Have you noticed how new clean tech innovations keep popping up lately given all of the R&D funding out there? Lab-grown meat, algae-based bags, compostable bottles, hydrogen batteries—it’s hard to keep track! With many high-impact climate solutions ready for their close up—which ones are worth following? Here’s our take on five, cutting-edge clean energy innovations worth keeping your eyes on. 

Climate Solution #1: Mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms – what can’t they do?

Mushrooms hold massive untapped potential as a climate change solution, particularly as a replacement for meat—a food source well-known for its high carbon footprint. And we’re not just talking about swapping your burger patty for a roasted shiitake mushroom—we’re talking five-star restaurant worthy, nutrient-dense Fy. 

Fy is a mushroom created from a microscopic fungus discovered at Yellowstone Hot Springs in Montana. It’s packed with protein and all nine essential amino acids, and highly versatile. It can be manipulated into a range of meat-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free foods, and even dried into flour. The protein is grown quickly in cafeteria-size trays through fermentation-based technology—like a kick-ass sourdough starter. In less than four days, a tray of microbes develops into the protein equivalent of 20 to 25 chickens.

In addition to serving as a meat alternative, mushrooms are being used as a sustainable packaging alternative, too. As brands look to use more environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic packaging, mushrooms are playing a starring role. Mushroom packaging material is often composed of a combination of fungus roots called Mycelium and agricultural waste such as hemp and corn husks. It’s a highly durable material, so there’s no need for extra bubble wrap or styrofoam—at the same time, when it’s served its purpose, it’s compostable and doesn’t contribute to landfill waste.

Climate Solution #2: Algae – From food to fashion?

While we’re not sold on turning to algae for fuel, there is promise this plant has potential when it comes to solving some of the fashion industry’s environmental challenges.

Currently, cheap synthetic fabrics like polyester are made from fossil fuels, and the most common dyes used to make certain textiles shiny are derived from crude oil. Algae, on the other hand, acts as a carbon sink–—pulling emissions out of the air. It’s also fast and cheap: it requires 80% less water than cotton and grows 8x as fast. Startups are now developing algae-based dyes and yarn. Although in its early stages and a bit too pricey for the mass market (like this $120/t-shirt from Vollebak), you might be wearing an algae-based ‘fit sooner than you think.

Climate Solution #3: Our Feet!

Sometimes it can be easy to forget that, depending on where you live, some of the most powerful tools to fight climate change are attached to us—our feet! 

Whether you walk, run, or bike, utilizing these modes of transportation that produce no carbon emissions is an easy way that we can reduce emissions. According to UCLA, just a moderate increase in bicycling each year could save 6 to 14 million tons of carbon dioxide! Walking and biking also have so many other amazing benefits, from improving public health and lowering public spending needs on roads to boosting the local economy because as people walk by stores, they’re more likely to pop in than if they drive by a business, and improving public safety by reducing the absolute amount of car accidents. 

We understand that this solution may not yet be feasible for you if your town or city is centered around cars, but when possible, consider seeing your home in a new light, whether by bike or by foot!

Climate Solution #4: Lab-grown meats

We’ve heard about lowering the carbon footprint of your meal by eating plant-based, but what if animal-based proteins were less resource-intensive? That’s where lab-grown meat comes in. 

Although once an element of science fiction, this protein is nearly ready for menu primetime. Cultivated meat is derived from a small sample of cells collected from livestock, which is then fed nutrients, grown in enormous steel vessels called bioreactors, and processed into something that looks and tastes like a real cut of meat. 

Upside Foods is one of several startups seeking FDA approval to start bringing it’s slaughterless-meats to high-end restaurants and supermarkets. They grow meat, poultry and seafood directly from animal cells. In addition to eliminating inhumane animal treatment, cultivated meat production—at scale—will use less water and land than conventionally-produced meat. Upside was the first-ever company to successfully produce multiple varieties of lab-grown meat, receiving several awards for their innovation.

While many people get squeamish at the idea of cultivated meat, pea-protein “chicken” nuggets, enriched foods, and GMOs, are all going to be necessary components of the recipe to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. We are going to need to embrace the role technology can pay in helping feed a rapidly growing population amidst a more unpredictable, unsustainable climate. 

Climate Solution #5: Don’t scrap your scraps—compost instead

Composting isn’t a new, cutting-edge technology, but it when done at scale, it has massive emissions reduction potential. Wasted food accounts for about 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and more than a third of all food—$408 billion worth—grown for human consumption in the U.S. never makes it to someone’s stomach. 

One of the biggest contributors to wasted food happens at home. So what can you do about it? Compost!

Composting organic waste rather than sending it to the landfill can reduce more than 50% of carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions. Beyond just reducing emissions, composting also acts as a carbon sink: by offering direct nutrients to plants to enhance their productivity and ability to store carbon in soils. Plus, it enhances soils and can help reduce demand for nitrogen fertilizers. 

A newly launched startup called Mill Industries wants to make it easier for everyone to compost at home. Mill will send members a high-tech bin to send leftovers to instead of in the trashcan. The bin turns those leftovers into food grounds which get mailed back to Mill and used to make chicken feed. Going through this process can prevent a half-ton of greenhouse gas emissions per household a year.

Many cities and localities are already stepping up by advancing organics recycling and compost utilization, such as through innovative compost pilot programs and legislation that requires large food waste generators like colleges to both separate and recycle food waste.

Whatever you choose to try out from this list, keep in mind that more climate change solutions are always coming – that’s the benefit of living during a time when low-zero-carbon emission solutions are increasingly abundant. Just try what sounds interesting to you – you might be surprised by the results.