EUROPEAN STARTUPS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Since the outbreak of the Pandemic, one of the main concerns of Europeans (right after health and economic crisis) has been the fear of taking steps back on sustainability and climate change matters.
The care for the environment has increasingly earned more importance over the past years, and consumers of all ages have started to gain more awareness by implementing more ethical decisions in their daily life: from trying to avoid plastic, to reducing meat consumption, to becoming more informed about the organizations from which they intend to buy.
Eutopia *1, for instance, is an AI-powered database of green startups in Europe. It was born with the goal to enhance transparency within the green innovation ecosystem in order to accelerate the transition toward a more sustainable economy.
Everything is now in the hands of organizations, that have a big social responsibility to address this climate issue. The only way left for them is to innovate, find alternative technologies and materials, reinvent, and rethink their models into more sustainable ones.
Many organizations, among which Lisbon’s Nova School of Business, have partnered with the Norwegian multinational specializing in recycling solutions, Tomra *2, by introducing in their buildings a sensor-based container that refunds part of the money for each plastic bottle bought and returned in the machine.
Along with businesses, also cities, governments and the European Union itself have taken action to save the planet. On July 3rd, 2021, as a matter of fact, the directive on single-use plastic (SUP Directive *3) became effective in Europe, with the main goal to prevent and reduce the impact of plastic products on the marine environment and on human health for which an alternative exists (i.e. cutlery, plates, straws,…), as well as promoting the transition towards new innovative and sustainable materials. This strategy contributes to the zero pollution action plan *4 and addresses European citizens’ increasing concerns on sustainability.
If addressed soon, this issue can still be solved. As technologies, resources, and knowledge for innovation are already existing, further solutions can be found faster with an open innovation approach, therefore through collaborating with startups, universities, or even governments, across the globe.
*1: https://www.eutopiagreen.com/
*2: https://www.tomra.com/en
*3: https://newsroom.tomra.com/single-use-plastics-directive-supd/
*4: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/strategy/zero-pollution-action-plan_en
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