Stockholm City Hall is no stranger to big ideas. Ahead of the Nobel Prize banquet returning to the Blue Hall in December, ten Global Change Award winners took the stage last night. One of the winners is Agro-Lyocell from India - turning agricultural waste into textile fibres, aiming to make more of an existing resource while creating new opportunities for farmers.

Each year, ten winners receive a EUR 200,000 grant from H&M Foundation to develop their early-stage innovation. What made Agro-Lyocell stand out among thousands of applications was their way of challenging where the textile industry looks for raw materials. Agro-Lyocell turns agricultural waste into textile fibres, aiming to make more of an existing resource while creating new opportunities for farmers.

In India, around 90 million tonnes of crop residue are burned every year. Meanwhile, the textile industry continues to rely on wood-based fibres that put pressure on forests. Agro-Lyocell responds to both challenges by turning overlooked materials like linseed residue into new fibres.

“Every year, millions of tonnes of agricultural waste are burned while the industry cuts down trees for fibre. We’re connecting those two problems and turning waste into a resource”, says Shreyans Kokra, CEO Canvaloop.

Agricultural waste is emerging as a valuable raw material for textiles. Agro-Lyocell uses a part that is often overlooked: the dense, woody fraction of crop residue. While the natural fibres can already be used in textiles, Agro-Lyocell turns the remaining woody material into a new textile fibre, offering an alternative to conventional lyocell made from wood pulp.

The team is currently in process optimisation stage, with a laboratory-scale method established for converting agricultural residues into dissolving-grade cellulose. Early feasibility trials have validated multiple feedstocks, with the team now progressing towards pilot fibre production.

The Global Change Award (GCA), initiated by H&M Foundation, supports early-stage innovation to help the textile industry halve its greenhouse gas emissions every decade, while promoting a just transition for people and the planet. Since 2015, GCA has supported 66 teams from 24 countries with EUR 12 million in grants.

“Handing the Global Change Award to this year’s winners is a reminder of the courage it takes to pursue an idea before you know where it will lead. At this early stage they need room to test, learn and adapt. Our role as a philanthropy is to support that journey with funding and connections that can help the winners move their ideas forward,” says Karl-Johan Persson, Board Member at H&M Foundation.