Energy Vision presents leadership awards to biogas, organic waste innovators

Energy Vision, a New York-based environmental nonprofit organization, has announced the recipients of its 2025 Leadership Awards.

The awards acknowledge companies and individuals in the biogas industry and related fields who are advancing food rescue, beneficial uses of organic waste and methane emissions reduction.

Recipients were recognized at Energy Vision’s annual awards reception and benefit on Oct. 16 and include:

• Divert Inc.;
• Cummins Inc.;
• FedEx Freight;
• EnviTec Biogas AG; and
• Durwood Zaelke.

Divert, headquartered in Concord, Massachusetts, is a circular economy company specializing in rescuing and distributing edible food and converting food waste into renewable natural gas (RNG) and organic fertilizer. Its partners include large organizations like Kroger, Albertsons, CVS and more. According to Energy Vision, the company has facilitated food donation equivalent to 14 million meals and processed 3.3 billion pounds of non-donatable food. It plans to build 30 plants located within 100 miles of 80 percent of the U.S. population.

“We're getting close to working with 8,000 food retail stores, large food manufacturers and distributors around the country,” Divert VP of Public Affairs Chris Thomas says.

Cummins, a Columbus, Indiana-based manufacturing company, is the maker of the X15N, the first 15-liter compressed natural gas engine. First introduced in 2024, Cummins says the engine is designed to perform across a range of heavy-duty and long-haul trucking applications, which can be powered with RNG.

“[It] meets fleet operators' needs for power, torque, range, sustainability and reliability in the heavy-duty market,” David King, Cummins' North American on-highway product manager for natural and renewable gas engines, says. “[X15N trucks] can slip seamlessly into fleet operations with no compromises on performance.”

FedEx Freight, Memphis, Tennessee, is one of the largest national logistics providers. The company has been buying trucks equipped with Cummins’ X15N engine for use in its fleets and fueling them with RNG.

“Our longtime strategy at FedEx has been ‘right truck, right route, right fuel,’” Joe Oleson, managing director of fleet maintenance, support and equipment for FedEx Freight, says. “The X15N promises to deliver all three.”

EnviTec, a German company specializing in the design, construction and operation of anaerobic digesters and gas upgrading equipment, has built more than 800 anaerobic digester and gas upgrader systems worldwide. The company owns and/or operates 91 systems globally. 

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“Our flagship BioEnergie Park in Güstrow, Germany, captures methane and makes RNG, and ultimately transforms agricultural residues into Bio-LNG, food-grade liquid CO2 and high-quality fertilizer,” EnviTec Managing Partner Lars von Lehmden says. “It demonstrates the full value chain at a single site and shows what circular economy looks like.”

Durwood Zaelke is the founder and president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development. The Washington organization is an advocate for a binding global agreement to cut methane emissions and slow global temperature rise.

According to Zaelke, strategies that significantly cut methane emissions are “The fastest way to turn down near-term warming. It's the key to keeping the planet safe, at least in the near term. We have many promises and pledges, but it's time to move to mandatory [methane] mitigation measures.”