Ingmar Høgøy, CEO and Founder of Greentech Innovators, explores solutions to environmental issues related to food waste and landfill sites. He emphasises the need for collaboration among innovators, politicians, and investors
It is well known that food waste emits 9% of global CO2 emissions and 11% of global methane emissions. From a 20-year perspective, methane is a seventy times stronger greenhouse gas than CO2.
Ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gases and food waste are set. The subject has been discussed in numerous international forums, and there is no lack of meetings, discussions, speeches by international delegations, signed protocols, and brave goals.
I am drafting this article as I see the sunset at Dubai airport, the city where the COP28 conference took place in 2023. Food production and waste were put on the agenda as crucial factors in climate discussions.
Solving the problems of food waste and landfills
My question is, have we made progress in solving the problems with food waste and landfill sites?
When drafting this article, I sat in the same chair at the airport in Dubai, waiting for the sunrise and inspiration to describe the solution for food waste and landfills.
Why is there apparently no progress in solving this problem? I am the founder of Greentech Innovators, and we do have a solution to this problem.
Greentech Innovators use biotechnology to convert food waste to growth media for fermentation. This will produce microalgae high in healthy omega-3 oils and protein as aquaculture feed.
By scaling our solution, we may reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase global food production. This sounds quite simple, so what is the problem?
Going beyond innovation
To solve environmental problems, we need more than innovation. We also need ambitious politicians willing to build a value chain that makes solving environmental issues profitable. This can be done by using the tools politicians love to use – taxes and regulations.
Following the simple principles that polluters pay and take a carbon tax on landfills and other traditional waste solutions like incineration, biogas, and composting, this is not too complicated.
A call for brave investors
We also need another player to solve environmental problems. We need brave investors. With good solutions from innovators and a good regulatory framework from politicians, the field is open for profitable investments for investors.
This is how we can solve environmental problems caused by food waste and landfills.
Innovators, politicians, and investors must collaborate
Let us join forces, innovators, politicians, and investors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase global food production and give waste a value.
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International.
