While nations scramble to strengthen their alliances and commitment to meeting net-zero objectives, these young entrepreneurs in APAC have risen to tackle the climate crisis, bringing tangible solutions to impact real change.
Rising greenhouse-gas emissions have hit a record high, further accelerating the climate crisis, and causing significant turmoil in many communities, hitting the more vulnerable populations the hardest. The phenomenon has greatly impacted many nations’ ability to tackle climate change, calling for governments to take collective action in mitigating its effects, while bracing for better or worse.
Global leaders and influential forces gathered this year at the Conference of Parties (COP27) climate summit to spotlight the crisis, and revisit countries’ commitments and alignments with the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. However, current efforts are simply not enough, as the global population can no longer afford to live at such a destructive rate.
Contributing to the greater cause, here are some of Asia Pacific’s rising entrepreneurs taking on climate change through innovative technologies and inventions, and committing themselves to preserve and protect our planet.
Natalie Chung Sum Yue
At the age of 18, Natalie Chung Sum Yue decided to dedicate her prime years to addressing the crucial needs of our planet. Hailing from Hong Kong, the young entrepreneur co-founded the social enterprise, V’air, as an initiative to inform and educate youth on climate change, and facilitate sustainable tourism in the region.
Her work has made great strides in the local community, having documented and Natalie was honoured to be appointed to the Council for Sustainable Development and Green Tech Fund Assessment Committee of the Hong Kong Government. Through her time on the committee, Natalie seeks to introduce various incentives to push the local government in building resilience and ensuring important policy reform to tackle the climate crisis- advancing her commitment towards pushing carbon neutrality in Hong Kong.
Ted Chen
Eco entrepreneur Ted Chen’s CleanTech enterprise, Evercomm, tackles climate change by enabling businesses to integrate green technologies into their operations and providing them with essential tools to mitigate their carbon footprint. Co-founded in Singapore, the platform has emerged as APAC’s leading clean energy startup, leveraging its proprietary Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to propel climate change solutions across the region.
Ted has since taken on various projects with the Singapore government, and had the opportunity to work closely with the United Nations to revise their sustainable ICT framework and data policy. In addition, Ted has been an honourable speaker at various international forums.
Alexander Rendell
From actor to environmental advocate, Alexander Rendell is sure to leave an impression. The Thai-English actor has pivoted his career to becoming an environmentalist upon witnessing the grievous effects of climate change on the world’s most vulnerable nations. Alexander’s efforts have been globally recognised, and he was formally appointed as the United Nations’ Goodwill Ambassador for Thailand.
Alexander identified a knowledge gap towards climate issues in Thailand, and sought to educate the greater population, establishing the Environmental Education Centre, with actress Toey Jarinporn. The social enterprise carries out many environmental projects across different fields, including corporate partnerships and academic collaborations, building educational and compelling conservation strategies through organising nature workshops, camps, and more.
Liang-yi Chang
Liang-yi Chang is a dynamic sustainability advocate from Taiwan with a passion for advancing the global climate movement. Liang-yi began his commitment towards environmental conservation at a young age, founding Taiwan’s first youth environmental nonprofit in 2011- the Taiwan Youth Climate Coalition.
The social enterprise led various youth empowerment campaigns to educate, inform, and make real-time change. As a prolific advocate for conservation and the climate crisis, Liang-yi has represented the nation in various international dialogues, while empowering Taiwan’s youths to serve as the rising voices of the nation. Liang-yi has most recently been appointed the Asian Managing Director of the global climate movement, 350.org, continuing to fight towards reducing carbon emissions and building a fossil-free world.
Son Nguyen
At the forefront of smart transportation solutions in Southeast Asia, Dat Bike is an electric motorbike startup built by young sustainable entrepreneur, Son Nguyen. With a background in software engineering, Son was fond of innovation and technology growing up in Vietnam, which has an expansive market for motorcycles, as many prefer the easy and efficient way of travel.
Although convenient, motorcycles in Vietnam have caused a greater problem, increasing its carbon emissions significantly. Upon observing the market gap for green electric bikes in the country, Son left behind his engineering job in Silicon Valley to tackle the climate crisis back home, developing a greener technological solution.
Dat Bike has proudly established itself as the sole company manufacturing electric bikes in the country, and is also officially recognised by Vietnam’s Ministry of Transportation.
Mana Saza
Rising environmental advocate Mana Saza founded SWiTCH in Japan focusing on sustainable education and youth empowerment. Her newly launched “100 MIRAI ” project intends to accelerate awareness and accountability towards environmental conservation, with an aim to raise over 1 million Sustainability Ambassadors, inviting universities and corporations to showcase their solutions and real-time impact.
Curtis Sciacca
Ambushed by record-high rainfalls, floods, forest fires, along with other environmental calamities, great stress has been placed on Australia’s ability to recover and recuperate. Curtis Sciacca is a familiar name among those driving the local green movement with his social enterprise Nurtured.co.
Curtis co-founded the ClimateTech startup with CEO, Dan Marshall, and chief engineer, Dan Leggo, aspiring to preserve coral colonies and encourage reef-building incentives in the Australian ocean. Nurtured.co seeks to impact global change through the development and adoption of their proprietary CleanTech to rebuild and rehabilitate coral reefs.
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