Europe's Wild Month
Breaking down the EU's new Nature Restoration Law. Plus, meet Sway: thin-film bioplastics from regenerative seaweed.
🪸 We’re Superorganism, the first VC for startups that benefit biodiversity. Each month we publish thoughts from the frontline, company updates, and a round-up of new happenings in the nature tech world.
This month, Europe stole all the big nature headlines.
We could have written this entire piece about the UK’s passage of a new Biodiversity Net Gain policy, which mandates developers to improve biodiversity by 10% with any new development. Heralded as one of the most ambitious approaches globally, the policy comes with all sorts of interesting mechanisms to explore, including a system for biodiversity measurement, as well as biodiversity units and credits.
We could just as easily have written a piece about the EU’s new “revolutionary” policy to criminalize ecosystem destruction, including invasive species introduction, illegal timber trade, and more. Punishments can include prison time for executives, fines as a percent of total global revenues, and requirements to compensate and restore damaged nature.
But the news that has us (and our colleagues) most excited is the EU’s passage of a 20% restoration law, which will task member nations with restoring at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030, and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. As recent reports have shown that 80% of Europe’s nature is in poor condition, this policy comes at a critical time.
The law was not without contention. The initial vote in 2023 passed on a knife-edge. The largest pushback came from right wing parties and farmers, with protests including spraying manure on riot cops and burning tires in Brussels. Resulting concessions in the restoration law included removal of limitations on pesticides, delaying a target for letting farm fields lay fallow, and removing references to farming emissions from the 2040 climate roadmap.
Previous targets for 2020 by the EU have been missed, but these new targets are legally binding, requiring countries to submit national plans to restore 30% of habitats that are in poor condition by 2030, increasing to 60% by 2040, and 90% by 2050. This excellent piece by CarbonBrief covers the law in more detail, the full text can be found here.
What does this mean for nature tech over the next decade, and what are we watching?
Monitoring technologies. The law requires that sections already in good standing do not decline. To ensure their success and track progress on new efforts, countries and landholders are going to need to significantly boost their spend on site monitoring and wide-scale sensing technologies like eDNA, species identification AI, acoustics, and remote monitoring for soils, waters, grasslands, peatlands, and forests.
Data and reporting systems. Part of the pushback from opposition was on the increase in data reporting to government bodies. Beyond nature data collection, improvements in data management, analysis, and streamlining reporting is critical. Coupled with other new policies and voluntary frameworks for disclosing nature impacts like TNFD, CSRD, and EUDR, there will be opportunities for corporations to kill two birds with one stone (metaphorically!).
Restoration technologies. With a pen stroke, this policy has created a potentially multi-billion Euro market for restoration technologies. We’re excited to see the buildout of this tool stack, with opportunities for everything from planning, to native seed management, to efficient planting and maintenance. Meeting the EU’s 90% restoration goal by 2050 will create a major market entry point for early-stage tech, which is likely to be scalable to degraded habitats globally.
Agriculture. Farming was the hot-button area of contention for this law. It’s imperative that we create better incentives and tools for farmers to adopt biodiversity-friendly practices and reduce their impacts on nature, to ensure improvements to farmers’ livelihoods while continuing to meet the food requirements for Europe and the broader world. We’ll be monitoring the tension and innovation in this sector closely.
These new policies, especially when considered with EUDR and CSRD, demonstrate Europe’s commitment to an abundant future that centers both humans and nature. Our expectation is for an ensuing boon for Europe’s growing nature tech ecosystem, and our hope is that the EU’s and UK’s leadership inspires more nations to find meaningful ways to meet their Global Biodiversity Framework targets.
Notes from the Field
Updates from our portfolio companies, and from us at Superorganism
🦦 New Investment: Sway
We’re excited to announce our investment into Sway!
Whenever you buy boxed pasta, order a new shirt online, or grab that single-wrapped cookie on the way past the bakery, you’re using plastic in one of its least-sustainable forms: thin film. Thin film is ubiquitous, can’t be curbside recycled, and is one of the most common forms of plastic pollution. But, it’s been hard to move away from because replacements are expensive and don’t perform on parity with plastic.
Enter Sway, a thin-film bioplastic from one of the ocean’s best regenerative resources: seaweed. Their thin-film plastic won the Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize, performing as well as plastic and supporting ocean habitats and livelihoods through seaweed aquaculture. Their newly launched TPSea resin is a drop-in replacement for most plastic manufacturing infrastructure, and their new TPSea Flex Film thermoplastic film heat seals, is printable, and has unparalleled flexibility and durability for bioplastics.
We’re proud to support Sway in their recent $5M round. Read more about Sway in WWD, Good Good Good, Sourcing Journal, and Packaging Strategies, and hear founder Julia Marsh’s vision of the future here.
🍄 Funga won a Top Innovator prize for a Trillion Trees initiative at WEF, and is hiring an ecological data scientist. CEO Colin Averill also guest posted in MCJ.
🐡 Inversa was covered in Business Observer Florida, and announced new investment from Meliorate Partners and Superorganism.
🍫 Planet A Foods received more coverage for its $15.4M Series A (our favorite headline: “Step Aside Wonka”) and announced new partnerships with PENNY and REWE.
🪸 As for us at Superorganism, in February…
Tom met with partners and collaborators in Colorado and Seattle (thanks CXL for sharing your office!), while Kevin was back and forth between SF and NYC to do the same.
Kevin joined as a speaker for Nature Tech Collective’s NTC Now series, and became an inaugural advisor to Columbia’s new Biodiversity Club.
Tom participated in an ideation workshop with the California Academy of Sciences on use of VR and AR for nature experiences with the museum.
Added a new Mentor to our Mentors Network: Helen Crowley. Most recently the Managing Director of Pollination, and previously the head of sustainable sourcing and nature initiatives at Kering, Dr. Crowley brings a 30+ year career in biodiversity across public and private sectors.
Ecosystem news
📈 Accelerators
Applications for The Biodiversity Accelerator+ by our friends at Silverstrand are now open! If you’re an aspiring or early-stage nature tech entrepreneur, apply by March 31 for an outstanding experience and network of investors and fellow founders.
Brainforest has launched their Biodiversity Lab Venture Program. Apply by March 15 to develop innovative solutions for forest biodiversity and sustainability.
The Norrsken Accelerator has just opened applications seeking 20 of the world’s most promising early-stage impact startups, and reached out specifically seeking biodiversity tech. Deadline March 31.
🏔️ Nature Policy
Nature restoration: Parliament adopts law to restore 20% of EU’s land and sea | EU
TNFD: A Turning Point for Business Action on Biodiversity Loss? | SSIR
Mexico announces 20 new protected areas despite budget cuts | Mongabay
‘Revolutionary’: EU Parliament votes to criminalise most serious cases of ecosystem destruction | Euronews
England brings in biodiversity rules to force builders to compensate for loss of nature | Guardian
Nature – On The Frontlines At Davos 2024? | Forbes
Major New Global Initiative to Protect and Connect Natural Areas Launched at UN Wildlife Meeting | CMS
To Save San Francisco, a Democrat Wants to Scrap Environmental Reviews | NYT
💵 Nature Finance
Nature Has Value. Could We Literally Invest in It? | NYT
Can the UK’s market for trading nature credits deliver ‘biodiversity net gain’? | Impact Alpha
JPMorgan, Lloyds among banks adding ESG roles for biodiversity | Politico
Nature Tech Collective released its Nature Finance sector map
From Data to Decision: Bridging Finance and Biodiversity Webinar | S&P Global
Area Twice the Size of California to be Allowed to Return to Nature | Newsweek
⚡️ Climate and Nature
Climate change is fueling the disappearance of the Aral Sea | Phys.org
370 Million Tons of Carbon Emissions from Bottom Trawling | Sci Tech Daily
NOAA Coral Reef Watch extends alert scale following extreme coral heat stress in 2023 | NOAA Climate
Atlantic Ocean circulation nearing ‘devastating’ tipping point, study finds | Guardian
Ocean Temperatures Keep Shattering Records—and Stunning Scientists | WIRED
Scientists confirm first cases of bird flu on mainland Antarctica | Guardian
Saturation point: Australia’s best known carbon-neutral farm can no longer offset its emissions | Guardian
Serengeti migration: fire and rain affect how zebras, wildebeest and gazelles make the journey | The Conversation
🛰️ Conservation Technology
How tracking animal movement may save the planet | MIT Technology Review
On Kaho’olawe, new technology could restore a sacred Hawaiian island | Mongabay
Can Biology Address the Microplastics Problem? | SynBioBeta
Using photo editing to understand the impact of species aesthetics on support for conservation | People and Nature
Flowers grown floating on polluted waterways can help clean up nutrient runoff | Ars Technica
Environmental DNA Is Everywhere. Scientists Are Gathering It All. | Undark
🔬 Science and Nature
Multiple invasion routes have led to the pervasive introduction of earthworms in North America | Nature Ecology & Evolution
Who’s the smallest of them all? Meet the world’s amazing tiniest creatures | Guardian
See the dozens of new species this deep-sea robot just discovered | WaPo
A New Creature Emerges From a Forest Drowned by the Gulf of Mexico | NYT
Amazon Watch: What Happens When the Forest Disappears? | Yale E360
New York’s biggest celebrity, Eurasian eagle-owl Flaco, tragically passed away after colliding with a building. His death raised awareness for the billion birds who die in such collisions per year.
Study Shows How Weather, Migration Intensity Affect Bird Collisions in New York City | NYC Audubon
🪲 Other content we liked
To reverse deforestation and protect biodiversity, build a bioeconomy in the Amazon | Mongabay
Kicking Native People Off Their Land Is a Horrible Way to Save the Planet | NYT
How a place’s ecology can shape the culture of the people who live there | The Conversation
Lower Income People Benefit Most From Engaging With The Natural Environment | Forbes
After Shutting Down, These Golf Courses Went Wild | NYT
Why some animals have evolved a sense of humour | BBC
Refik Anadol: Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive | Serpentine Galleries
Superorganism backs founders with wild ambition. As the first venture capital firm dedicated to biodiversity, we support nature tech startups at their earliest stage as they build a more abundant world for humans and nature alike. With roots in both conservation and venture capital, we connect economy and ecology by investing in startups that are literally changing the world.
