I’ll have a black coffee, please. Hold the beans. It may be time to start rethinking the sustainability and ethics of a traditional brew. Beanless coffee startups have the gargantuan task of convincing mns of java enthusiasts to let go of their daily pick-me-ups, but surprisingly, these alternatives seem to be making their way around the world.

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You might not need to give up the taste or the caffeine to save the turtles. Traditional coffee cultivation is the sixth largest cause for deforestation, says the WFF. While startups like Atomo want to revolutionize the world of brewed coffee, they also intend to replicate the flavor and the kick that comes along with it… just with less damage to the environment.

Your wallet might thank you. If the business scales up, this could end up being a cheaper alternative, which is great considering coffee prices are reaching record highs. This is a long term plan, as beanless alternatives currently cost slightly more than conventional brews — an additional USD 0.5 per cup.

What is beanless coffee anyway? The ingredients list includes date seeds, seeds from ramón — a coffee-like nut historically roasted by the Maya —, sunflower seed extract, fructose, pea protein, millet, lemon, guava, fenugreek seeds, caffeine, and baking soda.

The concept is spreading. Atomo is currently sold in 70 US coffee shops, five years after its launch. Northern Wonder, a Dutch bean-free startup, is being sold in supermarkets in the Netherlands and Switzerland. Singapore-based Prefer and San Francisco's Minus are also making their mark on the coffee industry.

A coffee-er alternative: Finnish researchers have also demonstrated proof of concept for cell-based coffee. This refers to cups of joe made from cells extracted from coffee plants. They are now pushing to accelerate its commercialisation. Swiss-based Foodbrewer and US-based California Cultured are among the startups racing to do the same.

AI may be smart, but it’s harming the planet: Google, Microsoft, Meta and Apple try to tout themselves as eco-warriors of the digital age by using recyclable packaging and boasting carbon neutrality. But the ugly truth is that emissions from their AI data centers — a critical tool for powering this technology — are 662% higher than reported, which could put the companies’ environmental pledges to the test, The Guardian reports.

The bigger and smarter AI gets, the more energy it needs: Your personal data is stored not in the cloud but in a server — a hefty piece of machinery. To maintain that data, it needs to constantly be fed large amounts of energy, which is then expended as emissions. As AI starts to become more sophisticated and complex, the more information it needs to store. There are hundreds of thousands of servers working all day and night to understand your requests or predict your next binge-watch — leading to the overconsumption of energy.

To keep their eco-cred in check, companies often rely on renewable energy certifications — that they purchase. These bootleg certificates are a way to feign the use of renewable energy even if their data centers are still plugged into fossil fuel-powered grids. Taking that into account, The Guardian was able to determine that between 2020 and 2022, emissions were seven times higher than what was officially reported.

But wait, the situation gets trickier: Data centers already accounted for up to 1.5% of global electricity use in 2022, a number that is expected to rise. AI models, like our friend ChatGPT, need way more energy than other cloud applications — which pushes its expected power demand, and will eventually suck up to 160% of today’s energy by 2030. Despite this, companies are still relying on market-based emissions calculations that downplay their true impact.

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