Meet the winners of the #ClimateREMARKABLES Contest!

REMARKABLE Climate Neutrality Solutions Contest has brought together innovative minds across Europe, passionate about driving the transition to a sustainable, climate-neutral future.

Winner: SaveClimate.Earth’s ECO Climate Currency

Taking the top prize in the REMARKABLE contest is SaveClimate.Earth, a German non-profit organization focused on promoting a sustainable economy. Their winning solution is the ECO Climate Currency, an innovative model that reimagines how we manage carbon emissions at the individual and societal levels.

What is the ECO Climate Currency?

The ECO Climate Currency is a proposed system based on Personal Carbon Trading. Under this system, every citizen would receive an allocation of ECOs—a CO2-equivalent currency—on a monthly basis, functioning as an ecological basic income. This currency would be used to pay for fossil fuel consumption, making the carbon footprint of all products and services visible and comparable.

Key Features of the ECO Model:

• Comprehensive Emissions Mapping: The ECO system aims to track 100% of carbon emissions across the entire value chain, offering a more inclusive approach than the current EU Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS), which covers only about 40-45% of greenhouse gas emissions.
• Social Fairness: By distributing ECOs equally among all citizens, the system avoids placing a disproportionate burden on lower-income households, a common issue with carbon taxes.
• Market-Driven Industry Transformation: As consumers gravitate towards products with lower carbon footprints, industries will be pressured to reduce emissions more rapidly than under current systems.
• Tradability: ECOs can be traded between individuals, allowing those who need more to purchase additional ECOs from those with a surplus. This creates a direct financial link between high emitters and low emitters, incentivizing lower emissions.

SaveClimate.Earth’s proposal is still conceptual, but it offers a bold vision for how the ECO Climate Currency could be implemented at the EU level, potentially replacing national CO2 taxes and the EU-ETS. This system could drive a socio-ecological transformation by making the carbon impact of goods and services transparent and manageable for all.

First Runner-Up: SFTec Oy’s ModHeat for Waste Heat Utilization

The first runner-up is SFTec Oy, a Finnish company that has developed ModHeat, a technology designed to utilize waste heat for drying processes, particularly in the biomass sector. This innovative solution addresses a key challenge in sustainable biomass management—how to efficiently process materials with high moisture content that are otherwise costly to transport or store.

Impact and Benefits:

• Cost Efficiency: ModHeat has demonstrated the potential to reduce both operational (OPEX) and capital (CAPEX) expenses by up to 60%, according to pilot projects and research studies. This significant cost reduction is achieved by using waste heat from sources like data centers and industrial processes for drying biomass.
• Wide Applicability: The technology is versatile and can be applied in various sectors, including bio-coal production, jet aviation, and biomass gasification. By optimizing the use of waste heat, ModHeat supports the circular economy and reduces dependency on traditional wood feedstocks.
• Environmental Impact: ModHeat contributes to reducing waste by converting underutilized biomass into valuable materials, supporting sustainable energy practices and lowering overall environmental footprints.

SFTec Oy’s ModHeat solution is a practical and scalable technology with significant environmental and economic benefits. Its ability to leverage waste heat for drying processes could play a crucial role in making biomass-based energy production more sustainable and cost-effective.

Second Runner-Up: Terragami’s Climate Survivors

The second runner-up, a studio based in Austria – Terragami, has taken a unique approach to climate communication by utilizing video games to raise awareness and educate players about climate change. Their project, Climate Survivors, is designed to reach audiences that might not engage with traditional climate communication channels.

Key Elements of Climate Survivors:

• Interactive Learning: Climate Survivors combines popular game mechanics with scientific content to create an engaging and educational experience. Players navigate a world affected by climate hazards, collecting upgrades related to mitigation and adaptation strategies.
• Educational Impact: The game’s mechanics and challenges are rooted in climate science, offering players a hands-on understanding of climate issues. The game also includes a glossary for players to access more detailed information on climate-related topics.
• Broad Appeal: By integrating climate education into a mainstream gaming format, Climate Survivors effectively reaches a wider audience, including those who may be less receptive to traditional climate discourse. This approach helps shift behavior and encourages greater political and social engagement with climate issues.

Terragami’s project exemplifies the potential of video games as powerful tools for climate education. By combining entertainment with education, they are paving the way for new methods of climate communication that resonate with diverse audiences.

Moving ahead

The REMARKABLE Climate Neutrality Solutions Contest has highlighted innovative and practical solutions that have the potential to make a significant impact on our journey towards climate neutrality. From SaveClimate.Earth’s ECO climate currency to SFTec Oy’s waste heat utilization technology and Terragami’s climate awareness video games, these winning entries represent the diverse and creative approaches needed to move towards climate neutrality.