World Environment Day has been held annually since 1973, and the key climate change-related date is led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). World Environment Day has grown to be the largest global platform for environmental outreach and is celebrated by millions of people worldwide. This year’s theme was #GenerationRestoration focusing on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience.
“Our land. Our future. We are #GenerationRestoration.”
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By their very nature, startups are innovative and experimental. They take brave decisions to solve complex problems and take creativity to new heights. Fortunately for our planet, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of start-ups focusing on mitigating the catastrophic effects of climate change. These start-ups tackle challenges across the ESG sphere through their innovative services or product offering.
Start-ups operating in this space harness environmentally friendly business practices, such as reducing carbon emissions, using renewable energy, and only using sustainable procurement chains.
To mark this year's World Environment Day, we selected examples of start-ups working to reduce the effects of climate change within this year’s key areas of focus: #GenerationRestoration
Land restoration
Land restoration rehabilitates natural landscapes for humans, wildlife and plants. This ecological process aids biodiversity, improves soil health and enables plentiful food production.
Founded in 2015, Bowery Farming is the USA’s largest vertical farming company (farming on vertical surfaces rather than using traditional, horizontal agriculture areas (such as fields)). Its considerable success has led to a partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Sustainability is core to Bowery's mission - as demonstrated by initiatives including supporting the restoration efforts of both degraded farmland and forests through TNC's Plant a Billion Trees programme.
Headquartered in the Netherlands, Land Life is a tech-driven reforestation start-up that is breathing new life into parched land by re-growing forests. It aims to reforest land that has no hope of natural regeneration due to extreme weather conditions, overgrazing or deforestation. The start-up works with companies, local communities and NGOs and has planted more than nine million trees on degraded land countries including the USA, Australia and Spain. Native plants are used to boost soil recovery. Examples include eucalyptus being planted in Australia and almonds grown in Spain. Land Life has invented a special coating to protect seeds and a protective guard (made from recycled cartons) that ensures water retention and prevents evaporation.
The company has bold ambitions around nature restoration and recognises that true success can only be achieved through partnerships, sharing of information and technology. As such, innovative apps and drones monitor the health of saplings and each season see the data being closely analysed.
Desertification
A 2018 review by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification stated that the global economy could lose $23 trillion by 2050 because of land degradation. Land degradation or drought affects over 150 countries (with Africa and Asia being the most impacted).
Sand to Green is a Moroccan start-up that can transform a patch of desert into a sustainable and profitable plantation within five years, according to Wissal Ben Moussa, its Co-founder and Chief Agricultural Officer. The system can be deployed anywhere near a source of brackish water, which Sand to Green desalinates using solar-powered technology. It then ‘intercrops’ (a practice whereby a variety of fruit-producing trees and herbs are planted within the same area). Roots are then drip-irrigated with the desalinated water to lessen evaporation.
The soil is regenerated using what the company terms “green manure”, a concoction that includes compost and biochar that help the soil to “wake up.”
Based in Norway, Desert Control is a clean tech start-up that specialises in turning deserts to green land using their patented Liquid NanoClay (LNC). Through a patented mixing process, LNC combines clay and water which is then laid onto sandy soil.
Drought resilience
Drought resilience is the ability to predict, prepare for and adapt to the anticipated consequences of drought conditions (especially after periods of prolonged dry weather).
US-based start-up Hydrosat focuses on drought prediction by using a geospatial (data that is related to a geographical location) analytics platform to enable more informed decision-making. The platform monitors water stress by constantly measuring surface temperature and vegetation stress. As a result, the agile start-up is able to detect the early warning signs of a drought. The platform allows farmers and governments to extend the prediction to optimise their irrigation practices or prepare for potential devastating wildfires.
UK-based CroBio is an agri-tech start-up on a mission to reshape the future of agriculture by harnessing the power of enhanced microbes. CroBio’s innovative approach to tackling drought and soil regeneration involves using microbes that express a sponge-like material around crop roots, which also helps to lessen greenhouse gas emissions.