#113 | Sustainable Aviation Fuel + June Showcase Recording
Understory newsletter on climate and sustainability tech
Our June showcase dug into multiple aspects of the circular economy from waste reduction to circular design to closed loop processes. In addition, we had an insightful presentation on the energy transition happening in Latin America.
Key takeaways:
✅ Partnership and collaboration drives scale
✅ Design out waste from the very beginning
✅ Second-hand furniture doesn't traditionally fit into a zero waste strategy so it is hard to measure impact.
✅ Latin America is still in the initiation phase of the energy transition to renewables.
If you missed the Startup Showcase, you can catch the recording here. We will be back with our next showcase in September after the summer break.
📚 Worth Reading
The global airline industry has its sights on net zero by 2050. Over 65% of the plan is based on the use of sustainable aviation fuel, which is still a developing technology.
What is sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)? SAF is a biofuel used to power aircraft that has similar properties to conventional jet fuel but with a smaller carbon footprint. Compared to conventional jet fuel, SAF produces up to 80% less carbon emissions over its lifecycle.
While new capacity is coming online by 2025, production needs to go from 100+ million liters in 2021 to at least 449 billion liters in 2050.
Companies innovating in this space include:
Neste: a Finish company partnered with American Airlines, All Nippon Airways, KLM, and more.
World Energy: American company partnered with United Airlines and JetBlue.
Alder Fuels: Converts forest and crop waste to fuel and is partnered with United Airlines.
SkyNRG: American company which supplies 30 airlines and partnered with Boeing to scale production.
The U.S. government recently launched the SAF Grand Challenge to inspire the dramatic increase in the production of sustainable aviation fuels to at least 3 billion gallons per year by 2030.
Additional resources:
IATA Environment & Sustainability Briefing
Energy.gov: Sustainable Aviation Fuels
The White House: Fact Sheet on Advances of the Future of Sustainable Fuels in American Aviation
🚀 Funding and Congrats!
Brookfield Asset Management raised $15 billion for a net zero transition fund.
Kiko Ventures raised a $450 million climate tech evergreen fund.
Zap Energy, a fusion power company, raised a $160 million Series C funding round.
Amogy raised $46 million in funding. The company turns ammonia to power to help decarbonize transportation.
Vibrant Planet, a saas platform for forest restoration, raised a $17 million seed round.
Food waste management company Goodr Inc. raised $8 million in funding.
💡 Startup Spotlight
The Addition Company - uses 3D printing to print living seawalls that mimic coral reefs and mangroves.
🌱 Startup Resources
Apply for Filecoin’s Green Grants Program to support Regenerative Finance projects that will transform financial structures with carbon-neutral, sustainable initiatives.
Apply by August 5: The Accelerate(HER) fund sponsored by Tiger Global Impact Ventures offers grants up to $50K.
Apply by August 12th: Pitch at the Venture Atlanta conference. They added Climate Tech and ESG categories this year.
👀 Quick Hits
Canada announced it will ban single-use plastics as of December 2023.
A new study shows that the carbon footprint of food transportation is 3.5-7.5x larger than previous estimates.
Underseas robots are collecting data to improve understanding of climate and biodiversity.
Google talks about the challenges its faced in its quest to become net zero.
🎧 Podcast
Michael Walton: creating sustainable communities
Brian Graff: beautifying solar
Justin Whitehead: investing in a greener future
The Understory Podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Google Podcasts.
⚙️ Jobs
Find and share your open positions on the Understory Slack channel.
🆕 Technical Product Manager at Seqana
🆕 Manager, Sponsored Content and Media Revenue at Brightly
🆕 Senior Manager, Livestock Sector, EDF+Business at the Environmental Defense Fund
🆕 Sustainability Lead - Marketing & Education at Booking.com
🆕 Machine Learning Engineer at Joulea
🆕 Zero Waste Partnerships City Service Corps Member at the Sanitation Foundation
🆕 Sustainability Director, Net Zero Reduction Strategy at Meta
Summer Digital Marketing Internship at Rochelle Porter Design
Senior Mechanical Engineer at Charm Industrial
Senior Analyst Sustainability and ESG at JetBlue
Knowledge Expert - Climate and Sustainability at BCG
EV Sales Advisor at Spring Free EV
Strategic Engagement Manager at Partnership for Inclusive Innovation
Director of Utility Sales at Bloc Power
Deputy Vice President of Programs at ClimateWorks Foundation
Project Manager in Sustainability at infogr8
Multiple Roles at Virtual Peaker
Scientist Roles at Project Drawdown
Engineering roles at Sunairio
Senior Mechanical Engineer at Charge Robotics
Product Manager, Low-Carbon Aviation at Google Climate Research
Environmental Program Officer- Thriving Communities at Patagonia
Intern at Newlab
🗓 Events
June 30: Paris Techstars Summit 2022
July 14: Bitcoin Net Zero?
Do you have any events to share? Post them in our Understory Slack community.
📧 Stay in Touch!
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