A reforestation project in Krafla, Iceland. The country lost most of its trees more than a thousand years ago, when Viking settlers cut down forests to supply wood for boats, homes and fuel. Iceland’s government views reforestation as one way to help the country meet its climate goals. In addition, it benefits farmers by improving and stabilizing soil, and helps counteract the effects of erosion and sandstorms.
2023 Photo Contest, Europe, Long-Term Projects

Net-Zero Transition

Photographer

Simone Tramonte

19 July, 2020

A reforestation project in Krafla, Iceland. The country lost most of its trees more than a thousand years ago, when Viking settlers cut down forests to supply wood for boats, homes and fuel. Iceland’s government views reforestation as one way to help the country meet its climate goals. In addition, it benefits farmers by improving and stabilizing soil, and helps counteract the effects of erosion and sandstorms.

This project documents different technologies that offer possible routes of transition to a net-zero economy. The photographer visited innovative facilities across Europe, from Iceland to Italy, from 2020 to 2022.

Human-induced climate change is the largest, most pervasive threat to the natural environment and society that the world has ever experienced, according to the UN Human Rights Office, OHCHR. This prompted the European Union to establish targets to cut greenhouse emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030 and to reduce them to net-zero by 2050. European companies seeking ways to achieve these goals are exploring renewable energies, new technologies for food production, and the circular economy as potential ways forward.

Simone Tramonte
About the photographer

Simone Tramonte is a photographer whose work focuses on documenting social and environmental contemporary issues. His interest focuses on analyzing the relationship between people and the environment and aims to document how innovative technologies can shape them towards a more sustainable future.  After obtain...

Read the full biography
Technical information
Shutter Speed

113

ISO

1/1

Camera

FC2103

Jury comment

This project is an impressive example of solutions based journalism wherein the photographer's commitment to gaining access and incredible research offers a unique perspective into European efforts to secure a sustainable future. The project boasted beautiful aesthetics and its clinical scientific approach gives the audience space to visualize and conceptualize each solution without leading with emotion. The project is thought provoking and demonstrates the relationship between the scale of the crisis and the scale of solutions.