How Naveen Sikka Of Terviva Is Helping to Promote Sustainability and Climate Justice

An Interview With Monica Sanders

Keep your eyes on policy. Policy is the silent architect of change. It paves the way for the rapid adoption of climate technologies, influencing capital flow. Today, Terviva finds that the policy momentum around aviation biofuel will help us to get more trees planted sooner than if we prioritize our beans for plant protein, where the market has cooled off and there’s virtually no policy support.

According to the University of Colorado, “Those who are most affected and have the fewest resources to adapt to climate change are also the least responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions — both globally and within the United States.” Promoting climate justice is an incredibly important environmental responsibility that is slowly becoming more and more recognized. In this interview series, we are talking to leaders who are helping to promote sustainability and climate justice. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Naveen Sikka.

Naveen Sikka is the founder and CEO of Terviva, an agricultural innovation company partnering with farmers to grow pongamia, a climate-resilient tree which helps to reforest land and revitalize communities. Under his leadership, Terviva has unlocked pongamia’s potential as a super tree capable of providing meaningful climate-change solutions. After more than a decade of innovation, Terviva has established an equitable and transparent supply chain where they harvest and transform pongamia beans into bioenergy and sustainable food ingredients called Ponova®.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?

I grew up in New Jersey with deep roots in India. My parents are immigrants so I would spend at least one month every summer immersed in India’s rich culture and tradition. Then, in my teens and early twenties, I traveled throughout Europe and spent a summer in West Africa. Those experiences gave me an appreciation for the differences and remarkable similarities across countries and cultures.

Today, as the CEO and founder of Terviva, I think a lot about how Terviva can support the current global movement for a healthier planet, while adapting our business to local communities around the world.

Everyone has a cataclysmic moment or marker in their life which propels them to take certain actions, a “why.” What is your why?

At the turn of the millennium, equipped with degrees in Political Science and French, I entered the business world, driven by a desire to “do good and do well.”

By the age of 27, I found myself balancing a successful career as a management consultant with an unexpected personal tragedy. The loss of someone dear to me caused me to reevaluate my priorities, and, feeling like there was no better time than the present moment, I committed to building my career more deeply around social and environmental impact. I founded Terviva at the age of 31, combining my dedication for impact with the knowledge gained from an earlier career in agriculture and clean energy.

You are currently leading an organization that is making a difference for our planet. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change?

We believe that climate change is not only humanity’s greatest challenge, but that it can also become humanity’s greatest success — if while solving climate change, we allow the benefits of climate change technologies to spread evenly around the world to all of humanity — to rich and poor communities alike.

Big and small companies around the world are developing many exciting technologies to address climate change, and a new generation of wealth will be created from these technologies — this is where the potential of agriculture as a force for good comes in. Agriculture is perfectly suited for the equitable sharing of such benefits.

There are nearly 2 billion smallholder farmers worldwide and their lives are profoundly affected by climate change. If we can develop nature-based solutions which revitalize both the land and communities most impacted by climate change, while providing food to feed the world’s growing population, both our planet and people can thrive. This is why we’ve spent the last 14 years at Terviva studying and working with a novel tree crop called pongamia. As a regenerative and climate-resilient tree, it’s traditionally been used for reforestation in Asia. The beans of the pongamia tree are bitter but have medicinal value and have been used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine in applications like skincare.

We’ve developed natural food processing techniques that allow these beans to be used as sustainable food, feed, and fuel substitutes for soybean and palm. Pongamia’s unique advantage over soybean and palm is its ability to grow on poor quality agricultural land. It helps to improve soil health and water quality while sequestering carbon. The combination of the hardiness of the tree, its ability to tolerate erratic availability of water, fix nitrogen and the fact that it can be used for reforestation as well as an agroforestry crop, make it a really special solution for farmers around the world.

In addition to our processing technology, we’ve also developed non-GMO cultivars of pongamia that yield exceptionally well on poor quality land. These trees are now being planted in distressed farming communities in the U.S., Australia, and India. Our goal for the next decade is to plant hundreds of millions of these trees across the U.S., Asia, and Central America. This will result in the storing of hundreds of millions of tonnes of carbon on underutilized agricultural land, all while producing climate-friendly oil and protein, which in turn, improves the livelihoods of millions of farmers.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?

Every successful startup has experienced unexpected events that have helped propel it forward. Terviva is no exception, and we’ve had our fair share of serendipity.

An example is when our co-founder Sudhir Rani and I were talking to the-then head of a large agricultural company in India, and we were touting our ability to make high-quality feed ingredients from pongamia for the India livestock industry (where quality feed ingredients are a limitation). This person listened carefully to Sudhir and I and then paused for what seemed like a long time before he responded: “Yes, but what about human food from pongamia? People in India need to eat too.”

It was such a simple and compelling statement — the highest social use of agriculture is not fuel or feed, but human food.. It was just the push that Sudhir and I needed, together with our team, to begin experiments to see if we could pull it off. Fast forward from there, and we have done it. Pongamia can serve all our agricultural needs — food, feed, and fuel — way more sustainably than virtually any other crop.

None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?

There’s not enough room in this article to list the many people whom I’ve relied upon for wisdom and support, but here a few:

(1) Ron Edwards, CEO of Evans Properties, who is certainly the most successful food and agriculture entrepreneur I’ve ever met (and possibly the most successful one in the whole country). He’s taught me how to balance risk with opportunity.

(2) Maggie Kavalaris, my co-founder, who had an enormously successful career before Terviva as a partner in “big law”, and who has counseled me through some of Terviva’s darkest moments.

(3) Jed McCaleb, the serial technology entrepreneur, who connected early to Terviva’s mission and who has been a crucial investor for Terviva for over a decade.

What does climate justice mean to you? How do we operationalize it?

To me, climate justice means creating a better physical and social environment in communities impacted by climate change, while also embedding the economic rewards from climate technologies being used in those communities.

In agriculture, farmers have historically been treated as suppliers. Generally, around the world, farmers also have among the lowest per capita income levels of any profession. There is a direct correlation between farmers being seen as mere suppliers and their lower income level. Climate justice in agriculture requires a mindset shift away from seeing farmers as suppliers to farmers as true partners. We can do this by passing profits from our pongamia product sales back to the farmers, or by committing a portion of sales to community reinvestment. Most importantly, the IP developed from “ag tech” needs to be accessible and affordable to farmers.

We’re still in the era of GMO agriculture, where farmers pay biotech companies for genetically engineered seeds without making much money themselves. At Terviva, we’ve developed non-GMO, proprietary genetics of pongamia trees through a decade of rigorous research but we don’t profit from the farmers who plant these trees; instead, we derive our revenue from the products that we sell from the pongamia beans grown by these farmers.

Science is telling us that we have 7–10 years to make critical decisions about climate change. What are three things you or your organization are doing to help?

First and foremost, we plan to plant millions of trees to feed billions of people. Our planet’s two billion smallholding farmers need a more sustainable and profitable crop to help them thrive in the face of climate change, while also feeding a growing population. If we plant pongamia trees at a high enough scale, we can help farmers to switch out of crops that hurt our environment and that offer little financial return.

Secondly, the millions of trees we cultivate will store millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide. Planted on poor quality agricultural land, they not only reforest these areas but also contribute to rebuilding soil carbon. Trees are universally acknowledged as one of the most cost-effective and scalable means of sequestering carbon dioxide. Interestingly, in the United States, it’s one of the few climate solutions that both political parties agree upon!

Finally, we aim to inspire consumers around the world. People are increasingly making careful choices about the products they buy based on how it helps our planet. We want to give them the opportunity to make food and travel choices based on a sustainably grown tree, a tree that revitalizes the land, nourishes the ground for decades, and supports farmers.

Are there three things the community, society, or politicians can do to help you in your mission?

Pick the simple solution. We have a tendency to believe that only fancy new technologies will save us. For example, I recently read about large complex factories that will vacuum carbon dioxide out of the air. Well, trees have been vacuuming up carbon dioxide out of the air for millions of years. Let’s go with trees!

Take everyone into consideration. For climate technologies to really scale, they have to fit into different communities and different cultures all around the world. Years ago, we somewhat figured this out with pharmaceuticals — the prices paid in the U.S. could not be the same as the prices paid in India. And, governments and NGOs helped to bridge that gap. We have to do the same with climate technologies, so that businesses can succeed and climate technologies can spread evenly around the world.

Have patience. Climate technologies produce some of the most commoditized elements in the world — electrons and calories. It’s taken human civilization nearly a century to make these items affordable and abundant from existing commodities like petroleum, corn and soybean. Climate technologies won’t scale or be as affordable anytime soon, but with time they will, and they will help to reshape our world.

How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?

Honestly, I think this is a tricky thing, from where we stand today. Sustainability often carries a higher price tag, pushing sustainable products into a premium, niche market — but that’s not our goal. Our vision extends far beyond a niche segment of the population. Our goal is mass adoption of climate technologies, so we can have positive and meaningful impact which creates needed change across industries.

That’s our goal for example with Ponova® oil, which is the edible oil we make from pongamia beans. It has a premium quality to it, like extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil, but we price it much more affordably than these oils. And while it’s still more expensive than the cheapest edible vegetable oils, over time, we expect Ponova® oil to be priced closer to these affordable oils with a superior quality and carbon footprint.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started promoting sustainability and climate justice” and why?

(1) Keep your eyes on policy. Policy is the silent architect of change. It paves the way for the rapid adoption of climate technologies, influencing capital flow. Today, Terviva finds that the policy momentum around aviation biofuel will help us to get more trees planted sooner than if we prioritize our beans for plant protein, where the market has cooled off and there’s virtually no policy support.

(2) Avoid lofty claims. I’ve seen a lot of startups early on in their journey, make very bold claims about their potential scale and impact only to have to adjust those claims downwards. This helps no one and decreases the credibility of our whole movement. We used to say that our products would be “carbon negative,” meaning our trees would absorb more carbon than the lifecycle carbon emissions of the products made from the beans of these trees. While this is possible in the long run, it’s not likely in the near term. Now, we say that our oil is 91% less carbon-intensive than petroleum, a statement reflective of where we are today, something which is firmly rooted in our present-day impact.

(3) Think practically about scale-up. Each step in the journey of scale-up is unique, marked by its own challenges. We’ve learned that commercial deployments are not one-size-fits-all endeavors. Every time we plant trees somewhere new, it’s different from the last time. Scaling up may require a tailored approach.

(4) Pay attention to what the big guys are doing, and complement it. The titans of industry — big ag, big oil, big banks — run the show. And, for the most part, they believe in the need to address climate change. But they are slow. Figure out how you can help them with their biggest needs and their biggest challenges to get something done. When it comes to biofuel, we find that the big energy companies want to transition to cleaner fuels, which often requires some knowledge of farming a biofuel crop. But that’s a risk that the energy companies aren’t familiar with (because they aren’t farmers). So we work to find credible farming partners to join in our projects alongside the energy companies.

(5) Remember your mission. It’s hard to build any new company, let alone one that is competing with incumbent, well established, and low margin products (electrons and calories). At times at Terviva, we’ve gotten a bit ambitious, chasing a new opportunity that we thought might help us make money (or raise money from investors). When lost, we’ve always used our mission to help restore focus. Terviva isn’t a food company, or a fuel company — we are a tree company. We exist to plant millions of trees to feed billions of people and to help fuel a greener future. That’s helped us to pick the right opportunities and partners.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

Sir Richard… Can we plant some pongamia trees on Necker Island?

This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!

About the Interviewer: Monica Sanders JD, LL.M, is the founder of “The Undivide Project”, an organization dedicated to creating climate resilience in underserved communities using good tech and the power of the Internet. She holds faculty roles at the Georgetown University Law Center and the Tulane University Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy. Professor Sanders also serves on several UN agency working groups. As an attorney, Monica has held senior roles in all three branches of government, private industry, and nonprofits. In her previous life, she was a journalist for seven years and the recipient of several awards, including an Emmy. Now the New Orleans native spends her time in solidarity with and championing change for those on the frontlines of climate change and digital divestment. Learn more about how to join her at: www.theundivideproject.org