G20 TechSprint 2024 Winner - Ekonavi (Challenge 1)
2024's G20 TechSprint focused on technology solutions for sustainable finance. The major problems identified include lack of sustainable investments in biodiversity and nature-related projects, challenges with the collection, aggregation and analysis of ESG data to facilitate due diligence, disclosure and management of ESG risks and opportunities and open-sourced data-driven solutions that can be used to support financial decisions and capital allocation aligned with the SDG goals. This TechSprint aims to address these challenges in the sustainable finance and provide significant contributions to the G20 priority of "building a just world and a sustainable planet" in line with the motto of the G20 Brazilian presidency.
Challenge One Winner: Ekonavi
Sustainable and inclusive investments in biodiversity and nature-related projects are crucial, as they promote sustainable economic growth while ensuring a healthy and prosperous future for all. However, investments in these projects remain limited due to challenges such as uncertainty about whether the project is delivering the positive impact it committed to, as a consequence of the difficulty of tracing, thereby creating a risk of loss of investment and greenwashing.
Challenge One seeks out innovative technology solutions to incentivize and attract sustainable and inclusive investments targeted at biodiversity and nature preservation. Solutions may include but not limited to those that use tokenisation and smart contracts to foster investments in biodiversity and nature-related projects. These solutions could contribute to mobilising public and private funding for nature-positive projects, by increasing transparency and facilitating blended finance vehicles.
The winner for this challenge, Ekonavi, is a platform that maps out ecological projects in Brazil and beyond with the objective of showcasing these works to a wider audience and incentivising more. Their solution tokenises data from verified ecological restoration projects into investable assets, aligning with international ESG standards.