This is how we save the planet

We on this planet, and the planet itself, are in crisis. We need to make changes, and it is easy to feel anxious about this. That feeling is not entirely unfounded, but it is no reason to descend into mental darkness and lose all hope. Quite the opposite!

The opportunities to turn things around are considerable.

We have reached what is commonly called the fourth industrial revolution, we have developed intelligence greater than our own, and investors have identified fossil fuels as "stranded assets". 

Stranded assets are "assets that have suffered unforeseen or premature write-downs, devaluations, or conversion into liabilities."

This means that capital no longer sees fossil fuels as profitable investments. It does not even view businesses that depend on or in some way build on fossil fuels as good investments.

 

And this is shaking up the world order we have had since cars became a reasonable possession for everyone. 

It is therefore at the intersection of global problems and innovation that the major business opportunities of the future lie. 

In the past, sustainability tended to be viewed as an imposition on an essentially and fundamentally completely unsustainable business model. People would sigh and groan, roll their eyes, and work their way through environmental issues at board meetings and conferences. 

But that was then!

 

Now, the core of tomorrow's businesses is circular, innovative, and sustainable. For some established companies, it is a long-term investment in the business; for new companies and startups, it is the very engine—and it is a rocket engine, because things are moving fast! 

This change is, to put it in "Rockströmian" terms, a tipping point—but it is tipping in the right direction!

When we started Soapa, few, perhaps no one, believed in the idea, especially not the circular aspect.

 
"Are you really going to keep working and stubbornly carry on with that?!"

 

Translated into standard Swedish: that you have the energy to keep at it and that you are "being stubborn" and continuing with that.

This referred to purifying used cooking oil and saponifying it instead of buying virgin raw materials. 
We heard every day that it would never amount to anything, that it would never work, and so on. 

Today, we are far from finished. We have only just begun, but we have proven that a circular idea can be profitable and can grow. At the time of writing, we have 31 employees at the factory in Vilhelmina. The 2024 annual accounts will probably come in at just over 59 million, and the profit can be described as good. 

Another Vilhelmina company that is moving forward thanks to a strong commitment to the environment, climate, and innovation is Ecoclime—look it up! 

One of Sweden's municipalities with the largest land area, bordering Norway, with approximately 5,000 inhabitants and located in growing zone 7, I would venture to say, is a per-capita leader in Sweden when it comes to innovation-driven sustainable business. 

As we now transition from a linear economy to a circular economy, from disaster reports to confidence in the future, you should probably keep an eye on us—or perhaps on all of Vilhelmina. 

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