2023 was the hottest year in recorded history, and this year might be even hotter. But as climate impacts get more extreme, companies are racing to find solutions. Some are discovering new ways to eliminate major sources of emissions, like Sublime, an MIT spinout that makes zero-carbon cement, and Pivot Bio, which uses microbes to help farmers reduce fertilizer. In cities, at a smaller scale, Cambium is harvesting fallen trees to help avoid deforestation elsewhere. Others are finding ways to speed up decarbonization, like Neara, which uses AI to help add more renewable electricity without major changes to the electric grid, or Crux, which is helping climate tech-projects get financing.
GHGSat, meanwhile, is using a new satellite to help companies and governments track CO2 emissions in real time from space. And since the world simultaneously needs to remove CO2 from the atmosphere while companies cut emissions, carbon-removal pioneers like Heirloom are finding new ways to permanently capture climate pollution. (In Heirloom’s case, that means putting crushed rock in trays in a large new “direct air capture” plant in California’s Central Valley.) Climeworks, a leader in the industry, rolled out new third-party verification for its process and recently began scaling up operations at its newest plant in Iceland.
As a large group of startups focus on climate change, others are working on equally critical sustainability challenges, like ZwitterCo, which designed a new type of filter to help reuse industrial wastewater, and Allonnia, which is helping to remove one type of “forever” chemical from drinking water.
1. Climeworks
2. Pivot Bio
For producing a more sustainable crop fertilizer
3. GHGSat
For measuring CO2 emissions from space
4. Heirloom
5. ZwitterCo
For helping industry reuse millions of gallons of water
6. Allonnia
For using microbes to clean up “forever” chemicals
7. Sublime Systems
8. Neara
For helping to add clean power without building new grid infrastructure
9. Crux
For changing how climate tech projects are financed in the U.S.
10. Cambium
Explore the full 2024 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 606 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the firms making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, artificial intelligence, design, sustainability, and more.
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