Happy Tuesday all! Been enjoying The Triple Bottom recently? Why not forward us on to your friends, family, neighbours, significant others – they all deserve a weekly dose of good news too!
In today’s edition:
☀️ BMW’s ‘Solar Aluminium’ and the blockchain
🍅 Indoor Farming’s $1 billion week
✈️ UK’s world first air taxi airport
Big Business (2-minute read)
Solar power and blockchain: Tackling emissions from vehicle production
We’ve spoken previously about how the next hurdle for net-zero vehicles will come from the production line rather than exhaust. Aluminium production is responsible for about 4% of global emissions, and has come into automakers’ crosshairs. Last week, BMW took a world-first delivery of “solar aluminium” sourced entirely from plants running on solar power.
Greenwashers foiled: The market for low-carbon aluminum is gaining traction fast, and companies are keen to ensure they get what they pay for. Rio Tinto launched a sustainability certification for aluminium; requiring materials to be tracked across the supply chain using blockchain. Consumers receive a scannable digital label, providing information relating to carbon footprint, water use, recycled content and energy sources.
Whitbread’s “Force For Good”
What: Hospitality giant, Whitbread (which owns brands like Premier Inn) has issued £550 million worth of Green Bonds to fund its ‘Force For Good’ strategy. By purchasing Green Bonds, investors provide Whitbread with capital, receiving tax-free interest payments in return.
Why: ‘Force For Good’ aims to reduce Whitbread’s carbon emissions by 84% by 2050 through eliminating single-use plastic and food waste. Alongside improved water stewardship across its supply chain.
The Green Bond Boom: The Climate Bond Initiative (CBI) reports global Green Bond issuance reached a high of $269.6 billion in 2020 – with predictions it could hit $450 billion in 2021.
Ikea keep growing their forests
Having been accused of fueling deforestation through it’s fast-fashion furniture, forestry management has become a central part of Ikea’s $700 million investment in carbon offsetting.The 10,000 acres of forest acquired in Georgia this week adds to 613,000 acres already under Ikea ownership across Eatern Europe and the US.
🤖 Future of Tech (1-minute read)
Tackling the Plastic Pandemic: Recycling COVID masks into roads
A recent study predicted at least 129 billion PPE masks are generated around the world each month, which ultimately end up in landfill or incinerated. A team from Melbourne’s Institute of technology have an innovative solution: an optimised road-paving, mixing shredded masks, with recycled concrete aggregate (RCA), a material created from the waste of demolished buildings. Just one kilometer of road needs three million masks. The final product is more resistant to wear (less potholes!), half the price of traditional materials and over 60% cheaper than shipping used masks to landfill. The next step is sourcing private and governmental partners to scale, and assess options for cost-effective collection.
Indoor Farming’s Billion Dollar Week
AppHarvest, the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) startup, just completed a merger via a Special Purpose Acquisition Company – becoming publicly listed and valued at $1bn, within just 3 years. The company’s greenhouse facilities are powered through sensors, LED lighting, and rain water to create an optimised environment for growing produce, all year round. Being within a days drive for 70% of the US population, and using 90% less water than traditional farming, the startup’s goal is to produce low-emission produce for the majority of America.
🤿 Deep Dive (1-minute read)
Off Grid Solar – Power to the People
There are close to one billion people in the world without access to electricity, 90 percent of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The benefits of consistent electricity are countless, think refrigeration, e-commerce and access to healthcare and education. Innovation is helping to accelerate the transition to off-grid solar systems:
- Innovative Payment Solutions:
Angaza, remove upfront cost barriers to solar installation via Pay-as-you-go financing. Matching payments to outgoings currently spent on traditional fuels, off-grid consumers can purchase solar energy using mobile credit. By placing off-grid systems on meters (turn off when payment not made) confidence of distributors to extend this financing to off-grid consumers is increased.
- Coupling Solar with livelihoods
Low-cost and flexible solar solutions will aid adoption. Power Roll’s flexible solar film can be applied on non-load bearing buildings, common in off-grid communities. Coupling solar innovation with users’ livelihoods is another important frontier for adoption. SELCO foundation has developed 50+ technologies from solar cotton pickers to butter churners.
- Solar bankroller – Innovative Financing Instruments:
Despite growth, off-grid solar financing lags broader investment in renewables. Access to commercial debt financing is crucial for off-grid companies to be able to offer solutions raised in point 1. An exciting new option: Distributed renewable energy certificates (D-Rec). These allow corporates to make verifiable claims about the source of electricity used in their operations, within emerging markets, by funding small scale renewables projects.
Little Bytes
Quote: “Technology can certainly help to accelerate change and create opportunities, but for this to happen we must keep the context of the technology being applied – and not lose it to the challenge.” Krishna Tammana, CTO, Talend
Stat: ‘Unsustainable agriculture is to the top threat to 86% of the 28,000 species at risk of extinction’ Chatham House
Watch: Will Ferrell, Electric Vehicles and Norway… need we say more
