Latest news with #ClimateKIC
Agriland
01-08-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Carbery Teams Up with European Agency to Trial New Methane Reducing Tech
Carbery has teamed up with the European climate innovation agency, Climate KIC, to trial "next-generation methane-reducing technologies" on 10 additional dairy farms in west Co. Cork. The research project has secured financial backing of €700,000 and will see the 10 farms trial new technologies, such as a treatment for improving manure management and satellite technology to map biodiversity and expand the research which is already underway as part of the Farm Zero C initiative. The Carbery group, together with BiOrbic, are among the key partners in the Farm Zero C project which aims to "create a climate-neutral, economically-viable dairy farm". The working farm acts a "living lab" for not just researchers but also farmer and policy makers. It has already trialed a number of innovations including carbon sequestration, renewable energy, low-emission slurry spreading, feed additives, regenerative agriculture, and improved herd and nutrient management. According to Enda Buckley, director of sustainability for Carbery, Farm Zero C, demonstrates that cutting emissions and maintaining profitability "can go hand-in-hand". Buckley also believes that Carbery 's FutureProof sustainability bonus - where farmers are paid a premium to "implement certain sustainability initiatives" "on their farms - also provides firsthand proof of what works. He said the new trial will give the group the opportunity "to bring these practical solutions to more farmers, faster.' According to Carbery, the project with Climate KIC will prioritise 'ready now' innovations, to reduce methane emissions rapidly "while retaining profitability". These technologies will be selected by Carbery and participating farmers and will include the Galway-based, Glasport's Bio's Slurry Abate system which "reduces methane, hydrogen sulphide, ammonia and other gaseous emissions". The first year of the new Carbery, Climate KIC project will focus on trialling technologies, "building collaboration with the first 10 farmers", collecting baseline data, and developing viable financial and narrative models. In year two, the project will be scaled, and a second farmer cohort added. According to John O'Donoghue, who is participating in the new trial, farmers have already seen "what works on one farm, as part of Farm Zero C". "This project is about taking what has been tested on one farm, and bringing it to more of them. "We will see then what works practically and what will actually make a difference to the average farmer," he added. Separately, Carbery's Farm Zero C and Climate KIC's Deep Demonstration programmes are also looking at funding models and financial supports to make methane-reduction technologies more affordable for farmers.
Irish Examiner
09-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Cork dairy giant Carbery invests €700k in new research trial on farms
A fund of €700,000 has been secured to trial methane-reducing technologies on 10 additional dairy farms in West Cork as part of ingredients and food giant Carbery's Farm Zero C research project. The Farm Zero C initiative aims to create a blueprint for an economically viable, sustainable, and carbon neutral dairy farming model. Carbery is partnering with Climate KIC, a leading European climate innovation agency, to trial the new technologies on farms. The technologies will include a treatment for improving manure management and satellite technology to map biodiversity, and expanding the research underway as part of Farm Zero C. 'We've seen first-hand through Farm Zero C and through the outcomes of our FutureProof sustainability bonus (where farmers are paid a premium to implement certain sustainability initiatives on their farms), that cutting emissions and maintaining profitability can go hand in hand,' said Carbery director of sustainability Enda Buckley. 'This project gives us the opportunity to bring these practical solutions to more farmers, faster.' Methane from enteric fermentation and manure management accounts for over two-thirds of Ireland's agricultural emissions, and almost 20% of the country's overall greenhouse gas emissions. The initiative will prioritise 'ready now' innovations, to reduce methane emissions rapidly while retaining profitability. These technologies include Glasport Bio's Slurry Abate system. The wider Farm Zero C project is also looking at funding models and financial supports to make methane reduction technologies more affordable for farmers. Finance innovator and not-for profit Bankers without Boundaries will assist in exploring financial mechanisms like carbon payments, green loans, and cooperative incentive schemes. The first year of the programme announced this week will focus on trialling technologies, building collaboration with the 10 farmers, collecting baseline data, and developing viable financial and narrative models. In year two, these insights will be scaled, and a second farmer cohort onboarded. 'We have been seeing what works on one farm, as part of Farm Zero C. This project is about taking what has been tested on one farm and bringing it to more of them. We will see then what works practically and what will actually make a difference to the average farmer," said John O'Donoghue, one of the farmers who will be participating in this trial.
Hans India
02-06-2025
- Business
- Hans India
Startups rework to stop waste from ending up in landfills
Bengaluru: Little over a year ago, when Steer World unveiled a technology to create sustainable alternative to wood at KPLEX 2024, a polymer exhibition held in Bengaluru, it was not exactly perfect. This man-made'wood' made by compacting granules that were obtained by shredding plastic waste — those pesky hard-to-recycle plastic wrappers that litter every corner of India— was coarse to touch, not particularly appealing to the eye. In less than a year, startup unWOOD has ticked off the aesthetics box too, by fine tuning their proprietary Macro Molecular Fiber Matrix process that mimics the strength, look, and feel of hardwood. You need to really get close now to the improved version of unWOOD to tell it apart from wood. Babu Padmanaban, Founder of Steer World, said every one kg of unWOOD prevents 1.5 kg of CO2 emissions polluting our air and recycles 500gm of plastic waste. 'Of course, there is that fully grown tree that need not sacrifice itself to become your chair or bed,' Vishal Mehta, Co-founder and CEO of unWOOD told PTI. The sustainable brand hit another milestone 10 days ago when it became one of the eight transformative startups that won the newly launched Circular Economy Catalytic Grant of Climate KIC, a European climate innovation agency that is looking at the circular economy in India through the lens of entrepreneurship. 'Early-stage ventures often struggle to access capital, limiting their ability to scale. The grant aims to change that. Alongside funding, we help to connect these ventures with local industry and ecosystem,' Bjarke Kovshøj, Strategic Programmes Manager, Climate KIC, told PTI. Launched in March 2025, the programme will support eight ventures with up to18,000 US Dollar each in equity-free, milestone-based funding, added Kovshøj. 'One of the things that Climate KIC paid attention to while choosing these startups is upstream innovation, which aims at eliminating waste at source,' said Kovshøj. Bengaluru-based bootstrapped venture Green Goobe is a case in point. Ramya B S, Founder, admits as ideas go, hers is not probably much different from other environmentally safe cleaning products. Where she differs from the rest -- and possibly why her company could have won the award -- is in how she packages and markets the product. The avid bird watcher and environmental activist has walked the talk by choosing to stay sustainable all the way through. Her products come packaged in reused medicine bottles, gin bottles, plastic jerry cans and even the environmental nightmare, pet bottles. Just by salvaging pet bottles and mineral water cans, Ramya said her company must have saved around 1,000kg of plastic from hitting landfills since they launched in November 2023. 'So, in effect, we are helping to divert the waste away from the landfills by using what is already there,' said Ramya to PTI. Ramya has also taken 'upstream innovation' quite seriously. Her proprietary formula is so safe that people can reuse laundry discharge, for instance, to wash the car or even water the plants. 'This is something that we promote very aggressively. The cleaners are lab tested safe and discharge can be used for multiple purposes, conserving water,' said Ramya. Climate KIC grant, said Ramya, who runs the company single handedly, came as a huge validation, because her friends and acquaintances often wrote her off by saying she will not be able sustain such a business model. 'Even more than the money, it's the fact that they believed in the transformative power of an idea like this that matters,' added Ramya. For IIT Madras graduate Nikhil Kumar Panchal, Co-founder & CEO of Green Aadhaar — a software ecosystem for the waste management sector — Climate KIC's network events for the winners are a win-win. 'We cater to everyone — from collection, transportation to processing and I met a lot of people in these network events who could basically be our customers,' said Panchal. In a world that discards clothes faster than one can blink, textile waste is another nightmare for waste management. To tackle this, Vijaya Krishnappa has come up with a device that could help cloth be converted again into cloth. Kosha AI's optical device can instantly tell the composition of a yarn — whether it's a cotton or polyester or rayon — right to the exact percentage, making segregating an easy task. Krishnappa, Co-founder of Kosha AI said the grant money will go a long way in scaling his deep tech product, developed at the labs of Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. 'We still have to do a lot of pilot studies, to help us identify gaps and make it market fit. The award came at the right time, for it will tide us over till the market and the technology mature. Climate KIC also promised to help us with identifying how the technology is impacting the industry,' said Krishnappa. The other four winning ventures are: Angirus, which provides sustainable alternatives to bricks; Ecorenowa, which improves solar panel recycling with onsite delamination; E-waste Social, which offers a traceable digital platform for e-waste; and Reverse, end-to-end system for reuse of glass and rigid plastic packaging containers. Only by working together and nurturing, it is possible to create systemic solutions that prevent waste at its source and heal the world, said Kovshøj 'Circularity isn't just about reducing waste -- it's about redesigning the system itself,' he added.
New Indian Express
24-05-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
Bengaluru's circular future: New report reimagines waste as engine for inclusive innovation
BENGALURU: 'Despite the vibrancy of Bengaluru's startup ecosystem, upstream circularity, innovations that prevent waste before it's created, remains largely untapped', said Bjarke Kovshøj, Strategic Programmes Manager, Climate KIC--Europe's leading climate innovation agency and community. He spoke after releasing a new report by Climate KIC titled 'How Strong Innovation Ecosystems Can Create Inclusive Circular Economies,' here on May 22. The report draws in-depth insights from Circular Economy Innovation Clusters (a joint initiative by Climate KIC, GrowthAfrica, and SecondMuse, funded by the IKEA Foundation) operating in Bengaluru and Nairobi. 'Like many Indian metropolises, Bengaluru is grappling with an accelerating waste crisis—landfills nearing capacity, growing pressure on informal waste workers, and increasing threats to health and the environment that is compounded by the shifting climate changes. Yet the report reframes this challenge as a generational opportunity: to build a city where waste is no longer a problem to manage, but a resource to design out of the system altogether', he said. 'This report demonstrates how localised, inclusive innovation clusters can unlock scalable solutions that don't just manage waste but prevent it', he added.
