The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit environmental engineering organization dedicated to developing and implementing technologies to extract plastic pollution from the oceans and rivers. For over ten years, The Ocean Cleanup has been researching, extracting, and monitoring plastic pollution in oceans and rivers globally – with millions of kilograms removed to date. Its technologies supporting ocean cleanup act as large-scale floating barriers, designed to concentrate plastic debris within a specific area for collection. They utilize ocean currents and wind to move through the water, gathering plastic along their path. The systems are also equipped with solar panels and wind turbines to power their operations. It also deploys floating barriers in rivers to intercenpt and prevent plastic from entering the oceans. The Ocean Cleanup also closely monitors and analyzes impacts, provides a dashboard and data insights, and is engaged in research on improving envrionmental impact analyses. The Ocean Cleanup aims to tackle plastic pollution in order to protect and restore marine and riverine environments and the wildlife they contain – as well as benefit the human communities living alongside these areas, and reliant on these ecosystems for their livelihoods.
- bioremediation
- conservation
- data
- nature tech
- oceans
- rivers
Flying Whales launched in 2012 in France to develop and industrialize a 60 tons Large Capacity Airship to provide remote cargo transport. The development of this initiative began to enable the French Forestry Agency to increase large volumes of timber extraction from land-locked areas. This solution offers low operating costs, low to no environmental impact, and targets the large market of special transportation, logistics & freight market in countries with transport infrastructure deficit. This project is supported by the French Government and the Quebec Government.
Earth Species Project is a non-profit research lab and impact organization focused on using artificial intelligence to advance our understanding of animal communication, and ultimately to decode non-human languages. The organization is founded on the belief that understanding non-human languages will transform how we perceive the world and our relationship with the rest of nature. Their work involves developing machine learning models to interpret animal sounds and movements. While "decoding" communications are a long-term objective, the ESP supports other organizations along the way by supplementing animal and ecological research; supporting existing conservation efforts; and contributing to the fields of ethology, bioacoustics, and machine learning by making their research public.
- animals
- artificial intelligence
- bioacoustics
- conservation
- ethology
Space4Good is a team of impact-driven data scientists, remote sensing & GIS experts, software developers, environmental and urban planners using their unique skills and experience collectively for social and environmental impact. They offer expertise in remote sensing, data analysis, geospatial analytics, capacity building, and developing bespoke solutions. It began in the European Space Agency (ESA) Business Incubation Center in The Netherlands, Space4Good B.V. in 2017 and became a certified Benefit Corporation (B.Corp). Now based in The Hague, the city of Peace and Justice, they work around the world and collaborate with NGOs, universities, public authorities, multinationals and other social enterprises to change the status quo for a better planet and society. Through their core values of Collaboration, Impact, and Passion, Space For Good delivers solutions for clients and partners that solves problems, enhances livelihoods, ensures peace & justice, and protects the environment.
- digital platforms
- marketplaces
- remote sensing
- social media / community
The Buy Nothing Project is a global network of hyper-local gift economies, founded in 2013. It uses a digital platform and mobile app to enable people to give away for free unwanted items and skills within local communities, fostering connections, circulating value, and reducing waste. The network transacts around 2.5 million gifts per month over 230,000 communities, 10 million neighbors with 13,000 volunteers.
- circular economy
- community
- localization
- mutual aid
Liquidonate is a digital platform which helps retailers sustainably manage excess inventory and facilitates donations of unsold products to nonprofits, schools, or upcyclers. The platform offers retailers matching algorithms based on inventory and customer return information, a personalized dashboard and API integration into their existing systems, tax reciept automation, negotiated shipping rates, as well as a dedicated customer support agent. By facilitating the donation of excess inventory, Liquidonate’s approach benefits both retailers, who save on disposal costs and reduce environmental harms, and non-profit recipients, who gain access to valuable resources for their programs and beneficiaries.
- charities
- circular economy
- donations
- inventory management
- liquidation
- nonprofits
Houdini sportswear caters to adventurers and athletes with a focus on eco-conscious, high-performance clothing. They craft technical apparel that combines durability, functionality, and minimalist design for activities like hiking, climbing, skiing, and trail running. Houdini prioritizes sustainability throughout their production process, using recycled materials whenever possible and employing practices that minimize environmental impact. Beyond performance and eco-friendliness, Houdini is known for innovation in material science and garment design, creating lightweight, weather-protective, and versatile pieces for dedicated outdoor enthusiasts.
- circular economy
- clothing
- digital platforms
- marketplaces
- material science
- textiles
NatureMetrics is a global nature intelligence technology company providing an end-to-end nature monitoring and impact reporting solutions for nature-based data. NatureMetric's Nature Intelligence Platform, utilizes environmental DNA (eDNA) technology for efficient biodiversity data collection. Their platform analyzes this data to generate insights on a company's impact on nature. This approach converts the complexities of nature into simple insights to inform effective biodiversity management, measure and manage business impacts and dependencies on biodiversity at scale, and inform decision-making.
- artificial intelligence
- data
- digital platforms
- nature tech
Dollar Donation Club is a digital platform designed to facilitate micro-donations to various systemic impact projects around the world. Premised on the idea that collectively pooling small amounts lowers barriers to entry and can hyperfund the massive impact areas with minimum resources, the platform curates a selection of social impact projects across various areas ""acupuncture points of change"" like poverty alleviation, environmental protection, ocean restoration, and animal welfare.They prioritize projects based on their ""Integrated Impact Score"" metric which assesses a project's effectiveness for creating positive and scalable social and environmental benefit, while acounting for how well the solution: Integrates into local cultures and economies; Is resilient to threats of reversal; Results in self-reliance rather than dependence; Is long-term (7 generations deep); Solves root-causes rather than symptoms. Dollar Donation Club offers traceable donation monitoring for donors and gamifies the experience with points, leaderboards, and prizes. It also offers customized campaigns to business to automate giving, impact investments, and reporting.
- crowdsourcing
- impact investing
- philanthropy
- regenerative finance
BackMarket’s digital marketplace for refurbished electronics helps coordinate stakeholders to close the loop on e-waste and open up access to reliable tech for all. The platform connects buyers and sellers of smartphones, laptops, TVs, wearables, gaming, e-mobility, and countless other devices from all the leading manufacturers. Promising “better than new,” it partners with certified refurbishers to repair electronics for resale, at a ~70% lower price than new. The digital platform helps coordinate discovery, customer service, payment, logistics, tracking, a 25+ point quality assurance verification of authenticity, functionality, security, data erasure, battery, testing, cleaning, and more; and manages partners to refurbish products. Refurbished devices reduce an average of ~90% raw material extraction, emissions, water use, and waste relative to new devices.
- circular economy
- digital platforms
- e-waste
- electronics
- mobile devices
- refurbishment
Ooooby is an digital platform that functions as a decentralized network for local and small-scale food producers, empowering independent farmers and artisans to sell directly to consumers through strategically placed packing hubs. This approach bypasses traditional distribution channels, giving producers greater control and a larger share of the profits. Ooooby utilizes technologies to enable local producers to set up their shopfront and streamline the ordering and delivery process, offering convenience to customers of fresh, local, and sustainable food options. Their mission is to rebuild a food system centered around small-scale community-oriented producers using ecologically sound approaches to food production and consumption. Ooooby also partners with local institutes to support market gardening education and learning opportunities.
- digital infrastructure
- digital platforms
- marketplaces
- reduced food waste
- sharing economy
- social media / community
Waterbear is a digital streaming platform that hosts short films, stories, documentaries and original content to empower communities to make positive change in the world. Topics cover a breadth of topics in the environmental and humanitarian space. Waterbear is also home to a network of more than 100 NGO partners as well as brands. Members can join their communities directly through the platform, by taking action for the causes they care about most. Waterbear is free to access, and uses data to measure impacts based on member viewing.
- digital platforms
- marketplaces
- media
- streaming
