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Using community-sourced data for climate resilience
CategoriesSustainable News

Using community-sourced data for climate resilience

By Zarkon Group,
Using community-sourced data for climate resilience

Spotted: The UNICEF Venture Fund collaborates with innovators to develop solutions for the challenges facing the world’s children. Last year, the Fund launched an open call for a new project focused on Climate Tech. More than 400 companies applied, and Equinoct became the sole Indian startup to win funding from the maiden Climate Tech Cohort Venture Fund Project.

Equinoct has developed a community-sourced flood forecast and early warning system. The project combines work with local organisations, including workshops on disaster risk reduction through building community resilience, with manual data gathering on rain, river levels, and more.

The data is combined with initiatives, such as the distribution of thousands of tidal flood mapping calendars to individual households and involving children in information gathering and dissemination. The goal is to use community-sourced information to monitor and mitigate climate change-induced disasters and prevent loss of life and property.

The UNICEF funding will be used to automate some existing initiatives, including groundwater monitoring stations and a flood monitoring system, through the application of technology such as AI and machine learning.

Climate resilience is at the forefront of a host of new innovations, including the use of AI and satellite data to identify risks to utilities and a platform that helps smallholders with predictive analysis of weather and access to markets.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

Keeping your sensitive data safe if your phone is stolen
CategoriesSustainable News

Keeping your sensitive data safe if your phone is stolen

By Zarkon Group,
Keeping your sensitive data safe if your phone is stolen

Spotted: Mobile phone theft has become so common, occurring approximately every six minutes in London, that phone companies and the city mayor met in late 2023 to explore collaborative means of reducing such robberies. And, with smartphone capabilities having grown rapidly in recent years, the problem goes beyond the loss of a handset; a stolen smartphone now opens up the potential for criminals to access important personal data, including bank accounts and crucial passwords.

UK fintech startup Nuke From Orbit has created an app to help prevent the loss of such valuable data. The Nuke app allows users with an account to list other devices and a network of contacts as backups. Should the worst happen, and someone is locked out of their various accounts because their phone has been stolen, the user logs in via another device or listed contact to securely access their Nuke account.

Nuke From Orbit’s recent research found that 51 per cent of mobile owners use a digital wallet, which means that an unlocked phone poses great danger to the user if someone else is in possession of the handset. To alleviate that threat, Nuke From Orbit’s first-of-its-kind digital panic button allows account holders to block access to bank accounts, SIM numbers, web accounts, and more, as well as cancel bank cards. Users can then begin the onerous process of resetting passwords and ordering new bankcards but without the added stress of having lost money.

Nuke offers a free version of the app that provides protection for web accounts only. To protect bank accounts and payment cards, users must sign up for a monthly or yearly subscription. Nuke requires a minimal amount of personal data to set up an account, along with a relatively complex password, and there is no limit to the number of accounts that can be listed in the Nuke app.

As more of the world’s financial interactions move online and offline communities begin connecting to the internet, data security grows in importance. Innovations in Springwise’s library, like an offline banking platform and the use of blockchain in tracing supply chains, highlight some of the ways financial and digital transactions are being kept secure.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

AI and satellite data improves the resilience of cities
CategoriesSustainable News

AI and satellite data improves the resilience of cities

By Zarkon Group,
AI and satellite data improves the resilience of cities

Spotted: Cities around the world are preparing for the likelihood of more frequent and severe heat waves in the coming years, with large urban areas at risk of turning into heat islands that are up to eight degrees Celsius warmer than surrounding rural areas. Yet many governments are wholly unprepared for the speed at which climate experts predict changes will occur.

Sustainable solutions are a must, and green walls and roofs, along with urban forests, could be some of the most effective. One company trying to make management of those assets easier and more effective is Luxembourg-based greentech company WEO. WEO uses artificial intelligence analysis of publicly available satellite imagery to provide low-cost, highly detailed analysis of the built environment.

WEO’s platform is available in two formats: Resilient Cities and Risk Management. The platform provides city planners and utility companies with insight into where heat islands occur, where so much soil is covered that runoff is at dangerous levels, and where trees pose a risk to power lines. WEO’s analytics improve the quality of lower-resolution data from satellite imagery and then the company uses machine learning to extract advanced insights for risk assessment and monitoring.

Resilient Cities’ analysis provides detailed data up to one metre in resolution that helps urban planners and local governments measure the growth and health of trees, track canopy cover, and reduce rainfall runoff. ‘Risk Management’, meanwhile, reviews the proximity of trees to utility infrastructure, maps areas of potential flooding, and highlights areas of especially flammable vegetation that should be cleared to prevent wildfires.

The affordability of the service is an important part of WEO’s goal to make cities more resilient, with the company highlighting that its technology is significantly cheaper than laser scanning, drones, or aerial surveillance. Additionally, the company emphasises its desire to work with partners for long-term projects that make the best, and fullest, use of its regularly updated data.

Satellites are increasing safety and efficiency in a number of industries, with innovations spotted in Springwise’s library including wildfire prevention and tropical weather forecasting.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

On-demand data makes recycling easy
CategoriesSustainable News

On-demand data makes recycling easy

By Zarkon Group,
On-demand data makes recycling easy

Spotted: Despite all of the interest in achieving net zero and reducing waste, recycling rates in the US actually decreased between 2018 and 2021. One of the reasons for this is that regulations vary from state to state, leaving many people confused about exactly what can and can’t be recycled. Faced with this problem, two female engineers at the University of Georgia came up with a solution – a platform that provides users with real-time and location-specific answers to the question ‘can I recycle this?’ 

The platform, dubbed CIRT, provides customers and businesses with on-demand and location-specific data on whether materials can be recycled, composted, or must be thrown to landfill. The company remains in contact with waste management facilities to ensure the information is as accurate and up-to-date as possible. 

The company provides all this information to partnering brands via an API, so that they can optimise procurement and make more sustainable choices on materials. This, in turn, enables them to track and meet ESG goals. 

For customers, information is provided through an app. Brands can also add scannable CIRT QR codes to their packaging, which send customers directly to relevant information on how to dispose of the specific product where they are. And, as a further behavioural nudge, CIRT integrates recycling reminders with regular order updates.

In the archive, Springwise has spotted other innovations making recycling easier, including chemical recycling for unsorted plastics and an inclusive scheme in South Africa.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

A platform overcoming the ESG data gap in real estate
CategoriesSustainable News

A platform overcoming the ESG data gap in real estate

By Zarkon Group,
A platform overcoming the ESG data gap in real estate

Spotted: Real estate is responsible for around 40 per cent of total global emissions, with around 28 per cent of that total generated by existing buildings. But the question of how to ensure that any modernisation is sustainable and meets environmental, social, and governance (ESG) requirements is not an easy one to answer. This is what startup Predium aims to tackle, with its ESG software platform for the real estate industry.

The Munich-based company has developed a platform that provides building owners and managers with a comprehensive overview of the ESG status of the property. The platform collects information on energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and other building information from a wide variety of sources. Then, the system performs a precise profitability check of various modernisation measures.

The platform is designed to allow users to prioritise the measures that best meet ESG benchmarks and cost savings, while allowing them to track implementation. Predium also supports reporting of any measure taken, and their effects, to investors, boards, and regulators.

Founded in 2021, Predium raised €1.6 million last year in a seed funding round, and has been growing fast since. 

Improving the efficiency of the built environment is crucial to reaching net zero. Luckily, there are no shortage of ideas on how to achieve this. Take a look at our archive for some that Springwise has spotted, including environmentally friendly concrete and wood-based, fossil fuel-free insulation.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

An AI-powered management hub for sustainability data
CategoriesSustainable News

An AI-powered management hub for sustainability data

By Zarkon Group,
An AI-powered management hub for sustainability data

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.

Written By: Anam Alam

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Insurance payouts based on weather data protect farmers from drought
CategoriesSustainable News

Insurance payouts based on weather data protect farmers from drought

By Zarkon Group,
Insurance payouts based on weather data protect farmers from drought

Spotted: Agriculture is highly vulnerable to climate changes and extreme weather events, and as global warming heats the planet, this vulnerability will get worse. Seasonal climate variability already frequently undermines farm yields, reduces food availability, and lowers income. Small-scale agricultural producers, who often feed themselves from their farms as well as others, are especially affected by unpredictable rainfall. Oko was created to help farmers deal with this uncertainty.

The startup provides low-cost crop insurance for small farmers. Oko (which is the name of an African deity who protects harvests), uses the concept of index insurance. This uses data analysis and risk calculation, rather than onsite inspections, to create cheaper and more accessible insurance.

Farmers sign up and manage their insurance using their mobile phones. They pay around $20 (around €18.60) for one season’s coverage of approximately 1.7 hectares. Oko analyses the risk to each plot and the cost of insurance using historical and weather data.

The company uses real-time satellite data and rainfall monitoring to monitor for floods and check the amount of rainfall needed for a good harvest. If there is a flood or if rainfall drops below a certain amount, a payment to the farmers is triggered automatically. Because farmers only need to sign up once to receive future payouts automatically, it reduces the chances that these smallholder farmers will fall victim to fraud and fake insurance scams every time a drought hits.

Tackling climate change is partly about building resiliency, and insurance that is affordable and easy to use is one way to do this. Springwise has also spotted other innovations aimed at building climate resilience. These include improving the biodiversity of forests with fungus, and using modular greenhouses to protect farmers from the effects of extreme weather.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

Data optimises agricultural water use 
CategoriesSustainable News

Data optimises agricultural water use 

By Zarkon Group,
Data optimises agricultural water use 

Spotted: As climate change makes weather and water supplies more unpredictable, it is vital that farming develops ways to use resources more efficiently. Data is playing an increasing role in this, by giving farmers better information on which to base decisions. One startup taking the lead on this is AguroTech. Founded in 2020, the company focuses on providing data and insights to farmers to help them use resources – such as water – more efficiently.

AguroTech has developed a platform that uses sensors, satellite and drone imagery, weather stations, crop and soil models, and more to provide unique and actionable recommendations to help farmers enhance their farm’s performance. The hardware and software provide farmers with real-time, artificial-intelligence-powered (AI) insights that can help them to better manage water, fertiliser, and pesticide use. The company will also soon be able to help farmers earn credits based on the amount of carbon stored in the soil.

The company is taking part in “LIFE – The Future of Farming”, an EU-sponsored initiative promoting collaboration between agricultural groups, farms, colleges, scientists, and municipal governments across Europe on mitigating damages caused by climate change.

AguroTech recently raised €1.5 million in a series A funding round led by VC Navus Ventures and ROM InWest. With this extra funding, AguroTech plans to scale further and expand internationally.

Improving farming yields while using fewer resources is the goal of a number of innovations Springwise has recently spotted. And it is a vital part of the response to global warming. These innovations include everything from a unique approach to regenerating desert lands to spreading rocks on farmland to capture carbon.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

Mini data centres heat local swimming pools for free
CategoriesSustainable News

Mini data centres heat local swimming pools for free

By Zarkon Group,
Mini data centres heat local swimming pools for free

Spotted: It is now well-understood that data centres consume vast amounts of energy. This is because the banks of servers in the data centres require a lot of cooling, which, in turn, uses a lot of energy. But one data centre has found a use for all the heat that it generates, a use that could also help public facilities such as swimming pools save money on their energy costs.

Deep Green, which runs data centres, has developed small edge data centres that can be installed locally and divert some of their excess heat to warm leisure centres and public swimming pools. The system, dubbed a “digital boiler”, involves immersing central processing unit (CPU) servers in special cooling tubs, which use oil to remove heat from the servers. This oil is then passed through a heat exchanger, which removes the heat and uses it to warm buildings or swimming pools.

Photo source Deep Green

The company says the heat donation from one of its digital boilers will cut a public swimming pool’s gas requirements by around 70 per cent, saving leisure centres thousands of pounds every year while also drastically reducing carbon emissions. Deep Green pays for the electricity it uses and donates the heat for free. This is a huge benefit, as Britain’s public swimming pools are facing massive increases in heating bills, which is causing many to close or restrict their hours.

The company hopes to install boilers in 20 swimming pools in 2023.

The issue of data centre energy use is moving to the fore, and is encouraging a host of new innovations. Recent ideas for more sustainable data centres that Springwise has spotted include a new server design that is much more energy-efficient, and the powering of data centres with hydrogen.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

Traceability data for the fashion industry
CategoriesSustainable News

Traceability data for the fashion industry

By Zarkon Group,
Traceability data for the fashion industry

Spotted: Most organisations have realised the importance of sustainability for their brand image. However, it is very difficult to guarantee supply chain transparency and product traceability over the large networks of suppliers that most big businesses rely on. To make things easier, Swedish company TrusTrace has developed a platform for product traceability and supply chain transparency within the fashion, food, and retail industries.

The TrusTrace platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain to integrate retailer, manufacturer, and supplier systems, as well as third parties such as certification agencies, lifecycle datasets, and other sustainability solution providers. The system allows users to track and trace materials and ESG and compliance data for thousands of suppliers and products. Unlike some similar systems, TrusTrace is built specifically for the scale of ultra-large and complex textile supply chains, providing the fashion industry with much-needed transparency.

The software-as-a-service platform allows organisations to track transactions and scope certificates in a standardised and scalable way, while gathering the evidence needed to meet compliance requirements, and see the status of goods as they move through the supply chain.

TrusTrace co-founder and CEO Shameek Ghosh explains: “We have developed our Material Intelligence Frameworks for certified and non-certified materials, which accelerates a brand’s journey to achieve high levels of material compliance. Our goal is to make sure traceability data is accessible in real-time along the value chain as raw materials become finished products.”

Improving sustainability and traceability in the textile industry is the goal of several innovations Springwise has spotted. These include a platform that helps fashion brands have better control over their sustainability data, and a closed-loop production system for cotton goods.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

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