Imagine a piece of paper that reduces food waste, an electric city bus with a 155 mile (250 km) range, a way to bottle sunlight for off-grid housing, and intelligent streetlights that turn off when the streets are empty. These groundbreaking sustainable solutions are all finalists in the Sustainia Awards, celebrating this year’s top-ten sustainability innovations from Europe, Israel, Zambia, USA, China and the Philippines.
“The top-ten Sustainia projects reflect innovative approaches that can lead to more sustainable industries. Hopefully, they will inspire more businesses to take green practicing to heart. It is not an easy choice to select one, but I’m looking forward to presenting the Sustainia Award winner in Copenhagen,” says Dr. Rajendra Pachauri.
From more than 500 projects from 79 countries, the submissions were narrowed down to 100, which were presented in Sustainia100, an annual guide that “presents readily available projects, initiatives and technologies at the forefront of sustainable transformation.”
This was narrowed down to the top-10 list, unveiled at UN Global Compact’s annual Leaders Summit conference in New York. “Representing innovation from different parts of the world, the top-10 projects showcase readily available solutions and technologies capable of transforming businesses, cities, industries and our everyday life. Developed in nine different countries, the 10 solutions are, in total, deployed in more than 90 countries around the world.” These examples of sustainable innovation across ten different sectors also form the pool of contenders for the 2013 Sustainia Award chaired by former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Joined by Chair of IPCC Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, former Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, and EU Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, Mr. Schwarzenegger will select the recipient of the international sustainability award to be announced at a formal ceremony in Copenhagen, November 7th 2013.
Sustainia is demonstrating that a transformation towards a greener and more inclusive world is possible everywhere.
– Georg Kell, executive director of UN Global Compact.
The Top-10 Sustainia Awards Finalists are:
HOUSING SECTOR:
Liter of Light – Bottling sunlight for off-grid housing
FOOD SECTOR:
Fenugreen – Reducing food waste with a piece of paper
FASHION SECTOR:
Neutral.com – Sustainable fashion from top-certified production
TRANSPORTATION SECTOR:
BYD – Electric city bus with a 155 mile (250 km) range
IT SECTOR:
TaKaDu – Big Data solution increasing water network efficiency and reducing water loss
EDUCATION SECTOR:
iFixit – Repair manuals give new life to broken devices
ENERGY SECTOR:
Veolia, Dalkia & Borås – Renewable energy storage in hot water reservoirs
HEALTH SECTOR:
CIDRZ – Electronic Cervical Cancer Control
CITIES SECTOR:
Tvilight – Intelligent streetlights
RESOURCES SECTOR:
Mazuma Mobile – Cash-back for your mobile phone
“The 10 projects showcase that the green transformation of our societies has come a long way. They are 10 reasons for optimism. The challenge is that most projects are unknown to the public. Sustainia’s mission is to create a platform for the best sustainable solutions from around the world in order to ensure awareness and deployment on a global scale,“ says Erik Rasmussen, founder of Sustainia.
Learn more about the ten projects and vote for your favorite on sustainia.me.
