One of the two recipients of this year’s Climate Breakthrough Awards for her organization’s work to protect ancient and endangered forests, Nicole Rycroff, Founder and Executive Director, NGO Canopy will subsequently receive a $3 million grant.

Over the next three years, Rycroft – along with the award’s other recipient, Mohamed Adow of Kenyan sustainability think tank, Power Shift Africa – will leverage the grant to further accelerate the ambition of Canopy.

Since its inception, the Vancouver-based NGO has engaged industries including fashion in better protecting critically endangered forests by promoting the benefits of sustainable forestry management and adopting alternative fibres to conventional man-made cellulosic textiles.

Its latest Hot Button rankings – which assess the efforts of fibre suppliers to safeguard endangered forests, including their conservation work – is representative of the changing tides in man-made cellulosic supply chains, as it highlighted that more than 50 per cent of global supplies are now sourced by ‘green’ or ‘dark green’ shirt recipients.

In fact, fibre suppliers Lenzing and Aditya Birla attained the ranking’s first ever ‘dark green’ shirts in recognition of their exemplary efforts to protecting forestry.

The Climate Breakthrough Project will work with the pair to bring visionary new strategies from idea to fruition. For Rycroft, the $3m will be used to help develop and scale low-carbon, commercially viable fibre alternatives that reduce the industry’s reliance on high carbon forests.