🌏 HAPPY EARTH DAY! 🌏

🌏 As Earth Day rolls around, the buzz is real–everyone's gearing up to celebrate and discuss how we can make climate change press its breaks and make our planet more sustainable.

🇸🇬 Reporting from where the action happened in Singapore, people were flocking to conferences and events left and right; eager to chat, learn, and swap ideas on how to make a positive impact on the environment during Ecosperity Week 2024, with the AtoZero Asia Summit 2024, and the Liveability Challenge 2024 hosted by Eco-Business bringing some of notable lineups.

💬 Folks with climate and sustainability in their minds were all getting in on the action, sharing their thoughts and plans for a greener future. From chatting about solar power to a S$1 million dollar win in growing innovations on cricket protein, that’s where the party was at, as you were guaranteed to run into pretty much everyone you know within the sustainability and climate space. 

🌸 Ecosperity 2024, themed “Renewing Our Vibrant Spring”, resembles the hope we all need to restore the one planet we call home. Apart from the already-present climate crisis, there's another big problem on the horizon. Nature, which makes up about half of the world's GDP, has been taking a serious hit for years now. Although more people are aware of the problem and shining a light on both nature and biodiversity with some promises made, it’s not going at the speed we’d hoped for.

🤝 More and more research is showing that cutting carbon emissions and taking care of nature go hand in hand; we can't treat climate and biodiversity goals as separate issues. With the ongoing geopolitical tension, folks are starting to realize that it is actually a wake up call to step up together if we want to make any clear, tangible, on-track progress.

📝 In case you missed it, here are some top highlights we’ve gathered for you recapping the conferences that happened last week!

⭐️ Top Highlights

Ecosperity 2024

🌿 The first day kicked off with a lot of remarks expressing the interconnection and collaboration sectors and countries need in tackling the problems of environmental degradation. Titled “Zeroing In On Common Ground”, it highlighted mostly on addressing discussions toward a greener and a net-zero future for Southeast Asia. The second’s day agenda covered the solution towards a greener economy from the perspective of nature-based solutions:

• We are using our planet’s resources at 1.7 times greater than our planet's bio-capacity can regenerate annually, thus we are in dire need of regenerative rather than extractive climate solutions

  

  Global Footprint Network

• Currently only 5% are being allocated to adaptation and resilience towards climate change.

• Regulations and standards are needed, and 1/3 of climate mitigation solutions indeed depend on nature.

💸 The third day of Ecosperity was designated for the Financing Asia’s Transition (FAST) Conference, themed ‘Crowding In Capital for Sustainable Growth', tailored to foster dialogues concerning funding for transition and adaptation, encompassing talks on specific actions, toolkits, frameworks, and partnerships necessary to translate climate aspirations into tangible results with a couple of key takeaways:

• $4T up from $2T annually is needed to transition into sustainable growth.

• 80% of corporates believe traditional capital is insufficient for the transition.

AtoZero Asia Summit 2024

⚡️ The AtoZero Asia Summit 2024 gathered energy leaders that are driving Asia’s Net Zero energy transition in the region’s premier industry-led platform. The summit was led by 5+ Ministerial VIPs, 350+ conference delegates, 1,000+ trade attendees, 80+ speakers, 20+ regional exhibitors and sponsors, represented by 20+ countries across 2 conference days.

💡 The summit was supported by a technical side conference that focused on leading innovations and case studies that allowed attendees relatable experiences, and opportunities to engage solution providers directly. There was a two-day exhibition that featured and facilitated impactful leadership dialogues, investments, and innovations. Some notable exhibitors included:

• ♻️ SGRecycle

• 💚 Greenitio

• 🧪 Solv8 Technology

• ⚫ Indonesia CCS Centre

• 💧 HFCAS

• ⚡ The Energy Industries Council

• 🤖 Aleph Technologies

• 📊 Zuno Carbon

🛢️ The summit concentrated on the transition to renewable energy and its infrastructure, aiming for a minimum of 60% renewable energy usage by 2030.

🔌 For instance, in Sarawak, Malaysia, hydropower has been identified as a key component of Malaysia’s renewable energy strategy since 2021, given its significant contribution to CO2 emissions reduction. Not only is Sarawak committed to this target, but there are also ambitions to export renewable energy to neighboring countries. In Batang, Indonesia, a 50MW floating solar farm is already operational, alongside a 1,375MW hydroelectric farm in Mataram, North Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The Liveability Challenge 2024

🌞 Presented by Temasek Foundation and organized by Eco-Business, The Liveability Challenge returned, seeking revolutionary innovations worldwide that facilitate large-scale decarbonization, climate adaptation, resilience, and the development of efficient, circular food systems for a bold approach to reach the global target of reducing global emissions by 43% by 2030.

🌽 The seventh edition of the challenge featured two themes; Climate Change and Food & Nutrition, with each theme receiving S$1 million in funding. There were seven finalists competing, with two winners announced at the finale:

• Climate Change winner: GAFT, a Dutch team that produces sustainable aviation fuel from fat and sugar.

• Food & Nutrition winner: CricketOne, a Vietnamese team that innovates crickets as alternative protein.

🗞️ Recent News

❓ Did you enjoy this Ecosperity Week 2024 round-up issue? If yes, please do forward to your friends who would enjoy the read as well. Also, feel free to let us know what you thought by giving us feedback at [email protected].

🌊 SEA you on our next issue!

Karina & Massimiliano