Mission
The Climate Tech Atlas seeks to ignite bold, scalable breakthroughs and drive ambitious global investment in existing, emerging, and yet-to-be-discovered climate technologies. We invite students, innovators, investors, policymakers, philanthropists, and the inherently curious to join us in envisioning and building a decarbonized future.
About the Climate Tech Atlas
The Climate Tech Atlas is a free platform that identifies technical “Innovation Imperatives” and “Moonshots” that will accelerate decarbonization. It focuses attention on technologies that move the needle at scale.
- Innovation Imperatives are the critical needs that can help accelerate the path to net zero in the near term.
- Moonshots are high-risk, high-reward innovations that may take longer to realize but could radically reshape our path to net zero.
- The Climate Tech Atlas highlights over 60 innovation imperatives and 39 moonshots across 24 opportunity areas in six primary sectors—Buildings; Manufacturing; Transportation; Food, Ag & Nature; Electricity; and GHG Removal.
Contributors
Stanford Doerr School
of Sustainability
The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability advances knowledge, solutions, and impact through research and education to create a thriving, enduring future for humanity and the planet.
Energy Innovation
Energy Innovation is a non-partisan energy and climate policy think tank that provides customized research and policy analysis to decision-makers.
Speed & Scale
Speed & Scale is a global initiative to move leaders to act on the climate crisis.
Breakthrough Energy
Breakthrough Energy helps innovators accelerate the discovery, development, and deployment of the clean energy technologies that will power human prosperity for generations to come.
McKinsey & Company
McKinsey Sustainability aspires to be the largest private-sector catalyst for decarbonization, working with clients across the global economy to accelerate emissions reduction, scale green businesses, deploy climate technologies, and build resilience. McKinsey contributed its existing independent insights on climate technologies to inform the development of the Climate Atlas.
Elemental Impact
Elemental Impact is a nonprofit investor focused on scaling innovative technologies with deep environmental and local impact.
Why We Created This Project
The past decades of climate innovation has laid the groundwork for new opportunities and growth in climate tech, even in a tumultuous policy landscape. Moreover, climate innovation is a trillion-dollar frontier that can drive economic growth and a new generation of clean energy jobs around the globe.
History tells us that visionary founders can build breakout companies in any economic climate. Startups founded during the 2008 financial crisis experienced substantially better long-term survival and growth outcomes despite being founded in a time of decreased capital.
Crisis breeds breakthroughs; new ideas often flourish in times of uncertainty. In short, the time is ripe for a map for the road ahead in climate tech. The Climate Tech Atlas is designed to map the frontier of innovation and speed our way to net zero.
Contribute
Ultimately, the Climate Tech Atlas is necessarily incomplete. History’s most transformative technologies often emerge from where we least expect them, and we remain incredibly excited by the possibility of surprise—the very essence of innovation itself.
To that end, please help us make the Atlas better. Have an idea for a new innovation imperative or moonshot? Or feedback on an existing one? Share it with us using this form or get in touch with us at ideas@climatetechatlas.com.
Acknowledgements
Sonia
Aggarwal
Energy Innovation
Camille
Bangug
Elemental Impact
Yi
Cui
Stanford Doerr School
of Sustainability
Jonathan
Lipman
Speed & Scale
Dawn
Lippert
Elemental Impact
Robbie Orvis
Energy Innovation
Quinn Marvin
Speed & Scale
Ryan Panchadsaram
Speed & Scale
Mark Patel
McKinsey
Charlotte
Pera
Stanford Doerr School
of Sustainability
Cooper Rinzler
Breakthrough
Energy Ventures
Aaron Schifrin
McKinsey
Eric Toone
Breakthrough
Energy Ventures
Sarah Abebe
McKinsey
Al Armendariz
Other
Olivia Ashmoore
Energy Innovation
Pedro Assunção
McKinsey
Inez Azevedo
Stanford University
Sara Baldwin
Energy Innovation
Ryan Barrett
McKinsey
Angelina Benson-Glanz
Other
Krysta Biniek
McKinsey
Gaetan Bonhomme
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Shalhaley Bornstein
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Timothy Bouley
Stanford University
Andrea Boza Zanatta
McKinsey
Tom Brennan
McKinsey
Jeffrey Brown
Stanford University
Alix Burns
Speed & Scale
Ryan Buscaglia
Research Assistant
Chris Busch
Energy Innovation
Cindy Chang
Speed & Scale
Christopher Chen
McKinsey
Lani Cobb
Elemental Impact
Ali Cohen
Research Assistant
Jack Conness
Energy Innovation
Jeffrey Coplon
Speed & Scale
Rachel Crawford
Pentagram
Dave Danielson
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Steve Davis
Stanford University
Eleonora Dello Iacono
Accurat
Sonali Deshpande
Energy Innovation
Annie Dillon
Elemental Impact
John Doerr
Speed & Scale
Ann Doerr
Speed & Scale
Dan Esposito
Energy Innovation
Jaime Field
Speed & Scale
Lucas Fleischer
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Jenna Floricel
Elemental Impact
Nick Fong
Elemental Impact
Magana Gabriela
Stanford University
Margaret Garascia
Other
Eric Gimon
Energy Innovation
Noah Gluschankoff
Stanford University
Anand Gopal
Other
Andrea Gray
Stanford University
Anjali Grover
Speed & Scale
Rodi Guidero
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Mary Haas
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Tom Hellstern
McKinsey
Sadie Henderson
Elemental Impact
Chelsea Herman
Copywriter
Amanda Hildebrand
Other
Halcyon Hirst
McKinsey
Francesco Iacono
Accurat
Krystle Jackson
Elemental Impact
Juan Jaimez
Other
Rishee Kumar Jain
Stanford University
Sila Kiliccote
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Kirstin Kirby
McKinsey
Sabrina Laneve
Accurat
Phil Larochelle
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Vito Latrofa
Accurat
Jim Leape
Stanford University
Mary Lee
Other
Chubing Li
Stanford University
Albert Liang
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
David Lobell
Stanford University
Matt Logan
Earthshot Ventures
Giorgia Lupi
Pentagram
Silvio Marcacci
Energy Innovation
Jade Marcus
Stanford University
Michael Mastrandrea
Stanford University
Sebastian Mayer
McKinsey
Brian Mayers
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Tapio Melgin
McKinsey
Lynn Miles
Stanford University
Liang Min
Stanford University
Jacob Moos
McKinsey
Jesse Noffsinger
McKinsey
Mike O’Boyle
Energy Innovation
Kristin O’Brien
Stanford University
Simona Onori
Stanford University
Lucienne Oyer
McKinsey
Suyog Padgaonkar
Other
Ruby Powers
Pentagram
Rekha Rao
Other
Erika Reinhardt
Other
Sebastian Reiter
McKinsey
Charles Riesenberg
McKinsey
Jeff Rissman
Energy Innovation
Christopher Rivest
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Carmichael Roberts
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Natalia Rodriguez Quiroz
McKinsey
Aidan Rowley
McKinsey
Mitch Rubin
Elemental Impact
Liz Ryan
Pentagram
Ed Ryan
Pentagram
Max Sabbe
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Caitlin Sanford
Research Assistant
Nik Sawe
Energy Innovation
Gabriel Scheer
Elemental Impact
Zach Scheinfeld
Pentagram
Ben Schick
Research Assistant
Sonia Shah
Research Assistant
Nick Sorokin
Research Assistant
Corina Standiford
Elemental Impact
Terry Taylor
McKinsey
Lauren Tonokawa
Elemental Impact
Alexis Trittipo
McKinsey
Irene Trotta
Accurat
Peter Turner
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Melissa Uhl
Elemental Impact
Alexander Urquhart
Energy Innovation
Bryan Vadheim
McKinsey
Avra van der Zee
Elemental Impact
Godardt van Gendt
McKinsey
Ilaria Venturini
Accurat
Michael Wara
Stanford University
Libby Wayman
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Ryan Yan
Pentagram
Laeticia Yang
McKinsey
Kathleen Yip
Other
Xiaolin Zhang
Stanford University
