Network Insights: Monisha Krishna on the Climate Crisis as an Inefficiency Crisis
GNFZ’s partners play a crucial role in empowering people and organizations to accelerate the realization of a zero emissions world, and in achieving our vision of lasting equitable and global living standards serving people and the planet. By engaging with the GNFZ network, our partners steward clients through the process of achieving and maintaining net zero certification.
Which is why we’re excited to share insights from an interview with Monisha Krishna, Co-Founder of Sacred Groves. Sacred Groves is one of GNFZ’s partners, delivering best-in-class decarbonization solutions to their clients. Monisha and her team address deforestation and forest degradation through unique economic models.
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Monisha Krishna, Co-Founder, Sacred Groves
GNFZ: Tell us more about Sacred Groves and how this innovative model of preserving the environment and biodiversity came about.
Monisha: Our purpose at Sacred Groves is to inspire action to protect our planet’s existing forests and natural habitats. With the world currently losing a soccer field equivalent (1.76 acres) of primary forests every six seconds, we co-founded Sacred Groves to urgently address this deforestation and forest degradation crisis.
What is the role that you play in your company and your approach to maximize benefits for customers?
I am responsible for operations including finance, technology, legal and compliance.
At Sacred Groves, we have created economic models that support the conservation of natural habitats and maximize our collective positive impact on forests. Our approaches include tokenization through Sacred Groves Clusters, Conservation Commerce, Junk to Jungles (deployment of residual value released from junk, especially e-waste) and driving innovation and change.
The Sacred Groves approach secures natural habitats at risk of destruction through direct acquisition from landowners. We then map them using geospatial imaging and convert them using advanced analytics into virtual Sacred Groves Clusters (SGCs), which are placed on the blockchain. We thoroughly detail these approaches at www.sacredgroves.earth.
What has been the impact of your efforts so far?
Currently, Sacred Groves supports three forests (two in Wales and one in Nova Scotia) with the help of companies and individuals from more than 50 countries.
All three forests were available for sale commercially. By acquiring these forests through freehold purchase, Sacred Groves has converted them into conservation assets.
The company was recently onboarded by the Microsoft Entrepreneurship for Positive Impact Accelerator and featured in the ‘PwC Net Zero Future50 - Middle East’ Report in recognition of our work. Sacred Groves was also recognized by the International Advertising Association at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2023 and was invited to the inaugural 'Business and Philanthropy Climate Forum' at COP28 UAE.
The upcoming decade will be a wake-up call to the injustice of the climate crisis, and a pivotal opportunity to correct course.
Why is achieving net zero important to you?
Achieving net zero CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions requires systemic transformations across all sectors and contexts, including scaling up renewable energy while phasing out all unabated fossil fuels, ending deforestation, reducing non-CO2 emissions and implementing both supply and demand side measures.
The upcoming decade will be a wake-up call to the injustice of the climate crisis, and a pivotal opportunity to correct course.
How do you think GNFZ and Sacred Groves can collaborate to bring value to a larger ecosystem of businesses to achieve net zero and environmental preservation?
Buildings are currently responsible for 39% of global carbon emissions: 28% from operational emissions, from energy needed to heat, cool and power them, and the remaining 11% from materials and construction. The partnership between GNFZ and Sacred Groves will provide companies with a unique service to measure their current footprint, benchmark against good practices, develop mitigation strategies and balance their impact by supporting conservation.
What advice do you have for organisations looking to expand their sustainability efforts using the Sacred Groves platform and GNFZ’s net zero certification?
In nature, there is no waste: The so-called ‘waste’ of one species acts as an input for another species and keeps ecosystems functioning efficiently. In nature, inefficiency leads to either evolution or extinction.
Humanity’s current modus operandi of Produce-Consume-Waste is not sustainable in the long run. Therefore, the climate crisis can also be viewed as an inefficiency crisis, whether it’s about food waste, energy transmission losses or the enormous waste generation and management problem.
We have a unique advantage to evolve and build new economic thinking where climate action is not seen as a cost to society and businesses but an opportunity to create a narrative for accelerating sustainable growth for the long term. The partnership of GNFZ and Sacred Groves brings important elements into the mix that organizations can leverage to create their own unique journey of success.