What if I told you that you can contribute to a sustainable transition from the depths of your pants pocket or bag? And you do not need any crazy resources to put your ideas into action. As the title already reveals, this post is all about giving you inspiration to embark on the journey to create an app to solve our world’s most urgent challenges.

No worries, you do not have to have a technology super brain. There are plenty of people who have the skills to create an app, your task is to find something you want to improve, share, or start a revolution of change. Certainly, baby steps lead to change and change is what we need to work towards for sustainable development. Sometimes we simply need to jump into the cold water to realise that it was not as cold as we thought it would be. The convenient part about creating an app is that the risk level is pretty low but the outcome can be life-changing, for you and others. 

One idea will bring you on the journey to obtain the needed skills

I will tell you a little secret: I am at the very beginning of my adventure to create an app. Like the very, very beginning of ideation, and step by step I will work towards putting my idea into action. Do I have any programming or tech skills? Definitely not. But I know I am not alone in this world and that there is a big pool of experts who want to support me and put my idea into reality. So, I am not too worried, it will work somehow.

Moreover, I have a phone, tablet and laptop and the whole depth of the world wide web to find the information and a little bit of capital that I need. Developing an app prototype is not as expensive as developing a solar panel prototype, for example. I will keep you up to date with my Action blog posts and hopefully allay your doubts about whether developing an app is the right approach. 

Back to digitalisation, it is a very big part of our lives and there is a lot of potential to use it to create better systems in our world. Therefore, I want to provide you with some inspiration to dive into the digital world and find solutions which contribute to your, other’s and nature’s benefit. In particular, I want to plant ideas into your head, which you can cultivate and grow by creating an app.

You’re not born an expert, you become one

Do not feel discouraged if you are not a tech expert but see it as an opportunity to learn and create something that can change lives. With apps you can directly address a problem in a specific niche and offer a point-on solution(s). Hence, most apps came up with simple solutions to a specific problem. They are also very convenient because the majority of people have at least one device (phone, tablet or laptop) with them at all times which makes your app accessible anytime.

Alright, let’s have a look at what is in the sustainability app market space to give you some inspiration to find your niche.

Food

This is an area where I found a lot of different apps, probably because it is my area of expertise. I came across a lot of apps while studying for  my Masters Degree in Sustainable Food Systems. The beauty of working in the food industry is its diversity of solution opportunities. Food goes through different cycles from farmer, to manufacturer, distributor and to consumers. Above all, we also need to eat every day, so food is never going to disappear from the market. In the sustainability space, there are many problems related to food, the most prominent being food waste, but also biodiversity, land use, resource management, packaging, undernourishment, obesity and so forth. There are many, many opportunities to dive in and solve a societal and/or environmental problem by creating an app.

Food Waste.

• Too Good To Go. This app connects customers to restaurants, cafes, hotels, manufacturers and other food selling stores that have unsold surplus food. It not only helps cut down on food waste but it also supports businesses in winning back some money while finding new customers.
• Karma. Tackling food waste is also Karma’s mission. It is also tackling food waste at the hospitality end of the supply chain, giving consumers the option to buy surplus food for a reduced price while businesses get back some of their revenue instead of throwing it into the trash.
• ShareWaste. Connecting people in their neighbourhood to recycle their organic material (like food scraps) to make soils or grow food, is the goal of ShareWaste. This app brings together the donor who donate their organic material (like food scraps) to the host who will turn the organic material into soil. It is all about sharing and preventing food becoming waste.
• YUME. This app addresses food waste in the commercial food sector. It helps farmers and food suppliers sell their surplus (bulk) food for a reduced price to hospitality and retail businesses. 
• Olio. Finding volunteers to collect surplus food from local food businesses and share it via the Olio app is Olio’s strategy to tackle waste. Additionally, you can download the app and list your surplus food for pick-up. if you are not able to consume it in time yourself. There is also a section for sharing household items, which are of no use to you anymore.

There are many many more…

Consumption.

• Sustainable Seafood Guide. Make ocean-friendly choices (in Australia) by looking up the sustainability of over 90 different types of seafood. This includes wild-caught fisheries, fish farms and imported fish species.

Gardening.

• iHuerting. This urban gardening app helps you with AI technology to take care of your plants and to find plants you are looking for. iHuerting also includes a task list option to let you know your last action and the following actions needed in your garden. Plagues and planet disease can be identified, along with information to treat or prevent them.

Lifestyle

Our everyday lives impact the world around us. There are multiple apps to support you in making greener and more sustainable choices in your daily life. Connecting people and facilitating collaboration to share tips and tricks are one of the many strengths of Lifestyle apps in pursuing sustainable development.

Green Tips.

• Oroeco. This company is developing technology tools to make it fun to achieve climate action goals. Oroeco uses personal and community actions to inspire you to reduce your carbon footprint.
• JouleBug. Making your everyday habits more sustainable has never been so easy. If at home, work or anywhere else, JouleBug helps you and your friends to turn sustainability tips into action.
• 1 Million Women. Tools to cut carbon pollutants from the home, energy saving and clean energy options, minimising food waste, reducing overconsumption, investing, sustainable fashion, low-impact travel and more are to be found in this app. A growing community of women tackling issues of the climate crisis show us the power of acting together.

Shopping.

• HowGood. To find out if your food is sustainable you can use this sustainable food rating app to make wise purchase decisions. By scanning the product’s barcode HowGood tells you how sustainable the food item is.

Beauty.

• Think Dirty. They empower ingredient-conscious consumers to make choices for the safest beauty, personal and household products. The app educates about the ingredients of the beauty, personal care and household products you use every day. Simply scan the product barcode and you find the information to shop cleaner options.

Global, Local. 

• JoinIn. This app helps to easily connect people by participating and organising online events.

Hobbies.

• Bikemap. As the name reveals, Bikemap is all about biking maps. With 10.2 million cycling routes you can have the whole world of cycling routes on your device. It shows you popular cycling routes nearby and helps you discover and navigate the endless possibilities worldwide. 

Recycling/Waste.

• Sustain Me. Is a national recycling database (for Australia but there are most likely similar apps in your country… or not and you found yourself a niche), which gives information about recycling in your area. Recycling works differently in different locations and with this app you will always be able to make the right recycling choice.
• Recycle Mate. Another recycling help is Recycling Mate (also based in Australia). Simply take a picture or type the name of an item into the app to get disposal advice, which is specific to your current location.
• Zero Waste Objective. If you need a personal coach to generate less waste, this app is for you. It suggests how to accomplish different missions to take care of your waste habits.

Education

• Sustainable Development Goals in Action. The United Nations developed this app to provide a global forum to drive action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). It includes the latest sustainable development news as well as incentives to drive engagement with the app and increase global activity in achieving the SDGs.

Fashion

• Good On You. If you want to make your wardrobe more sustainable, Good On You provides you with ethical brand ratings to discover ethical brands. Be trendy and sustainable.
• thredUP. An online consignment and thrift store where you can buy and sell high-quality second-hand clothes. thredUP helps to make thrifting more convenient from wherever you are and to make smarter fashion decisions. 
• Vinted. Do you have clothes you have not worn in ages but they are too nice to throw away? With Vinted you have access to a platform where you can sell your clothes or buy second-hand from others.

Business

• Paperkarma. Helps you to stop junk mail from flooding your inboxes by automatically unsubscribing you from junk mail and unwanted catalogues. It not only prevents digital waste but also protects you from scams.

As you can see, there are vast opportunities for problem-solving with an app solution. Some of the created apps are country or location-based, and if there is no provider of a solution in your city… Perfect! You found yourself a niche. If you have not found anything interesting in my incomplete list, but you have an idea of how to create a sustainable solution to a problem – then congratulations! You have found your niche. Browse through your app catalogue and you will probably find heaps of other sustainability apps… or maybe not? Look at the app market in your country, because what exists in one country or city might not be available where you are located. Use your knowledge, skills and experience and create an app to help support others in either making more sustainable decisions or improving their lives. 

Here are some of the suggestions I brainstormed. In short, I have the feeling that these areas are underserved in the sustainability space:

• Energy
• Hospitals
• Restaurant Guide
• Projects in your location
• Professionals/Business
• Academics
• Education
• Sustainability dating platform
• Nature
• Electronics
• Babies
• Children
• Variety of hobbies
• etc…

Again, as a closing word, you do not need to know now how to create an app. What you need to find out is what you can do to make our world a better place. Become the change we need to see. As I promised, I will also keep you in the loop about my progress in developing an app without programming skills, but with a very strong passion for changing societal and environmental problems into opportunities for growth.