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Kebony, the sustainable alternative to tropical hardwood, today announced it was named in the prestigious 2015 Global Cleantech 100, produced by Cleantech Group, whose mission is to connect corporates to sustainable innovation through its i3 Connect platform and global events.
The Global Cleantech 100 represents the most innovative and promising ideas in cleantech. Featuring companies that are best positioned to solve tomorrow’s clean technology challenges, Global Cleantech 100 is a comprehensive list of private companies with the highest potential to make the most significant market impact. This list is collated by combining proprietary Cleantech Group research data, with weighted qualitative judgments of hundreds of nominations, and specific inputs from a global 100-person Expert Panel. To qualify for the list, companies must be independent, for-profit, cleantech companies that are not listed on any major stock exchange.
This is the fifth time that Kebony has received this widely respected award, a testament to the company’s ongoing effort to providing a solution to the depletion of tropical hardwood which is reaching critical levels. Builders, architects and specifiers are increasingly turning to more sustainable options and Kebony has responded to these demands by expanding its product offer and distribution partners throughout Europe and the US. In addition the company is currently progressing plans to build a new factory in Belgium, having recently raised 177.5 million NOK (€19.05 million) to fund a second European factory and increase capacity further, following many years of strong growth.
Developed in Norway, Kebony’s revolutionary technology is an environmentally friendly, patented process, which enhances the properties of sustainable softwood with a bio-based liquid. The process permanently modifies the wood cell walls giving Kebony premium, hardwood characteristics. The future for Kebony is full of potential as climate change rises up the political and corporate agenda. Kebony is centered on sustainability and indeed its product acts like a carbon ‘sink’ by locking in CO2 for seven times longer than untreated wood.
This year, a record number of nominations were received: 6,900 distinct companies from 60 countries. These companies were weighted and scored to create a short list of 323 companies. Short-listed nominees were reviewed by Cleantech Group’s Expert Panel, resulting in a finalised list of 100 companies from 17 countries.
The 100-member expert panel was drawn equally from leading financial investors and representatives of multi-national corporations and industrials active in technology and innovation scouting across Asia, Europe, and North America. The composition of the expert panel broadly represents the global cleantech community, from pioneers and leaders to veterans and new entrants. The diversity of panelists results in a list of companies that command an expansive base of respect and support from many important players within the global cleantech innovation ecosystem.
Michele Parad, Senior Manager at Cleantech Group and lead author of the Global Cleantech 100 Report commented: “The Global Cleantech 100 provides us with insight into the collective opinion of key market players on which megatrends and innovation companies are most likely to have a significant impact in the next 5-10 years. Now in its 7th year, the Global Cleantech 100 program reveals which themes are staying relevant and which sectors are taking center stage.”
“We are thrilled with the announcement that Kebony has once again maintained its position for a fifth time on the prestigious Global Cleantech 100 list. This comes at a very important time for Kebony following the announcement that funding has been recently been secured enabling us to build a new factory in Belgium” said Christian Jensen, CEO of Kebony.
