The Problem Statement Repository collects high-impact problem statements written and refined by the community. Each one describes goals achievable by one person or a small team and explains their significance in the context of a big picture challenge.

Solution statements to these problem statements are within scope for Garden Grants!

Copper demand is soaring, but proving the economics of cleaner extraction technologies still trips up even the best biomining ideas. Today we’re closing that gap: Homeworld Collective and our partners at Conductor Labs just published a free, Excel-based techno-economic analysis (TEA) that puts you in the “command center” of a copper heap-leach operation. This TEA is customized for innovators in biotechnology to allow them to “toggle the dials and knobs” controlling production. By playing with this TEA, you can understand if your ideas reduce cost or increase production speed - this model helps translate scientific concepts into economic considerations that decide if an idea moves forward in a commercial mine.

This Perspective discusses the significant, but underexplored, role biotechnology could play in several GHGR technologies as well as the common research, community, and knowledge gaps that are limiting progress. The GHGR technologies of focus are (1) the potential for the enzyme carbonic anhydrase to catalyze CO₂ exchange in direct air capture; (2) the potential utility of microbes for accelerating soil-based or reactor-based enhanced rock weathering; and (3) the potential for methanotrophic bacteria or methane monooxygenase enzymes to oxidize methane for atmospheric methane removal via enhanced methanotrophy or bioreactors.

Lead poisoning causes 5.5 million deaths annually and affects 275 million children in India alone, yet technology used to measure it, especially in humans, is limited. In collaboration with the Pahle India Foundation, Renaissance Philanthropy, Homeworld Collective has produced a new Target Product Profile for low-cost, portable testing, developed with input from 50+ experts, that aims to accelerate the development of accessible solutions while supporting a broader global initiative to combat lead poisoning.

We've examined the impact of funding models, analyzed big datasets of government-funded projects, and interviewed hundreds of practitioners to understand how funding can grow climate biotech.

We dived deep into the possibilities and next steps for using enzymes to catalyze CO2 exchange in direct air capture, point-source capture, and direct ocean capture of CO2.