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Earth’s temperature has gone up by about 2.12 °F (1.18 °C) since the late 19th century.
This might seem like a small change but imagine its impact on places where the temperatures go over 100 °F (40 °C) on a regular?!
This situation enunciates that we need to change the way our world operates. In addition to modifying the operation of our regular industries, we need new innovations. Many start-ups are understanding this necessity and have come up with sustainable innovation areas that are mind-blowers.
In this post, we will look at six such green areas that will escalate in 2024 and will be the front runners in the sustainability race. Let’s dive in!
1. Biodiversity Gain and Ecosystem Regeneration
The solution to the environmental disaster isn’t limited to reducing or eliminating the GHGs; it’s also about gaining back what we’ve lost and regenerating the dwindling ecosystems. We need to bring our planet back to the state in which it was prior to the industrial revolution.
This seems like a daunting task, however, it is achievable. The progress will be slow and gradual, but with the right motivation, anything is possible. Startups, researchers, and governments around the world are coming up with new sustainable innovations to protect biodiversity and natural ecosystems.
The UN’s 15th Convention on Biological Diversity is just around the corner, and awareness campaigns are in full fledge. There has been a prominent spike in sustainable innovations’ development and scaling. In Switzerland alone, there were 50,000 cleantech companies set up in 2021.
Similar trends are popping up in the UK as well, specifically, in the biodiversity gain and ecosystems’ regeneration area. For instance, Leicester city is working towards the issue of the dwindling bee population. There, the city council has teamed up with an outdoor advertising company and set up Bee Bus Stops, which are bus stops with roofs filled with flowers and plants to attract pollinators.
Another interesting concept in this domain is the one by EnviroDNA, an Australian start-up that monitors and detects native and invasive species through environmental DNA technology.
Their main purpose is to support conservationists in monitoring, controlling, and countering the introduction of pests and diseases. In addition to this, it assists customs officials to regulate and control the import of invasive animal and plant species, as they might lead to a negative impact on the natural ecosystems.
2. Agri-innovation
The way that we use our land, specifically for agriculture, is one of the biggest culprits behind climate change. During its research, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that 23% of GHG emissions come from our environmentally degrading land use.
Given the current situation, it isn’t surprising that agritech is one of the most thriving areas of sustainable innovation. People are coming up with groundbreaking ideas in this sector, ranging from vertical farming to solar-powered robots capable of weeding and planting.
Germany is taking a lead in this regard, with its agritech start-up Infarm, which has introduced an interesting high-capacity indoor vertical farming system. Its major benefits include:
- It saves 10 million litres of water per year in comparison to the conventional agricultural practices
- It uses zero chemical pesticides
- Reduces water consumption by 95%
- Reduces the need for transportation by 90%
Other innovative agriculture startups include Symbrosia and Trapview.
Symbrosia focuses on reducing the methane production from cows by introducing seaweed into their diet. Replacing just 0.4% of a cow’s feed with seaweed can lead to a 90% reduction in its methane emissions.
Trapview‘s mission is to improve the survival rates of crops. It uses AI to monitor and forecast pests in crops. This potential pest outbreak forecast reduces production costs, improves yield, and manages risk, leading to a sustainable ecosystem.
3. Sustainable Innovation in Workplaces
Times of need often fuel creativity and innovation, a phenomenon, which is quite prominent in these harsh COVID times. We have seen improvements in areas such as healthcare, workplace management, offsite education and business, and air filtration, to name a few.
These changes and improvements are an excellent opportunity to incorporate sustainability in multiple domains. It’s a great time for startups as people and businesses are looking for ways to continue their work without compromising on quality or COVID protocols.
Two businesses that are taking COVID-safe sustainable innovation in workplaces to the next level are Make.Work.Space and Moliving Inc.
Make.Work.Space is a London-based startup that specialises in bookable sustainable work pods. You can book a work pod through their custom-built app, lock or unlock it, and control its environment settings, for instance, temperature and lighting. These workstations will be placed at major train stations, public buildings, and entertainment centres.
Hotels take years to build and take quite a toll on the environment. Moliving Inc., in a collaboration with modular fabricator SG Blocks, tackled this issue by creating luxury hotel rooms on wheels. They incorporate sustainable recycled eco-friendly materials in the manufacturing process and use solar energy to power the rooms.
If you want to read more about how COVID led to sustainable innovations and what were its impacts on the environment, then head over to Everything You Need to Know About COVID and Environment.
4. Sustainable Oceans
‘Blue economy’ is becoming a buzzword these days due to its extreme potential in terms of economy.
For all those who aren’t familiar with this term, the blue economy is an emerging concept that encourages our oceans or ‘blue’ resources to better stewardship. Our oceans are closely connected to climate change and environmental degradation as they absorb at least 25% of the global carbon dioxide emissions.
From generating power through waves to utilising its ecosystem, the ocean has a vast potential of solving some of our toughest sustainability challenges. Researchers are finding ways to utilise marine species, such as mussels, to counter the increasing microplastic contamination. So far, they’ve been incredibly successful, as mussels can filter microplastics from 150 thousand litres of water in a single day.
Similarly, an Indian startup, Sea6 Energy, is helping in utilising the immense potential of seaweed in sequestering carbon. They’ve come up with ‘sea combine’, an automated way of seaweed farming, which in conventional circumstances, is very labour intensive to farm.
Another excellent startup that counters ocean pollution is Brim Explorer. It started in Norway and offers tour cruises in silent-hybrid electric ships. Their main advantages include reduction in pollution and disturbance, both of which are detrimental to marine life.
5. Cities and the Built Environment
55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and by 2050, this percentage will go up to 70%. With this increase in the urban global community, we need to improve the capacity of our cities with sustainability being the main focus. COP26 was quite resourceful in this regard as many cities, towns, and regions shared their new sustainable innovations, ideas, and solutions for sustainable adaptation.
There is an increasing trend of incorporating green certification systems in the design and construction of the built environment, for instance, Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
However, this isn’t enough. In order to reverse climate change, we require to move up a notch in sustainable innovation in the built environment arena. For instance, in Germany, Solar Veloroute is creating solar-panelled bike paths that generate light and electricity. They feature photovoltaic panels capable of generating 2,000 MWh of electricity per kilometre, which is enough to power 750 homes.
Similarly, research is going on in Germany and US to create roads that will charge vehicles as they drive onto them. They’ll use magnetisable concrete, which is a type of concrete that contains recycled ferrite particles, a conductive material capable of generating magnetic fields.
6. Ethical Consumption via Digital Technologies
Since the pandemic, people are becoming more conscious of sustainability. Studies found that four out of ten people are making an environmentally conscious lifestyle a priority.
Many startups are coming up with new sustainable innovations that facilitate consumers in making decisions that meet their eco-expectations. For instance, Hive’s online marketplace offers customers products that are sustainably produced, sourced, and transported. They even provide the customers with a complete report on how their ethical shopping benefitted the environment.
So far, we have only talked about ethical consumption; let’s talk a bit about digital technologies. With the emergence of the metaverse and web 3.0, many of our daily activities are becoming digitised. In addition to this, many of our wasteful practices also have the potential to be digitised, leading to a reduction in waste production.
The biggest example in this regard is digital fashion. The emergence of Instagram fashion took quite a toll on the environment. The trend of buying clothes, wearing them just once for a post, and discarding them, lead to added waste in the landfills from the fashion industry.
Digital fashion startups, such as DressX, are countering this issue by offering solutions that don’t involve physical products. You can buy digital outfits and get them photoshopped onto your images. It contains all sorts of fashion genres ranging from casual band tees to avant-garde outfit ideas.
You can learn more about sustainable fashion from ‘Sustainable Fashion: A Complete Guide‘.
Another great example in this regard is iWarranty, a digital warranty management platform that aims to empower consumer warranty rights to make them more accessible through digitisation. This would help in tackling the e-waste issue by reducing pre-mature discarding of devices, which currently in the EU alone, results in up to 261 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year.
Sustainable innovation is booming and new green areas are gaining popularity. What are your thoughts about these emerging technologies and their positive impact on the environment? Let us know in the comments below. Also, don’t forget to share new sustainable innovations that you believe will be the game changers in the green tech arena in 2024 and the coming years.
