Spotted: Comprehensive research has demonstrated that human-induced climate change is increasing the severity and prevalence of extreme weather events, from heatwaves and torrential rainstorms to hurricanes. When and where this extreme weather will occur is difficult to track, particularly for the average person who doesn’t have easy access to the necessary scientific data. This is particularly a concern for those wondering how to plan and grow their assets, with people wary of how they should invest in an increasingly volatile environment. This is where Climate Alpha comes in.
The platform uses climate models, data science, and spatial finance to provide investors with essential knowledge to help them invest in climate-resilient assets. Public and private data streams are analysed with the company’s proprietary machine learning algorithms to produce forecasts of risks and the potential financial impact of climate change on a client’s portfolio. Crucially, the assessments take into account separate socioeconomic factors and market variables to calculate risk more broadly beyond the physical threats of climate change.
Climate Alpha’s technology is helpful across a number of use cases, be it investment, loaning, or real estate acquisition. And beyond large-scale corporate finance, Climate Alpha also offers a “Homes” scheme that allows individual homeowners and buyers to understand the best time to sell a property, or identify any climate-related risks associated with a house before they buy.
Climate Alpha recently raised $5 million (around €4.6 million) in seed funding and will be using the funding to expand its teams.
Planning for an increasingly unpredictable and unstable climate is extremely difficult without the right insights. Springwise has spotted other innovators looking to help fill that knowledge gap, through the use of satellites and live modelling for flood risks.
Written By: Archie Cox
The post How can AI unlock climate-smart investing? appeared first on Springwise.
Spotted: By 2050, Africa is expected to be home to an additional 1.1 billion people, which is almost 75 per cent of the world’s projected population growth of 1.5 billion people. Analysts believe that 80 per cent of the buildings that will be needed to accommodate that growth have yet to be built. This opens up vast and varied opportunities to develop circularity in urban planning and development, and construction practices.
Ghanian company Ecovon is already working towards more sustainable building practices by upcycling a common agriwaste product into an all-natural, compostable building material. Ghana is one of the world’s largest coconut producers, something the Ecovon founders wanted to take advantage of. The industry produces upwards of 750,000 tonnes of coconut waste each year.
Using coconut husks as the basis for wooden building panels allows farmers and processors to earn additional income while also reducing the amount of organic waste needing disposal. Husks are dried, milled, combined with sugarcane, and then pressed into shape. The production process is carbon neutral and the boards can come in a mix of colours and sizes.
In tests, the resulting panels proved stronger than traditional wood, as well as being much less expensive to produce. They’re also naturally antifungal, flame retardant, and do not use any chemical binding agents. Without those toxins, the boards are fully compostable.
Using the material reduces demand for hardwood, which helps reduce deforestation. Following decades of deforestation in Asia and South America, attention has shifted to include African forests. They are now in serious danger as deforestation across the continent is happening at twice the global average.
From seaweed bricks to invisible solar panels that blend in with historic buildings, innovations in Springwise’s library are finding ways to improve many of the most common construction materials.
Spotted: Polyurethane is one of the main ingredients in insulating foam and industrial sealants and adhesives, and thanks to steady expansion of the construction and automotive industries, it is a rapidly growing market. Polyols are the chemical building blocks of those materials. Biopolyols are made from vegetable oils and are increasingly sought after for use in renewably produced and sustainable polyurethanes.
The foam made from polyurethane can be rigid or flexible, with rigid foams used for insulation in construction, and flexible foams used in furniture and vehicle interiors. If alternatives to petroleum-based polyols can be produced at scale, industrial reliance on fossil fuel for this common polymer could be significantly decreased.
Cypriot startup Ecorbio found a way to do this and more, with its patent-pending Crudyol project. Using biomass waste streams, the company produces biopolyols. Not only does the use of organic waste reduce global consumption of virgin feedstocks, but it also decreases pressure on arable land to produce crops for industry rather than food.
The company works with a range of organisations in a variety of industries to chemically upcycle their biomass waste. As well as adhesives and foams, Ecorbio also produces customised products such as nozzles and gaskets. The biopolyurethane can be cast, making it an ideal replacement for hard-wearing, strong plastics. Ecorbio is currently working to bring Crudyol to market.
Replacing plastic with sustainable alternatives and dealing with the mountains of waste that have already been created are global challenges being approached by innovators in multitudes of ways. Innovations showcased in Springwise’s library include using fungi to produce new packaging options and turning invasive plants into biodegradable plastics.
Spotted: Seafood is the world’s largest traded food commodity, with more than 3 billion people relying on it as an important source of protein. Conventional seafood production, however, has a big impact on the environment, with overfishing and pollution proving extremely harmful to global marine ecosystems. Now, one company is hoping to regenerate the seafood supply chain by creating a sustainable seafood delivery service.
Inspired by the principles of the Slow Food movement, the founders of Seatopia are cultivating a more environmentally friendly and transparent supply chain, partnering with artisan aquaculture farms. The company then delivers high-quality, sustainably farmed seafood from these trusted farms to customers’ doorstep. The sushi-grade fish can either be eaten raw or cooked, depending on the customer’s preference.
Orders arrive in 100 per cent compostable insulated boxes packed with dry ice. Seatopia’s vacuum seal freezer bags, labels, gel packs, boxes, cardboard, and packing tape are made using bio-based resins – and are also recyclable or compostable.
Seatopia wants to ensure it has a net positive impact on our oceans, while providing its members with delicious seafood. As such, it only sources from farms that raise fish from non-GMO eggs, using feed like sustainable microalgae-based oils and mycelium proteins. The fish are also all raised in lightly populated environments free from antibiotics.
As well as supporting regenerative aquacultural practices that reduce strain on wild fish populations, Seatopia also supports important environmental initiatives, like the Seaforestation project, which plants kelp in degraded marine ecosystems to improve carbon sequestration and provide essential habitats and food sources for ocean life.
Like many areas in the food industry, seafood cultivation is not short of environmental problems. Springwise has spotted many innovations looking to improve it, however, including artificial intelligence (AI) that could transform fishing and the use of zooplankton as a sustainable aquaculture feed.
A COP summit held in a petrostate was always going to be controversial. Some announcements got a gold star, such as the launch of a loss and damage fund (although the devil will be in the details) or the pledge to triple global renewable energy capability by 2030. But while the final agreement promised a transition away from fossil fuels, many observers criticised it for falling short of a full phase-out.
Outside of the main negotiation rooms and talking shops, entrepreneurs and founders come to COP summits to make contacts and do business. It felt like they were in the right place this year – the appetite for solutions over more pledges was palpable in the conversations we had and during the sessions we attended.
More than a hundred clean tech startups had travelled to Dubai to be present in the Startup Village or to speak on panels on the various stages around Expo City. It was great to see some familiar faces, such as Sabrine Chennaoui, CEO and co-founder of Monsapo, a company that makes cleaning products from used cooking oil. Monsapo addresses a critical issue: 20 per cent of ocean pollution comes from used cooking oils, harming marine life responsible for 95 per cent of Earth’s oxygen.
It seemed fitting during the hottest year on record RedSea were at COP28, a sustainable agritech startup we featured earlier this year, which has developed a complete system aimed at helping farmers grow food in adverse conditions. This includes greenhouse technologies designed to keep plants cool in hot climates. The platform incorporates artificial intelligence (AI), solar power, and desalination technologies in order to save on energy and water use.
Likewise FortyGuard, an analytics platform we first spotted in December 2022 that collects data from a mixture of local and global sources. The company uses this to provide analytics about temperatures down to the level of a single square metre. The insights can then be used to guide designers, engineers, and contractors as they attempt to make cities cooler.
The fourth annual Hydrogen Transition Summit was held during COP28 – green hydrogen has been on our radar all year and developments in this area will only advance as innovation drives production and transportation costs down. Geopura is developing a technology that promises to eradicate the need for diesel powered generators on construction sites. Following ten years of research and development, GeoPura has developed its Hydrogen Power Unit (HPU), which combines hydrogen fuel cell technology with battery storage and real-time electrical conversion. The fuel cell splits the hydrogen into protons and electrons, which creates an electrical current that charges the batteries. The batteries, in turn, provide power to the site for applications such as electric vehicle charging, heating, and hot water (read our full write up from November here).
Levidian is a UK firm that is ready to capitalise on the Global Methane Pledge, launched at COP28, to reduce methane emissions by 30 per cent from 2020 levels by 2030. It trying to decarbonise hard to abate sectors – and counts waste water companies, oil and gas, and heavy industry, amongst its potential customers. It has created a device called ‘Loop’, which cracks methane into hydrogen, which can be used as a clean energy source and carbon, which is locked into graphene and then has the potential to be used in a variety of ways. Levidian claims that using Loop could cut CO2 emissions by 40 per cent instantly.
Spotted: The UN Environment Programme reports that “Nearly 40 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions come from the real estate sector. Of these emissions, approximately 70 per cent are produced by building operations, while the remaining 30 per cent comes from construction.” While the climate impact of buildings is clear, for managers of large portfolios of commercial real estate, it can be difficult to build a complete and accurate picture of the sustainability of every building.
Enter Cambio, a commercial real estate decarbonisation platform built by and for real estate professionals. The startup brings together climate and data scientists and retrofit and regulatory experts to provide portfolio and building managers with deep insight into building and equipment performance.
Armed with an understanding of the sustainability changes that could make the quickest and largest reductions to a building’s emissions, portfolio managers can ensure compliance with regulations and drive progress towards net-zero goals. Cambio’s system integrates directly with every metre on a property, providing a livestream of energy use and emissions intensity.
Additionally, the system works seamlessly with utility providers’ APIs, making it possible for portfolios of mixed ownership to monitor all properties in the same way. The platform uses artificial intelligence to analyse potential returns on investment for a range of retrofitting options, before ranking the properties based on the level of opportunity for carbon reductions.
As well as flagging compliance with regulatory policies, Cambio also automates reporting. This makes it possible for owners and managers of large portfolios to see total emissions at-a-glance, as well as those for individual buildings. They can then track interventions over time to evaluate their efficacy.
The complexity of real estate decarbonisation management is reflected in the numbers of AI-powered solutions being created by innovators. Springwise’s archive includes projects that use blockchain to track buildings’ carbon emissions and AI recommended carbon transition plans.
Spotted: Most top-end solar panels today work at an efficiency rate of around 23 per cent, and if there was a big jump in that rate, it would be a significant boon for global decarbonisation efforts. Right now, experts predict that renewable energy sources will provide 35 per cent of the world’s power by 2025.
With an anti-reflective coating applied directly to the top glass layer of photovoltaic arrays, German energy technology company Phytonics is helping improve the efficiency of standard solar panels. The company’s coating could improve each system’s annual yield by 5 to 10 per cent.
Inspired by the efficient and robust nature of plant photosynthesis, the startup – a spin-out from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) – has used nature’s designs as a starting point for its proprietary technology. The coating combines micro- and nano-technology elements to replicate the sunlight-absorbing capability of rose petals. Available for use with all sizes of energy systems and wavelengths of light, the coating reduces glare from every angle. It also helps extend the lifespan of panels by adding an additional layer of protection from the elements.
The laminating foil is applied during the solar panel production process and is currently in-situ in two different locations. The company encourages anyone interested in participating in retrofitting sites to get in touch for more information as the process develops. In mid-2023, the company began building its first commercial pilot production facility.
From panels that work in the shade to nanogrids that work off-grid, the versatility of solar power is showcased in a variety of innovations in Springwise’s library.
Spotted: As the world’s oceans continue to experience the damage caused by illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices, marine proteins continue to become more expensive. To help combat the effects of overfishing and other harms that come from IUU, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) is encouraging countries to commit to Catch Documentation Schemes (CDS). While compliance and participation are voluntary, so much of the world’s ability to reverse climate change relies on healthy oceans – and that, in turn, relies on more organisations and nations developing fully traceable fish supply chains.
Costa Rican marine technology company Remora is filling the knowledge gap with a set of digital tools designed to increase transparency at every stage of the fishing process, from sea to plate. The company’s Internet of Things (IoT) Vessel Monitoring System makes tracking small boats affordable and provides a wealth of data in addition to that gathered by the tracking of large fishing boats. At landing and unloading locations, Remora’s Smart Scale uses image processing and artificial intelligence (AI) to measure the weight and dimensions of every fish and save that information to the cloud. Each fish is assigned a digital tag that is then used throughout its journey to the end consumer.
Also being developed by the company is a mobile app called WhatsFish to connect fishers with marketplaces and provide consumers with information on their food. All three tools contribute to Remora’s aggregator Fishing Data Platform that compiles information for big-picture analysis of the fishing industry, environmental conditions, consumer behaviour, and more. Remora is running a pilot programme in Cabuya, Costa Rica, with 15 fishing boats.
Seafood is such an important part of the global diet that innovations seeking ways to improve the health of the world’s oceans are focusing on both wild fishing practices and farmed production. Innovations in Springwise’s library include solar-powered tanks for land-based tuna farming and precision technology to reduce bycatch.
Spotted: The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that “the world faces an antibiotics pipeline and access crisis.” Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is rising worldwide while research and development fall further behind. In the last 30 years or so, the number of new antibiotics developed has decreased considerably. This is making infections much more difficult to treat while significantly increasing the risk of what, until now, had been routine surgeries.
Following a review of 3,000 scientific papers published in the last decade, the WHO created a priority list of the top 40 most important research topics. The list is meant to help scientists around the world focus their work on the areas needing support to lessen or prevent further AMR.
Scottish biotechnology company Glox Therapeutics is building on the vast experience of its founders to create extra strong, targeted antibiotics that target several of the illnesses on WHO’s list of 40. The new antibiotics are engineered to attack only the disease-causing agents and nothing else. This helps reduce a patient’s level of illness during treatment by not further weakening the body.
The extremely narrow application of the antibiotics also makes them much more difficult for pathogens to adapt to, which is what helps reduce the risk of further development of AMR. The company’s initial focus is on two pathogens, P. aeruginosa and K. pneumoniae, which cause ventilator-associated pneumonia. The medicines are delivered intravenously. Sepsis, lung infections in patients with cystic fibrosis, and other acute pneumonias are some of the diseases being targeted in the company’s next stage of research.
The global development of AMR is a major concern, with innovations spotted by Springwise highlighting solutions that include a new library of DNA to help researchers more rapidly develop new antibiotics and an antimicrobial lipstick.
A grape-based leather alternative and sequins made from tree cellulose are among 15 material innovations on show as part of fashion house Stella McCartney’s exhibition at the COP28 climate conference.
In partnership with Stella McCartney‘s parent company LVMH, the Sustainable Market showcases “the possibilities of current cutting-edge or soon-to-be available technologies” that could transform the fashion industry.
Stella McCartney is exhibiting the Sustainable Market at COP28
The 15 chosen innovators range from start-ups to established brands, providing plant-based alternatives to plastic, animal leather and fur as well as regenerative alternatives to traditional fibres.
“The fashion industry accounts for eight per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions,” McCartney said. “We need to get creative and innovative with alternatives, moving beyond the limited materials that the industry has been working with traditionally.”
“If we can work collaboratively with these goals, we can actually begin doing business in a way that regenerates our planet instead of only taking from it.”
Among the featured products are iridescent BioSequins by Radiant Matter
Among the featured companies is Radiant Matter, which produces plastic-free iridescent BioSequins, and Mango Materials, which transforms captured methane emissions into plastic as seen in Allbirds’ Moonshot trainers.
US start-up Natural Fiber Welding is presenting its plant-based leather alternative Mirum, which has already been used across Stella McCartney’s Falabella and Frayme bags as well as a series of fragrance-infused jackets by MCQ.
Plant-based Mirum leather is used to produce the Falabella and Frayme bags
The Sustainable Market also showcases examples of finished products including crochet dresses and bags by Stella McCartney that are made using seaweed-based Kelsun yarn and the first-ever garment crafted from biologically recycled polyester by US company Protein Evolution.
Another stall highlights Stella McCartney’s collaboration with Veuve Clicquot to develop a grape-based leather using waste from the champagne house’s harvest.
Seaweed-based Kelsun yarn forms crochet Stelle McCartney bags
The Sustainable Market also highlights three student projects from the Maison/0 incubator at design school Central Saint Martins, which is supported by LVMH.
Automating Violacein by Charlotte Werth explores how an automated microbial dye process can be used to produce printed patterns for luxury textiles.
Other projects examine how bacteria, algae and food waste could offer bio-based alternatives to synthetic dyes, and how lab-grown keratin fibres could be used for luxury clothing.
The products are displayed in market stalls featuring 3D-printed walls infused with a compound by Spanish materials company Pure Tech, which it claims can remove CO2 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the air by converting them into harmless mineral particles.
This bag is made using grape leather made in collaboration with Veuve Clicquot
Other brands invited to participate in the market include US company Brimstone, which claims to have created “the world’s first carbon-negative portland cement”, and Chargeurs Luxury Fibers, which produces wool using regenerative farming methods.
McCartney was asked to represent the fashion industry at COP28 to advocate for policy and regulatory change to incentivise sustainable business and the decarbonisation of the industry.
Several Stella McCartney garments demonstrate the materials possible applications
Her delegation also seeks to promote human and animal welfare while building a coalition of global government and business leaders to scale investment in material innovations.
Recently named among Time magazine’s 100 most influential climate leaders, McCartney bills her eponymous brand as the world’s first luxury fashion house to never use animal leather, feathers, fur or skins.
Chargeurs Luxury Fibers produces wool using regenerative farming methods.
The Sustainable Market concept was first launched as part of her Summer 2024 runway show during Paris Fashion Week and will continue to evolve over the coming year following COP28.
The exhibition is taking place at the climate conference until 12 December in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The stalls were 3D-printed in collaboration with Pure Tech
Last year’s Conference of the Parties (COP), which was held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, saw architect Norman Foster launch a set of sustainability principles for architects while a team of researchers developed an app that predicts damage to global cities from rising sea levels.
The event was described as “deeply depressing” by architect and engineer Smith Mordak in their opinion piece for Dezeen, with other architects and sustainability experts expressing frustration at the slow pace of global action to reduce carbon emissions.
