Happy Tuesday… Happy International Women’s Day!
In today’s edition:
🇰🇪 Smart Contraceptive machines in Kenya
🛒 Amazon’s sustainable label
📑 Unpicking the IPCC’s Climate Change report
Big Business (2-minute read)
Businesses call on policymakers to support rapid green energy transition
The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to put pressure on (already high) energy prices as costs for oil and gas continue to rise sharply. As a solution to rising costs, and the need to move away from purchasing Russian fossil fuels, Over 6,000 European businesses have signed an open letter to the EU calling for policymakers to deliver a rapid green energy transition. The letter wants investment to focus on electrifying heat and transport, alongside improving the energy efficiency of buildings.
Why’s this important? This call comes just ahead of the EU unveiling a plan for scaling renewable power and energy efficiency measures across Europe, so could be a crucial influence in Europe’s green-energy strategy for the near future.
Aware: Inside Amazon’s new private label for sustainable goods
While the notion of lower-impact shopping habits and Amazon may not go hand-in-hand we know that the eCommerce giant is full of surprises. Last week they launched Amazon Aware a massive multi-category shop containing carbon-neutral goods with certifications from third-party environmental watchdogs.
Bottom line: While the best way to reduce our collective environmental impact is to buy less stuff, there’s no denying Amazon’s massive size and purchasing power for legions of consumers – meaning any small step towards sustainability is a noticeable one.
Plastic pollution: Green light for ‘historic’ treaty
Nearly 200 countries have agreed to start negotiations on an international agreement to take action on the “plastic crisis”. Specifically, developing a framework for reducing plastic waste with a legally binding agreement much like the Paris Agreement for Climate Change.
What next? World leaders have until 2024 to agree on the specifics. There will be pressure to help countries in the global south deal with plastic problems created in the global north.
🤖 Future of Tech (1-minute read)
Pilot Story: Smart Contraceptive Vending Machines, Kenya
Problem: 214 Million women in the developing world (24%) want to avoid pregnancy but are not using modern contraception due to stigma and lack of ‘last-mile’ accessibility due to an absence of medical clinics.
Pilot: The Frontier Tech Hub collaborated with the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) to trial smart contraceptive vending machines to meet unmet needs among poor women and girls and try to inspire demand in local communities. The ‘smart’ functionality allows automatic replenishment of machines and means people can access contraception without human interaction (…and potential stigma)
Outcome: Success! There was substantial demand for machines at test sites, the teams are now exploring a suitable route to scale.
Letting farmers see through the clouds – improving the tech for precision agriculture
Precision Agriculture Systems… use satellite imagery and environmental data (from sensors) to support farming decisions when applying inputs like fertiliser and pesticide.
The benefits… More precise application of inputs = lower environmental impacts while lowering costs – a win-win for farmers and nature.
The struggle: At any given time 67% of the earth is covered by clouds which block the satellite cameras that precision agriculture systems rely on, meaning they’re unable to deliver on their potential value – resulting in a barrier to mass adoption.
Enter ‘ClearSky’ service… created by tech companies Origin Digital and Aspia Space which use radar data to provide a clear view of the land without satellites. It means farmers are guaranteed to receive an image every 6 days whatever the weather.
The Bottom Line: With the launch of the service imminent in the UK, this tech should drive the adoption of precision agriculture by making it more cost-effective for farmers, ultimately leading to more sustainable farming practices.
💡Deep Dive (1-minute read)
8 Years in the making, the latest IPCC reports on the impacts of climate change, It is the work of hundreds of authors, with their work then scrutinised by academic peers and governments.
We condensed the findings from the 96 Page Technical Summary here:
Underestimated: Climate-related impacts are hitting the world at the high end of what modellers once expected – Around 40% of the world’s population is “highly vulnerable” to the impacts of climate change.
Locked-in: Even if the world rapidly decarbonizes, greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere will make significant climate impacts unavoidable – in the next decade alone, climate change will drive up to 132 million more people into extreme poverty.
Vulnerability: Vulnerability is exacerbated by inequity and marginalization linked to gender, ethnicity, low income or combinations thereof. But the burden is falling mainly on those who did the least to cause the problem.
Adaptation is crucial. Efforts are largely reactive and small-scale, with most focusing on near-term risks – this opens the door to maladaptation e.g. Seawalls effectively reduce impacts today in one area but can result in more severe future floods elsewhere.
Technology ALONE is not a silver bullet it must be supported by inclusive governance, rapidly scaled-up finance, and cross-sector collaboration to ensure climate-resilient development.
🧱 Climate Resilient Development … integrates adaptation measures and their enabling conditions with mitigation to advance sustainable development for all. It will rely on Inclusive development choices that prioritise risk reduction, equity and justice and consider traditionally marginalised groups.
TL;DR
1) The cumulative scientific evidence is unequivocal: Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health.
2) Any further delay in global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all
💭 Little Bytes
Quote: “Any further delay… will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all” – Concluding remarks from the IPCC report on Climate Change
Stat: Every world region faces a high risk of more species losses and extinctions. At 1.5C warming, scientists expect 3-14% of the world’s species on land could vanish – WEF
Watch: How the Russian invasion of Ukraine has created 1 million refugees in 7 days
🗞 The Deal Room…
- Aurora Solar Secures $200 Million in Series D for its digital platform that streamlines sales and design processes for the solar industry to help speed up adoption.
- Our Next Energy, Inc raised $65M in Series A funding for its energy storage technology company
- NCX Raises $50m secures in Series B funding for its science-driven forest carbon marketplace led by Energize Ventures
- Leiden-based Agtech scaleup In Ovo secures $37M to prevent hatching male chicks
- Food tech company Better Dairy secures $22 million in Series A funding for developing animal-free cheeses using precision fermentation
🗞 In other news…
- UK drinks company, Innocent, has had its advertisement banned by the regulators as it was ruled to have misled customers over the company’s environmental impact.
- China has revealed plans to build giant solar and wind power generation facilities in the Gobi and other desert regions in the country in an effort to boost renewable power use.
- A biomethane refuelling centre has opened in the UK, with 14 high-speed refuelling dispensers. The biomethane is created from food waste and is touted as reducing emissions from HGV journeys by 90%
- Giant Floating Solar Panel Flowers Replace Coal in Korea and Become Tourist Destination
- Mercedez-Benz announce ‘new lorry for a new era’ with full scale commercial production of fully electric lorries for the UK
🎣 Gone Phishing
Three of these stories are true, one we made up, can you guess which?
