Less than ten years ago, we likely had never heard of a decarbonization company. Recently however, we’ve seen a surge in decarbonization efforts as companies race to develop new technologies to reduce emissions.
As the world shifts to a low-carbon economy, companies must act on emissions reduction. Those that don’t may face serious consequences. These can include reputational damage, regulatory penalties, and loss of market share.
Fortunately, many top decarbonization companies are emerging. They provide solutions to help businesses navigate this transition effectively.
This review highlights 12 promising players in the decarbonization space. It also explores how their technologies and services can help your organization lower its carbon footprint.
What is a Decarbonization Company?
A decarbonization company can be defined as any company focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, CO2 in particular. This includes providing products, services, or technologies to achieve this goal.
The urgent need for decarbonization stems from global climate targets. These targets include those outlined in the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
Investing in decarbonization companies can accelerate climate solutions by helping to commercialize and scale critical technologies.
Decarbonization companies contribute to environmental sustainability. They can also create new economic opportunities and drive innovation across various industry sectors.
Here is a video by the Climate Group explaining more about the pathway to decarbonization.
Here are some notable categories and examples of decarbonization companies:
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS/CCU) Companies: Carbon capture companies specialize in capturing carbon dioxide emissions from sources like power plants and industrial facilities, then storing or utilizing that CO2 to prevent it from entering the atmosphere.
Sustainable Agriculture Initiatives: Companies in this category promote practices that reduce carbon emissions through improved agricultural methods.
Circular Economy Innovators: These organizations focus on creating closed-loop systems that minimize waste and maximize resource efficiency.
Technology Innovators for Decarbonization: These climate-tech companies develop advanced technologies aimed at reducing emissions across various sectors.
Renewable Energy Companies: These businesses focus on generating energy from renewable sources, which significantly reduces reliance on fossil fuels.
Consulting and Auditing Firms: These climate consulting firms help businesses track their emissions, set reduction targets, and implement decarbonization strategies.
12 Leading decarbonization companies
Here are twelve companies at the forefront of the decarbonization movement, providing actionable solutions and technologies that can help companies transition toward a more sustainable future.
Normative
Normative is a pioneering company focused on helping businesses achieve net-zero emissions through comprehensive carbon accounting and tailored sustainability strategies. Founded in 2014, it emerged from research at Oxford University, driven by the urgent need to combat climate change.
The company provides a carbon accounting engine that allows organizations to accurately measure their carbon footprints and develop actionable plans for emissions reduction.
As the first carbon accounting engine, Normative enables companies to measure their carbon footprints accurately and offers tailored advice on emissions reduction and climate investment strategies.
Carbon Accounting: Normative’s platform allows businesses to conduct comprehensive carbon accounting, providing insights that help identify inefficiencies and opportunities for emissions reductions. This process includes scientifically-sourced emissions data and transaction-based measurements to ensure accuracy.
Tailored Reduction Advice: Normative recommends specific actions businesses can take to reduce their carbon output effectively after measuring emissions. This includes integrating climate considerations into their business strategy and operations.
Value Chain Engagement: Normative assists businesses in engaging with their suppliers to manage carbon emissions throughout the supply chain. This is crucial since approximately 90% of emissions occur outside a company’s direct operations.
Support for Financial Institutions: Normative also targets the financial sector, helping institutions track financed emissions—often significantly larger than their operational emissions. This involves automating processes for calculating these emissions and providing expert guidance on regulatory compliance and sustainability strategies.
Community and Collaboration: Through initiatives like the Normative Net-Zero Community, the organization fosters collaboration among sustainability professionals, offering resources such as newsletters, webinars, and networking opportunities to drive collective action towards decarbonization goals.
Greenpixie
Greenpixie is focused on providing sustainability data specifically for hyperscaler cloud users, aiming to help organizations manage and reduce their carbon emissions associated with cloud computing.
Their services are particularly relevant in the context of increasing regulatory pressures and the need for businesses to adopt more sustainable practices.
Greenpixie provides a suite of decarbonization services aimed at helping organizations manage and reduce their cloud emissions.
Cloud Emissions Measurement: Greenpixie measures cloud emissions based on actual usage, providing detailed emissions profiles to help organizations understand their carbon footprint.
Integration with FinOps: Their services integrate sustainability metrics into financial operations, allowing companies to view carbon emissions alongside cloud cost data for informed decision-making.
GreenOps Framework: This framework consists of three stages:
- Inform: Assessing historical cloud usage to establish an emissions baseline.
- Optimize: Identifying opportunities to reduce waste and improve efficiency.
- Operate: Implementing sustainable practices in daily operations.
Regulatory Compliance Support: Greenpixie helps organizations comply with regulations like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSDR) by providing ISO-verified emissions data.
Waste Reduction Initiatives: They focus on reducing cloud waste, which accounts for over 30% of usage, enabling organizations to clean up unnecessary server usage and save costs.
Klim
Klim is a Berlin-based AgriTech company focused on promoting regenerative agriculture as a means of combating climate change and enhancing sustainability in agricultural practices.
Established in 2020, Klim provides a digital platform that supports farmers in implementing regenerative practices, which are essential for improving soil health, increasing biodiversity, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Klim stands out as a pivotal player in the decarbonization landscape by combining technology with nature-based solutions.
Digital Platform for Farmers: Support for Regenerative Practices: Klim provides a digital platform that helps farmers implement climate-friendly measures, enhancing soil health and reducing emissions.
Carbon Credit Generation: Farmers earn carbon credits by adopting sustainable practices, validated by TÜV Rheinland.
Insetting Solutions: Companies can invest in regenerative agriculture projects within their supply chains to achieve Scope 3 emissions reduction targets.
Collaborations: Klim partners with organizations like Deutsche Kreditbank AG (DKB) to fund climate protection initiatives.
Green Generation Fund: This fund supports early-stage technologies and offsets CO₂ emissions through regenerative practices.
Climate Trade
Climate Trade is a company focused on providing decarbonization services aimed at helping businesses and governments transition to a low-carbon economy. Their services are designed to facilitate the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and promote sustainability across various sectors.
Climate Trade’s services align with these objectives by promoting the adoption of low-carbon technologies and sustainable practices across various industries.
Carbon Footprint Assessment: Climate Trade assists organizations in measuring their carbon emissions, providing a baseline for future reductions.
Decarbonization Strategy Development: They help clients create tailored strategies that align with their specific goals and regulatory requirements for reducing emissions.
Carbon Offsetting Solutions: The company offers options for businesses to offset their carbon footprint through verified carbon credits from sustainable projects worldwide.
Sustainability Reporting: Climate Trade supports clients in developing transparent sustainability reports that comply with international standards, enhancing their credibility and accountability.
Renewable Energy Procurement: They facilitate access to renewable energy sources, enabling organizations to transition away from fossil fuels and reduce their reliance on carbon-intensive energy.
Training and Capacity Building: Climate Trade provides educational resources and training sessions to empower organizations in implementing effective decarbonization practices within their operations.
DNV
Climate Trade is a company focused on providing decarbonization services aimed at helping businesses and governments transition to a low-carbon economy. Their services are designed to facilitate the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and promote sustainability across various sectors.
Climate Trade’s services align with these objectives by promoting the adoption of low-carbon technologies and sustainable practices across various industries.
Carbon Footprint Assessment: Climate Trade assists organizations in measuring their carbon emissions, providing a baseline for future reductions.
Decarbonization Strategy Development: They help clients create tailored strategies that align with their specific goals and regulatory requirements for reducing emissions.
Carbon Offsetting Solutions: The company offers options for businesses to offset their carbon footprint through verified carbon credits from sustainable projects worldwide.
Sustainability Reporting: Climate Trade supports clients in developing transparent sustainability reports that comply with international standards, enhancing their credibility and accountability.
Renewable Energy Procurement: They facilitate access to renewable energy sources, enabling organizations to transition away from fossil fuels and reduce their reliance on carbon-intensive energy.
Training and Capacity Building: Climate Trade provides educational resources and training sessions to empower organizations in implementing effective decarbonization practices within their operations.
BlackRock Decarbonization Partners
Decarbonization Partners is a joint venture between BlackRock and Temasek, focusing on investments that accelerate the transition to a net-zero economy. Launched in 2022, the partnership has recently gained attention for successfully closing its first fund.
Decarbonization Partners Fund I, at $1.4 billion—surpassing its initial target of $1 billion. This fund aims to support late-stage venture capital and early-growth private equity investments in companies that have proven decarbonization technologies
Investment Focus and Strategy: Decarbonization Partners emphasizes a dual-purpose approach: achieving strong financial returns while delivering measurable environmental benefits.
Global Participation and Future Goals: The successful fundraising effort attracted commitments from over 30 institutional investors across 18 countries, including public and private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and insurance companies. This diverse participation reflects a strong global interest in decarbonization initiatives.
GenZero Initiative by Temasek: In addition to Decarbonization Partners, Temasek has launched GenZero, an investment platform dedicated to accelerating global decarbonization efforts. GenZero focuses on technology-based solutions, nature-based solutions, and carbon ecosystem enablers.
Bain & Company (Persefoni)
Persefoni and Bain & Company have formed a strategic partnership to accelerate decarbonization efforts for enterprises and investors. This first-of-its-kind collaboration combines Bain’s expertise in carbon transitions and deep understanding of investor priorities with Persefoni’s cutting-edge carbon accounting platform
By leveraging Persefoni’s carbon accounting platform and Bain’s strategic advisory capabilities, this partnership empowers organizations to make data-driven decisions and implement effective decarbonization strategies to achieve their net zero ambitions.
Portfolio Decarbonization Roadmap: Determine overall portfolio carbon footprint, conduct maturity assessments, and prioritize decarbonization actions.
Carbon Diligence: Identify high-emitting activities, benchmark against peers, and estimate value creation potential of decarbonization.
Carbon Value Creation Plan: Establish baseline, create decarbonization roadmap, and identify enablers to put the plan into action.
Net Zero Navigator: A powerful tool co-developed by Bain and Persefoni that helps organizations bridge the gap between setting net zero targets and achieving them
Accenture Net Zero
Accenture is a leading global professional services company that specializes in providing a wide range of services across strategy, consulting, digital, technology, and operations.
With approximately 750,000 employees serving clients in over 120 countries, Accenture focuses on helping organizations optimize their operations, enhance revenue growth, and improve citizen services through digital transformation.
Accenture offers a comprehensive suite of services to help clients on their journey to decarbonization and achieving net-zero emissions:
Strategy & Consulting: Accenture collaborates with C-suite executives to drive enterprise reinvention, enhance competitiveness, and deliver sustainable stakeholder value. This includes operational improvements and cost reduction strategies.
Technology: The company is at the forefront of technology innovation, leveraging advancements such as AI, blockchain, and cloud computing to address contemporary organizational challenges. Accenture invests heavily in research and development to continuously enhance its service offerings.
Operations: Accenture manages business processes for clients across various functions including finance, procurement, supply chain, and human resources. Their intelligent operations platform, SynOps, integrates data and automation to transform enterprise operations.
Industry Expertise: The firm serves a diverse range of industries including financial services, health and public service, consumer goods, and technology. Its deep industry knowledge allows for tailored solutions that accelerate value creation.
Climate Group
The Climate Group is a prominent international non-profit organization focused on accelerating climate action and promoting the transition to a net-zero economy. Their mission is to drive efforts towards achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 while enhancing prosperity for all.
Through its comprehensive approach encompassing advocacy, collaboration, research, and targeted programs, the Climate Group aims to empower organizations worldwide to achieve their decarbonization goals
Decarbonization Programs: The Climate Group offers various programs aimed at supporting businesses and governments in their decarbonization efforts. These include:
Advocacy and Collaboration: The Climate Group plays a vital role in advocating for climate policies that support decarbonization across various sectors. They facilitate collaboration among member organizations, helping them share knowledge, resources, and strategies to meet climate goals effectively.
Global Events and Forums: The organization hosts and participates in global forums and events, such as COP meetings, where they engage with policymakers, business leaders, and civil society to discuss climate action strategies and share insights on effective decarbonization practices.
Research and Insights: The Climate Group conducts research to provide valuable insights into the impacts of climate change and the effectiveness of various decarbonization strategies. They produce reports and case studies that highlight successful initiatives and emerging trends in climate action.
Carbon Clean
Carbon Clean is a leading provider of advanced carbon capture technology that helps industries reduce their carbon emissions and achieve net-zero goals. Here’s an overview of their decarbonization services
Decarbonization Services
Carbon Clean’s decarbonization services target the technical, operational, and safety challenges associated with carbon capture, utilization, storage, and sequestration from industrial, power generation, or gas processing sources.
Their services span the entire project lifecycle, including:
- Concept selection and process modeling
- Detailed design engineering
- Construction management and oversight
- Turnkey system commissioning
- Operator training and procedure development
- Maintenance system development
- Injection well engineering and certification (for CO2 sequestration)
By partnering with Carbon Clean, industries can access viable solutions for major decarbonization challenges and create a sustainable path forward in the era of energy transition.
Engie
Carbon Clean is a leading provider of advanced carbon capture technology that helps industries reduce their carbon emissions and achieve net-zero goals. Here’s an overview of their decarbonization services
Decarbonization Journey Support: ENGIE helps clients assess their carbon footprints and develop tailored roadmaps for reducing emissions. This includes implementing energy efficiency programs and demand-side management strategies to optimize energy consumption and lower costs.
Renewable Energy Solutions: The company provides access to a diverse portfolio of renewable energy sources, including solar, wind, biomass, and hydrogen. ENGIE offers customized Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and sustainable energy procurement options to help clients achieve their sustainability targets.
Carbon Management and Offsetting: ENGIE assists organizations in offsetting unavoidable emissions through high-quality carbon credits that meet recognized standards. They also offer traceability solutions to certify the origin of energy consumed, ensuring transparency in sustainability efforts.
Strategic Consulting: ENGIE Impact provides strategic consulting services that include developing comprehensive decarbonization plans, integrating carbon pricing into business operations, and assessing investment risks related to emerging technologies and regulatory changes.
Digital Tools and Analytics: ENGIE leverages advanced digital tools to enhance visibility into energy consumption and emissions data. This includes performance monitoring dashboards and scenario analysis tools that help clients track progress and make informed decisions regarding their decarbonization strategies.
McKinsey Sustainability
McKinsey & Company has established itself as a leading consultancy in sustainability and decarbonization, focusing on helping various industries transition to net-zero emissions by 2050. Their approach encompasses a range of services and strategies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions while also enhancing business value.
Decarbonization Strategy Development: McKinsey collaborates with clients to formulate tailored decarbonization strategies that align with their business objectives. This includes identifying cost-effective measures to reduce emissions while enhancing operational efficiency and competitiveness.
Sustainable Materials Hub: This initiative supports the construction and materials industries in sourcing and producing low-carbon materials. The hub provides insights into sustainable supply chains and helps companies redesign products for sustainability, addressing the significant emissions associated with materials production.
Sector-Specific Insights: McKinsey has developed a guide focused on nine key sectors that contribute heavily to global greenhouse gas emissions, including power, steel, and cement. Their research outlines actionable pathways for these industries to achieve net-zero targets by 2050.
Carbon Market Engagement: Through initiatives like the Rubicon Platform, McKinsey assists organizations in navigating carbon markets and accessing carbon credits, thereby facilitating financial investments in climate projects.
Internal Sustainability Practices: McKinsey is also committed to reducing its own carbon footprint, achieving significant reductions in Scope 1 and 2 emissions and transitioning to 100% renewable electricity ahead of schedule. This commitment reflects their dedication to leading by example in the sustainability space.
Collaborative Efforts: The firm emphasizes partnerships with startups, banks, and high-emission sectors to scale technological innovations rapidly and drive collective action towards decarbonization goals.
Decarbonization as a Pathway to Climate Solutions
The twelve companies mentioned in this article, as well as many others, are driving systemic change through direct action, policy advocacy, and stakeholder engagement.
If we hope to minimize the damaging impact of global warming, industries across all sectors must partner with decarbonization companies to achieve net zero.
References
McKinsey & Company: Decarbonizing the world’s industries: A net-zero guide for nine key sectors
Energy.gov: Decarbonizing the U.S. Economy by 2050
Mckinsey & Company: How the European Union could achieve net-zero emissions at net-zero cost
Boston Consulting Group: Boosting Your Bottom Line Through Decarbonization