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An audit of the World Bank’s 2017 to 2023 climate portfolio revealed that a huge portion of the financing went unaccounted for between the time projects were approved and closed. Poor recordkeeping is at the center of the discrepancies, but the auditors say this can be fixed if the World Bank changes how it tracks climate funds.

“The bank is celebrating all the time that it is the largest financier of climate finance,” Christian Donaldson, a senior policy advisor at Oxfam International and one of the report’s authors, told TriplePundit. “And it's celebrated only on the basis of what they plan to do, but they don't double-check what's happened down the road.”

Reported climate finance based on approvals, not deliveries

In its 2022 fiscal year, the World Bank reported $31.7 billion in climate finance disbursements, accounting for more than half (52 percent) of total worldwide climate financing. With an increase to $42.6 billion the past year, the bank boasts that a whopping 44 percent of its overall financing went to climate action over the course of the 2024 fiscal year.

But actual outlays vary 26 to 43 percent from what was originally claimed, according to the Oxfam report. The recordkeeping is so muddled that it’s not clear whether those expenditures were lower or higher than the bank reported. Overall, its climate finance funds could be off by as much as $41.32 billion.

“On the expenditure side, they only are reporting what they are planning to do at board approval,” Donaldson said, adding that the bank doesn’t track expenditures throughout the implementation and closure of those approved projects. “That's where the failure is, because there's no granular information.”

Need outweighs available funds, making accurate reporting even more important

It’s likely this breakdown in reporting is not limited to climate finance and is instead a systemic problem in which the World Bank doesn’t track enough information, Donaldson said. But it’s the enormous ramifications for climate action that make it especially concerning.  

“The implications … are huge, because we're talking about a massive amount of climate finance needed, and at the same time they are very limited,” Donaldson said. The limited nature of those funds makes it all the more important that they’re used as promised.

In one scenario, the bank could be spending less on projects than it claims, he said. That could mean not enough money is used to support countries experiencing the effects of the climate crisis. Or it could be a case of over-reporting, which could mean it’s not actually meeting financing targets.

“It could be cases of even greenwashing, [spending] on actions that might not have anything to do with climate mitigation or adaptation,” he said. “So without this information, after a project is implemented and closed, there is a huge level of uncertainty whether what you plan actually makes some ground.”

The Center for Global Development names low disbursement rates as one of the primary issues with climate finance, along with the rising number of loans issued to lower-income countries with high risk of debt distress and a lack of follow-up on the effectiveness of projects.

Simple solutions

To start, it’s critical that the World Bank improves its bookkeeping, Donaldson said. As it stands now, the bank simply lists its projects and the total amount of climate finance without detailed information.

“They need to give more granular information because that's where the climate finance aspect has to be more understood, especially for adaptation,” he said. That detailed funding information should go beyond the approval stage all the way through the closing phase.

Researchers combed through PDF files for Oxfam’s audit, but effective and transparent bookkeeping should include a public database with usable data, including a spreadsheet that is downloadable and machine-readable, Donaldson said.

Next, a finance assessment should be done on individual projects, similar to the precedent set by the Asian Development Bank, Donaldson said. “Each project has a standalone document that is called ‘Climate Assessment,’ and it details what component has climate finance, the justification of that, and what is the expected outcome,” he said. “If the Asian Development Bank is doing it, the World Bank can easily do it, and especially if they have public finances.”

Tracking expenditures is the first step to measuring impact

Improved recordkeeping and adding project assessments will help determine whether climate finances approved by the World Bank are actually delivered as planned. Accuracy in reporting is critical to proving the bank’s claim as the top climate financier, but it’s important to note the limitations. While better bookkeeping can tell us whether or not projects were funded, it won’t reflect the effectiveness of those projects. 

“Implications are even greater now that the bank is talking all about impact, trying to measure their … climate finance impact. And for us, we are not saying that expenditures equals measuring impact, but it's the most basic information,” Donaldson said. “If you want to measure the impact of an action, first you have to know if that action was implemented — if the money that you claim for that action was expended.” 

Around 47 million people in the U.S. experience food insecurity, according to Feeding America. It affects every single member of a family, including a family’s pets. PetSmart Charities estimates that 30 million pets live in homes with people experiencing food insecurity.  But food banks rarely stock pet food for those who need it, leaving pet owners who struggle with food security in the difficult position of leaving their pets hungry or sharing scarce resources with their furry companions. 

A partnership between Meals on Wheels America and PetSmart Charities is addressing this invisible issue by providing senior pet parents with food for their pets along with regular meals provided by the charity. The crisis is closely linked to elderly food insecurity, another issue that is urgent but not often talked about.

“Unless you know someone that's suffering with senior hunger, you really don't see it,” said Ellie Hollander, CEO of Meals on Wheels America. “It's behind closed doors. There are 12 million older adults who are food insecure, and one in three are lonely. The short story is that the senior population is growing exponentially and at least 50 percent of older adults have pets. So if there are households with food insecurity that have pets, it is very likely that pets are also suffering from food insecurity.”

Though Hollander advocates for Meals on Wheels and its mission, she is also eager to emphasize how urgent and widespread hunger is in the U.S. 

“I could talk for hours about how we are not meeting the need,” she said. “We know that our Meals on Wheels programs across the country are dealing with growing waiting lists for meals and social connection. Even though we're serving about 2.2 million seniors annually —  meaning a meal, eyes and ears, a friendly visit, a check-in on wellness and health of that senior — we know there are millions of seniors who need that and are not getting it.”

Even so, the partnership between the two organizations is giving hungry people and pets the food they need. “We've delivered over 13 million pet meals along with human support,” said Aimee Gilbreath, president of PetSmart Charities. 

Providing meals for pets and their humans also addresses senior loneliness, as it gives older pet owners more resources to care for their non-human companions. Seniors report that having a pet improved their well-being and decreased loneliness, according to a Meals on Wheels survey. The health of their pet means everything to them, with 1 in 5 senior pet parents forgoing meals to feed their furry companions. 

“Many of the seniors that we serve are on a fixed income and are making daily trade-offs,” Hollander said. “It's almost like their child. So are you going to feed yourself first or are you going to feed your pet? They're going to share their meal with their pet, and a number of seniors that are on Meals on Wheels take multiple medications, which require good nutrition. So we don't want them to make a trade-off, or not pay their utility bill, or not go to the doctor because they can't afford not only their own meals, but they can't afford nourishment for their own pets.”

In short, pet health means human health and vice-versa. Owning a pet and caring for it — taking it for walks, for example — can also help seniors have a more active social life.

“Our point of view is that they are inextricably intertwined, the well-being of people and their pets, in addition to the emotional and mental health benefits,” Gilbreath said. “According to the Human Animal Bond Research Institute, seniors will stay ambulatory longer if they have a dog to walk. People will be more connected in their communities because when they go out and walk their dog they are meeting their neighbors. So you might have a neighbor who realizes they haven't seen someone in a few days, maybe I should check in on them.”

The partnership also identified other issues that both organizations would like to solve. Serving seniors means serving people who are homebound and have a hard time accessing services. So there are other things senior pet owners need, like veterinarian services and grooming. 

“In addition to providing meals for pets, we're starting to think about other things,” Gilbreath said. “It's also about veterinary services. It's about grooming. It's about dental care. It's about vaccination. Things that we take for granted, but if you are homebound or you have limited mobility, you need a helping hand to be able to do that.”

Ultimately, the partnership is about keeping seniors and their pets together. It’s heartbreaking and life-changing to have to give up your pet due to poverty, especially during an age where loneliness and isolation are epidemics. A simple way to solve this is to give people what they need at their doorstep: nutritious meals for them and their beloved furry family members. 

The youngest newcomers to the United States are often the most overlooked, including the nearly 1 million students enrolled in U.S schools who are immigrants and more than 4.6 million English learners trying their best to succeed in their new environment. 

When Franshesca Chaterpaul, an upper elementary teacher at Brighter Choice Community School in Brooklyn, New York, saw the rise in the number of students who are immigrants in her classroom in recent years — “new New Yorkers,” as she calls them — she wanted to make their experience as nurturing and inclusive as possible. But with an underfunded school and district, she faced a gap in what these students needed and what she could provide, despite spending her own money on supplies and basic needs. 

So Chaterpaul turned to DonorsChoose, the nation’s leading tech platform and funding site for U.S. public school teachers. She created a page on the platform where she posts her latest needs. Teachers in over 88 percent of U.S. public schools use the nonprofit’s website to post requests for classroom supplies and experiences. At Chaterpaul’s school, some 156 projects were funded this way. When a project is fully funded, the requested items are shipped directly to the teachers.

New campaign supports students who are new to America

DonorsChoose recently launched a campaign to directly support students new to America, with the help of two anonymous donors who are matching up to $1 million for classroom projects submitted by teachers supporting students who’ve recently immigrated to the U.S. To date, the organization has raised $1.5 million. 

Their classroom needs are multiple and varied. Some need learning materials to help newcomer students from El Salvador and Mexico reinforce their Spanish and English language skills. Others need underwear, undershirts, socks, and uniforms for students who cannot afford them or warm coats for their first winter. And others are funding translation devices to help Spanish-speaking students learn English. 

Teachers spent an average of $610 out of pocket on their classrooms during the 2023 to 2024 school year, according to DonorsChoose. The organization was founded in 2000 by Bronx public high school teacher Charles Best who figured that people would want to help if they could see where their money was going.

“We are laser-focused as an organization on how we can channel our support towards the teachers, classrooms and schools that are serving the most underserved students in America today,” said Kristina “Steen” Joye Lyles, senior vice president for equity and impact at DonorsChoose. 

Equity-focused support 

Racial and socio-economic factors continue to impact students' access to an equitable education, Lyles told TriplePundit. More than half of the teachers who use DonorsChoose work in what the organization calls Equity Focus Schools, where at least 50 percent of students come from low-income households and at least 50 percent of students are Black, Latino, Native American, Pacific Islander or multiracial. 

School districts that serve mostly students of color receive over $2,200 less state and local funding per student than those with mostly white students, according to DonorsChoose. As a result, teachers at those schools spend about 31 percent more of their own money on classroom materials.

“The increase in the number of immigrant children in the United States brings beautiful diversity but also presents some challenges for educators,” Lyles said. “Some students arrive to their classroom with little to no English proficiency. Some may be experiencing trauma that makes it difficult for them to adjust in these new settings. Teachers are taking on the responsibility of making newcomers feel safe and comfortable and seen, while also needing to provide all the resources and tools their classroom needs … And then teachers have an additional challenge, which is ensuring the classroom environment is truly inclusive.”

Teachers know what students need most 

Lightening teachers’ load by filling resource gaps through donations is one way that DonorsChoose can help, Lyles said. 

When a teacher has a funded classroom project on DonorsChoose, they are 22 percent more likely to stay in that classroom, according to research from the University of Michigan. 

While there are several factors that go into play affecting students’ ability to thrive, “We do know that you cannot have an excellent educational experiences experience if you don't have the tools and the resources you need to learn,” Lyles said. 

Beyond notebooks, pencils, technology and language learning supports, sometimes basic needs can also stymie a child’s ability to learn, particularly in Equity Focus schools like Chaterpaul’s. Some 60 percent of students at Brighter Choice Community School receive free or reduced-price lunch, which is a standard measure for school economic need, and 79 percent of students are Black, Latino, Native American and Asian. 

A young boy in Chaterpaul’s class confided to her one day that he had no shoes except the ones he was wearing. 

“These were the shoes he had crossed with, and they were stinky, and he was really embarrassed by it,” she said. “He knew I had a young son who is a toddler and asked if my son had any shoes he no longer needed.”

Working with the school social worker, Chaterpaul was able to get the student a pair of new sneakers. Then, she arranged to get his family free meals through a food pantry at the local church, delivering them herself.

Teachers like Chaterpaul are rallying around their students every day, trying to meet whatever needs they may have, Lyles said.

“What does the child need? Who is most proximate to those needs? And what can we do about it? We take that and multiply it by tens of thousands of educators, so we can tap into their wisdom to support the newcomer experience,” Lyles said. “We champion teachers because we believe they are absolutely the best innovators for us to learn from.”

Known as the jewels of the Earth, tropical rainforests are chock-full of resources. Our largest rainforest, the Amazon, contains 10 percent of the world’s wildlife species and about 20 percent of the total carbon stored in all terrestrial vegetation. If conserved, it provides $8.2 billion per year in economic benefits.

Despite its value, the region is under threat from warming temperatures, changes in rainfall, droughts, fires and deforestation. Consequently, the Amazon rainforest is losing resilience, and 10 to 47 percent may become savannas or degraded forests by 2050.

Yet, there’s a spark of hope. The Brazilian company FarFarm is turning to an unlikely hero: fashion. It launched an experimental agroforestry system growing organic cotton alongside trees, food and cash crops. After the cotton is harvested, the French footwear company Veja buys it to make sustainable sneakers. 

With this tree-filled system, FarFarm and Veja aim to regenerate a slice of the 44 to 60 percent of the Amazon that’s deforested or degraded. Plus, the partnership provides traditional communities from African and Indigenous backgrounds with a viable income and food security.

FarFarm’s agroforestry approach

Inspired by the movement for sustainable cotton in Brazil, FarFarm started its agroforestry system in the northern state of Pará in 2017. 

“We're planting over 20 different species together with cotton,” said Beto Bina, CEO and co-founder of FarFarm. “We use the cotton as a cash crop to push agroforestry. So in the alleys of perennial trees, we plant lots of different things, but we also focus on species that provide more market opportunities.”

For instance, they plant crops like cacao trees, Brazil nut trees, açai palms, timber trees and cupuaçu fruit trees. The organic cotton also demands a premium price and grows quickly, needing only four to six months from planting to harvest. But cotton is only the first step in the system.

“The idea is that these [tree] lines are going to grow and shape the cotton,” Bina said. “Then we take the cotton out of the system and use different species that like shade more between these alleys.”

Cotton prefers full sunlight, so after a few years of tree growth and increased shade, it needs to be replaced. The families FarFarm works with have, on average, 200 hectares of land, a lot of which is degraded, Bina said. So when cotton is shaded out of a plot, they move to another degraded area and replant it. 

But agroforestry is not always a walk in the park. One challenge the company faces is the lack of technology.

“The families, they do everything by hand. They plant by hand,” Bina said. “We don't have machinery designed and developed for smallholder agroforestry. So everything takes a lot of time … We scale through the families, but we need to have more technology and machinery involved so they are able to work with less effort.” 

Nonetheless, FarFarm has agroforestry projects in three biomes so far. While the Veja partnership already involves 100 families from three communities, the organizations hope to scale up. They need more funding partners and clients to do so.

From the Amazon to Paris

Once the cotton is harvested and processed, its second life begins as a fashionable sneaker. Founded by two Parisians, Veja was unique from the start.

“They wanted to imagine a different model in the fashion industry that would be environmentally friendly and also combined with social justice, so really something different from most of the fashion industry that we unfortunately know,” said Violette Combe, Zelar director of impact projects at Veja. 

Veja is involved in multiple environmental initiatives, from shoe repair to sustainable rubber tapping. They ensure the sustainability of their products in several ways.

“We work with certification systems, so the organic certification, the Fair Trade principles, Fair for Life certification,” Combe said. “Yet, I would say that for us, the main guarantee is the relationship, the close relationship we built with the producers and the cooperatives.”

Veja has dedicated teams in the field working with farmers and producers, Combe said. For instance, Veja’s team, which has 20 years of experience with cotton, helped with capacity building for the FarFarm agroforestry project. 

In addition to minimizing their environmental footprint, Veja also takes the social side of things seriously. It establishes multi-year contracts with its farmers and pays them an above-market price. It’s also committed to transparency, listing everything from wages to contracts on its website. 

The increased price for raw materials challenged its sustainable business model. But in an exceptional move, the company compensated by cutting out all marketing. 

“It enables us to redistribute everything that is saved on the marketing and advertising to production and smallholder funding,” Combe said. “That's why we can pay people the best wages and fair prices.” 

Advantages of agroforestry

The partnership between FarFarm and Veja assists farmers in a variety of ways. Since they plant food crops like corn, pumpkin, beans and sesame seeds in their plots, they’ve increased their food security, Bina said. Previously, many of the families only grew monocultures.

The variety of both annual and perennial crops also diversifies farmers’ incomes and provides a monetary boost. 

“We noticed a 50 percent income increase compared with the families from the same region who are not involved in the program,” Bina said. “It's a lot because they don't have many opportunities there. The families pretty much did yucca and right now they're sending 20 different species through the market.”

This increase aligns with research that shows agroforestry can boost crop productivity and profits on a farm. 

Planting organic crops avoids pesticide use, too. That’s no small feat for cotton, also known as the world’s dirtiest crop. Cotton farming accounts for nearly 5 percent of pesticide sales and 10 percent of insecticide sales globally, according to the Better Cotton Initiative. Pesticides can pose serious environmental and human health risks. Cotton is also normally a thirsty crop, but these tropical systems don’t use any irrigation.

FarFarm’s model provides employment for communities in their local environment, too.

“If we compare our project with other reforestation projects, our projects are just a really small amount of land,” Bino said. “I think for us, the most inspiring thing is we're building a value chain that becomes autonomous, that provides jobs, and people can stay in the communities.”

Environmental perks

In addition to farmers, agroforestry benefits the surrounding environment. It supports higher levels of mammalian diversity than land under pure forestry or intensive agriculture. Plus, birds, insects, reptiles and amphibians fare better under agroforestry than monocultures. And these critters help with a common agricultural problem: pests.

“Because of the perennial trees, there's a lot of birds, and the birds eat the cotton boll weevil,” Bino said. “It's a beetle that's a major pest we have in cotton. We could notice a huge decrease in this pest because there are so many birds that eat the insect.” 

Besides controlling crop damage, agroforestry provides other advantages.

“When you have different types of species you boost, of course, the quality of the soil, which increases the carbon sequestration in the soil, as well as increases biodiversity, water availability and also scenic beauty,” Bina said.

While agroforestry is not a carbon copy of a forest, it does restore forest cover and increase stocks of biomass, helping mitigate climate change. Since water evaporates from leaves, reforestation could also help prevent rainfall from declining in the region. The forest triggers a rainy season months earlier than would occur otherwise. 

Agroforestry as a solution 

Unfortunately, the Amazon lost a fifth of its forest cover over the last 50 years. A key to helping this lush ecosystem is working with those living there — over 40 million people speaking over 300 languages.

“I think the major problem in the Amazon is a lack of strategy because the families that live there, they don't have the opportunity to work with a standing forest,” Bina said. “Just to give you an idea, 95 percent of the jobs, the rural jobs in the Amazon, are related to industries that don't work with this standing forest, which is like mining, logging, oil … So if you are a young person who wants to work in the rural Amazon, you don't have opportunities to work with forestry, with agriculture.” 

Thanks to FarFarm and Veja, now they do. 

This article is part of our series on responsible mining solutions. The push for clean energy is fueled by a growing demand for minerals, but conventional mining has a track record of harmful social and environmental impacts. Lithium-ion battery alternatives are another potential solution to that problem.

Lithium-ion batteries are currently the best combination of price, performance and sustainability on the clean energy battery market. Exploring those attributes separately, lithium-ion batteries are not the cheapest, nor the highest performing in all battery categories, or the most sustainable option. They are acceptable in all three categories, but there is room for improvement.

“There’s a strong need to diversify our battery chemistries,” said Magda Titirici, the chair of sustainable energy materials at Imperial College London. “There’s no one solution. There’s one type of battery if you need high power. There’s another type if you need long duration. The needs for batteries are very diverse.” 

Lithium extraction is a water-intensive process that usually happens in arid regions. As such, communities in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and Serbia have all put up fights to prevent international mining companies from entering their territories.

Let’s explore the other options, starting with a battery alternative that uses an easily sourced and readily available mineral that does not have extraction complications like lithium.

Sodium-ion batteries

At this point, sodium-ion batteries represent the most promising alternative to lithium batteries. JAC, a Chinese automaker, already has electric vehicle (EV) models on the market powered by sodium-ion batteries. 

Also in China, a 10-megawatt-hour sodium-ion energy storage station became operational earlier this year, with plans to expand to 100 megawatt hours. That could meet the electricity needs of 35,000 residents and avoid 50,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

In terms of performance, lithium batteries pack a slightly stronger punch. But sodium is much more abundant in the Earth’s crust than lithium, and it can be extracted from seawater at a low cost, providing a more sustainable alternative.

“The advantage of sodium is the availability of the materials,” Titirici said. “And the choice of cathodes is based on very abundant materials with no critical metals.”

In sodium-ion batteries, there is also no threat of thermal runaway, meaning a safer battery that is not prone to fires, unlike lithium-ion batteries.

If manufactured on a similar scale, sodium-ion batteries would be cheaper to produce than lithium-ion batteries. Right now, however, sodium-ion batteries are still more expensive.

“Despite the availability of the materials, there is no market for sodium, so cost is a barrier,” Titirici said.

Environmental and social impact: Sodium is far more abundant than lithium and much more easily extracted. There are huge salt deposits around the world, often in less fragile environments than where lithium is found. Also, sodium-ion batteries do not require mining cobalt.

Zinc-air batteries

Zinc-air batteries are safer than lithium and have a higher energy density meaning they can hold more energy for longer. But a current challenge is crystalline masses forming on the zinc part of the battery that hinder the battery’s performance.

While they can store energy better than a lithium battery, the amount of power they can produce is lower.

“Zinc batteries are safer and have high theoretical energy density,” said Muhammad Azhar, engineering lecturer at Edith Cowan University. “And recycling zinc batteries seems easier than lithium, but both are in the developmental stage.”

Zinc is cheaper than lithium. Over the past five years, battery-grade zinc cost between $1.85 and $4.40 per kilogram. Battery-grade lithium, on the other hand, fluctuated between $5.80 and $80 per kilogram.

The most promising applications of zinc batteries lie in energy storage and long-term, low-energy applications like watches or hearing aid batteries.

Environmental and social impact: Zinc is far more abundant than lithium and much easier to extract.  While there are hazardous impacts of mining zinc, it is generally a friendlier process than extracting lithium. Zinc deposits are more plentiful and are found in less environmentally sensitive regions than lithium.

Nickel-zinc batteries

There’s nothing new about nickel-zinc batteries. Invented by Thomas Edison in 1901, the battery didn’t gain the same traction as some of Edison’s other inventions like the record player, movie camera or light bulb. 

Its ability to discharge high amounts of power quickly makes it ideal for mission-critical applications, like backup power for data centers or telecommunications networks. While nickel-zinc batteries don’t match the performance output of lithium batteries, they are very safe and cheaper to produce.

Environmental and social impact: Nickel and zinc are much more available than lithium. Of course, legacy mining issues can present problems in the extraction of either, but overall, they are more sustainable options compared to lithium.

Multivalent batteries

Aluminum, magnesium, calcium and zinc are metals that can form ions that carry multiple positive or negative electric charges. Batteries store and release energy through the movement of these ions. 

In a lithium-ion battery, one lithium-ion molecule carries one charge of electricity. In multivalent batteries, each ion carries multiple charges of electricity. That doesn’t mean more power, but that means they could store more energy and hold their charges longer than lithium batteries. 

“It is very early days, so it’s unlikely that there is interest from any companies or customers in multivalent,” Titirici said. “They could be very interesting if we could make them work, but as I said, it’s early days.”

Environmental and social impact: Extracting and processing aluminum, magnesium and zinc are not light processes. Each can carry significant energy use, land disturbance and social impact challenges. Calcium extraction generally has a lower environmental impact. One advantage that aluminum has, however, is that it is very easily recycled. Using recycled aluminum in multivalent batteries could offer a sustainable solution.

Redox-flow batteries

“Redox flow batteries are based on two massive tanks where electrolytes are flowing, Titirici said. “We won't see those in EVs, but definitely for stationary storage they are a viable solution.”

These battery systems used the rare metal vanadium in the past, but researchers are exploring other options that require less expensive, easier-to-obtain components like iron.

“Vanadium is very expensive and a critical metal, so people are looking at other alternatives to vanadium,” Titirici said.

Social and environmental impact: Redox flow batteries are an improvement over fossil fuel storage systems in terms of carbon emissions, but vanadium is not the friendliest mineral to extract. Iron, while cheaper, is a carbon-intensive product. These options, however, offer significant environmental improvements over fossil fuel-based storage systems.

Solid-state batteries

“The solid-state battery works exactly like a lithium-ion battery, but in a lithium-ion battery, you normally have a liquid electrolyte that shutters lithium ions between anode and cathode,” Titirici said. Anodes and cathodes are the negative and positive conductors in a battery, respectively, that allow for charging and discharging. The electrolyte is the substance the ions move through as a part of that process. 

In solid-state batteries, that electrolyte is solid. This allows for a greater energy density than regular lithium-ion batteries which means, for example, that EVs with solid-state batteries could travel further distances between charges.

Solid-state batteries also have a higher cycle life, are more easily recycled and safer, and should be a more sustainable option.

What’s the catch? They’re expensive to produce, but as supply chains and processes become established, those costs should come down.

“They will be quite expensive,” Titirici said, “But I think we will see commercial lithium solid-state batteries on the market.”

Environmental and social impact: Lithium is still used, but solid-state batteries can avoid critical minerals like cobalt and nickel. Earlier this year, researchers developed the design principles for the world’s first sodium solid-state battery. It’s early, but this could be a major breakthrough in batteries combining performance, safety and sustainability.

Lithium-sulfur batteries

Quick, high energy output is what lithium-sulfur batteries offer. This is not practical for the majority of applications, but there are cases where it is the desired result.

“Lithium-sulfur batteries can be commercialized for very niche applications like drones or military or things like that,” Titirici said. “They are going to be very expensive because it's a very niche market, but we will see lithium-sulfur commercial products.”

There are also sodium-sulfur batteries, but these are a bit behind lithium-sulfur in terms of market readiness.

Environmental and social impacts: These batteries still require lithium, but they offer lower carbon footprints than current fossil fuel-based uses. And sulfur is a much lower-impact mineral than lithium-ion components like cobalt and nickel.

Organic batteries

“Organic materials are weak, and they can't withstand very high voltages that are needed in a battery,” Titirici said. “They have very low energy densities in general.”

That said, organic batteries can be used in low energy density applications like chips or sensors.

Just because they are organic, does not mean they are green and environmentally friendly. They use carbon compounds that can be toxic but can come from renewable sources that do not require harmful mining practices.

Environmental and social impact: These batteries offer one of the lowest environmental and social impacts of all batteries. While toxicity can be a concern, organic batteries are less harmful to the environment and humans than other battery compositions, overall. This is the most sustainable option that we explored.

Cleaner batteries, cleaner future

While lithium-ion may be the track star for now, using alternatives where possible can complement its efforts and lower the environmental and social impact that lithium-ion batteries carry. As research efforts continue, we should see more commercial products using the battery chemistries mentioned above, and more sustainable chemistries emerging in laboratories.  

Starting in January 2026, thousands of private companies operating in the European Union will be required to report on their sustainability efforts. For many, it will be their first ever report. It’s tempting to see it as an unnecessary burden that’s still a year down the line. But starting now is not only critical for effective compliance, it also ensures there’s time to craft a clear and compelling story of social and environment progress that makes the company stand out.

The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive came into force in January this year. In the first phase, large, listed companies have to report on their performance the year prior starting in 2025. Despite being used to the rigors of mandatory reporting, many find it to be a challenging and time-consuming process.

Almost six in 10 companies struggled to get their hands on the data they need, especially when reporting on complex value chains. Short deadlines, lack of expertise and limited resources add to the headache.

Against that backdrop, private companies that have to report on their progress for the first time at the start of 2026 have a lot of catching up to do. The immediate reaction may be for companies to bury their head in the sand, but that means they miss out on the benefits at every stage of the reporting process, from business preparation to publication, and make compliance more challenging.

The business benefits of reporting

Focused on creating a thriving business to pass on to future generations, private and family-owned organizations are more likely than their publicly listed cousins to take a longer-term view. This leads many to make great strides to reduce their environmental harm and increase positive social impact. But they pass up the opportunity to shout about it.

Almost three-quarters of EU employees say their job is more fulfilling if they can have an impact on social and environmental issues, and just over half suggest they would not work for a company with strong social and environmental commitments. Similarly, 78 percent of United States employees want to work for organizations with values that align with their own. This makes sustainability a compelling recruitment tool.

Once employed, 70 percent of EU employees indicate they would be more loyal to company that enables them to contribute to important issues. In the U.S., 70 percent of those under 30 would take a meaningful job over a higher salary. Even in older age groups in the United Kingdom, around one-quarter of employees would consider "climate quitting" if their company was not reducing its environmental impact quickly enough.

A transparent and engaging sustainability narrative can be a strong differentiator, with the majority of U.S. consumers indicating that social and environmental concerns are a factor in their purchasing decisions.

As reporting requirements increase, companies will expect their partners to provide information about their sustainability strategy and progress. Companies that can supply that data quickly will be easier to do business with — ultimately becoming partners of choice. One-third of U.S. businesses already report losing out to competitors due to inadequate sustainability strategies.

Unburdened until now by reporting requirements, many privately-owned organizations are more flexible and entrepreneurial with lighter-touch policies and processes. Done well, the more robust governance and impact assessment that comes with mandatory reporting enables companies to strengthen their risk management and opportunity assessment — helping protect the business and identify new avenues for growth. The assessment provides a holistic view of the business and helps to direct activity and investment to where it will reap business benefits while reducing negative impacts. 

Mandatory reporting necessitates robust policies and procedures. While it may feel like additional red tape, it’s an invaluable way to strengthen the long-term viability of the business.

Playing catch-up on sustainability reporting

Preparing for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) can seem daunting, especially given publicly-listed organizations with large reporting teams and years of reporting experience found it a challenge. But the entrepreneurial culture in many private organizations allows them to catch up and potentially even gain an advantage over those that are reporting in the first wave. Not least because they can learn from the experience of around 12,000 early adopters. The key is to approach it systematically.

A good sustainability strategy always starts with a review of the company’s sustainability universe. This is an integral part of the CSRD process — the double materiality assessment. It requires companies to look at their impact on people and the planet, as well as where environmental, social and governance topics might create financial risks and opportunities for the company. The aim is to identify the issues of greatest importance that should form the backbone of the company’s strategy and determine the topics it needs to report on.

The European Sustainability Reporting Standards, which accompany the CSRD, list dozens of data points relevant to each sustainability topic — some mandatory, some set to phase in over coming years and some optional. Companies new to reporting may decide to stick to the mandatory data points only, unless there is a particularly strong appetite for transparency.

A gap analysis then helps to identify what data the company already has to hand and put in place plans for collecting what’s missing. Data requirements are far reaching, needing support from across the business. Clearly communicating the business benefits of the CSRD to all employees eases data collection. Without it, employees can view the process as a distraction from the day job.

Bringing the story to life

Faced with so much data and detailed reporting requirements, it’s easy for the company’s core message to get buried — and with it, the benefits of telling employees and customers about its sustainability achievements.

It may seem like extra work, but it is worth taking time to step back and consider whether there’s need for a summary or supplementary report that talks to stakeholders other than regulators and is more accessible while avoiding greenwashing. Alternatively, it is worth considering how the company will update stakeholders through its website, marketing activities and internal communications.

Once companies understand their sustainability universe, what data they have available, what they need to collect and how they want to communicate their story, they are ready to reap the rewards of CSRD compliance.

Supersized corporate tree-planting pledges can easily grab the media spotlight, only to wilt away when the program fails to meet expectations. To ensure success, businesses need to invest in careful planning, implantation and follow-up. The additional expense is well worth the effort, as demonstrated by a new model for assessing the carbon sequestration capability of trees and other plants. 

For carbon sequestration, trees and plants are 31 percent more important than previously thought

When scientists estimate the ability of plants to sequester carbon on a global scale, many of them rely on a model initially developed 40 years ago.

Under the 1980s model, the carbon sequestration attributed to plants stands at 120 petagrams globally. For some perspective on the size of that figure, consider that each petagram represents the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from about 238 million gas-powered passenger cars.

In contrast, the new carbon sequestration model yields a result of 157 petagrams, or 31 percent more carbon sequestered by trees and other plants.

The new model was developed by a team of researchers from Cornell University, supported by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy. “Understanding how much carbon can be stored in land ecosystems, especially in forests with their large accumulations of biomass in wood, is essential to making predictions of future climate change,” Oak Ridge emphasized in a news update on the findings.

Oak Ridge says the model presents not just a larger estimate of carbon sequestration, but a more accurate estimate as well. It focuses on an easily trackable compound called carbonyl sulfide as an alternative to the more challenging task of measuring carbon directly. The research team also deployed information from the global LeafWeb photosynthesis database, a shared service established by Oak Ridge. 

Another improvement involves the use of precise data from environmental monitoring towers on the ground. In contrast, the 1980s model deploys satellite observations from above, where clouds can interfere with information-gathering. 

A renewed emphasis on rainforest protection

Because cloud interference is especially common in tropical regions, the use of ground-based monitoring equipment has especially significant implications for an improved understanding of the carbon sequestration potential of rainforests.

“Pan-tropical rainforests accounted for the biggest difference between previous estimates and the new figures, a finding that was corroborated by ground measurements,” Oak Ridge reported. “The discovery suggests that rainforests are a more important natural carbon sink than previously estimated using satellite data.”

That finding supports the Rainforest Alliance and other conservation organizations that have drawn the connection between tropical forest loss and global warming. The Rainforest Alliance works with local communities in tropical regions, and both large and small businesses, in collaborative efforts to implement sustainable forest conservation strategies.

Letting nature take its course

The emphasis on collaboration and stakeholder engagement can help corporate tree-planting programs avoid the reputational tarnish that can result when local communities are not part of the planning process.

Loss of biodiversity is another factor that should make business leaders wary. The World Economic Forum, for example, faced criticism that its “One Trillion Trees” program lends support to commercial forest management practices and fails to protect natural habitats.

In terms of both biodiversity protection and carbon sequestration, business leaders may find that a more economical and beneficial alternative is to simply preserve the land, and let nature take care of itself.

In a newly published study in Nature, a multinational research team makes a compelling case for investing in natural reforestation, rather than focusing on planting trees by hand.

“Tree planting in degraded landscapes is a popular but costly forest restoration method that often results in less biodiverse forests when compared to natural regeneration techniques under similar conditions,” the researchers observe. “Using manual techniques in degraded landscapes can be expensive. It can also be less effective in terms of native biodiversity recovery and keeping water systems functioning well,” they added, citing studies that show a 56 percent higher rate of biodiversity in natural regeneration projects compared to manual tree-planting.

Within tropical regions, the researchers estimate that suitable sites for natural reforestation cover a total of 215 million hectares, an area about the size of Mexico. (One hectare is about the size of 2.5 football fields.) 

The study included tropical regions in South and Central America, Southeast Asia, Malaysia, India, and Africa. Among these regions, the researchers recommend that reforestation efforts prioritize Brazil, Indonesia, China, Mexico and Colombia, a group of nations that collectively account for 52 percent of the estimated potential for carbon sequestration.

Trust, but verify

The cost savings of natural reforestation is an attractive factor. The researchers cite expenses of $105 and up per hectare for manual planting in tropical regions, compared to just $12 and up for natural reforestation.

Still, before businesses rush pell-mell into natural reforestation, the researchers indicate that simply setting aside land for conservation does not necessarily result in a satisfactory outcome.

The figure of 215 million hectares represents degraded sites that meet certain conditions supporting natural regeneration, including the availability of surrounding or nearby forests and the organic carbon content of the soil. Accordingly, the researchers indicate that areas where the land has been severely and extensively degraded are not suitable candidates for natural reforestation.

Overall, the science provides additional support to businesses that invest in natural carbon sequestration efforts. Corporate initiatives can make a significant contribution when they are guided by a flexible, knowledge-based approach that engages local stakeholders, takes advantage of natural reforestation where available, and incorporates manual tree planting where necessary.   

Following last year’s flooding, 79 percent of Pajaro, California, residents experienced temporary displacement, and 16 percent experienced permanent displacement. Yet, there was a silver lining amid the devastation, and it’s all thanks to community building. The crisis brought neighbors together, empowering the community and inspiring advocacy.

Building a sense of community

In addition to being displaced, half of the residents had significant damage to their homes, and 55 of them experienced other types of property loss or damage, Paulina Moreno, director of special projects at the Pajaro Disaster Long-Term Recovery Alliance, told TriplePundit. She shared these statistics from a community survey that was conducted along with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), a member of the Climate Justice Collaborative. 

“These residents didn't know each other. They were neighbors, and they lived next to each other, and they didn't know each other,” MariaElena De La Garza, executive director of the Pajaro Disaster Long-Term Recovery Alliance, said. “Now, there is a sense of community that didn't exist before. With that foundation of community relationship, neighbor to neighbor, it has now opened the doors to ensure that we are more prepared for the next emergency.”

The sense of togetherness was fostered by community building and advocacy carried out by the alliance, a coalition of agencies including the Salud Para la Gente health clinic, the Second Harvest food bank, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District, Pajaro Valley Student Assistance and more. It came together after a levee broke and the Pajaro River flooded the town. 

Bringing neighbors together benefits disaster recovery

Now, the same neighbors who didn’t know each other before the disaster come together every Friday, forming a resident subcommittee focused on grassroots organizing. They pinpoint and develop leaders from the community, build connections, guide the town from rebuilding to prospering, and prepare for the next disaster, De La Garza said.

“The community resident subcommittee, early on, identified three areas of priorities for themselves,” she said. “One is economic relief … Number two is a need for a communication system that works … and a need for mental health.”

The organizations have made progress on some of these issues. Though the financial assistance is yet to be distributed, the Pajaro Disaster Long-Term Recovery Alliance and CHIRLA advocated for $10 million of the $20 million dollar recovery package from the state of California to be distributed directly to community members and businesses, which 3p previously covered. 

“There's still ongoing advocacy to be done,” Vladimir Carrasco, the deputy director of external affairs at CHIRLA, told 3p regarding the funds that have yet to be dispersed. And because the Storm Assistance for Immigrants recovery program is a one-time allotment, further advocacy will be necessary with subsequent disasters.

As for improved communication, a digital display board capable of relaying emergency information is set to be installed in the middle of town. “That’s exactly what they asked for,” De La Garza said. “Partners like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are working with us to develop and support a communications system beyond the alert … coming in and directly speaking to the Alliance and to the communities that we represent.”

Subcommittees are the key to community leadership

The Pajaro Disaster Long-Term Recovery Alliance acts as an umbrella structure with multiple subcommittees operating under it, De La Garza said. In addition to the community resident subcommittee, there is a business subcommittee made up of 50 local businesses, a land use subcommittee that identifies development opportunities for the town, and a Mixteco subcommittee that focuses on organizing and building trust within the Indigenous community that immigrated from Mexico. 

The voices of leadership that emerged from the subcommittees are a huge win, De La Garza said. Instead of agency-led advocacy efforts, it’s the community leaders who picked up the torch. 

Blurring county lines

“This community has been systemically left out, both by government and by real estate interests and foreign, powerful, rich farmers,” CHIRLA’s Carrasco said. “But Pajaro now, because of all this history, lies in an unincorporated area on the border of two very large counties: Santa Cruz County and Monterey County. That means they don't have local government representation. Now it's a lot easier, decade after decade, for this town to be forsaken and ignored.”

That also complicated recovery efforts. It’s a struggle for the two counties to work together, and when it comes to disaster preparedness, a regional approach is needed, De La Garza said. To be effective, organizations like the alliance need to blur county lines in their work.

“Government agencies are not necessarily trusted by the vulnerable communities that are impacted by the emergency,” she said. So identifying trusted partners who can operate within that framework is all the more important.

Building trust 

The alliance’s Moreno relates something her mom often said during her childhood to her work: "Primero, en las casa."

She meant, “Whatever you want to change in the world, make sure that it's changed within your house,” Moreno said. For the alliance, “It was about strengthening our infrastructure to be able to serve the Indigenous language community, so we started hiring people from the community.”

Doing so helped build the trust needed to gather information and effectively work with the community. “These aren't folks who respond to a survey in your email,” De La Garza said. “These are folks that we have ‘confianza,’ that we have trust with.”

This story is part of a solutions journalism series exploring how nonprofits and advocacy organizations are bringing immigrant communities together in support of climate justice. Follow along with the series here.

Microorganisms in shower heads, dishwashers, washing machines, microwave ovens, toilet tanks and other seemingly ordinary spaces within our homes could soon advance technology to combat climate change.

Seed Health, in collaboration with The Two Frontiers Project and the global citizen science platform CitSci, just launched a community science initiative inviting citizen scientists throughout the United States to collect microbes from home environments that mimic the extreme conditions found in nature.

“Microbes have been evolving on Earth for billions of years, and they’ve learned to thrive in diverse environments, many of which humans couldn’t dream of surviving in,” Braden Tierney, Two Frontiers Project executive director, told TriplePundit in an email. “Those we’re discovering in extreme environments have a wide range of potential biotech applications, which are already being explored in various fields today.”

Microbes have survival mechanisms that allow them to flourish in some of the planet’s most extreme environments — from volcanic vents deep in the ocean to the icy plains of Antarctica, Tierney said. They’ve adapted to survive in everyday environments like freezers, water heaters and other spaces with harsh conditions. 

“While everyday spaces may seem ordinary, they mirror the extreme conditions our planet may face in the future,” Tierney said, referring to rising temperatures, increased radiation, and heightened acidification of oceans and soils. “And their microbes could be key to unlocking future climate solutions.”

An enzyme discovered in Yellowstone National Park’s hot springs, for example, enables polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing to detect COVID-19. The test typically involves having a blood sample or nasal swab sample sent to a lab for diagnosis. 

“This enzyme has evolved to survive extreme heat and can withstand the high temperatures used in PCR testing, something enzymes from other organisms can’t do,” Tierney said. “Because this enzyme remains stable and retains its structure through repeated heating cycles, labs can run tests much faster and more efficiently.”

Organisms that live in extreme environments often have biotech-relevant abilities like metabolizing — consuming something, processing it, and using it for energy like humans do with food — carbon dioxide and contamination, Tierney said. 

“A golden rule for microbes is that if you want to find a bacteria that can eat a certain compound, such as pollutants or carbon dioxide in the ocean, you can look to an extreme environment where said compound is plentiful,” Tierney said. The “nature of extreme environments means they are chock-full of interesting metabolisms.”

In 2022, a Two Frontiers Project expedition funded by SeedLabs to underwater volcanic carbon dioxide vents off the coast of Sicily discovered a novel cyanobacterium that is exceptionally efficient at consuming carbon dioxide. It may outperform leading carbon-capture organisms. 

“This discovery exemplifies the untapped potential of microbes and highlights the importance of exploring new and extreme environments to unlock transformative climate solutions,” Tierney said.

The new project, called The Extremophile Campaign: In Your Home, launched in the U.S. in October. Individuals interested in participating can share their observations on the CitSci site. Once participants submit their observations, Two Frontiers Project scientists will review the contributions and select 100 unique environments for sampling, Tierney said. Selected participants will receive specialized kits to collect and send in their microbial samples. The process will occur on a rolling basis as submissions come in.

“In terms of data we hope to receive, microbiological life often has macro-scale indicators that can be identified with multiple of the five senses,” Tierney said. “Even though we can’t make out single cells with the naked eye, unusual colors, smells, textures, and other data we’re looking for can help us tell what kinds of physiologies are present in a given area.”

The campaign’s success hinges on the collective effort of citizen scientists, he said.

“In extreme environments, we’re often focused on ensuring that we have the materials we need and that the team is safe. We’re not worried about safety in people’s homes, but what we do need is community scientists to get excited about the potential of microbial discovery under their noses and put some time in to help gather data,” Tierney said. “Where a single expedition is hard sometimes because of where you’re going, community science simply will not happen without the collective effort of many people.”

The campaign aims to bring science into the culture by shifting how people see everyday environments and inspiring them to actively participate, Ara Katz, co-founder and co-CEO of Seed Health, told 3p in an email.

“We're reframing the environments we live in and interact with every day — our homes, our appliances — as sources of discovery and potential solutions for the future of our planet,” Katz said. “There may be microbes right under our noses — in our freezers, microwaves, dishwashers — that could help solve some of the greatest challenges facing the health of our planet and ourselves.”

While developing seed banks to facilitate reforestation, the Terraformation product team discovered a huge data collection gap in projects seeking to recover forested areas. According to the foresters and community groups the team collaborated with, no software could facilitate tracking the huge amount of data generated by reforestation projects. 

Data for tree monitoring — when it was planted, how big it is, how fast it’s growing — was tracked in intensely laborious ways with literal pen and paper or Excel spreadsheets. Terraformation decided to bridge that gap and developed a tool that would help foresters gather information to make reforestation projects more effective: Terraware.

Reforestation isn’t a field that interests most tech companies, and foresters are not a common target audience for the development of apps, said Nicole Wilke, head of product at Terraformation. 

“If you can't track reforestation efforts, which are really big and really complex, it's going to be hard to know what's being successful,” Wilke told TriplePundit. “It's going to be hard to practice what we call adaptive management, which is essentially learning from your mistakes, and course-correcting as you go through one of these projects.” 

The lack of forestry project management and tracking mechanisms is one of the reasons why there is very little data about forestry on the ground. This makes successful reforestation projects difficult to replicate since there’s no hard data on why a project might have succeeded. 

Conversely, when a tree dies or doesn’t grow at an expected rate, lack of data makes diagnosing what went wrong difficult — if not almost impossible — because of all the variables that go into foresting that aren’t being regularly monitored. 

“We surveyed hundreds of foresters around the globe, everywhere, on every continent and asked what their biggest challenges were in being able to do that effectively,” Wilke said. “It sounds simple, but 70 percent of them said that one of their biggest needs was a way to do that without it being wildly labor intensive.”

The tracking offered by Terraware starts at the beginning of a tree’s life, from when the seed is collected from the mother tree and what information is already known about it. How long has this seed been in the seed bank? Where did it come from, and what do we know about it? What kind of processing has happened to it? 

Once seeds are sent to a nursery, Terraware can be used to track the germination rate of that lot of seeds, which informs future seed use. “We can know that a tree is working out and say, ‘Let’s go get more seeds,’” Wilke said. 

This kind of forestry tracking can also prevent the failure of reforestation projects because of things like pests or fungi, which are famously difficult to predict until it’s too late. 

“If you're tracking mortality in your nursery regularly, and you have a system that can detect a small spike, maybe you can detect that early and take a closer look and figure out what's going on,” Wilke said. This kind of monitoring can inform future planting techniques and locations, depending on what the data says.

While reforestation has historically been trackable through satellite images, that method does not allow for on-the-ground monitoring of young trees, Wilke said. The inability of satellites to capture trees from the beginning of their lives up to five years of age is another issue Terraware is well-equipped to solve. 

“If that tree's going to die, it's probably going to be in the first three to five years, when it's prone to be eaten by animals or just dying generally since it's vulnerable,” Wilke said.

The current gap in data collection also results in a lack of data sharing between foresters and reforestation projects across the world, making collaboration between key players in the space difficult. With Terraware, Wilke hopes sharing information about what works and what doesn’t will be easier — which is why the software is open-source and free to use for anyone who needs it. 

“It's just a tool that we want to put in your hands,” Wilke said. “And that's how we think that it can help in the fight against climate change.”

For Wilke, Terraware also has the potential to make reforestation projects easier and less risky for investors. 

“My hope is if we get some people using this and we get so much data on what's working and what's not, we can help guide reforestation projects using some of that evidence,” Wilke said.  “By using some of that data, we can drive the cost of these expensive [reforestation] projects down because there will be less risk. We know what works and there’s less experimentation needed.”

The new app, which is informed by a number of global surveys with foresters and land protectors, was rolled out in Spanish first, Wilke said. The next horizon is to translate the app to French. 

The collective building of Terraware is in the spirit of collaboration that is necessary for combating climate change, Wilke said. 

“We do not view these projects as our projects,” she said. “We're developing them in partnership with these local communities. We only work with partners that are either led by these communities or organizations that have really, really deep ties to them. It's a dialogue where we're learning from them as a part of what they're sharing.”