Venture, Not Philanthropy, Can Save The Planet

While organizations like The Nature Conservancy, Earthjustice, and Greenpeace have admirably raised awareness about global warming over the past five decades, they've struggled to provide scalable solutions to the problem. With time running out, the agile, fast-moving, and scalable Venture Capital model can truly make a difference.

Venture Capital Model:

Venture Capital seeks critical problems solvable through technology and scalable business models, generating disruption and profits for both founders and investors. Addressing global warming is as critical as it gets, but the challenge lies in finding the right combination of technology and scalable business models.

Agricultural Supply Chain Focus:

The agricultural supply chain, which encompasses food, fuel, and fiber production, offers significant opportunities to combat climate change. This includes reducing deforestation, optimizing natural resource usage, transitioning to biological inputs, and curbing carbon emissions. While technologies like satellite imagery and AI exist, they remain inaccessible to most small and medium-sized farmers in regions like Latin America.

Venture Capital's Role:

Given the difficulties in reaching these farmers, it will take Venture Capital, innovative business models, and strong incentives to drive change. In Latin America, The Yield Lab focuses on financially driven impact models, or what we call "finpact," models, designed to encourage small farmers to adopt technology through financial incentives like easier access to credit, environmental service payments, and loyalty programs.

Startups Leading the Way:

1. Kilimo: Recognized by the WEF for water preservation, Kilimo offers a platform reducing energy and water usage for farmers, providing data-driven insights and generating water credits and offsets that can be sold to large tech companies.

2. Um Grau e Meio (UGM): Uses AI and HD cameras to detect forest and crop fires within seconds, strategically deploying resources for fire suppression, thus curbing carbon emissions.

3. Seedz: A loyalty and market intelligence platform, with over 100,000 active members, offering cashback and other incentives for farmers to influence behavior.

4. Agroforte: This agrifintech startup provides technology and infrastructure financing for dairy, beef, poultry, and pork farms, leveraging industry data to identify technology gaps and facilitate infrastructure and animal welfare improvements.

5. Courageous Land: Utilizing AI, this platform optimizes land use, promoting the adoption of agroforestry systems to combat climate change and generate greater revenue for smallholder farms.

Conclusion:

By supporting ventures like these, Venture Capital can drive scalable solutions to combat climate change and protect our planet for future generations.