What the Heck is Climate Tech?
The Collider, Asheville, NC - May 2024
You may have heard us talking a lot about climate tech. But what the heck is it?
Climate tech is a rapidly emerging industry in which data-driven products are developed to enable communities, companies, and governments to understand their risk and exposure to the effects of climate change and take action to adapt and become resilient.
Climate tech’s starting point is the clear-eyed recognition that climate change has already begun and there is not a moment to lose in preparing our civilization for its impacts. Some climate tech solutions are industry-specific like those for agriculture, insurance, and health. Others span multiple industries and sectors like those for supply chain or asset management. Solutions come in many forms including software-as-a-service (SaaS), application programming interfaces (API), internet-of-things (IoT), and physical satellites and sensors.
What Makes a Company Climate Tech?
Climate tech companies have one or more of these characteristics:
Integration of weather and climate data — whether it’s historical, near-real-time, climate models, or some combination — to produce actionable intelligence.
Contribution to existing weather and climate datasets.
Generation and distribution of scientifically sound new weather and climate data and information.
Note that clean energy — like solar, wind, and biofuel — startups do not qualify as climate tech under this definition.
An Example of a Climate-Tech Startup
One example of a climate-tech startup is The Climate Service. Their software blends climatic and econometric models to enable corporations and their investors to understand, in financial terms, company-specific exposure to climate risks such as sea level rise, wildfires, and flooding.
Think your solution or startup might fall under climate tech? Use our infographic to find out.
