Climate Tech Highlights #11

Hello, there!

Last week was filled with significant events on the environmental and climate agenda.

Firstly, it is important to highlight that the Bonn Climate Change Conference is currently taking place in Germany. This conference comprises a series of international meetings held under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and serves as important preparation for COP.

If you want to keep up with the negotiations happening there, the International Institute for Sustainable Development is offering comprehensive coverage.

Let's not forget that last week also included the World Environment Day (June 5th) and the World Ocean Day (June 8th). Numerous discussions, events, and protests took place around the globe, emphasizing the urgent need for protection and regeneration measures.

Now, without further ado, let's dive into the climate tech highlights from the past few days!

Around the globe 🌎

• Young innovators: Two teenagers from Texas won a $50,000 prize for inventing a device that could help remove microplastics from water using ultrasonic — or high-frequency — sound waves. Their device is essentially a small long tube with two stations of electric transducers that use ultrasound to act as a two-step filter. As water flows through the device, the ultrasound waves generate pressure, which pushes microplastics back while allowing the water to continue flowing forward. What comes out the other end is clean, microplastic-free water. The technology is still in its early stages, but Victoria Ou and Justin Huang, both 17, hope their device could eventually be used to clean up drinking water and industrial waste. Read the full story

• World's biggest solar farm comes online in China's Xinjiang: A Chinese state-owned company announced that it had connected the world's largest solar plant to the grid in northwestern Xinjiang. The 3.5-gigawatt (GW), 32,947-acre solar farm is located in a desert area near the capital Urumqi. The facility will generate approximately 6.09 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually, enough to power the entire country of Papua New Guinea for a year. The two largest operational solar facilities previously were also located in western China. Read the full story.

• The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal: That is the title of a new study led by the University of Oxford that estimated that currently, around 2 billion metric tons of CO2 is removed annually. That's far from the 7-9 billion likely needed by 2050 to meet Paris Agreement temperature goals, the study concluded. Of that 2 billion, nearly all is from land use methods, notably forest protection and restoration. "Novel" methods — direct air capture, biochar, bioenergy with CO2 capture, and more — are just 0.1%. The report uses various “indicators of innovation” to show that CDR activity is “generally intensifying, although with some recent slowdowns”. Read the full story

A glance at Brazil 🇧🇷

• Pioneer Case: For the first time, an extractive community, the Cooperative of the Piemonte da Diamantina Region (Coopes) from Capim Grosso (BA), has become a co-holder of patents for pharmaceutical and cosmetic products derived from licuri, a fruit of a palm tree native to the Caatinga. Known as the "gold of sertão," the licuri fruit, from the Syagrus coronata palm tree, has been studied for its healing, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory properties, long utilized by sertão populations. Two patents for oral care products have been filed with the National Institute of Industrial Property (Inpi) as part of a project to develop the licuri production chain. Read the full story

• Big data to farming: Assisting agribusinesses in data collection—and, more importantly, data comprehension—is the mission of climate tech company Salva, founded in November 2022. The company has developed a digital platform that serves as a management software for a farm's sustainable attributes. Farmers can easily access their greenhouse gas emissions, monitor soil health, and determine if their properties qualify for carbon credits, among other functionalities. The founders of Salva are Gabriel Klabin and Mariana Caetano. Read the full story

Don't miss out! 👀

• The technology platform and startup We Don’t Have Time has developed a global community for exchanging and coordinating climate activism and actions, focused on civil society. The platform already has over 100,000 subscribers from more than 180 countries. 

• Stripe Climate is seeking to fund individuals with ambitious yet feasible proposals to increase demand for carbon removal by 2030. Applications are open until July 15th.  Learn more 

• Seven energy storage startups to watch in Europe, according to investors.

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See you next Tuesday!