Find high-impact innovation and help it scale: 4 steps toward a net-zero, nature-positive, equitable world

The reality is impossible to ignore: the world’s efforts to reduce emissions, protect nature, and fight inequality are not advancing fast enough. Traditional approaches to tackling these challenges have fallen short, and though we are making progress, the world is currently on track for an average temperature increase of at least 2.6°C over the course of this century.

Meanwhile, forest fires burn over twice as much tree cover today as two decades ago. Over one million species are at risk of extinction due to habitat destruction. And water shortages in cities are projected to impact over two billion people by 2050.

Our future demands that we do better – and we can.

Thousands of early-stage, purpose-driven, for-profit start-ups are working on scalable technologies that can help deliver a net-zero, nature-positive, equitable future for all. Some of these innovations are disrupting entire sectors, reshaping our perceptions of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and inspiring industries old and new to future-proof their business models and rethink their approach to sustainability.

They are also creating jobs, raising incomes, and solving challenges that trouble economies all around the world.

But these companies can’t do it alone. As early-stage start-ups, many of them require support to find the partnerships, talent, customers and funding they need to scale their solutions. Impact investors need support too. It’s risky for them to invest hard-to-come-by funds in a class of start-up that faces a unique set of challenges (longer product development times, higher up-front costs) that in turn require a unique set of solutions (patient capital, innovative finance models).

These early-stage entrepreneurs need help. The good news is, we know how to give it to them.

Water doesn’t just keep us alive. It has an estimated economic use value of $58 trillion. Despite this, investors are not seizing this opportunity, and water remains one of the most critically underfunded SDGs, receiving less than 1% of climate tech investments. If we are to achieve clean water and sanitation for all (SDG 6), then the current approach is no longer sustainable. We need a new paradigm. This is what innovative early-stage start-ups can deliver.

To take just one example, Dutch company FieldFactors has developed a technology that captures up to 95% of urban rainwater and turns it into drinking water – on site. This not only creates a valuable supply of fresh water, it also reduces urban flooding and the need for costly, often leaky drainage and transport systems.

After meeting with sustainability leaders from Microsoft at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos last year, FieldFactors has just announced a deal with the tech-giant that will see its innovation installed in the city of Madrid – a collaboration that will significantly accelerate the start-up’s impact, while also showcasing the readiness of these early-stage companies to scale their solutions.

Preserving and restoring nature requires collective efforts from governments, the private sector and civil society. But right now, we’re actually investing in making nature loss worse. Nature-negative financial flows totalled nearly $7 trillion in 2022, while investment in nature-based solutions was just $200 billion. As the authors of this report on investing in natural capital point out, “business-as-usual is clearly no longer feasible”. To correct this imbalance, we need innovation that can attract some of that $7 trillion.

Innovation like early-seed start-up Pano AI, which is identifying forest fires before they start in five states in the US and two in Australia. Or Terrasos, a Colombia-based start-up that is a pioneer in funding mechanisms like biodiversity credits and habitat banks.

The world’s cities, meanwhile, contribute 70% of global CO₂ emissions and consume a staggering 75% of the world’s energy. The incentive to nurture innovations that promote climate resilience while also providing economic and social benefits, is clear. It's fortuitous then, that cities are also critical incubators for innovations like Zauben, whose biosolar and green roof panels cut energy costs by up to 25%, and cool roof surfaces by 30-40 degrees Celsius, reducing the urban ‘heat island’ effects that plague many cities.

All of these companies are early-stage. Many received their first major contracts or investments when they had fewer than ten employees. But getting to where they are today required more than just a ‘big idea.’ They also received guidance, connections, funding opportunities and visibility through UpLink’s Innovation Challenges.

These high-quality innovators are selected through a competition framework, which is designed and judged by investors, fellow entrepreneurs, companies and policymakers in search of innovative solutions. The winners receive access to the UpLink Innovation Ecosystem, a source of potential investment, partnerships, and mentorship on the fundamentals of running a business.

To date, UpLink has helped over 500 early-stage start-ups scale high-impact solutions for climate action, water security, circular economy and urban transformation, and to bring disruptive, impactful innovations to industries like aviation, mining and the energy sector.

What can we do to help early-stage companies help us? Based on UpLink’s experience, we’ve identified four actions. Together, they add up to a recipe for success: innovative companies get the resources to scale. Investors gain access to hundreds of investable ventures uniting purpose and profit. Corporates, governments, and civil society benefit from solutions that scale to address the most pressing social, economic and environmental challenges.

Finding and supporting the right early-stage ventures to change the world isn’t easy. It will always involve some risk. But the potential payoff is huge: a prosperous future that is not just sustainable, but thriving.