Blue sea thinking: clean tech solutions selected for the Net Zero 3.0 scale-up program include autonomous submarines for removing microplastics (while transporting up to 5kg of goods and gathering large amounts of ocean data). Image credit: Shutterstock.

Reducing global CO2 emissions is a team effort and it’s no surprise to read that clean technology has a major role to play. But what’s less well known is the outsized contributions that early-stage technologies – ideas that are at prototype or demonstration stages today and solutions in early adoption – will be required to make. The IEA predicts that just 25% of the emissions reduction required will come from technologies that are mature today, and is calling for an acceleration in getting decarbonizing solutions to the market.

Reassuringly, it’s a message that is getting through. In the UK, technology firms are (returning the first few words of this piece) joining forces to reduce CO2 emissions. Tech Zero – whose founding members include Revolut, Starling Bank, Faculty (artificial intelligence), Wise (money-transfer), what3words, Babylon (digital-first health) – is a group for companies that are willing to ‘work together to make faster progress to net zero’. Today, more than 340 firms have signed up. And being part of the movement gives companies the opportunity to engage with climate-tech scale-ups to first measure their emissions as they stand today, and then look at ways to reduce those numbers.

Being part of Tech Zero involves making a pledge to ‘annually measure and publish all scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse case emissions’. By definition, this means that members must be aware of emissions from the assets that they own directly, know where their electricity is sourced, and think about the activities that they are indirectly responsible for up and down the value chain. Without a doubt, these activities will only become more mainstream. And while progressive firms are leading the way with initiatives such as having a monthly ESG close alongside conventional bookkeeping activities, others will join them, prompted by regulations.

Market forces are a powerful factor too. Customers are taking an increasing interest in the sustainability credentials of the products and services that they buy. In the workplace, companies are finding that good corporate citizenship helps when it comes to recruitment. Pledges such as those made by Tech Zero members are attractive to new recruits and can help companies to bring additional talent and expertise into their organizations.

Specifically addressing the need to ramp up on clean technology, Tech Nation (which is also a member of Tech Zero) has announced the latest cohort of its Net Zero scheme for fostering fast-growth tech companies working across digital, hardware and life science sectors. Firms taking part are united by a shared mission to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And, as the summary below shows, there are some amazing ideas in the programme, which first took place in 2020. In fact, the abundance of great ideas, highlights that the pain points lie further upstream. And it’s here that shared experiences in what’s required to scale up effectively come to the fore – incubated through programmes such as Net Zero, and others.

The full list of this year’s Net Zero participants can be found here, with highlights in the bullets below –