Spotted: Fish bycatch – when commercial fishers unintentionally catch fish and other marine animals that they cannot use – has a significant negative impact on the marine environment. According to the World Wildlife Foundation, around 38 million tonnes of sea creatures are unintentionally caught each year, representing around 40 per cent of worldwide catches. Most of this bycatch ends up dead.
A UK company – SafetyNet Technologies – has now developed technology aimed at reducing bycatch. The company designs and builds ‘precision fishing’ devices to increase the selectivity of commercial fishing practices, making the industry more sustainable.
The flagship product, called Pisces, is designed to improve the selectivity of fishing gear. It uses coloured LED lights to attract the target species while deterring unwanted bycatch, helping fishing crews to save time sorting fish.
SafetyNet has also developed an affordable underwater camera and sensor that attach to fishing gear and help fishing crews gather data. This allows them to increase efficiency, reduce bycatch, and measure the effects of climate change on fisheries. Together, SafetyNet says these technologies help both fishers and fish.
The company has recently secured £1.8 million (around €2 million) in new funding to accelerate the development of its precision fishing technology.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the percentage of stocks fished at biologically unsustainable levels reached 35.4 per cent in 2019. Luckily, Springwise is also spotting innovations aimed at protecting marine life, ranging from next-generation quiet boat propellers to turning harmful algae into sustainable products.
Promotion: companies that prioritise sustainability in their office design are preferred by workers according to a report commissioned by developer Brookfield Properties and architecture studio Foster + Partners.
Named Design of the Workplace, the report reveals that 93 per cent of people working in an “environmentally friendly office” feel happier in their job. It was also found to boost workers’ productivity and wellbeing.
Brookfield Properties and Foster + Partners have released a report on sustainable office design
“The workplace of the future is about creating spaces that support a greater range of activities and diverse working practices while focusing on wellbeing and offering people a sense of community,” said senior partner at Foster + Partners, Dan Sibert.
“Allied to this is a thorough analysis of the building’s carbon footprint – both operational and embodied carbon.”
Natural ventilation and lighting important
The publication, which surveyed more than 3,000 office workers in the UK, was released by Brookfield Properties and Foster + Partners at the Ecocity World Summit conference.
Participants said a sustainable workplace design means having good quality air and natural ventilation, as well as natural lighting and recycling facilities.
However, a fast internet connection, effective heating control and adaptable desks and chairs were also important factors to employees.
Brookfield Properties and Foster + Partners are showcasing a co-designed workspace installation at Ecocity World Summit
“Since Covid-19, every aspect of the building design needs to show how it impacts human health,” said Foster + Partners deputy head of workplace consultancy, Grant Kanik. “Workers, particularly younger workers, want to know what the air filtration systems are like, they want to know what the fresh air return rates are.”
“They want to understand their lighting systems, not only if they are energy efficient, but also if they are healthy. Basically, they simply want control over their environment. And that is what buildings should deliver,” he continued.
Material reuse should be considered
According to Design of the Workplace, if factors such as natural lighting and recycling facilities are not considered in a workplace, happiness levels drop to 55 per cent.
Three in 10 office workers who participated also said they would consider leaving their job if their company were not committed to sustainability. However, as many as 65 per cent of office workers were unaware of their office’s carbon footprint, with 75 per cent wanting to know more about it.
Team also showcasing workspace installation
Foster + Partners deputy head of workplace consultancy Kanik said longevity is also key.
“There’s the inherent sustainability of a building – the carbon embodied, the design and the energy consumption that goes into our design parameters as a matter of course now. But I think real sustainability goes beyond that, it’s about longevity,” he said.
Alongside the report, Brookfield Properties and Foster + Partners are showcasing a co-designed workspace installation at Ecocity World Summit.
The installation includes new “climate-forward” products by Foster + Partners
The installation includes new “climate-forward” products by Foster + Partners that will later be used at Brookfield Properties’ own workspaces.
“Design of the Workplace and our workstation installation at the Barbican in collaboration with Foster + Partners reflects the feedback from our occupiers and office workers generally,” said Brookfield Properties’ executive vice president, Dan Scanlon.
“There is a strong desire from companies and individuals to understand the carbon footprint of their workplace, and importantly how they can make meaningful reductions and deliver upon their own ESG goals.”
To download and read the report, visit Brookfield Properties’ website.
Partnership content
This article was written by Dezeen for Brookfield Properties as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.
This year has seen renewed momentum around the need to conserve marine and coastal habitats, and not before time. The international community has failed to meet the Convention on Biological Diversity’s target to protect 10 per cent of the ocean by 2020. However, even if that goal had been hit, it wouldn’t have been enough to reverse the damage wrought by the current 1.1 degree Celsius increase in global temperatures, estimated to be a 60 per cent degradation of the world’s marine ecosystems. The more ambitious target agreed at COP 15 last year, to protect at least 30 per cent of the world’s global ocean by 2030, could be more effective at sustaining long-term ocean health, if met.
Innovation is crucial to hit the 30 by 30 goal. Our Top 5 this week, in recognition of the United Nations World Oceans Day (June 8) provides just a snapshot of what is happening around the world to help preserve and restore crucial ecosystems.
A new kind of cubism to restore the seabed
A key contributor to the decline in marine ecosystems is the mass alteration of seafloor habitats and the over-industrialisation of fishery resources. Offshore wind farms, for example, are a crucial provider of renewable energy but they require foundations that are drilled deep into the seabed, stiring up large amounts of sediment and damaging habitats. Likewise, the construction of deep-sea cables.
ARC Marine, a UK-based firm, has a solution designed to be used by renewable energy firms, as well as aquaculture companies looking to create thriving ecosystems while farming fish and other marine life. ARC’s founders comprise engineers and scientists, who are also committed divers who witnessed first-hand the degradation of their local marine environment in the South West of England. The team developed its flagship technology, the reef cube, in response. Low-carbon, plastic free, and made from 98 per cent recyclable materials, the cubes feature circular passageways on each face leading to spherical chambers, ideal for lobsters. The surface is rough and uneven to encourage plant life and shellfish. The cubes can act as ‘anchors’ for wind turbines, preventing shifts in the sediment surrounding the structures and restoring precious ecosystems. The impact has been encouraging – the company’s own research has shown that typically after deployment, the cubes support three times as many species as controls, including blue mussels, feather stars, cuttlefish and squid, as well as providing a safe haven for shark eggs.
Meanwhile, one Swiss-based company, Rrreefs, has focused on coral reef replacements and creates bespoke solutions that provide multiple environmental benefits.
Using pure clay, the company 3D prints reef bricks that are customised to best suit the nearest shoreline and local environment. By understanding water flows and marine topography, the company builds structures that provide microenvironments for thousands of animals and plants to thrive. Protecting shores from erosion improves the growing environments for underwater forests of mangroves and seagrass, both of which are crucial to the capture of carbon dioxide. And a single cubic metre of the reef blocks provides a new home to more than 20,000 tiny animals, 20 corals, 60 fish, and more. Using 3D printing allows for modular production and complete customisation of the height, width, and length of the overall reef structure. The process also allows for local manufacturing, which further reduces the carbon footprint of each reef.
An aquaculture solution that works in harmony with nature
Mangrove forests are rich in biodiversity, can effectively act against coastal erosion, and are valuable carbon ‘sinks’. However, over the last 50 years degradation and deforestation has destroyed 20-35 per cent of global mangrove cover.
A programme called Selva Shrimp by Swiss company Blueyou is making inroads into the restoration of mangrove forests in Vietnam, with a view to replicating its success in Indonesia. Blueyou is an established global group of companies focused on sustainable seafood. What sets Selva Shrimp apart is the role local communities play in the cultivation of shrimps in mangrove swamps laid waste by the damage wrought during the Vietnam War. The shrimps are introduced to the swamp and from there, it’s very light touch – no external inputs such as feed, fertlisers, or chemicals, are required. The creatures get what they need from the natural environment and, in turn, the mangrove forest thrives.
The programme provides a regular income for more than 3,500 small-scale farmers in South Vietnam. The shrimps are caught by net and the final product comes with a trace code that allows consumers track it back to the mangrove forest where it was caught.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that the 11 million metric tonnes of plastic currently entering our oceans every year is set to triple in volume in the next 20 years. Without intervention, this waste will take hundreds of years to degrade, severely harming marine life in the process.
Roboticists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart (MPI-IS) have developed an underwater robot inspired by jellyfish to collect waste from the bottom of the ocean.
The ‘Jellyfish-Bot’ is a versatile, energy-efficient, virtually noise-free robot that is just the size of a hand. It can also operate alone or with several others in combination. In the Jellyfish-Bot, the team decided to mimic a jellyfish’s ability to swim upwards and trap objects along its path. This function helps the robot collect waste particles that can then be transported to the surface, where they can be recycled.
Seagrass is described as an “incredible tool” to fight climate change by the WWF. The plant accounts for up to 18 per cent of the ocean’s carbon storage annually, despite covering less than 0.1 per cent of the seabed. Although there are meadows full of the wild species across Europe, the plant is still dying at a concerning rate, and mass reforestation of Zostera marina has proven difficult. However, a new programme spearheaded by the research lab of Aponiente, a restaurant owned by Spanish chef Angel Leon, has found a way to cultivate the plant, in order to grow it as a sustainable crop suitable for human consumption, and to create a seedbank, which will make it easier to repopulate areas where the plant has been lost.
More widespread cultivation of Zostera marina could be a crucial weapon against climate change while providing us with a sustainably produced and highly nutritious food source. And as more Zostera marina meadows are restored, they will help to mitigate the effect of rising sea levels, regenerate marine life, and contribute to the survival of numerous marine species.
Designing with empathy for the consumers of today and the future is a challenge we must take on, says Birsel + Seck co-founder Ayse Birsel at a talk filmed by Dezeen for Global Design Forum in partnership with SAP.
“If we have the users in the room thinking with us and using our tools to think creatively, that changes everything,” Birsel said.
Called Creating a Compelling Reason for Change as part of the Circular Design Series, the talk brought together a panel of design and digital thought leaders to discuss how to design for consumers in the face of global economic, environmental and social pressures.
David Jonker is vice president of the Insights Research Center at SAP
“When we get to designing and changing the system, it’s a multifaceted challenge,” said vice president at SAP Insights Research Centre David Jonkerduring the talk.
“Those who will be the disruptors are those who are willing to question some of the fundamental assumptions that we take for granted,” he continued.
Eli Halliwell is the chairman of haircare company Hairstory
There is an opportunity to design products to be inherently better and cleaner, said executive chairman and co-founder of HairstoryEli Halliwell.
“The step-function change comes from rethinking the actual problem that you’re trying to solve, versus just iterating on the delivery mechanism or the packaging,” Halliwell said.
Ayse Birsel is an industrial designer and co-founder of Birsel + Seck
Birsel also spoke about how inclusive consumer research can promote change, explaining that consumer datasets historically tend to be skewed towards men.
“For example, pianos are not measured and made for women, and that means there are very few great pianists who are women in the world, not because they are not talented, but because the products are not designed for that data set,” said Birsel.
“It’s on us to design great products for this new era, which is our future,” she continued. “We’re living longer and longer but the planet’s life is shorter and shorter.”
Birsel expressed that consumers in today’s world have the opportunity to collaborate with designers.
“When I think of circularity of design, it’s not only design and brand together anymore, it also includes the user. When we can do that, we build incredible empathy with our users. They feel heard, they feel seen,” she said.
The talk was held at The Standard, High Line in New York City
Global Design Forum is London Design Festival’s curated thought-leadership programme. Its flagship event will take place as part of the London Design Festival in September.
Photography is by Daniel Salemi.
Creating a Compelling Reason for Change is the second talk filmed by Dezeen as part of Global Design Forum’s The Future of Packaging symposium, which took place on 23 May 2023 at The Standard High Line Hotel during design festival NYCxDesign. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Partnership content
This video was produced by Dezeen as part of a partnership with London Design Festival. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.
Spotted: While many companies strive to have more sustainable practices, research by Bureau Veritas reveals that only a third of clients surveyed publish a sustainability report. Companies and their managers struggle to stay updated and use many resources to manage their sustainability data. But Danish startup, BeCause is working to help companies manage their data so they can make better decisions for themselves and the world.
BeCause is an artificial-intelligence-powered (AI) all-in-one hub for collecting, coordinating, and communicating sustainability data. The ‘collect’ hub allows companies to input existing data, including past awards and certifications, diversity information about the company make-up, sustainability statements, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) priorities. With ‘coordinate’, companies and stakeholders can assign and track ongoing tasks related to sustainability targets. Finally, in the ‘communicate’ hub, users can manage their company’s public profile, easily generate reports, and retrieve widgets for company emails or websites that will automatically update with new sustainability data.
BeCause’s technology speeds up, and reduces costs for sustainability management, cutting the time and energy normally spent on repetitive and error-prone manual administrative tasks. This helps companies ensure compliance as well as maintain competitive advantage, allowing them to clearly communicate sustainability efforts to travellers and stakeholders.
One of the target sectors for the startup is tourism, and here the software can speed up the process of transferring sustainability information and certifications to online travel agencies. Meanwhile, in the investment sector, BeCause can reduce manual data collection processes for venture capital and private equity funds, and in the electronics indystry the software makes it easy to communicate data such as the percentage of recycled material in a product.
BeCause recently secured a €416,000 investment from Danish investors Carsten Mahler and Daniel Heskia, which will be used to scale the platform.
Springwise has spotted many innovations looking to make travel and tourism more sustainable. One startup aims to simplify the booking process for sustainable travel, while another promotes nature-based getaways.
Danish furniture company Takt has launched Spoke Sofa, a sofa that can be fully disassembled and have its parts replaced and recycled, in Copenhagen for 3 Days of Design.
Spoke Sofa, which is the brand’s first sofa, was developed in collaboration with Norwegian studio Anderssen & Voll.
Rooted in circular principles, it aims to provide an alternative to conventional sofas, which are “notoriously wasteful,” according to the brand.
All elements of the Spoke Sofa can be replaced by hand
The brand intends for the Spoke Sofa to be passed down through generations by undergoing maintenance when required.
Rather than disposing of the entire seat and replacing the sofa, users can take the sofa apart and replace parts of it themselves.
“All of the joints are exposed and mechanical, so simple tools can be used to disassemble the sofa, then you can order a replacement part from our website to repair it yourself,” said the brand.
“Spoke is fully EU Ecolabelled – the official European Union label for environmental excellence – and has been designed for repair, so that all components and upholstery can be replaced with spare parts, extending the life of the sofa indefinitely,” Takt added.
The cushions can be upholstered in a choice of seven coloured fabrics
Takt chose to focus on the sofa as a product as they can be difficult to recycle.
“The sofa category is notoriously wasteful, so we always had our eye on it as one to address,” Takt founder and CEO Henrik Taudorf Lorensen told Dezeen.
The Spoke Sofa’s base is made from a choice of responsibly sourced beech or oak grown in Europe.
Its upholstery is deliberately loose-fit, allowing easy removal for cleaning purposes, and was made by textile brand Gabriel from 98 per cent post-consumer recycled polyester.
The material itself is 100 per cent recyclable, the brand said.
“We designed and specified the upholstery to ensure the user could actually take it off, wash it at home at 40C and mount it again – or replace it with a new set if it’s damaged or you want to change the appearance,” Takt said.
Wooden spokes along the back of the sofa give it its name
The three-seater sofa is topped by lozenge-shaped cushions that can be moved freely to accommodate a range of uses, including socialising, lounging and as a day bed.
The frame itself is characterised by the rhythmically placed tapered spokes that run along the back of the seat.
“Spokes such as these are an age-old means of creating a flat supporting surface and have been a feature of English and Scandinavian utility chairs for centuries,” said Takt.
“Spoke Sofa takes this traditional craft technique and incorporates it into a distinctly contemporary aesthetic expression, foregrounding simplicity, comfort and natural materiality.”
The sofa was designed to be passed down
The brand hopes that the sofa’s design will give it a longer life.
“We believe that furniture should be loved, cared for and handed down to future generations,” Taudorf Lorensen continued.
“This is why all of our furniture is designed for repair. Our customers become familiar with every component during the surprisingly enjoyable assembly process. So when life happens, they can identify the right part to repair or replace.”
Other recent sustainable furniture designs include outdoor seating with woven seats made from old fire hoses by Local Works Studio and furniture and accessories for a restaurant made from its own food waste by Carolina Härdh.
The photography is by Claudia Vega.
Spoke Sofa is on view at at Original Coffee, Store Kongensgade 124 as part of 3 Days of Design 2023, from 7 June to 9 June 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for information about the event, plus a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Spotted: The International Energy Agency (IEA) says that in the net zero by 2050 scenario, direct air capture (DAC) needs to reach almost 60 megatonnes of CO2 every year by 2030. Currently, the 18 direct air capture plants in operation around the world are only sequestering 0.01 megatonnes of CO2. While experts consider 60 megatonnes of CO2 captured per year to be an attainable amount, additional large-scale plants are needed to reach that volume.
As well as building new plants, retrofitting old structures could be another way of reducing global emissions. German company NeoCarbon has built a system that integrates with existing cooling towers to capture carbon dioxide from the circulating air. As well as being ten times less expensive than a new carbon capture plant, NeoCarbon’s design could remove several billion tonnes of CO2 if it was applied to Europe’s current industrial manufacturing infrastructure.
NeoCarbon works with businesses to set up the carbon capture system and requires no upfront costs. Carbon dioxide is removed from the air as it circulates throughout the cooling towers, reducing companies’ emissions footprint without requiring any additional building expenses.
NeoCarbon transforms captured emissions into newly usable formats, including industrial chemicals and food-grade materials. Brands can buy removal credits as well as the captured carbon dioxide for use in their plants, and the NeoCarbon team says that their technology is mass market ready.
Sequestering carbon is an exciting area of growth, with Springwise spotting innovations improving ways emissions are captured, as well as expanding the uses of the waste carbon. In the fashion industry, one company is replacing traditional polyester fabrics with a net-positive version made from carbon dioxide. And another organisation is using geothermal energy to sustainably power its direct air capture systems.
Spotted: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations found that about one-third of the world’s soils are already degraded. This threatens global agricultural production and food security. But one company is aiming to improve soil quality.
Initially founded in 2020 by Azadeh Farajpour Javazmi with the support of the European Union (EU) parliament, the BetterSoil movement launches national and international projects to improve the quality of soils for improved climate resilience and sustainable food production. The company aims to promote sustainable agriculture both in practice and the political environment, by mobilising decision-makers at the level of the European Parliament.
The initiative’s goal is to close the gap between theory and practice in terms of knowledge about soils and their quality in sustainable agriculture. BetterSoil connects science and research with the knowledge of farmers around the world to understand how to best improve soil fertility and build up soil humus – a nutrient-rich substance made from decomposed plant and animal matter.
Working closely with scientific advisors, BetterSoil develops tailored soil recipes for different regions, since each country has its own specific climate, crops, and needs. All soils are created with the BetterSoil science-derived principles in mind: appropriate soil management and agroforestry, and the use of compost and biochar.
BetterSoil also offers education on sustainable development in order to raise public awareness, motivating people to rethink how they use resources and contribute to sustainable development. The company addresses individuals, companies, teams, and schools – it is also launching a BetterSoil Inhouse Academy.
Healthy soil is integral to the world and its inhabitants, and improving and maintaining soil quality is vital for sustainable and reliable food production. Springwise has also spotted pre and probiotics that improve soil health and plant patches that monitor crop stress.
Spotted: In March 2023, the European Commission adopted a proposal that sets out the rights consumers have to ask sellers to repair damaged goods. Advocates call the measures the ‘right to repair’, and so far, many products included in the directive are repairable up to 10 years after purchase. After many years of products being designed for almost instant obsolescence, consumers are pushing brands to improve the robustness of items and make it possible for items to be repaired.
As well as seeking increased accessibility of repairable parts, consumers want more durable goods. With the plethora of products now available online, it can be difficult to ascertain a reliable estimate of the life cycle of a product. Helping to remove that obstacle for consumers is Longtime label, a tool developed by France-based Ethikis. The label indicates repairable designs that are made to last.
Shoppers can shop more confidently, with the knowledge that should something break, the design is fixable. To earn the Longtime label for a product, companies complete an application and an audit of their processes, assisted by the Longtime team. For organisations seeking a more informal assessment, Longtime offers the Durability-Self-Diagnosis tool, which helps businesses gain an understanding of their product’s strengths, alongside areas needing improvement.
Longtime provides an ever-growing list of items on its website that have earned the certification, and consumers are encouraged to nominate products and brands that they believe meet the requirements.
Reducing waste is an essential part of the world’s fight against climate change and Springwise is spotting innovations in every industry that are creating new ways of producing less, or are re-using items that have been discarded. A new platform helps producers track and collect post-consumer products, and a novel type of rubber panel uses recycled tyres to cool buildings.
Spotted: How much value does an animal species, such as a shark or a peregrine falcon, offer? And how can this value be expressed financially? We are not used to thinking in these terms, but these questions are extremely important if nature is to be effectively considered in important decisions – from business investments to urban planning.
Estonian startup Endangered Wildlife OÜ is providing answers. The company has developed a new, multidisciplinary technique for providing credible and reliable financial values for biodiversity. This delivers a total conservation value for an individual species that is composed of a broad range of considerations, from carbon value and aesthetic value to species existence value, among others. And, crucially, this value is applied to species within a specific location.
How these valuations are used depends on the needs of the organisation. But, to name one example, a municipality calculating the ROI of an investment in green space could add the financial value of the species supported by such a green space to other considerations, such as carbon sequestration.
Another tangible example came in 2022, when Endangered Wildlife OÜ worked with non-profit organisation Shark Allies to calculate the financial value of wild, living sharks in the entertainment industry.
Organisations receive biodiversity valuations through Endangered Wildlife OÜ’s consulting services. And, on top of this, the startup has been developing a machine learning software solution – called the Biodiversity Valuator – that is also used as a tool to calculate the financial value of biodiversity.
Making sustainability measurable is a task innovators are solving in a variety of ways. Springwise has spotted a platform that helps investors monitor the sustainability of their investment portfolios and an SaaS system that helps organisations ensure traceability and compliance along the entire supply chain.
