Request for Proposals: BloombergNEF Pioneers 2025

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.

In 2025, the program will focus on three global climate challenges and will award the Pioneers prize to innovators with scalable, impactful and equitable solutions to these challenges.

Benefits

• Winning BNEF Pioneers benefit from a number of opportunities:
  • Be recognized as a BNEF Pioneer 2025, a leading innovator with a product or service capable of driving the low-carbon transition forward.
  • Receive one year of access to the BNEF Web product and all the insights.
  • Join the prestigious group of Pioneer alumni.
  • Get the opportunity to attend and a chance to speak at the eight global BNEF Summits and participate in startup pitching events hosted by BNEF.
  • Appear in BNEF public reports, research and videos.

Challenges

• Challenge 1: Making light industry more sustainable
  • One-third of industrial emissions are derived from ‘light’ industries such as pulp and paper, food and beverage production, textiles, and glass and ceramics. This Pioneers challenge is looking for technologies that address the environmental impact of this group of lighter industries.
• Challenge 2: Innovations in energy storage
  • Energy storage is likely to play a significant role in balancing power markets and enabling 24/7 clean power. BNEF estimates that demand for energy storage technologies could reach almost six terawatt-hours by 2035. In addition, the development of lower-cost, higher-performance batteries are a key component of future market growth for the electric vehicle industry and could be an important lever to decarbonize commercial transportation including long-haul trucking and aviation.
• Challenge 3: Boosting climate adaptation capabilities
  • Whether the world is brought onto a 2-degree emissions pathway or not, climate change is already impacting, and will continue to impact, the world. Technologies that improve societies’ ability to manage the effects of climate change will be vital in maintaining human quality of life in the coming decades. The UNEP estimates that up to $387 billion per year needs to be spent on climate adaptation in developing countries this decade.
• Wildcards: They encouraged submissions for all climate-tech solutions outside of the three challenges outlined above and choose entries addressing multiple issues that will help the world decarbonize.

What they are looking for? 

• Applicants are judged on three fundamental criteria:
  • Potential impact: What is the scale of the opportunity being addressed? To what extent can this solution address the climate 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?

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants can be any one of the below:
  • 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.

For more information, visit BloombergNEF.