Climate Tech: Unlocking Start-Up Opportunities and Sustainable Development

Climate Tech, Technology Behind Climate Change Solutions

Climate tech is technologies that focus on reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions or addressing the effects of global warming, thereby helping communities, businesses, and governments understand the risks, which have solutions to adapt and enhance resilience to climate change.

Transform Challenges into Opportunities for Trends

According to NASA, by 2022, the Earth’s temperature was 1.11℃ warmer than the average in the 19th century. Thereby accelerating the thaw rate, becoming a problem of global threat demand, in which densely populated areas such as Jakarta, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City are at risk of being submerged under water by 2050.

From the above challenges, climate tech and startups to solve the above problems have emerged as a bright point. Government officials are also setting regulations to make sustainable technologies more cost-effective.

American Venture Capitalists pour billions into Climate tech startups

Larry Fink, BlackRock Group CEO, commented: “The next 1,000 unicorns won’t be search engines or social media companies, they’ll be sustainable, scalable innovators – startups that help the world decarbonize and make the energy transition affordable for all consumers”

According to DealStreetasia (**), in Southeast Asia, in the first 11 months of 2022, private investors poured 1.11 billion USD into climate technology companies. Singapore leads with 80.4% of total funding, followed by Indonesia and Vietnam with 13.1% and 5.3%, respectively, recording a significant increase in startups in this area in Southeast Asia.

The Diverse Applications of Climate Tech

The launching of technology startups in green transport, alternative food, and renewable energy optimization is one of the critical highlights against climate change.

Green transport

According to EPA (***), in 2020, the transportation sector accounted for the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, gaining 27%. Electric vehicles were born and brought great benefits to solve the above problem. Tesla has emerged as a bright spot in solving the fossil energy crisis, improving environmental pollution, and becoming the first climate technology company valued at more than 1 trillion USD in 2021.
With a solid viral effect from its success, Tesla has contributed to changing the global car industry by launching significant brands, such as Toyota, Volkswagen, BYD, etc., electric vehicles with various unique features — a positive signal in the global effort to prevent and reduce emissions that cause climate change.

Alternative food

According to The State of Food and Agriculture 2006, the global greenhouse effect due to the influence of the livestock industry was 18%, and the use of animal foods contributed to the increased adverse impact on the environment. According to Oxford University, in 2014, meat eaters’ greenhouse gas emissions index was 2.5 higher than vegans.

In Southeast Asia, alternative protein startups are active. Singapore is leading the race with many typical startups: Next Gen Foods – a famous vegetarian chicken producer; Shiok Meats – producing artificial meat and shrimp; TurtleTree Labs – a promising startup that creates breast milk in the laboratory.

Next Gen Foods is a food tech startup developing and commercializing delicious, innovative, and sustainable plant-based food brands

Energy regeneration and Energy optimization

To ensure a long-term power supply, minimize the environmental impact, and develop sustainable energy, in which renewable energy solutions and optimization are the top concerns.

Energy startups in Southeast Asia have been attracting solid investments, such as Indonesia’s Xurya, which received $21.5 million in funding with a solar battery solution, and Benkon – a startup from Vietnam with an energy-saving invention for air conditioners.

The BenKon SmartAir solution helps save $20 to $40 per AC per month

Benkon was known that heating and air conditioning systems consume more than 40% of the world’s electricity. In addition, air conditioning systems account for 60% of a building’s total capacity. So Benkon was born to help manage and optimize the air conditioner’s operation effectively and save electricity through temperature and humidity sensors, current monitoring combined with remote control software.

Climate tech has opened up an innovative and creative business model, caught up with the trend of sustainable development and enhanced responsibility for the community. However, for this business model to maximize its positive impact on the global green recovery, there must be a partnership between government, business, research institutes and society.