10 Things You Didn’t Know about Adam Taylor
There’s no way around it; human activities have contributed to the extreme increase of CO2 in our atmosphere. In fact, it’s been over 800,000 years since our atmosphere has seen such a concentration. In 1985 acclaimed scientist and thinker, Carl Sagan, warned Congress about the Greenhouse Effect so this issue has been around for quite a while. Today, we are still grappling with searching for solutions for this problem. Enter Adam Taylor, CEO and founder of the Brilliant Planet. The Brilliant Planet has found an energy efficient and cost effective solution which involves utilizing algae to remove excess CO2 from the atmosphere. Algae is grown in pools of water in the desert. Born in November of 1986 in Ireland, this investor has directed his energies in the Brilliant Planet, and or that we are grateful.
1. Adam Taylor was the CEO of Firstwave
Brilliant Planet isn’t Taylor’s first foray into the world of big business as a CEO, no indeed. In 2011 Taylor became the CEO and chairman of a firm called Firstwave, a company which he founded. Firstwave is an African based aquaculture group. Before Firstwave, Taylor was the Managing Director of Oakfield Holdings, and before that a Portfolio Manager at Liongate Capital Management.
2. KEFI Minerals Appoints Adam Taylor to its Board
KEFI Minerals is a company involved in the exploration of gold. In 2020, KEFI appointed Adam Taylor to the Board, where he functioned as a Non-Executive Director. According to KEFI Executive Chairman Harry Anagnostaras-Adams,“We are delighted to welcome Adam to the KEFI Board. As well as cementing our relationship with KEFI’s largest institutional shareholder, RAB Capital, Adam brings a wealth of hands-on business experience in Africa, coupled with significant international investment expertise, which will be invaluable to the Company as we progress our projects in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia.”
3. CEO of Brilliant Planet, Adam Taylor Believes that Nature-Based Solutions are Central in Combating Global Warming
Adam Taylor, CEO of Brilliant Planet has directed his energies in finding natural ways of battling Global Warming. According to Taylor, ‘Nature-based solutions to climate change are normally the most scalable and cost-effective but it is often difficult to verify the amount of carbon removed by these methods and the permeance of the storage. On the other hand, man-made solutions such as direct air capture can be easily verified but are prohibitively expensive due to the significant inputs of energy, chemicals and fresh water required. Brilliant Planet has now developed a uniquely cost-effective, scalable and verifiable nature-based system that delivers on all requirements. With the IPCC confirming that tremendous amounts of carbon will need to be removed from the atmosphere to limit global warming to 1.5°C, we feel that this is the right solution at the right time.’
4. He Strongly Believes that Removing Carbon From the Atmosphere is an Absolute Necessity
Taylor’s conclusion is based on 2022 IPCC report which stated that it was no longer possible to move forward simply by decreasing our CO2. Instead, we need to find way to remove it from the atmosphere. “You might have seen the IPCC report that came out yesterday — if you read the IPCC report, you know we’ve missed the point at which we can just change your behaviors and just decrease CO2 output. We’ve got to remove carbon from the atmosphere, the carbon that we already put up there. It’s going to be critical to have other ways of keeping carbon in the atmosphere at manageable levels to limit global warming. This is a bold and innovative move as current strategies have all involved ways to decrease CO2 production. By finding methods to remove it from the atmosphere all together, humanity is one step closer to a healthy future for our children.
5. He Intends to Build a Research Facility in London
Brilliant Planet has been instrumental in using algae when it comes to the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. The system in use is energy efficient and more than adequate to do it’s task. For instance, the process is solar powered and doesn’t use one drop of valuable fresh water. According to Taylor, we are in a race against time when it comes to dealing with our CO2 issue, “Ideally, we would just change our behaviors, we’d fully electrify everything right away, but it just takes time,” added Taylor. “It takes time to change people, governments, and companies, We’ve got to do something about it,” And doing something about it they are. They already have a large research facility in Morocco, but in times like this they are looking to speed up the R&D by building a research facility in London.
6. Taylor is a Member of the Institute of Directors or IoD
The IoD or Institute of Directors, is an organization which serves British business leaders, directors and entrepreneurs. Founded in 1903, the IoD functions to support these individuals throughout Great Britain. They were awarded a Royal Charter to represent best business practices across the U.K. The IoD’s support includes networking and training. All of which is designed to ensure that you becomes all that you were meant to be as a leader in business.
7. Taylor is a Mentor for HATCH
HATCH is an accelerator program which is devoted solely to aquaculture. For those who don’t know, an acceleration program is a short program for business startups of only a few months. The intention of an accelerator program is to immerse the startup in the practices they’ll need in order to be a success. Currently, HATCH has hubs in Norway, Singapore and Hawaii. As a mentor, Taylor is responsible for supporting these entrepreneurs in every endeavor which will help ensure their success. While we are learning that fish farming is not the ideal choice as it takes a toll on the ecosystem resource wise, plus consuming farmed fish is proving none too healthy for various reasons, scientists are instead turning to cultured fish. However, aquaculture has a massive part to play in our future with regards to growing seaweed which is the fastest growing sector in aquaculture and much more beneficial to our future.
8. Taylor was the Managing Director of Oakfield Holding Limited
From 2011 to December 2018 Taylor performed the duties of Managing Director or Oakfield Holdings Limited, an African investment firm which centers on making a positive social impact in the world. While there Taylor was instrumental in the partnership of Yaleolo and Aller Aqua in order to provide fish farms in Africa with the best possible fish food, at a good price. According to Taylor, “We found Aller Aqua to be an ideal match: the firm is one of Europe’s leading fish feed producers and its board already saw the opportunities of long-term African economic growth, including demand for affordable protein in Southern Africa. In October 2015 we formalized the partnership and have proceeded quickly.”
9. Taylor Currently Acts as a Volunteer for the Liberi Foundation
Since 2018 Adam Taylor has acted as the director of the Liberi Foundation. The Liberi Foundation works to assist underprivileged children in Zambia in getting what they need to thrive. The foundation has created the Liberi School as well as developed food projects, vegetable gardens, assistance with school supplies, a skill center and much more.
10. Taylor Considers Adam Grant an Influencer
Adam Grant is a professor who currently teaches organizational psychology at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Author of four books, including Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, he also hosts the TED podcast WorkLife. Among other achievements, Grant is a contributor to the New York Times, a keynote speaker with the Washington Speakers Bureau and a board member of Lean In. So, it’s no surprise that Adam Taylor considers Grant one of his influencers.
Final Thoughts
Regarding Climate Change, we’re up to our necks in CO2. We’re running a race against time and at present, we aren’t looking that good. The issue is so critical that we need to find ways to not only decrease the CO2, but eliminte the excess from our atmosphere altogether. Some scientists are attempting to genetically craft trees to do just that, but trees take long to grow and mature. This what makes Taylor’s idea so appealing. By utilizing algea, we cut the amount of time down immeasurably. If we currently look at our options involving decreasing CO2 plus removing excess from the atmosphere, there’s a huge chance that by doing both, we can beat this thing, and beat it we must for the sake of our future quality of life and world we leave to our children.
