Picture by Michael Marais on Unsplash 
Writer: Emily Cashen
March 31, 2021
The pandemic has prompted us to reconsider several elements of our life, from our operating routines to how and the place we spend our money. It has also served to heighten our recognition of environmental concerns, as we commence to imagine of the environment we would like to see put up-pandemic. According to a study by administration consultancy business Accenture, 60 p.c of shoppers say that they have begun building more environmentally friendly, sustainable or ethical buys due to the fact the onset of the pandemic in 2020.
In the small business planet, as well, sustainability has come to be a leading precedence above the class of the previous yr, with major companies such as Unilever and Google announcing significant inexperienced pledges more than the training course of 2020. Even amid the COVID-19 crunch, venture funds firms have been pouring income into sustainable, function-pushed begin-ups, suggesting that eco-friendly goods and services may effectively be a important location of growth in the publish-pandemic planet. With that in mind, let us consider a appear at five of Europe’s leading sustainability pioneers.
1 – Oatly (Sweden)
The non-dairy milk sector has been booming in recent a long time, and is predicted to get to revenues of above $38bn by 2024. This is very good news certainly for Swedish oat milk-manufacturer Oatly, which has noticed its revenue soar as ethically-driven buyers request solutions to regular dairy products and solutions. Founded in the 1990s, the enterprise states its intention as: “to make it effortless for persons to turn what they take in and drink into times of nutritious pleasure, without the need of recklessly taxing the planets’ means in the method.” Boasting partnerships with key suppliers these kinds of as Starbucks, the company is definitely a single of the most distinguished names in the plant-based industry, and is now mentioned to be trying to find a valuation of close to $10bn as it prepares to go community on the US inventory exchange.
2 – EO Charging (United kingdom)
With a lot of of the world’s personnel giving up the day by day commute in get to do the job from dwelling in 2020, the pandemic has encouraged a reassessment of our transportation usage. When international motor vehicle income fell by about a fifth throughout the pandemic, product sales of electric automobiles rose by a remarkable 43 percent, showing an elevated appetite for eco-friendly cars. As the demand for electrical cars grows, the need to have for amplified EV charging infrastructure is getting to be ever far more apparent. Centered in the United kingdom, EO Charging is one of Europe’s primary suppliers of electric car charging ports, owning bought more than 30,000 charging details in more than 30 nations around the world in the five years since its start. Functioning with substantial-profile associates this sort of as Uber, Sainsbury’s and Ocado to facilitate a changeover to EV, EO Charging was recently named amongst the Financial Times’ fastest escalating businesses in Europe.
3 – Cellugy (Denmark)
Plastic air pollution is an space that has occur into sharp emphasis in excess of the course of the past 12 months, with discarded one-use masks getting to be an all way too typical sight considering the fact that the start out of the pandemic. Based mostly in Aarhus, Denmark, Cellugy is a revolutionary biotech start off-up that is fully commited to assisting to bring an close to plastic air pollution through the generation of choice forms of packaging. Its innovative product, known as EcoFLEXY, is a long lasting materials made for use in the packaging business. Produced from recycled food stuff squander, the solution is all-pure, absolutely recyclable and biodegradable. In a latest seed spherical, the company lifted €2.38m from the European Innovation Council Accelerator, which will make it possible for it to scale-up manufacturing of its EcoFLEXY item.
4 – RanMarine Technological know-how (Netherlands)
An unexpected facet influence of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the unfortunate improve in maritime litter air pollution. Plastic gloves, single-use masks and other forms of PPE have been washing up on shorelines throughout the world, with this increase in plastic waste threatening the wellbeing of maritime life the world more than. Dutch drone engineering company RanMarine is the company driving the impressive WasteShark – a item intended to distinct plastic and other squander from all way of waterways. The system has a 10-hour ‘swimtime,’ and is capable to obvious 500kg of debris from the water just about every day – with buyers in a position to regulate the gadget remotely and watch its development in actual time. The firm secured a Sequence-A expenditure in 2020, letting it to scale-up its functions this calendar year and outside of.
5 – Meatless Farm (Uk)
Soon after decades of unstoppable rise, 2020 was the year that plant-based meals well and genuinely hit the mainstream. In the United kingdom, revenue of plant-based foods hit £1bn for the initial time, with marketplace investigation business Kantar finding that 13 million consumers experienced bought meat-absolutely free substitutes and dairy-free of charge milk. Thoroughly-vegan organizations these types of as Meatless Farm have seen their sales soar as desire for plant-based products grows. The British firm is on keep track of to history £50m in gross sales in 2021, with founder Morten Toft Bech location his sights on an eventual $1bn valuation. If realized, this will make the Meatless Farm a unusual ‘unicorn’ company. After a ‘Veganuary’ gross sales bump – which noticed the company’s world-wide product sales rise by 92 % in comparison with the very same thirty day period in 2020 – 2021 is now shaping up to be a momentous year for the Meatless Farm.
