There Are Three Climate Challenges Where Startups Are Needed the Most
BloombergNEF has kicked off a search for early-stage companies trying to solve some of the most intractable problems in the race to reach net zero.
Solar panels at the Owls Hatch Solar Farm near Herne Bay, UK.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergThe list of changes the world will have to make to get on track to hit net zero emissions by mid-century is long. But some challenges stand out as bigger than others.
This week BloombergNEF announced the three focus areas for its annual Pioneers awards for early-stage climate tech startups and opened applications. This year’s competition is aimed at startups working on reducing buildings’ carbon footprints, easing the bottleneck to getting clean energy on the grid ASAP and creating fuels that don’t fry the planet. You can think of them as the three Bs of climate change problem-solving: buildings, bottlenecks and better fuels. (Pioneers also includes a wildcard category for startups working on problems outside these areas.)