Deadline: 27th October, 2023
For more than a decade, the BNEF Pioneers program has identified a group of game-changing technologies or innovations annually – each with the potential to accelerate global decarbonization and halt climate change. Pioneers can be innovators serving the energy, transport, materials, manufacturing, consumer and agriculture sectors, or providers of solutions and technologies that help increase understanding of the climate, scale carbon capture, utilization and storage, and promote climate adaption.
Winning BNEF Pioneers benefit from a number of opportunities:
- Be recognized as a BNEF Pioneer 2024, a leading innovator with a product or service capable of driving the low-carbon transition forward.
- Receive one year of access to our BNEF Web product and all our insights.
- Join the prestigious group of Pioneer alumni.
- Get the opportunity to attend and a chance to speak at our six global BNEF Summits and participate in startup pitching events hosted by BNEF.
- Appear in BNEF public reports, research and videos.
Previous winners of BNEF Pioneers have an excellent track record of going on to affect change in their industries and become major players in the global energy transition.
Eligibility
Early-stage companies: Climate-tech companies that can be for-profit or non-profit, private, public or subsidiaries.
Pilot projects and joint ventures: Any innovative pilot projects or joint ventures working on net-zero challenges.
NGOs, laboratories and innovation communities: NGOs, university or state-sponsored labs, and any other innovation groups creating net-zero products or technologies with commercial implications.
Selection criteria
- Potential impact
What is the scale of the opportunity being addressed? To what extent can this solution address the net-zero challenge? Can you quantify the greenhouse gas emissions your technology could eliminate? Is your business local or can it be rolled out in multiple geographical markets? Will it spawn an entire ecosystem of new supporting businesses? Might there be negative unforeseen impacts of the technology when it scales?
- Innovation
How original is your technology or business model? Is it a ground-breaking modification of what others are doing, or is it something completely new? Is it patented or otherwise proven? Are there barriers to its adoption or success and can these be overcome? What complementary policies or business structures already exist?
- Likelihood of adoption
Over what timeframe could your innovation scale? What partnerships, clients and investors do you have? How do you plan to take your product to market? What is your level of cost competitiveness? What would the carbon price have to be? Can your business model or technology attract the necessary amount of investment?
For more information and application.
