Published: Mar. 5, 2024
By: TIME & Statista
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The booming green-technology sector has emerged as a beacon of hope, not only for investors—it’s predicted to grow to $9.5 trillion by 2030—and for the many workers it employs, but also for the planet at large. Greentech companies leverage innovation and new business models to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, displace unsustainable materials, and reduce the demand for nonrenewable natural resources.
A new statistical ranking by TIME and Statista ranks 250 of America’s top sustainability-focused companies, based on their positive environmental impact, financial strength, and innovation, to see who is rising to the top of the field. To determine these, Statista analyzed data points such as value of the company’s intellectual property portfolio, revenue and funding, and environmental data specific to each industry, such as carbon capture, offsets, and renewable energy generated.
ZeroAvia, the top company on the list, develops hydrogen-electric planes and already has 1,500 provisional orders for its aircraft. “The most important action is to tackle the hard-to-abate sectors, such as aviation,” CEO Val Miftakhov tells TIME. “Yes, we can and will tackle the low-hanging fruit like switching to EVs and building more renewables, but as that happens, we will have stubborn emissions in certain sectors that begin to make up a vast majority of the greenhouse-gas impacts.”
Brimstone, based in Oakland, Calif., ranks fifth. The company produces zero-carbon cement, a groundbreaking innovation for the production of a material responsible for 5.5% of global greenhouse-gas emissions. With urbanization showing no sign of slowing, experts regard reducing the climate impact of cement production as critical.
Marcelo De Oliveira, vice president of materials science and geology at Brimstone, tells TIME that the green-tech boom is as much about inspiration as it is about innovation—inspiring a new generation of scientists and eco-preneurs to deploy their talent to addressing climate change. “Our most valuable resource in solving this problem is people,” says De Oliveira. “We urgently need more individuals dedicated to addressing it.”
What’s most striking about the ranking is the diversity of types of companies at the upper reaches of green tech, a range spurred by significant government investment via the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The industry now reflects major investments in the panoply of approaches that will be required to reduce the environmental impact of everything from food to heavy industry, and develop renewable power from solar to fusion. —Shyla Raghav
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