Since its start 15 years ago and with its annual release of an updated edition, REN21’s Renewables Global Status Report (GSR) has grown to become one of the most respected and highly referenced resources for reporting the situation of renewable energies.

Contents of the report are developed by the REN21 Secretariat based at UN Environment in Paris, to shape the energy debate and to contribute to increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix of countries and worldwide. From 2017 to date, the BiomassTrust founder Javier Farago Escobar is a Lead Country Contributor for Brazil to Renewables Global Status Report. He also serves as an expert specialist for individual sections of the report.

Published in June 2021, the “Renewables 2021 Global Status Report” is the most recent edition of REN21’s (GSR). In addition to providing data and analyses about the different renewable energies across different sectors and policies, GSR compiles the developments and trends in the adoption of renewable energies worldwide and in specific regions, countries, and sectors. On extensive data collection, REN21 is an authoritative think tank and international multi-stakeholder network with more than 65 member organizations, which comprises governments, non-governmental organizations, industry associations, academic and scientific institutions, and sector leaders.

REN21’s unique renewable energy reporting culture has earned the organization a reputation as a neutral data and knowledge broker that provides credible and widely accepted information. All data and information are openly available to be used to advocate for a sustainable energy future. The report undergoes extensive review by registered experts before publication. Contributors and reviewers are not necessarily affiliated with one of the REN21 member organizations. While much of the assessment uses official statistical country data.

The Renewables Global Status Report is a highly comprehensive and rich resource for academic and non-academic readers in search of up-to-date and reliable information about renewable energies. The report also formulates policy recommendations; therefore, it also aims to directly address policymakers. A very positive feature of GSR is that key figures are made available for download in high resolution on the website.

Want to learn more? Click below.

https://www.ren21.net/gsr-2021/

The Harvard GSAS Business Club Pitch Competition was on September 30th, 2021, and our Founder – CEO, Javier Farago Escobar, PhD won first place!

The HGBC Pitch Competition started alongside Patricia Bubner, CEO of Orbillion Bio as a keynote speaker, followed by the introduction of judges (Helen Liang – FoundersX; Sri Muthu – Voya Health; James Sinka – co-founder of On Deck).

Pitch´s time was 5 min, with 6min of Q&A in the following order:

Pitch #1: RESE — The Real Estate Stock Exchange

Pitch #2: SaveMentalFast

Pitch #3: Team Janus

Pitch #4: BiomassTrust

Pitch #5: The IPD Team

Pitch #6: PsychEd

Pitch #7: Dapps

Pitch #8: ClirEx

The following guidelines are to help judges and teams know what the evaluation criteria mean.

1. Problem/Opportunity

What is the market opportunity? What is the customer problem the new product/service is addressing or unmet need that the venture satisfies?

2. Concept/Solution, Customer Validation, Product-Market fit

How is the product/service going to solve the problem/meet the need? How many customers have you met with to validate product-market fit?

3. Differentiation from competition

Does the venture have a unique and sustainable advantage over competitive solutions? Why will customers buy its product or service?

4. Market Size

How big are the potential market for the venture and its competitors in the next year? In the following 2-5 yrs?

5. Business Model

How will the venture make money? Who pays the venture, for what?

What are the key costs in the creation and delivery of the solution Does the venture enjoy any sustainable cost advantages over competitors?

6. Marketing/ Distribution

How will the venture reach its target customers? How will it distribute its product? Who are its channel partners?

7. Team

List team members and their short bios. Is the team uniquely qualified to solve the above problem? Does the team understand it may need to augment its ranks with key players not yet on board? Does it have a business and/or scientific/technical advisory board with credible advisors?

8. Risks

Has the team identified the key technology, market, team, and financial risks? How will it mitigate those risks? How will a venture capital investment be used to reduce or manage those risks?

9. Financial

Are there preliminary financial projections (income statement and/or cash flow)? Has the team identified how much funding it is trying to raise?

10. Other: environmental or social impact, team diversity, patents, etc.

Some VCs use additional criteria such as environmental or social impact, team diversity, patents filed (especially in case of medical ventures), and whether the team can outsource part of its production or development. Please address additional criteria wherever applicable.

Want to learn more? Click below

https://engage.gsas.harvard.edu/organization/hgbc