From renewable energies to sustainable supply chains – aware_ has curated five start-ups you should know about.
When it comes to start-ups, flat hierarchies and promotion opportunities, flexible working and self-determination, diversity and creativity may come to mind. It is New Work in its purest form that is currently revolutionizing all industries. By inventing a new product or an innovative service, start-ups thrive to overcome old, dusty structures and, above all, make the world a little better.
Here are five innovative start-ups we think you should be aware of:
The cloud-based platform sustainabill enables companies to create transparency in their supply chains and advocate for environmental protection and human rights. Furthermore, it helps to manage risks, achieve social compliance, and mitigate climate impacts. The start-up aims to make human rights standards and sustainability more visible and to improve them in the widely ramified supply chains. Suppliers disclose on the sustainabill platform where they produce and how products, raw materials, materials are processed – from upstream to direct suppliers. The aim is to clarify whether the suppliers meet the standards set for environmental protection and occupational health and safety. By requesting concrete data on greenhouse gas emissions, sustainabill helps to identify CO2 hotspots in the company’s upstream supply chain, mitigate climate emissions and adapt to climate-related risks. By doing so, sustainabill complies with international standards such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol or UN Guiding Principals.
ecoligo is leading the clean energy transition around the world by helping to stop harmful CO2 from ever being released. When ecoligo’s co-founders Martin Baart and Markus Schwaninger lived and worked in Ghana and Kenya, they realized how clean, renewable energy could positively impact businesses there. High electricity costs are slowing businesses’ growth, as companies without access to affordable capital cannot install solar and thus grow without also generating polluting emissions. Yet, the financial market in Europe has shown that solar installations in emerging markets can be financed quickly and flexibly through crowdinvesting. Private investors are looking for investment opportunities that are direct, transparent, and concrete, which is why crowdinvesting has gained popularity. With the investment of their crowdinvestors, ecoligo can quickly install a solar system and thus prevent more CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere. The start-up efficiently helps to reduce emissions, generate high returns, and support the economy by bringing together private investors and companies in emerging markets. By doing so, ecoligo has already saved 607,000 tons of CO2 so far.
The start-up gridX was founded in 2016 by Andreas Booke and David Balensiefen with the vision of a world with carbon neutral energy. gridX builds the digital infrastructure for the energy transition and makes renewable energy more affordable and accessible. After an initial idea in 2015, gridX launched its first product in 2017, followed by its product XENON being introduced in 2020. XENON provides an interface to all energy devices to optimize the charging of electric vehicles, to build microgrids or visualize energy flows. The startup acknowledges climate change as the greatest challenge of our time and today’s power grid as a key problem that is not designed for the uncertainty of distributed, renewable energy sources. By connecting all distributed energy resources on a single platform, gridX enables sustainable energy generation, storage, and use, makes renewable energy accessible and affordable for everyone.
Most of the energy used for transportation today still comes from fossil fuels such as gasoline or diesel, and thus contributes significantly to climate change. However, those who drive an all-electric car are already helping to reduce climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions. This commitment is recognized by lawmakers through the political instrument of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which makes it legally binding to reduce emissions in transport, and the petroleum industry shares in the costs of this transformation. With the common goal of advancing the transport revolution, in particular by expanding and promoting electromobility, the four co-founders Luca Schmadalla, Wilko Eggers, Hilko Krüger and Sören Goldenstein have founded their start-up ZusammenStromen GmbH. With their digital platform Geld-für-eAuto.de, they ensure that the financial resources from fossil energies arrive in electromobility, as they allow e-mobilists to benefit from a new legal situation: The Federal Environment Agency checks and certifies vehicle registration certificates of electric vehicle owners. These environmental certificates are sold to companies that are obliged to reduce their emissions in Germany via the statutory GHG Protocol. By doing so, fossil fuels become more expensive while using the money to promote electromobility. Users of Geld-für-eAuto.de can thereby save emissions, make profit, and actively protect the climate.
Renewable energy is one of the top issues of our time and a fundamental part of the sustainability strategy of society and industry. The start-up Digital Renewables is a digital marketplace for renewable energies that creates green commodities to efficiently link supply and demand. The platform creates standards, cost transparency and efficiency as well as comparability of projects. Digital Renewables offers products for suppliers as climate solutions tailored to the individual needs of the company as well as products for customers – from the investment to the offer.
by Marie Klimczak
