The green start-ups boom in Latin America and the protection of Coho salmon in the USA

The number of companies and initiatives aiming for green transformation is growing in Latin America and the Caribbean. Chilean start-up Lemu uses AI and machine learning to connect donors and investors with climate, biodiversity, water and social development projects, such as the white-crested tamarin monkey conservation initiative in Colombia. In Brazil, Krilltech has developed an organic nanostructure called “Arbolina” that increases nutrient absorption and stimulates plant growth. NoCarbon Milk, in turn, uses a feed supplement to reduce methane emissions in cattle breeding by up to 40%.

The Argentinian company Kilimo provides farmers with AI tools and satellite and meteorological data to optimise irrigation and improve water management. That is how, over the last two years, farmers from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay have saved 72 million m³ of water. Youth4Climate Challenge provides renewable electricity to 45% of schools lacking power in Honduras.

In Puget Sound, a system of bays on the west coast of the United States, vast numbers of coho salmon die every year. The reason is pollution with particles from car tyres that enter streams with rainwater. Scientists from Washington State University have developed four types of permeable road surfaces that act as a filter and retain up to 96% of harmful particles, including a 68% reduction of the substance 6PPD-quinone, which is deadly to salmon.