Author: Desirée Pettersson, Satgana
The past week has been challenging for anyone concerned about or working in climate, with progress feeling not only stalled but even regressing. Therefore, we believe that it has never been more crucial to keep our heads down, stay pragmatic, and be part of the solution rather than the problem. But it’s not only about finding glimmers of light in the dark, we are firm believers that climate technologies, their founders, and their investors have come too far and achieved too much progress to stop now. The advancement of climate technologies is no longer a moral imperative, but also already the cheaper, cleaner, and better solution in many areas.
Looking ahead to 2025, several climate tech sectors are gaining momentum, poised to drive meaningful innovation that addresses critical challenges and creates new opportunities. While it’s impossible to predict the future, we at Satgana remain optimistic about Climate Tech as a whole and especially about the potential of the following sectors to gain momentum, and we’re excited to be part of their journey.
AI Will Continue to Infiltrate Climate Tech
2024 was the year of AI revolutionizing and innovating almost all sectors of the economy. From mineral exploration to enhancing grid efficiency, we also saw AI and ML marrying with climate tech. And perhaps even more importantly, lengthy and complex experiments that pre-AI took weeks, months, or even years, can now be completed in hours or days. This acceleration saves much-needed time in discovering the technologies, materials, and solutions required to tackle the climate crisis at the necessary speed which is something we hope to see more of in 2025.
Powering Data Centers with Green Electricity
Whether AI will ultimately be a net-positive or net-negative with respect to the amount of CO2 emitted to the atmosphere remains to be seen. However, one thing is clear: for AI to have a chance at being a net-positive, we will need to generate more green electrons to power these powerhouses.
Valorizing CO2
Technologies that enable and accelerate the shift from sequestrating CO2 at a cost to transforming it into a valuable resource that creates additional revenue streams for those who produce and capture it will be essential. Companies that create products like e-fuels or innovative materials from CO2 provide economic incentives for heavy emitters to capture and sell their emissions. This shift could unlock new opportunities for carbon utilization technologies which will be an important complement to carbon removal solutions.
Solutions for Efficient Use of Waste Heat
Instead of using energy to destroy energy, technologies that enable the efficient use of waste heat in industries can serve as both cost-savers and climate solutions (although in this market environment, it will likely be pursued for the former).
Time to Get Our Hands Dirty in “Dirty” Industries
Maritime, aviation, cement, steel, and chemical industries lack cost-competitive solutions that reconcile profit and climate. Yet they represent multibillion-dollar markets. Startups addressing these sectors with innovations that balance cost, quality, and environmental impact stand to create significant value even if they only capture a small share of it.
Unlocking the Power of Geothermal Energy
A somewhat overlooked technology that we have known about for years but not invested nearly as much into compared to other sectors is geothermal which shows huge potential for producing renewable energy while leveraging existing oil and gas infrastructure and skills. 2024 saw several major breakthroughs in drilling and extracting so 2025 might very well be the year geothermal fully steps into the spotlight.
Natural/Geologic Hydrogen
A carbon-free, self-replenishing energy source lies beneath the Earth’s surface ready for us to tap into. If extraction, mining, and transportation are managed responsibly, and operational costs are reduced through innovation, geologic hydrogen could become a game-changing clean energy source. Thus focusing our attention on getting costs down and exploring safe ways to extract it represents an incredible opportunity, and challenge, for entrepreneurs in this space.
Grid-Enhancing Technologies
The electric grid needs to grow in size and flexibility to manage intermittent and distributed energy production. From designing new grid lines to optimizing energy markets and electricity distribution, the opportunity for innovative solutions in this space is immense.
Applying a Cradle-to-Grave thinking for Batteries
Every battery entering the market must at some point exit it. As the focus still primarily lies on bringing down the costs of batteries and bringing them to market as fast as possible, there is an increasing recognition that these batteries will need to go somewhere after being used so that we are not trading one dependency, fossil fuels, for another, critical rare earth minerals. Thus solutions that increase the lifespan of batteries, improve their circularity, or recycle them in a more cost-efficient way will grow in importance year on year.
Climate Adaptation and Biodiversity
Despite low levels of willingness to pay and difficulties in building truly bankable solutions, climate change—manifested through extreme weather events, destroyed livelihoods, and ecosystem destruction—will push the demand for adaptation and biodiversity solutions among individuals and corporations. Startups that creatively address these challenges and find scalable pathways to market will have an edge.
