Next Generation Start-ups Shaping the Green Transition

Not every environmentally focused start-up does the same thing. This field can be understood through three main strands. The first group develops technologies that directly reduce emissions. Renewable energy, energy storage, carbon capture and clean production fall within this category. The second group redesigns resource cycles. Models that turn waste into raw materials, produce packaging from biodegradable materials and reduce food waste belong to this strand. The third group builds digital platforms that change behavior and steer consumers toward lower-impact choices.

What makes start-ups unique within this equation is their capacity to take risks. Established companies have to protect their existing revenue models. Start-ups, on the other hand, have the freedom to experiment with ideas that have a high probability of failure. Nine out of ten attempts may produce no results, but this is more than compensated for when the one idea that succeeds redefines an entire industry. This is why it is no coincidence that many radical innovations in climate technology are born at garage scale.

For detailed information about the green transition, you can take a look at our related article.
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The real world manifestations of this creativity are impressive. Swiss company Climeworks directly captures carbon dioxide from the air at its Mammoth facility in Iceland and mineralizes it underground, turning it into stone. The facility is the world’s largest example of direct air capture technology. Finland-based Solar Foods produces a protein called Solein using electricity and carbon dioxide from the air. Produced without the need for agricultural land or livestock farming, this food aims to reduce the climate burden of the protein supply chain.

London based Notpla develops packaging made from seaweed that is completely biodegradable and even edible. Edible water capsules distributed to marathon runners have demonstrated in practice that plastic is not an inevitable choice. U.S. based Form Energy, meanwhile, builds batteries using one of the cheapest materials available: iron. Its system uses the energy released as iron rusts and can supply electricity to the grid for days during periods when wind and solar generation are unavailable.

Denmark based Too Good To Go takes a different approach. Through its app, the platform sells food from restaurants and grocery stores that would otherwise be thrown away at discounted prices and has saved hundreds of millions of meals from going to waste to date.

The common pattern among these examples is striking. Each identifies the least efficient point in an existing system and focuses on it. Some operate at the molecular scale, while others work at the level of consumer behavior. Yet all of them connect the problem not only with technology but also with a new business model.
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The start up world refers to the dangerous gap between a prototype and commercial scale as the “valley of death.” There is a long and expensive road between making a technology work in a laboratory and producing it profitably across thousands of facilities. Software start ups can move along this path relatively quickly. A significant proportion of climate technologies, however, require factories, equipment and infrastructure. This hardware intensive structure requires substantial amounts of patient capital.

The story of Northvolt, Europe’s most ambitious battery start up, offers an instructive example in this regard. The Swedish company carried the continent’s hopes for battery independence and had raised more than $10 billion. Despite this, it failed to meet its production targets and filed for bankruptcy in the spring of 2025. The technology was sound and the vision was strong. But production discipline, supply chain management and timing could not support the required scale. Northvolt demonstrated that success in climate entrepreneurship cannot be explained solely by the quality of an idea.

Venture capital flowing into climate start ups has declined significantly from its 2021 peak. At first glance, this pullback may appear to be a pessimistic sign. In practice, however, it represents a process of selection. Investors are now asking about unit economics, production costs and actual customer contracts rather than impressive presentations. Capital has not decreased; it has simply become more selective.

The areas attracting investment are also changing. Adaptation technologies, early warning systems, water efficiency and climate resilient agricultural solutions are attracting growing investor interest. The intersection of artificial intelligence with grid optimization and energy efficiency is also creating a new wave. This period of discipline can also be interpreted as a sign of maturation that will strengthen the sector’s credibility over the long term.

Take a look at our blog post “Artificial Intelligence and Sustainable Development.”

A promising ecosystem has also emerged in Türkiye. Ecording uses its unmanned aerial vehicles to carry out reforestation by dropping seed balls in hard to reach areas. Biolive produces bioplastics as an alternative to petroleum based plastics using granules derived from olive pits. Evreka manages waste collection operations using sensors and software, reducing costs for municipalities. Fazla, meanwhile, uses data to manage surplus food and reduce waste at the source.

Click here for detailed information about Zero Waste.

These start ups have in common is that they develop responses to global challenges using local resources. Transforming an agricultural waste product such as an olive pit into bioplastic is an example of connecting local raw materials to a global market. The needs of the ecosystem are equally clear. Post early stage financing remains limited, finding sites for pilot applications is difficult, and public procurement processes move slowly for young companies. However, the steps taken in these areas will determine whether the ecosystem can move to the next level of scale.

One of the most effective ways for new start ups to survive is through partnerships with established companies. Large corporations can provide start-ups with three critical forms of support. Becoming the first customer provides market assurance for the technology. Providing a pilot site allows the solution to be tested under real world conditions. Sharing knowledge of scale and operations enables young teams to learn without making the most costly mistakes.

The energy sector provides particularly fertile ground for this type of collaboration. Distribution infrastructure, service networks reaching millions of customers and data flowing from the field provide a testing environment that a start-up could never build on its own. In Türkiye, partnerships of this kind in areas ranging from energy efficiency to smart meters are accelerating the maturation of locally developed solutions.

If you would like to learn more about energy efficiency, you can take a look at our related article.

Green start ups bring something the fight against climate change urgently needs: the courage to try untested approaches. But as the Northvolt example reminds us, a brilliant idea alone does not produce results. When systems are built that connect an idea to financing, a first customer, a regulatory framework and real world implementation, creativity turns into lasting impact.

The winners of the next decade will be those among the most creative who learn how to scale. Accelerating this learning process is in the hands not only of entrepreneurs, but also of investors, the public sector and large companies.