisky was recently selected by IAIR® (International Alternative Investment Review), one of the fastest growing magazines worldwide concerning the global economy and sustainability, as the 2015 CEO of the Year in Sustainability. Her company, Global Thermostat, was also named Best Company for Sustainability in the “Clean Energy Solutions” category for its business model, which captures carbon from air and transforms it into cash.
Dr. Chichilnisky accepted both honors during the IAIR Awards Global Roadshow on April 16 at The Yale Club of New York City. This news comes on the heels of Global Thermostat's selection by global business magazine Fast Company as one of “The World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies of 2015 in Energy.”
Global Thermostat CEO and co-founder Graciela Chichilnisky is an internationally renowned expert in the fields of economics and climate change. In addition to creating and designing the carbon market within the Kyoto Protocol, Dr. Chichilnisky acted as a lead author of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Dr. Chichilnisky is a professor of Economics and Mathematical Statistics at Columbia University, where she also serves as the Director of the Columbia Consortium for Risk Management (CCRM). Dr. Chichilnisky currently resides in Silicon Valley, where she is a Visiting Professor of Economics at Stanford University.
Under Dr. Chichilnisky’s leadership, Global Thermostat has become the world’s lowest-cost producer of carbon dioxide (CO2). The company's innovative and cost-effective solution uses readily available process heat from industrial facilities to not only remove CO2 from ambient air and other sources, but also to generate renewable power for customers including smelters and refineries. Beyond CO2 capture and storage, Global Thermostat’s breakthrough business model also enables its customers to convert carbon into cash by recycling CO2 as a feedstock for applications including enhanced oil recovery, food and beverage carbonization, algae and fertilizers. Additionally, customers can choose to monetize the compound through tax credits.
Global Thermostat’s process is uniquely designed to eliminate more CO2 from the air than is created, making carbon-negative operations possible at a meaningful scale. The technology has been awarded 10 patents in the U.S., one in Japan, and is patent-pending across 147 additional nations. With a modular design, the technology can be easily retrofitted into facilities’ current operations, or built into new construction plans. Following its successful pilot project with SRI International, the premier technology development campus in Silicon Valley, Global Thermostat recently signed a strategic commercial agreement with Fortune 250 company NRG Energy.
“We are honored to receive these accolades, and remain committed to our quest to turn the energy economy on its head,” said Graciela Chichilnisky, CEO and co-founder of Global Thermostat. “To consistently earn prestigious recognitions for the innovation taking place at Global Thermostat is a testament to the unparalleled importance of developing practical, carbon-negative solutions to climate change.”
The IAIR Awards® are one of the world’s leading prizes for excellence in the global economy and sustainability. Award finalists are determined through an online survey of more than 50,000 IAIR readers worldwide. An expert judging panel, including members of the IAIR’s team of journalists and editors in more than 120 countries, chooses the winners in each category after a thorough vetting process.
A video of the award ceremony is available at: youtu.be/l0cqsY5gagk
About Global Thermostat
Global Thermostat (GT) is a disruptive technology company that captures carbon dioxide (CO2) from air and other sources and transforms it into cash. Formed in 2010, the company has developed and commercialized a unique, carbon-negative technology that utilizes process heat from industrial activities to simultaneously generate power and capture carbon for reuse and resale in a variety of products, with applications in industries including enhanced oil recovery, food and beverage, algae and fertilizers. Global Thermostat has amassed an exceptional team of experts from the energy, science and climate policy sectors, as well as leaders in engineering, entrepreneurship and business. For more information, please visit www.globalthermostat.com.
