With developed nations making lacklustre pledges to sort out world warming, there’s an more and more muddied timeline for shifting away from a reliance on fossil fuels.
However there’s nonetheless hope for the local weather trigger because of the unbelievable work being finished by forward-thinking corporations. Modern startups, together with a lot from the UK, are stepping up with actual options that make a distinction.
That’s why we’re proud to showcase the winner and nominees for the Startups 100 Sustainability Award. Learn on to search out out extra about these superb enterprises which are exhibiting us what a sustainable future might appear to be.
WINNER – DRIFT Vitality
Photo voltaic panels and wind farms are, naturally, depending on climate circumstances to supply renewable vitality. This implies they aren’t totally efficient on their very own, and solely partially scale back fossil gasoline reliance.
That is one thing founder Ben Medland got down to sort out with DRIFT Vitality. As a substitute of counting on land-based options, Medland dived into harnessing the ability of the ocean, by designing “true inexperienced” crusing catamarans that generate inexperienced hydrogen just by crusing.
DRIFT Vitality’s world-class know-how is spectacular sufficient, however the firm’s dedication to sustainability isn’t simply one thing that it sticks on for present. Medland describes it as a core worth that drives each choice it makes. DRIFT Vitality helps a number of UN Sustainability Objectives, and Medland is especially centered on how he may also help help the vitality transition for the 65+ million individuals who stay in Island Nations.
Plus, having lately raised £4.65 million to additional construct out the fleet, DRIFT Vitality has additionally proved that there’s loads of wind in its sails in terms of investor curiosity.
This unwavering dedication hasn’t gone unnoticed, both. In addition to rating in our personal Startups 100, DRIFT Vitality has gained main awards for its contemporary strategy to renewable vitality, together with the COP 28 LeZero International Innovation Prize.
Its achievements and dedication to creating an actual distinction for the atmosphere make it a well-deserved winner of the Startups 100 Sustainability Award.
SHORTLISTED – Pulpatronics
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags on clothes aren’t one thing we take into consideration a lot. The intelligent tech is commonly used for scanning gadgets in fashionable retail checkouts. However, as soon as discarded, these small tags can add as much as a big quantity of waste, with over 30 billion single-use tags ending up in landfills yearly.
However is it potential to have eco-friendly RFID tags? That’s precisely what Pulpatronics has achieved by creating totally recyclable and non-toxic RFID tags.
The conductive circuit is lasered instantly onto paper, eliminating the necessity for plastic, steel and silicon parts. What’s extra, it additionally simplifies the stock administration course of – offering real-time inventory insights that scrap the necessity for handbook information entry.
For long-term influence, if main clothes retailers had been to modify to Pulpatronics tags, it might probably scale back their greenhouse fuel emissions by as much as 2% yearly.
Such a shift would set an ordinary for extra sustainable practices throughout retail. Pulpatronics proves that even one thing so simple as a sustainable clothes tag can go a good distance.
SHORTLISTED – PlantSea
Throughout her trip in Bali, founder Rhiannon Rees was anticipating to see stunning landscapes and pristine seashores. As a substitute, she was confronted with the cruel actuality of plastic air pollution that marred the pure fantastic thing about the island.
With the rise of ecommerce companies and on-line procuring, so has the quantity of single-use plastic supplies used to package deal and ship merchandise, contributing to elevated waste and environmental air pollution.
PlantSea’s biodegradable and compostable packing options are constructed from seaweed and different plant-based supplies, offering an eco-friendly different to conventional plastic packaging. As a substitute of being chucked away (or optimistically recycled, however finally shipped to a landfill), PlantSea’s biodegradable supplies imply it might break down naturally, returning to the earth with none environmental hurt.
PlantSea’s objective is all about creating accessible biomaterials and empowering folks to decide on a greener future. Its water-soluble movie, used for dishwasher and washer capsules, goals to achieve 5% market penetration in UK households inside 5 years.
This alone might result in a discount of two,000 tonnes in plastic manufacturing yearly and save 7.97 million kg of CO2 emissions every year.
PlantSea’s distinctive strategy makes it a standout contender for the Startups 100 Sustainability Award – demonstrating each environmental influence and forward-thinking options for a greener future.
SHORTLISTED – Open Local weather Repair
Given the UK’s usually lower than preferrred climate patterns (AKA lack of solar), photo voltaic panel effectivity can take successful. Due to cloud cowl, photo voltaic panels might not at all times meet vitality wants, resulting in elevated dependence on fossil fuels like coal and fuel to fill the hole.
Whereas even the weatherman can’t get each prediction proper, Open Local weather Repair actually comes shut with its AI cloud mapping software. By combining synthetic intelligence (AI), satellite tv for pc imagery, stay photo voltaic information and climate inputs, it might map cloud cowl in real-time and predict the way it will have an effect on photo voltaic vitality manufacturing.
This helps vitality grid operators and solar energy customers higher anticipate fluctuations in solar energy availability whereas saving on a big quantity of CO2 emissions. Open Local weather Repair is dedicated to creating its answer accessible to grid operators, photo voltaic farms, and researchers, in order that the know-how can enhance photo voltaic vitality forecasting globally.
By doing so, it goals to help the widespread adoption of renewable vitality, promote vitality system effectivity and contribute to the discount of carbon emissions on a bigger scale – making it greater than deserving of its spot as one in all our Sustainability Award finalists.
Click on under to find the nominees and winners for our different Startups 100 awards:
♿ Startups 100 DEI Award 2025
💝 Startups 100 Social Impression Award 2025
📣 Startups 100 Advertising Award 2025

Related posts
Subscribe
* You will receive the latest news and updates!
Quick Cook!
Can Lloyds Financial institution Withhold Bonuses Below RTO Guidelines?
The continued deliberation round return to workplace (RTO) mandates continues as increasingly more companies implement these insurance policies, a lot…
Are Residence Employees Extra Probably To Be Fired?
With regard to job safety, it’s been a bleak begin to 2025. Stripe has already introduced a current spherical of…