Each year, BloombergNEF runs the BNEF Pioneers competition in order to find and celebrate leading innovations that we think could play an important role in the path to a net-zero economy. To frame the competition, BNEF Pioneers identifies three key ‘challenges’ annually, based on the technology gaps that emerge from BNEF’s long-term outlooks on energy, transport and materials.
Descriptions of this year’s challenges, why they were selected, and our chosen competition finalists are outlined below. Also listed are the companies named as “wildcard” finalists, developing technologies that BNEF believes could play an important role in decarbonization but were outside the scope of the three focus challenges.
Congratulations to our 24 finalists!
Challenge 1: Making light industry more sustainable
The energy transition has made many of the easier early gains, and there are now clear paths to decarbonization in a range of sectors, such as clean power generation and transport. Large swathes of industry, however, have remained stubbornly difficult to decarbonise.
Today, one-third of industrial emissions are derived from ‘light’ industries such as pulp and paper, food and beverage production, textiles, and glass and ceramics. With this challenge, BNEF was looking for technologies that address the environmental impact of this group of lighter industries.
The selected finalists focus on industrial heat pumps and thermal energy storage as a pathway to heat electrification, alongside ways of making the textile industry more environmentally friendly.
2025 finalists:
Challenge 2: Innovations in energy storage
Energy storage systems are likely to play a significant role in balancing power markets and enabling 24/7 clean power. BNEF estimates that demand for energy storage technologies could reach almost six terawatt-hours by 2035. In addition, the development of lower-cost, higher-performance batteries are a key component of future market growth for the electric vehicle industry and could be an important lever to decarbonize commercial transportation including long-haul trucking and aviation.
With this challenge, we were looking for any innovation in the storage of electrical, thermal, mechanical or chemical energy with applications in power, transport and/or industry.
The selected finalists are driving innovation around alternative lithium-ion battery chemistries, supply chain sustainability, new battery products, and long-duration energy storage.
2025 finalists:
Challenge 3: Boosting climate adaptation capabilities
Whether the world is brought onto a 2-degree emissions pathway or not, climate change is already impacting, and will continue to impact, the world. Technologies that improve societies’ ability to manage the effects of climate change will be vital in maintaining human quality of life in the coming decades. The UNEP estimates that up to $387 billion per year needs to be spent on climate adaptation in developing countries this decade.
With this challenge, BNEF was looking for any innovations that will help humanity deal with a changing world, including improved adaptation capabilities in agriculture, water, energy, human health, and climate-induced-disaster response.
The selected finalists cover a wide range of pathways, including water treatment, AI-driven innovations in agriculture and grid monitoring, and passive cooling.
2025 finalists:
Wildcards
Our wildcard finalists this year are exploring the decarbonization of heavier industries, hydrogen separation, and low-carbon pathways for nitrogen fixing.
2025 finalists: