How 12 Climate Tech Startups Are Shaping the $2.3 Trillion Energy Transition

*These companies have won BloombergNEF’s annual Pioneers competition, leading the way in powering data centers, balancing energy supply and demand and cleaning up heavy-duty transport.*

*Coco Liu and Brian Kahn for Bloomberg News*

International climate ambition has faltered since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term. Yet funding for the global energy transition climbed to a record $2.3 trillion in 2025.

That surge was buoyed by soaring interest in technologies that generate clean energy and strengthen power grids. Both are needed to support data centers’ expansion and feed the world’s growing appetite for artificial intelligence. The S&P’s main clean energy and grid tech indexes have also outperformed most other stock indexes over the past 12 months. With the Iran war now shining a spotlight on the risks of continuing to rely on fossil fuels, clean tech could get a bigger boost. This year’s BloombergNEF Pioneers awards have identified 12 climate tech startups flourishing amidst this chaotic backdrop.

BNEF chose three challenges: powering data centers; balancing energy supply and demand; and cleaning up heavy-duty transport, and the winning companies are forging solutions in these areas. Taken together, the winners show that the world increasingly runs on electrons, and there’s a strong business case to keep funding the energy transition.

We’ve historically referred to cutting emissions as “net zero goals,” said Claire Curry, BNEF’s global head of technology, industry and innovation. But as the war has shown, a lot of the energy transition “is about domestic security and supply” for Europe, India and China.

Global electricity demand tied to AI is on track to quadruple within a decade, benefiting companies whose technology not only cuts emissions but puts new power on the grid. And as data center operators build more wind and solar projects to power their facilities, pressures are also mounting for utilities to balance energy supply and demand on the grid. That, in turn, creates opportunities for anyone working to install energy storage batteries or develop smart load management software.

Shipping and heavy-duty transport is another area where relying on molecules alone is a risky proposition with fuel costs soaring. On land, electric options are rapidly proliferating, particularly in China. The country saw nearly 78,000 medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks sold in the fourth quarter of 2025 alone — though some subsidies have been phased out and growth is likely to be somewhat slower this year. At sea, electric large ships remain years, if not decades, away. But low-carbon fuels and other technologies from reducing friction to harnessing the wind are mature enough to be deployed today.

Despite signs of progress, the transition isn’t happening fast enough. Big tech companies have spent billions of dollars sponsoring clean energy projects, but their emissions keep rising. And countries have agreed to a global carbon tax on shipping, only for it to be held up by pressure from the Trump administration.

[The annual Pioneers awards winners were selected from a pool of 611 entries that were reviewed by a group of experts, including Bloomberg Green editors.](https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2026-green-tech-startups-bnef-pioneer-award-winners/)