FedEx Freight is one of the first major carriers to adopt the new Cummins X15N engine fueled by RNG.
Divert’s Turlock, CA AD facility produces RNG from recycled food scraps.
Their work has set new benchmarks for leveraging organic “waste” as a valuable renewable resource, including rescuing edible food, generating clean, low-cost, renewable domestic energy and new revenue streams, and cutting emissions of methane and other climate pollutants.
Divert, Inc., a U.S. company, headquartered in New Concord MA, was founded in 2007 to assist the grocery industry in preventing food waste – specifically helping it meet the United Nations and US objectives of cutting food waste 50% by 2030. According to Chris Thomas, VP of Public Affairs, Divert works with its customers to facilitate redistribution of edible food that would otherwise get thrown away. But it also is building plants to take the inedible, non-donatable food wastes which can then be processed into carbon -negative renewable natural gas (RNG) and fertilizer. Divert is working with almost 8,000 food retail stores, large food manufacturers, and distributors around the country. Its partners include Kroger, Albertsons, CVS, Blue Diamond Growers, United States Cold Storage and more. The company has so far served 14 million meals of rescued food and processed 3.3 billion pounds of unsold, non-donatable food that would otherwise have been landfilled.
Cummins, Inc. received its award for introducing a new compressed natural gas engine in 2025 – “the X15N™. This is the first 15-liter CNG engine that at last is enabling the heaviest duty trucks, and those involved in long-haul trucking, to end their reliance on diesel fuel, whose emissions threaten the health of millions of Americans. These new trucks can be powered with clean burning renewable natural gas fuel — the lowest carbon fuel available today.
FedEx Freight, our third awardee – and one of the largest national logistics providers, is buying trucks equipped with Cummins new X15N™ engines for use in its fleets and fueling them with RNG. “According to Joe Oleson, Managing Director of Fleet Maintenance, Support & Equipment for FedEx Freight. “ we worked with Cummins to adapt their 12-liter natural gas engine, and now we’re very optimistic about what the X15N™ can offer.”
EnviTec Biogas AG, a German-based company received its award as a global leader in the design, construction and operation of anaerobic digesters and of gas upgrading equipment. EnviTec has built more than 800 anaerobic digester and gas upgrader systems worldwide. It owns and operates 91 of them, including one near Syracuse, New York. EnviTec’s facility in Güstrow, Germany is among the most advanced in the world. It not only processes enough biogas to power the entire plant with renewable energy, but it produces liquefied renewable natural gas (L-RNG) for heavy-duty trucks; beverage grade biogenic CO2, and soil nutrients for local agriculture.
Durwood Zaelke, our final awardee, received a lifetime achievement award as a leading climate scientist, author and activist. Zaelke is founder and president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development (IGSD), a leading voice on the need for a binding global agreement to cut methane emissions. According to Zaelke, “This is the fastest way to turn down near-term warming.” We have many promises and pledges: the Global Methane Pledge signed by 159 countries; the Global Methane Hub; and the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter from COP28. But promises and pledges are not always kept. It’s time to move to mandatory measures.”
“It’s easy to talk about commitments and goals for methane reduction by 2030 or 2050; but it’s a lot harder to actually do it,” said Matt Tomich, Energy Vision’s President. “The cost of everything has gone up, and it’s a time of uncertainty in policy and markets. But it’s also a time of great opportunity. So we’re happy to honor the leaders who are out there actually making it happen.”
