In this article, we take a look at the 5 biggest issues in the world and the companies working on solving them. If you want to check out our detailed analysis of the plight of the world, go to 10 Biggest Issues in the World and The Companies Working on Solving Them.
5. Pollution
Pollution here refers to land pollution, water pollution, as well as air pollution. It has been a byproduct of industrialization and consumerism. There’s an estimated 5 trillion pieces of plastic in the ocean water which includes both micro and macro pieces.
Three notable companies trying to remove plastic from ocean water include The Ocean Cleanup, 4Ocean and The Ocean Conservancy. The Ocean Cleanup, for instance, is developing solutions to concentrate ocean plastic waste at scale at artificial coastlines to effectively remove vast swathes of trash.
Industrial waste has also resulted in land and air pollution, leading to acid rains, Ozone depletion as well as substantial loss in soil’s organic matter. One of the big tech giants that is trying to play its part in solving air pollution is Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), which is using Google Street View cars to collect data on Nitrogen Dioxide to monitor air quality.
4. Food Insecurity
Food insecurity is a critical emerging problem that is expected to rapidly worsen over the course of three decades.
As the world population grows with the momentum it has right now, to the projected figure of 10 billion in 2050, it is expected to increase food demand by 59% to 98% by 2050, so the global crop production needs to double to make up for it but it’s only growing at roughly half that rate (non-compounding).
On top of that, the UN estimates suggest that 40% of all agricultural land is already degraded, with 90% of topsoil at risk by 2050. Food insecurity is a disaster in the making that is already showing its effects. According to WHO, 80 million people in East Africa are already food-insecure. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has acted as a force-multiplier in this regard, by cutting off roughly a quarter of the world’s wheat supply.
However, many startup companies have emerged that address this coming disaster. Companies like Grubbly Farms, All Things Bugs and Might Cricket are promoting insects as dietary staples, with insects being touted as the food of the future, as they’re abundant, environmentally friendly and highly economical.
Then there’s companies like Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA), researching and developing novel crop production technologies to assist farmers increase crop yield and reduce output variability from season to season regardless of weather.
3. Deforestation and Biodiversity Loss
The planetary ecosystem is a self-sustaining complex system. Small changes in a complex system often lead to unforeseeable effects, which, in the case of human-caused biodiversity loss, could risk humanity’s survival as a species as well.
Experts now believe the planet is going through the sixth mass extinction, caused in large part by human activity. A significant portion of this biodiversity loss is occurring due to deforestation.
Other than sustaining biodiversity, forests also act as natural carbon sinks and are critical in the fight against climate change. About 31% of the world is covered in forests, which absorb roughly 2.6 billion of CO2 every year. On the other hand, the world loses roughly 6 million hectares of forest cover each year on average due to deforestation.
Many for-profit and non-profit companies are at the forefront in solving deforestation. One of these include Cultivo, a California-based FinTech startup that intends to unlock $1 billion in investment for 3.5 million hectares of forest restoration over the next five years.
In the non-profit domain, the most prominent one is Gain Forest, a company that uses AI to monitor satellite and field data to monitor sustainable use of land. It rewards forest communities with donations when restoration milestones are achieved.
2. Resource Depletion
The overall resource depletion is another ongoing crisis that is dire in nature. A finite planet only has so much before it is exhausted. Resource extraction rate has more than tripled since the year 1970. At the current rate, it is expected to double by 2060. The process of resource extraction is also responsible for half the global carbon emissions and for over 90% of water stress according to Global Resources Outlook, 2019.
With the population level set to rise to 10 billion in 2050, the demand for energy resources is projected to grow by 50% by that time according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence of US government.
The need for steel and copper is also projected to grow by 90% and 80% respectively by 2050. The demand for many other resources is expected to double by the mid-21st century. In the present day, we’re consuming resources 1.8 times faster than Earth’s regeneration capacity.
One of the ways Earth can be unburdened from unsustainable resource extraction and the accompanying emissions, biodiversity loss and water stress, is to take the mining to asteroids, many of which are rich in minerals and other resources.
In this respect, SpaceX and Blue Origin are the forefront space companies trying to unlock space at economies of scale.
1. Climate Change
Climate Change is, by all measures, the most pressing issue in the world and many companies are trying to tackle it through different approaches. Global emissions have to reach net-zero by 2050 to limit global-temperature-increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Currently, the planet is already 1.1°C warmer than it was around the late 1800s, and we’re already seeing its dire effects. Longer summer seasons are resulting in extensive breeding periods for locusts which threaten food security.
The intensity and number of extreme weather events are increasing all across the world and especially in the global south. The sea levels are rising due to melting ice caps and the oceans are getting warmer and more acidic. A billion crabs have “disappeared” in the Bering Sea and experts believe climate change is to blame.
Most companies that are trying to solve climate change have taken two primary approaches – developing sustainable-energy technologies and carbon capture.
In terms of sustainable-energy technologies, Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is the frontier company that has mainstreamed electric vehicle adoption.
Tesla also builds and installs solar energy systems for personal and commercial residences through its arm, Tesla Solar. First Solar is another company developing solar energy solutions for Americans. On the carbon-capture front, prominent companies are Aker Carbon Capture and Carbon Engineering.
You can also take a peek at 5 Best Artificial Intelligence Stocks Under $10 and 5 Good Stocks to Invest in Right Now.
