Welcome to Climate Changed, a series profiling members of the Tatler community, who are leaders in the world of sustainability, on how they’re tackling the threat of the climate crisis head-on. Here, Hong Kong coral scientist and Archireef co-founder and CEO Vriko Yu explains why she partners with long-term sustainability leaders to create impact
A business needs to have a strong environmental core to be truly sustainable, and for marine scientist Vriko Yu (Gen.T 2022), this meant turning her own research into a business. After witnessing the disappearance of a coral community in Sai Kung over two months in 2016, Yu, who is set to finish her PhD in coral restoration this year, focused her studies in active intervention solutions to save the reefs. “I was curious about what’s been happening to our local corals ever since—such an extinction event normally takes place across many years,” she says.
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In 2020, Yu and her team successfully developed 3D-printed clay reef tiles. “It was our solution to renovate the seafloor—each tile serves as a substrate to help coral grow on top.” By the time the tiles biodegrade, the coral would have extended its roots sufficiently to anchor itself to the seafloor; this results in its survivorship of up to 95 per cent. To scale her solution, the scientist co-founded Archireef, of which she is the CEO.
“I’m not a fan of the word ‘activist’—I would rather refer to us as ‘actionists’,” says Yu. “We want to be practical and deliver impact for the ocean.” When it comes to running the business, the team at Archireef is aware that deploying reef tiles takes years to yield results—and strategic funding and financial sustainability also need to come into the picture; the company is a for-profit business.
To create change and engage businesses, Yu believes in prioritising stakeholders she refers to as “trailblazers”. “Once you create the trend, others will follow,” she says. “Trailblazers want to be early adopters, so we focus on finding partners with the right mindset, who can define the space and have the capacity and willingness to be leaders.”
