Other co-founders include Tim Schumacher, Daria Saharova, and Craig Douglas.
This is why we’re launching the World Fund, to be the ultimate partner to back the tech entrepreneurs of Europe that will create the most valuable companies of the next decade while tackling the climate crisis.” However, until now, there hasn’t been the venture support to ensure these solutions go from idea to success. “This continent has the research, innovation, and political awareness to lead the world in the fight against climate change. “Europe urgently needs to stop continuing business as usual, relying on the continued use of fossil fuels,” Danijel Višević, the World Fund’s co-founder and general partner, said in a press release. The goal is to save two gigatons of emissions by 2040, or roughly the equivalent of 4% of all global emissions. A special emphasis will be put on startups with the potential to reduce at least 100 megatons of carbon dioxide emissions a year in industries such as food, construction, transportation, and energy.
The World Fund will use its own Climate Performance Potential methodology to evaluate companies. If it reaches its financial target, it would be the biggest climate tech fund in Europe. Backers include Trivago founder Rolf Schrömgens and soccer player Mario Götze. The fund has already attracted about 60 investors, Reuters reported. As of late October, more than half of the World Fund’s investment target had been committed. To help counter the problem, Ecosia recently launched the World Fund, a climate technology fund that aims to raise 350 million euros ($407 million) for investment focused on sustainable solutions. That actually represents an improvement from earlier decades, but still has a big negative impact on the environment. Between 20, the rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million hectares per year, according to the FAO. This is important work given how many trees are cut down every year. At least 80% of its money goes toward tree-planting projects. Ecosia boasts more than 15 million users and dedicates 100% of its profits to climate action by helping to restore and protect biodiversity hotspots. Its search ads generate income, and it uses that income to plant trees. The company’s business model is pretty simple. Their commitments include, but aren’t limited to, replanting areas affected by the Terwilliger fire in Oregon’s Willamette National Forest, helping indigenous communities in the Philippines plant native seedlings, and planting trees in Cameroon to restore biodiversity while promoting better livelihoods for local communities. In 2014, it became the first German firm to become a Certified B Corporation, meaning it has a legal obligation to weigh how its business decisions impact people and the planet.Įcosia’s work spans a wide variety of projects. The company, founded in 2009, has planted roughly 138 million trees in more than 30 countries around the world. That’s the mission at Ecosia, a German nonprofit search engine that uses its ad revenue to finance tree-planting projects worldwide. The only long-term solution to this problem is to plant more trees to replace those that have been lost. An estimated 420 million hectares of forest – roughly 1 billion acres – has been felled over the past three decades, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Deforestation is one of the world’s biggest contributors to increased carbon emissions and biodiversity loss.