World Environment Day 2024

June 5 marks World Environment Day. Held annually since its inception by the United Nations in 1973, World Environment Day is the international day where people from over 150 countries worldwide come together to raise awareness of environmental issues and to showcase green initiatives. This year, the World Environment Day celebrations are being hosted by Saudi Arabia and the theme is focused around land restoration, desertification and drought resilience. 

In order to address some of these challenges it is clear that changes in our habits and attitudes will be needed to help us to live more sustainably. I also believe that innovation will have a key part to play in our aim to achieve net-zero, to revive ecosystems around the world, and to mitigate against the effects of drought. 

Over the last few months alone my colleagues have written on green tech innovations in a huge range of fields (no pun intended!) - from AI-powered precision herbicidal spraying and carbon neutral solar fuels to  seaweed-based textiles, and recyclable plastics themselves produced from CO₂.  

All of this makes me more hopeful for the next few decades – innovation alone cannot be relied upon to deliver a sustainable future, but it will certainly play an important part in it.