2026 BNEF Pioneers

Each year, the BNEF Pioneers team chooses three global climate challenges and awards prizes to innovators that offer novel, substantial, scalable and competitive solutions to them. The themes for 2026 will be announced on this page in mid-2025.

BNEF’s global analyst teams review all applications and shortlist 20-30 finalists, from which the winners are selected by a panel of BNEF experts. The panel also selects wildcard winners, recognizing climate-tech solutions that lie outside of the three challenges.

Applicant requirements

Applicants can be any of the following:

• Early-stage companies (private, non-profit, public or subsidiaries)
• Pilot projects and joint ventures
• NGOs, laboratories and innovation communities 

Evaluation criteria

Submissions are judged on three fundamental criteria:

• Potential impact: What is the scale of the opportunity being addressed? To what extent can this solution address the climate challenge? Can you quantify the greenhouse gas emissions your technology could eliminate? Is your business local or can it be rolled out in multiple geographical markets? Will it spawn an entire ecosystem of new supporting businesses? Might there be negative unforeseen impacts of the technology when it scales?
• Innovation: How original is your technology or business model? Is it a ground-breaking modification of what others are doing, or is it something completely new? Is it patented or otherwise proven? Are there barriers to its adoption or success and can these be overcome? What complementary policies or business structures already exist?
• Likelihood of adoption: Over what timeframe could your innovation scale? What partnerships, clients and investors do you have? How do you plan to take your product to market? What is your level of cost competitiveness? What would the carbon price have to be? Can your business model or technology attract the necessary amount of investment?