NET-ZERO TRANSITION

  • Dates
    2020 - Ongoing
  • Author
  • Topics Awards, Contemporary Issues, Documentary, Editorial, Nature & Environment
  • Locations Italy, France, Spain, Denmark, Iceland

Many revolutionary seeds have been planted across Europe to make the future sustainable for the next generations. The net-zero transition has already started and is set to be the next industrial revolution.

Earth’s average temperature in 2023 was the warmest on record in a century and a half. According to NASA, the yearly average was 1.4 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial level. At present rates of greenhouse gas emissions, the 1.5-degree goal set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement will soon be a lost cause. To face this climate crisis, world leaders must change perspective by redesigning a humanity no longer separate from its ecosystem, but one with the planet it inhabits. The EU has set itself targets to cut emissions at least 55% by 2030 and reduce them to net-zero by 2050. Renewable energies, new technologies for food production, and the circular economy are key solutions for achieving the Green Deal goals. These innovative technologies lead the way towards climate neutrality, inspiring a virtuous model that will generate a new sustainable cycle of life.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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The geodesic dome covering the injection well of Carbfix in Hellisheiði geothermal plant. Process sends brine water mixed with carbon dioxide pulled from the air into deep bedrock at a depth of about 500m, where the CO2 can turn rapidly into minerals.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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Photobioreactor at the Algalif facilities in Iceland. Algalif is a biotech startups that grows micro-algae to produce astaxanthin. The process is carbon negative.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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The largest indoor vertical farm in Europe, Nordic Harvest, in Copenhagen. With 14 floors and a full production capacity yield of more than 3.000 kg every day, it is also the most efficient vertical farm in Europe to date.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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A worker is harvesting tomatoes in the greenhouse of H2Orto, Ostellato, Ferrara. In the greenhouse, high-efficiency LED lights are used to allow winter production, ensuring all-year-round tomato harvesting.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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An aerial view of Nature Urbaine roof farm in Paris. Nature Urbaine has recently opened the world's largest urban farm on the rooftop of Paris Expo’s Pavillon 6, covering an area of 14,000 square metres.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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An operator in the Innovafeed industrial production site in Nesle, France. The Innovafeed plant in Nesle opened in November 2020 and is the world’s largest operating production unit of insect proteins.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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Les Mees solar park in Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur, France. The plant is seamlessly integrated in the mountain landscape. The plant generates 35,000MWh electricity offsetting 40,000t of (CO2) a year.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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Amager Bakke (Copenhagen) is the world's cleanest waste-to-energy facility and it also hosts a recreational area called CopenHill with its own ski slope, the world's tallest climbing wall and hiking trails up the building.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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Daily operations at the indoor vertical farming of Agricola Moderna, near Milan, Italy. Indoor vertical farming is a sustainable farming method which enables 98% saving on land usage and 95% water usage reduction.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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The site of H2Orto applies the principles of circular economy and uses 100% green energy provided by the nearby biogas plant. Tomatoes are grown in a controlled environment, safeguarded from external pollutants, with no need for herbicides and glyphosates

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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The indoor vertical farming of Agricola Moderna, near Milan, Italy. Each variety is lightened with the ideal lights for ripening and grow in a controlled environment, which means there is no need for any chemicals or pesticides.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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An aerial view of the greenhouse of H2Orto, Italy. This hydroponic cultivation allows the same yield with one-tenth of the cultivated area used by traditional agriculture, greatly reducing the environmental impact.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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Algaennovation uses water and electricity from the nearby Hellisheidi geothermal power plant (Iceland) and exploits carbon dioxide emissions in a process that turns waste to value in a sustainable manner.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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The tokamak assembly pit under construction at ITER iin the south of France. ITER is one of the most ambitious energy projects in the world today, established to create a new carbon-free source of energy based on the same principle that powers our Sun.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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The clean room where photovoltaic modules are produced at 3SUN facilities, Italy. 3SUN bifacial photovoltaic modules are built with Hetero Junction Technology which uses both amorphous and crystalline silicon.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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The concentrated solar power plant of Gemasolar in Fuentes de Andalucía in the province of Seville, Spain. Gemasolar is the first commercial plant in the world able to provide a full day of uninterrupted power supply to the grid.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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A biotechnician in Nordic Harvest laboratory, in Copenaghen, Denmark. Nordic Harvest is the largest and most efficient indoor vertical farm in Europe. The farm produces on-site microbial bio-fertilizers made from fermented plant waste.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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The new cogeneration and waste-to-energy plant built by IREN in Turin, Italy. This low- carbon emission plant is used for the largest district-heating network in Italy and will save 135,000 tonnes of CO2 each year.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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Avedore multi-fuel power plant, Copenhagen, Denmark. The plant can use natural gas (Ngas), oil, straw and wood pellets for simultaneous generation of heat and electricity. The electricity generated by the plant offset 325,000 tonnes of Co2 a year.

© Simone Tramonte - Image from the NET-ZERO TRANSITION photography project
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A view of Middelgrunden offshore wind farm (Copenhagen), developed thanks to a Cooperative with a the strong involvement of the local community in the planning phase and as investors. Now 8.552 electricity consumers are co-owners of the wind farm.

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