Top 10: Climate Tech Companies
With just 25 years until the deadline for net zero, climate technology is rapidly changing from a speculative sector into a robust and essential pillar of the global economy.
Faced with shifting capital flows and geopolitical uncertainty ahead of COP30 this November, the industry is showcasing both its resilience and focus.
The market of climate tech is projected to surge from US$32.49bn in 2025 to US$79.45bn by 2029, a clear display of the faith that investors are putting in the sector's long-term viability.
But while this year has seen some important developments in the maturation of climate tech, it has also been another year characterised by the meteoric rise of AI.
AI is a friend to many climate tech innovators, but it is also a foe to the global climate action mission in many ways.
It is a fascinating paradox. While AI can equip governments and executives with tools that can optimise energy grids or industrial processes, its immense appetite for electricity and water is putting unprecedented pressure on Earth's resources and climate, with a single Gen AI query requiring nearly ten times the energy of a standard web search.
This challenge, however, is also catalysing a wave of innovation, funnelling investment into grid modernisation, long-duration energy storage and sustainable data centres.
But which companies are succeeding the most in transforming a potential crisis into a powerful driver for climate solutions?
In this week's Top 10, we take a look at some of the sector's brightest and best.
10. Pano AI
Founded: 2020
Based in: San Francisco, US
CEO: Sonia Kastner
Employees: 75
Notable feature: AI-powered, 360-degree cameras providing real-time wildfire detection and intelligence
As climate change intensifies the frequency and severity of wildfires, adaptation technologies are becoming indispensable.
Pano AI is right on the front lines of this new reality, offering authorities a new form of defence.
The company deploys networks of ultra-high-definition, rotating cameras on high vantage points, feeding a continuous stream of visual data to an AI platform.
These systems can detect the first signs of a wildfire of their own accord, confirm the threat and then provide real-time intelligence to first responders.
Its impact is already visible in the US. In Washington, for instance, the technology has helped keep 95% of fires under 10 acres.
9. Rumin8
Founded: 2021
Based in: Perth, Australia
CEO: David Messina
Employees: 22
Notable feature: Synthesising naturally occurring compounds to create livestock feed additives that dramatically reduce methane emissions
Tackling the enormous climate footprint of agriculture, Australian start-up Rumin8 is commercialising a highly scalable solution to reduce methane emissions from livestock.
While natural seaweeds have shown promise, Rumin8’s key innovation is its ability to identify, replicate and mass-produce the specific bioactive compounds responsible for methane reduction in a laboratory setting.
This synthetic approach bypasses the logistical and ecological challenges of seaweed farming, creating a cost-effective and consistent feed additive.
Backed by some of the world's most prominent climate funds, Rumin8 is pursuing the ambitious goal of decarbonising 100 million cattle by 2030.
8. Sunfire
Founded: 2010
Based in: Dresden, Germany
CEO: Nils Aldag
Employees: 650
Notable feature: A global leader in both pressurised alkaline and high-temperature solid oxide (SOEC) electrolysers for green hydrogen production
Hydrogen has long been suggested as a silver bullet for the clean energy transition, though the production of hydrogen is still far more difficult, expensive and energy intensive than it needs to be.
Germany's Sunfire is one of the companies that is looking to change that. The company manufactures electrolysers – the core technology used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable electricity.
What sets Sunfire apart, though, is its expertise in making two distinct types of electrolysis tech.
Its robust pressurised alkaline electrolysers are perfect for large-scale, steady-state operations, while its highly efficient solid oxide (SOEC) electrolysers are excellent at producing hydrogen from steam in industrial settings.
These two specialties make Sunfire a versatile proposition when it comes to industrial decarbonisation.
7. Sublime Systems
Founded: 2020
Based in: Somerville, USA
CEO: Dr Leah Ellis
Employees: 124
Notable feature: An ambient-temperature electrochemical process that creates zero-carbon cement, avoiding the emissions-intensive kilns of traditional production
Did you know that cement production is responsible for a staggering 8% of global CO₂ emissions? This is largely down to the high-heat kilns that conventional production processes use.
Sublime Systems, a spin-out from the prestigious college MIT, has completely reinvented this centuries-old method.
Its technology uses an electrochemical process at ambient temperature to break down abundant, non-carbonate rocks and industrial waste into the essential components of cement.
The team calls this a "true-zero" approach, which cuts out the need for kilns altogether, as well as the chemical reaction that releases CO₂ from limestone, producing a whiter, more durable cement while eliminating emissions at the source.
6. LanzaJet
Founded: 2020
Based in: Deerfield, USA
CEO: Jimmy Samartzis
Employees: 168
Notable feature: A patented and proven Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) technology that converts low-carbon ethanol into drop-in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)
Decarbonising aviation is going to be one of the hardest challenges of the energy transition.
LanzaJet is determined to make that transition as easy as possible though, addressing aviation's biggest sustainability problem: jet fuel.
The company’s pioneering Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) technology can convert ethanol from a wide variety of sustainable sources, including agricultural waste and captured industrial emissions, into high-quality, drop-in sustainable aviation fuel.
Having opened the world’s first commercial-scale ATJ SAF plant in 2024, and with backing from airlines, energy majors and governments, LanzaJet is rapidly scaling a technology that is critical for the future of flight.
5. BETA Technologies
Founded: 2017
Based in: South Burlington, USA
CEO: Kyle Clark
Employees: 800
Notable feature: A fully integrated electric aviation ecosystem, including both eVTOL and eCTOL aircraft and a multimodal charging network
Sticking with aviation, the Vermont-based firm BETA Technologies is taking a different approach to sustainable flight.
BETA's elegantly designed ALIA aircraft is entirely powered by electricity, and it comes in two variants.
First you have the vertical take-off and landing models for urban and medical transport. Then you have the more conventional take-off and landing models that can be used for regional cargo and passenger routes.
Critically, BETA is also deploying its own multimodal, high-speed charging network across the US, solving the essential infrastructure challenge that will ultimately determine the success of this new era of flight.
4. Stegra (formerly H2 Green Steel)
Founded: 2020 (as H2 Green Steel)
Based in: Stockholm, Sweden
CEO: Henrik Henriksson
Employees: 627 (targeting 1,500 in 2025)
Notable feature: Building one of Europe's first large-scale green steel plants, using green hydrogen to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 95%
In northern Sweden, Stegra is undertaking one of the world’s most ambitious industrial decarbonisation projects.
The firm is building a vertically integrated steel plant that will replace coal, the traditional reducing agent in steelmaking, with green hydrogen produced on-site using renewable electricity.
This process, which emits water instead of carbon dioxide, will cut the emissions of one of the world’s most polluting industries by around 95%.
Having secured nearly €6.5bn (US$7.5bn) in funding and pre-sold a majority of its initial output to industrial giants like Mercedes-Benz, Stegra is a flagship for the future of clean manufacturing.
3. Redwood Materials
Founded: 2017
Based in: Carson City, USA
CEO: J.B. Straubel
Employees: 1,000
Notable feature: Creating a closed-loop, circular supply chain for lithium-ion batteries, from collection and recycling to refining and remanufacturing anode and cathode components
Founded by ex-Tesla man J.B. Straubel, Redwood Materials is providing the definitive answer to one of the biggest questions of the EV transition: what happens to the batteries when they no longer work?
So far, Straubel's company has built a comprehensive, closed-loop system that goes beyond standard recycling processes.
It collects end-of-life batteries, refines the recovered metals to exacting battery-grade specifications, and then manufactures new anode and cathode components for US cell producers.
Redwood has also launched an energy storage business, wherein it repurposes used EV batteries to provide grid-scale power for the booming AI data centre industry, creating value before the batteries are even recycled. Circular poetry in motion.
2. Form Energy
Founded: 2017
Based in: Somerville, USA
CEO: Mateo Jaramillo
Employees: 985
Notable feature: A pioneering iron-air battery capable of storing electricity for 100 hours, providing cost-effective, multi-day energy storage to ensure grid reliability
Form Energy is tackling the single greatest obstacle to a fully renewable electricity grid: long-duration energy storage.
While lithium-ion batteries can store power for a few hours, Form’s technology is designed to deliver power for days on end, ensuring the grid remains stable during prolonged periods without wind or sun.
The company’s breakthrough is its iron-air battery, which uses the simple and reversible process of rusting iron to store and discharge energy.
By using some of the most abundant and low-cost materials on Earth, Form Energy is creating a scalable, American-made solution that can make clean energy as reliable and affordable as fossil fuels.
1. Climeworks
Founded: 2009
Based in: Zürich, Switzerland
CEO: Christoph Gebald & Jan Wurzbacher (Co-CEOs)
Employees: 300
Notable feature: The world's leading pioneer and operator of large-scale Direct Air Capture (DAC) and storage facilities, permanently removing CO₂ from the atmosphere
Topping our list this week is Climeworks, a company that is addressing the ultimate challenge of climate change: removing historic carbon dioxide emissions directly from the air.
While emissions reduction is absolutely paramount, virtually all credible net zero scenarios acknowledge the need for a lot of large-scale carbon removal to counteract residual and hard-to-abate emissions.
Climeworks is the undisputed global leader in this field, operating the world’s largest Direct Air Capture (DAC) and storage plants in Iceland.
Its technology uses advanced filters to capture CO₂, which is then mixed with water and injected deep underground, where it mineralises and turns to stone, providing a permanent and verifiable removal solution.
With some major corporate clients like Microsoft and Shopify buying its carbon credits, Climeworks is proving that the carbon removal industry is not just necessary, but absolutely viable in the pursuit of global sustainability.
