Innovation & Technology

How Gen Z Ingenuity Is Accelerating Sustainability Action

Young innovators are launching next-generation solutions that are raising the bar and pushing sustainability action beyond marketing campaigns.

Brand Provided | By Ben Richardson and George Wade | Published 4 months ago | About a 3 minute read

Image: vecstock

As part of Gen Z, we grew up knowing the climate crisis wasn’t a speculative, distant threat — because it was the backdrop of our lives. Wildfires, floods, extreme temperatures, and disappearing coastlines are now part of the “new normal.”

For many of us, a company's commitment to sustainability helps us decide where we engage with commerce. In Sustainable Brands®/Ipsos’ 2025 Socio-Cultural Trends research, 59 percent of Gen Zers surveyed said when buying unfamiliar products, they will choose a brand with a sustainable option rather than defaulting to a familiar brand; and 49 percent said they have recently switched from a brand they usually buy to one that’s more environmentally and/or socially responsible.

So, many of us are already shopping differently in order to lessen our footprint by supporting companies that are acting responsibly and communicating openly about how they’re doing it. These same instincts are guiding many of our generation to lead, build and push better business forward.

In keeping with this trend, young innovators are launching next-generation solutions that push sustainability action beyond marketing campaigns with smart tools, alternative materials and hard data. We are one of the most entrepreneurial generations to date: Studies show 84 percent of us plan to or have started our own businesses — and a growing number are working with like-minded people to launch viable solutions already driving positive impacts.

Gen Z founders around the world are approaching real-world problems with fresh eyes and youthful determination to develop sustainable solutions that are effective, scalable and replicable. To name just a few:

Here in the UK, Anahita Laverack and Ciaran Dowds founded Oshen — a company that’s developed autonomous micro-vessels for real-time ocean data collection that are safer and more eco-friendly than buoys or large ships. Its robot network is a new approach to creating rugged, cost-effective tools for collecting critical oceanic data.
One of our generation's youngest founders is Harper Moss, who at age 16 launched CarbonZero.eco — a Silicon Valley-based startup that’s helping to scale regenerative agriculture efforts through biochar, which absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere while helping farmers enhance soil health and crop yields.
Nuha Siddiqui and Kritika Tyagi founded Toronto-based erthos, whose high-performance biomaterials can be seamlessly integrated into manufacturing systems to replace problematic plastics.
Jake Berber and Ding Jie Tan founded Singapore-based startup Prefer, which makes coffee without coffee beans to future-proof the sensitive crop against climate change.

We started our company, Zevero, with the same determination to drive real-world solutions to some of business’ biggest sustainability-related problems. We had both worked in companies that understood the importance of sustainability; but we also noticed how much was being overlooked because of complexity — especially the high percentage of indirect, or scope 3, emissions embedded in supply chains, vendor decisions and packaging choices.

We created our AI-enabled platform to help make emissions data more comprehensive and actionable — so companies can quickly move beyond surface-level commitments and take tangible, measurable steps to reduce these hard-to-manage value chain emissions — which can represent roughly 75 percent of a company’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

What we have learned is that the most durable and impactful sustainability efforts show up in a business every day. For business leaders of any generation wondering where to start, we offer this guidance: Share your data, involve everyone and make sustainability a companywide effort. As we and other Gen Z founders are helping businesses understand, placing sustainability efforts at the forefront of your company's mission will build resilience and opportunities well into the future.

Ben Richardson

Co-founder & CSO

Ben Richardson is co-founder and Chief Sustainability Officer at Zevero - a UK-based startup offering carbon management software solutions for businesses.