Awesome Clean Tech

Clean technology is any process, product, or service that reduces negative environmental impacts through significant energy efficiency improvements, the sustainable use of resources, or environmental protection activities.

The goal of this list is to gather a list of awesome companies fighting climate change, as well as collecting research about the issues and solutions connected to it.

Contributions to this list are welcome! Just edit the README.md (this document) and send the changes as a pull request. Please read the guidelines before contributing.

Contents

• Companies
  • Vegetation & Agriculture
  • Food
  • Materials
  • Water
  • Energy
  • Social Impact
• More Resources
• Research

Companies

The format for companies is the following:

- [Company Name](URL) | Based in | Founded Year

Short description.

Vegetation & Agriculture

• AquaAgro | Karachi, Pakistan | 2018

  Provides solutions for precision farming, enabling farmers to monitor their crops and make better decisions. Their devices and platform can make predictions for irrigation scheduling, fertilizer requirement, pest attack prediction, and plant disease detection.

• Bowery Farming | New York, USA | 2015

  Their indoor vertical farms grow produce locally within cities with 95% less water, no pesticides, and 100x more productivity on the same footprint of land compared to traditional agriculture.

• Droneseed | Seattle, USA | 2015

  A team including foresters, ecologists, and engineers focused on wildfire reforestation. They plant native trees & vegetation using drone swarms and seed vessels developed to boost survival rates. As of 2020 they can propagate 40 acres in a day.

• Kheyti | India | 2015

  They implement low-cost farming solutions such as "Greenhouse-in-a-box" to help small farmers increase yield and predictability of produce.

• Land Life Company | Amsterdam | 2013

  Their mission is to reforest the world’s 2 billion hectares of degraded land.

• Peckas Tomater | Sweden | 2015

  Combined tomato and fish farm grown in a system where fish basin waste water nourishes tomatoes, and the tomato bed in turn cleans the water which goes back to the fish basins. Their fish is grown without antibiotics and the tomates does not need fertilizers.

• Phytoponics | UK | 2016

  Produces a commercial scale hydroponic growing system, which is cheaper and easier to install and maintain than traditional hydroponic systems. The goal is to bring the benefits of hydroponics (less water and land, more consistent yields), with a lower investment up front.

• Solar Foods | Finland | 2017

  Produces Solein - a single-cell protein - from water, CO2 and electricity. It doesn’t require arable land or irrigation and isn’t limited by climate conditions. The original concept of Solein was born from a NASA space programme, and was further developed in the research projects of the Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd and the Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT).

• Vultus | Sweden | 2016

  Uses satellite imaging to save fertilizer usage up to 30%, and track crops health. This allows farmers to reduce their Nitrous Oxide emissions, a greenhouse gas that is 298 times more potent than CO2.

Food

• Foods for Tomorrow / Heura | Barcelona, Spain | 2017

  Created an ingredient named Heura which represents a new generation of plant-based proteins using innovative production techniques to get textures never seen on the vegetal realm. Heura needs 94% less water than to produce the same amount of veal protein and only 0.5kg of soy per kg produced.

• Impossible Foods | California, USA | 2011

  Their plant based burgers require 96% less land, 87% less water, and 89% less greenhouse emissions to produce than traditional burgers. Their mission is to produce plant based meat in order to reduce the impact of the meat industry on the environment.

• HappyCow | California, USA | 1999

  Reduce or avoid meat entirely by finding great vegetarian or vegan food all over the world.

• Karma | Sweden | 2016

  Helps restaurants, cafes, and grocery stores selling their surplus food at a discounted price. As a result, users get food for less and businesses receive an additional revenue stream — all while reducing food waste.

• Olio | UK | 2015

  Mobile app for food-sharing, aiming to reduce food waste. It does this by connecting those with surplus food to those who need or wish to consume such food. The food must be edible; it can be raw or cooked, sealed or open.

• Too Good To Go | France | 2016

  Gives the possibility for restaurants, stores, bakeries and cafés to sell unsold food at the end of the day. Since it is impossible to know in advance what will be the unsolds of the day, the users get a "surprise basket" of about 500g of food. Pretty much like Karma, but more present in France.

Materials

• Boston Metal | Boston, USA | 2012

  Developed a new technology to produce emission free steel in a scalable and cost effective manner. As of 2020 they produced more than 1.000kg of metal alloys since the commissioning of their first reactor.

• Cellugy | Denmark | 2018

  Offers a biomaterial produced from food and vegetable waste, that can be used for packaging as an alternative to plastic. This material is translucent, resistent, and home compostable.

• Organicbasics | Denmark | 2015

  Offers underwear, essentials and activewear made consciously in Europe. The material used for their production is natural, renewable, recycled, biodegradable and or low-impact textiles only.

• SkyCool Systems | California, USA | 2016

  Manufacture add-ons to vapor-compression based cooling systems, which reduce their electricity usage while being CO2 neutral themselves.

Water

• The great bubble barrier | Netherlands | 2016

  Developed a system working with a tube with holes placed on the bottom of a river. Pumping air through the tube creates a bubble barrier, or air curtain. The air bubbles force plastics in the water to the surface, making them accessible for removal.

• The Ocean Cleanup | Netherlands | 2013

  Developed a technology to passively collect ocean debris, with the goal of cleaning the oceans of 90% of their plastic waste by 2040. In 2018 they deployed their solution in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

• Ocean Voyages Institute | Honolulu, USA | 1979

  Non-profit founded by international sailors, educators, and conservationists with a mission of teaching maritime arts and sciences and preserving the world’s oceans. They completed multiple cleanup expeditions in the Pacific, the most recent one in June 2020 where they removed 103 tons of fishing nets and consumer plastics from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

• Orbital Systems | Sweden | 2012

  Collaborated with NASA to develop a shower system that uses 90% less water. The shower has a purification system that makes it possible to reuse the same batch of water. The company now wants to make this technology - initially developed for space - available to consumers.

• Refill App | UK | 2015

  This is an app which lets you find free water refill stations across the UK. Currently there are more than 20,000 free stations across the nation. The app also tracks saved bottles, saved carbon and donates 13p every time you refill a bottle to planet protecting campaings.

• Seabin Project | Australia | 2016

  Their mission is to reduce plastic in the oceans through a floating rubbish bin that collect pollutants on the water surface. As of October 2019 they have deployed 719 Seabins and are capturing almost 3 tonnes of rubbish per day.

• Solar Water Solutions | Finland | 2015

  Develops a reverse osmosis technology for producing drinking water with low operating expenses and no CO2 emissions. The desalination system is fully solar, independent of external energy sources and easy-to-use and maintain.

• Zero Mass Water | Scottsdale, USA | 2014

  Produces Hydropanels, a self-contained system that relies on solar power to convert air humidity into clean drinkable water.

Energy

• Bulb | UK | 2013

  The UK's biggest green supplier. They provide members with 100% renewable electricity from solar, wind and hydro. Plus, the gas is 100% carbon neutral. 10% is green gas produced from renewable sources like food or farm waste.

• Carbon Engineering | Canada | 2009

  Using Direct Air Capture technology, Carbon Engineering aims to take existing CO₂ directly out of the air, then use the gas to make carbon neutral synthetic fuels for planes, trucks, and ships. Carbon Engineering is funded by several government and sustainability-focused agencies as well as by private investors, including Bill Gates and oil sands magnate Norman Murray Edwards.

• ChargePoint | California,USA | 2007

  ChargePoint operates a open electric vehicle (EV) charging network and makes technology used in it.

• ElectricityMap.org | Denmark/France | 2017

  A software company offering access to live and historical data of the origin of electricity and its associated carbon emissions in 90+ countries, based on open-source contributions.

• Gogoro | Taiwan | 2011

  Develops and sells electric scooters and battery swapping infrastructure.

• Hydrostor | Canada | 2010

  Converts electrical energy to compressed air stored in accumulators under water. Once in the accumulators, the energy can be stored until required by the grid. When the energy is required, the weight of the water pushes the air back to the surface, where it is converted to electricity using a generator.

• Inspire | Philadelphia, USA | 2014

  Simplifying consumer adoption of clean energy by offering an array of affordable clean energy plans to homeowners that integrate with smart home technologies.

• Marcel | France | 2011

  An online taxi app like Uber that gives the possibility to use electric cars and partners with the GoodPlanet foundation to fully compensate for the carbon generated by its rides. Since 2019 it is only available in France.

• Momentum Dynamics | Pennsylvania, USA | 2009

  Developing wireless charging for the automotive and transportation industry. Allows any type of vehicle or appliance to be connected to electrical power grid without the use of cables or wires.

• Nel ASA | Norway | 1927

  Provides solutions for the production, storage and distribution of hydrogen from renewable energy sources.

• Open Climate Fix | London, England | 2019

  Non-profit research and development lab, focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by solving machine learning problems. As of 2019 they are working on a forecasting system to reduce gas turbines backups on power grids that use solar energy.

• Redflow | Brisbane, Australia | 2001

  Manufacture zinc-bromine flow batteries that tolerate daily hard work in harsh conditions with minimal reduction in capacity over time, solutions for the residential and industrial installations.

• Rocky Mountain Institute | Colorado, USA | 1982

  Influential research institute whose mission statement is "...to transform global energy use to create a clean, prosperous, and secure low-carbon future". Co-founded by Amory Lovins, physicist and auther of "Soft Energy Paths".

• Siemens | Germany | 1847

  Multinational manufacturing company. Among their many projects they produce wind turbines and provide onshore and offshore wind services. It is the world's third largest wind turbine manufacturer as of 2018.

• Solar City | California, USA | 2006

  Current products include a solar panel roof that collects as much power as possible without looking like a solar panel, and Powerwall, a home energy storage solution.

• Sonnen | Germany | 2010

  Produces energy storage solutions for households. Also, they currently provide the largest network for sharing power from renewable energies, operating in Germany.

• Suzlon Energy Ltd. | India | 1995

  Wind turbine manufacturer present in 18 countries across the continents.

• Tesla | California, USA | 2003

  Specialized in electric car manufacturing and through, its SolarCity subsidiary, solar panel manufacturing.

• Ushva Clean Technology | Mumbai, India | 2015

  They believe in optimizing the energy consumption without compromising with the convenience and then neutralizing the remaining energy requirement. Their vision is to provide accessibility to affordable power derived from renewable resources, free of geographic and transmission constraints.

• Vestas | Denmark | 1945

  Manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines. As of 2019 Vestas has installed over 66,000 wind turbines for a capacity of 100 GW in over 80 countries on five continents.

• WindCORES | Germany | 2018

  A subsidiary of Westfalenwind, a German wind energy developer. They are a data center provider that hosts servers inside wind turbines, bringing the consumer of electricity closer to the producer.

Social Impact

• Billions in Change | USA | 2015

  Billions in Change develops and delivers inventions that help the unlucky half of the world obtain basic needs like clean water, reliable electricity, and sufficient food. Those fundamentals set the foundation for education, health, and livelihood, enabling people to improve life for themselves and for their families.

• Doconomy | Sweden | 2018

  Fintech company promoting the reduction in consumption, by providing a credit card which uses CO2 emissions as spending limit.

• Ducky | Norway | 2014

  Offers a range of products based on climate and environmental research data, where you can monitor your personal footprint in their climate calculator, learn about climate psychology, and reduce carbon emissions through friendly team competitions.

• Ecosia | Germany | 2009

  Internet search engine that donates its surplus income to non-profit organizations that focus on reforestation. According to their website, as of July 2019, they have been responsible for the planting of 60 million trees.

• Ewally | Mexico | 2017

  System and App that provide a complete and eco-friendly trash collection service promoting the recycling culture. The wall between ocean and trash.

• Tomorrow | Denmark/France | 2018

  App that calculates the climate impact of your daily choices by connecting to apps and services you already use: your personal and automated carbon tracker.

• Triodos Bank | Netherlands | 1980

  European Bank for consumers and businesses that only lends to organisations who make positive environmental and social change. They invest significantly in renewable energy systems and publish details of every organisation they finance on their website.

• Unmade | England | 2013

  Reduces waste in the fashion industry, by offering on-demand production of clothing at scale. Unmade was born out of a desire to re-imagine both the design and manufacturing processes within the fashion industry, so brands only make what is actually sold, resulting in minimal waste.

More Resources

• ClimateTechList - curated list of ~50 climatetech companies, specific to software engineers, with descriptions of each company, their software impact, and climate impact.
• Breakthrough Energy Ventures - Venture fund backed by Bill Gates and a group of private investors, with more than $1 billion in committed capital, to build companies that will help stop climate change.
• Clean Tech Finland - Hub of Finnish clean tech companies.
• Clean Tech Sweden - Hub of Swedish clean tech companies.
• r/ClimateActionPlan - A subreddit for giving people hope when facing climate change.
• Climate Choice - A non-profit project that contains actionable guides on reducing climate change, as well as educational information about climate change.
• Mattermore.io - Newsletter highlighting companies using AI & data science to reverse climate change; useful for discovering new initiatives/work opportunities, delivered every week.
• Norrsken Foundation - Swedish foundation which supports and invests in organizations that have a positive impact on society.

Research

• Environmental Protection Agency - Research on effects of climate change and solutions.
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.
• Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change - Providing solution-oriented policy pathways for governing the global commons to enhance sustainable development and human well-being.
• NASA climate - Vital signs of the planet, facts, and solutions.
• U.N Climate Change National Inventory Submissions - This contains country specific climate reports from several U.N countries. It has data from 2003 onwards.

License

This work and all contributions to it are released into the public domain under the terms of the CC0 1.0.