The problems are connected. So are the solutions

I first learned about sustainability because I am interested in poverty. I grew up in one of the world’s poorest countries and I wanted to understand it better. What keeps people in poverty? What are the proven ways to spring the trap? It was in exploring these questions at university that I began to see the importance of the environment.

Poverty and the environment are inextricably intertwined. The climate and biodiversity crises have economic dimensions, and implications for inequality and marginalisation. Politics influences our response to climate change, and the breakdown of the climate changes our politics in turn. Everything is connected to everything else. Pick out any one aspect of nature, as John Muir said, and “we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.”

This can feel rather overwhelming at times, but the more time I’ve spent thinking about sustainability, the more convinced I am that interconnectivity is a positive and not a negative. If our struggles are connected, then so are the ways forward. We can respond to the climate crisis in ways that lift people out of poverty. We can craft policies to reduce inequality that are better for the climate.

There’s no better showcase of these interconnections than the Ashden Awards, which were held last night in London. Ashden award categories cover the UK and the global south, and they ar given to pioneering and inclusive climate solutions. In a rigorous judging process, winners are chosen for their social and environmental impact together.

Here’s a great example: Salpha Energy is a company that is creating green jobs in Nigeria. It provides power to those without electricity, which allows them to improve their businesses and increase their income. Run by founder and CEO Sandra Chukwudozie, Salpha recruits and trains women in engineering, challenging Nigerian culture around women in leadership and industry.

Notably, Salpha has its factory in Nigeria, keeping the benefits of the business in the local economy. It’s a Nigerian solution to the challenge of clean energy and energy access. As Chukwudozie says, “African problems have to be solved by Africans”.

While Salpha is a green energy company and is lowering emissions in Nigeria, that’s only one facet of this particular diamond. There are similar co-benefits for all the Ashden winners that were featured last night, and their stories are too good to stick them all in one post. I’ll return to them in future articles, but you can browse the full list here.