IEX 161: Sustainability - The 12 Tasks of Innovation
Exploring 12 different areas where Innovation must work to help save the planet.
It may not surprise you to read that we are rapidly running out of planet. We are dwindling its resources, and overheating its atmosphere. We are also polluting its land, sea, and air, and depleting its natural flora and fauna. Yes, we now collectively recognise this and through the IPCC and the Paris Agreement, and many other global initiatives such as NetZero, we are attempting to claw ourselves back from the precipice. But it will never be enough to simply address it through policy and behavioural change. Innovation has a huge part to play to help us think beyond today, through science, technology, design, and creativity.
Imagine for a minute that Innovation is the 21st Century Hercules, sent forth to save the planet from the wrath of angry gods. They might yield but only if Innovation can complete a set of arduous and complex tasks. And let's use this imaginary tableau to look at the 12 tasks of Innovation, in the quest to save the planet.
(1) Better Energy
Renewables contributed over 40% of the UK's total energy production in the first quarter of 2021. But innovation's job is far from complete.
There are plenty of firms who have dedicated themselves to the broad problem of sustainable energy production. Companies like Drax and Velocys are producing sustainable energy from waste wood and feedstock, respectively. Enel is another global player, generating almost 50 giga watts of energy globally from solar, wind, hydro-electric, biomass, and geothermal means. But the actual science of solar cells is evolving as we speak. Perovskite materials (which are based on a specific crystalline structure) are being improved continuously for more effective harnessing of solar energy. And companies like Oxford PV are taking perovskite solar technology to market. Others such as Icewind are building vertical axis wind turbines which can be used in industrial or off grid environments, and in extreme and remote locations. While Solecco are creating roof tiles which are themselves solar panels.
A big part of energy consumption can be addressed by better storage, which is why battery tech has been such a headline item, not least because of Elon Musk. Calderra's Warmstone uses recycled and natural materials, and is 100% recyclable. Theion looks to replace cobolt with the far more abundant sulphur for solid state batteries. And Moixa wants to improve the "IQ of the world's batteries" by making batteries smarter enable energy transactions with smart grids. And Buffalogrid delivers content while helping charge small devices with solar power.
(2) Better Transport
Every aspect of transport across land, sea, and air are subject to innovation. For example, hydrogen cells and smart electric vehicles for people, and cargo, from Gaussin. And zero emission autonomous ships from Kongsberg. While BP is working on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), even as electric planes become a reality.
(3) Better Raw Materials
The best place to solve most problems is to go as close as possible to the source. So the raw material we use, especially the ones that have a big environmental footprint are an excellent place for innovation. Enter fabrics from coffee grounds, biodegradable 'vegan' bottles to combat plastic, or even sourcing fuel from household waste, or 'renewable' plastics from Neste. I especially like the sound of AirCarbon which uses a naturally occurring biomaterial called Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) or PHB which is a substitute for plastic, leather, and fibre. Meanwhile HP and Ford are using the waste from printing teeth aligners from SmileDirectClub (40,000 of them per day), as plastic that goes into trucks and cars.
(4) Better Agriculture
One of the biggest sources for raw materials is of course farming - from silk, to salad. Sustainable farming will go a long way to helping save the planet. Avalo applies AI to genomics, to create plants capable of sustaining more extreme weather. Code Demetra, an Italian start up, works on the ripening process of fruit so it stays fresh longer, through the distribution chain, reducing wastage as well as refrigeration requirements. Golden Agri has created high yielding Palm Oil seeds which will curb the deforestation caused by palm oil production. What about helping crops adapt faster to extreme weather? Avalo does that, so food can be grown closer to where it's consumed. And for all the farm animals that need food and protein input, Ynsect generates protein food for plants and animals through its insect farms. While B-Droid's flying robots replicate the work of bees to accelerate pollination.
(5) Better Production Processes
Beyond the actual products, it's clear that we need to fix processes to be energy and carbon efficient. Generate capital sets up sustainable initiatives across the world across the world. Econic works on catalysts that convert CO2 emissions into polymers. Kobold Metals uses intelligent exploration to find rare minerals required for batteries and other sustainable uses.
(6) Better Products
We have recognised the need for looking after products long after they've left the factory or the store. The entire lifecycle of products is our responsibility. Take the case of mattresses, for example, 7m mattresses discarded per year that require manual separation of springs is clearly a non-starter. In hundreds of such areas there's a real need for product innovation. Not just products, but packaging too, especially in areas such as medicine and pills. We know that electronics have a lot of plastic and metal components which need looking after as lifecycles get shorter. We need better recovery as well as product design. You might recall that all the medals for the Tokyo Olympics were made from metals recycled from over 6m mobile devices collected in Japan. Newer products such as solar panels can be designed for easier extraction. Less so for mattresses obviously. The circular economy needs to start rewarding sustainable design. Fortunately companies such as Greenology are tacking the problem for legacy products such as tyres.
(7) Better Effluent Management & Recovery: aka better byproducts
For every product, there is a by-product. One of the biggest focus areas of the sustainability program is the reduction of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs). Enough has been written about this already. And a lot of the innovations discussed earlier will contribute to this. But recovering lost ground is a challenge by itself. So even small efforts can be meaningful such as the Sea Bin Project, and the Smog Free Tower. Full Cycle Bio Plastics made news a couple of years ago for creating organic plastic that bio-degrades, sometimes into fish food.
(8) Better Measurement
We know if we want to improve it, we usually have to measure it. This can sometimes be difficult when it comes to effluents, greenhouse gases, or pollution on ocean floors. Which makes tools like Planetly, which help measure carbon footprint more effectively. Or PawPrint which calculates your domestic carbon footprint but is being used by companies to calculate their energy footprint under WFH conditions. Saildrone allows sensors to be mounted on to autonomous oceanic vehicles for all kinds of marine data collection. Responsibly allows benchmarking of supply chains for climate impact and diversity.
(9) Better Consumption and Lifestyles
As consumers we stand at the end of the 'supply chain' and our habits and choices we make for travel, products, and services are ultimately signals for the supply chain to respond to. The pandemic has seen the hollowing out of city centres and the rebirth of suburban living. Wherever we live, green and sustainable buildings should be a must for most of us. Fashion brands especially will come under increasing scrutiny - the very notion of 'fashion' seems to go against the utilitarian principle of sustainability. Even gaming has adopted the theme of climate survival.
(10) Better Disaster Forecasting and Response
Its quite apparent now that an inflexion point has been crossed and we're going to see more natural disasters, from floods, to fires, to earthquakes. Our ability to predict disasters has been quite low so far because they have always been treated as freak occurrences. Now companies like Kettle.ai are crunching the data to improve our ability to predict wildfires. And companies like Eonef are improving our ability to respond by using helium balloons to deliver data connectivity in disaster hit areas, or even to aid in wildlife observation.
(11) Better infrastructure
Our communication networks are the highways of the digital world. Small wonder that Nokia and Ericsson are both deeply involved in making 5G more sustainable both in its design and usage. Arup designs sustainable buildings for commercial use. Airports are learning to become more sustainable too. The Galapagos airport is designed to run on solar and wind power, and 80% of the material used for the airport was recycled. Arlanda Airport in Stockholm has been carbon neutral since 2009. But it's also true that a large proportion of our infrastructure is legacy based and needs a sustainability overhaul.
(12) Better Investment
None of this is achievable without the right investment, so the focus of sustainability in capital needs to be our last task for Innovation. A lot is being done already - for instance, the climate risk reporting requirement of the TCFD in the UK, and any number of sustainability focused investment funds, and sustainable banks, such as Aspiration. But the risk of greenwashing is always around the corner, and we still need to stay vigilant.
In conclusion:
There's no doubt that the fight to save the planet can only be won if governments, businesses, institutions, and consumers all push in the same direction for the right changes. But innovation can and must play a critical role in helping to simplify the problems, bring the obstacles down, and break the tradeoffs between economics and sustainability. In fact sustainability might be one of the primary drivers of innovation over the next decade. What's your big idea to save the planet?
Reading This Week
Human/ Happiness: I’ve been listening to the audio book of Sapiens, having read the book itself some time ago. The last chapter, which focuses on being human, and the sources of happiness is particularly thought provoking.
Start Up Boom: I’ve spoken before about the idea of ‘destructive creation’ - the NYT supports this notion of a start up boom in the pandemic.
Snap Commerce: Snapchat is driving a Social Commerce model.
Understanding The Universe: a very interesting thought experiment - the Library of Babel - helps to understand the universe better.
Counter Intuitive: a great piece on how Primark makes its business model work by being anti-establishment and innovative.
Longevity: Altos Labs wants you to live forever.