Publications
Our publications add invaluable depth and detail to our regular research. Here, you’ll find The Global Cleantech 100, our yearly guide to the companies and themes in sustainable innovation. You can also browse our indexes on detailed themes and find out more about the whitepapers we create in partnership with leading global companies.
Innovation to make electric buses work for cities
| 30 June 2020
As of September 2019, there were 2,255 zero-emission buses on the road. By 2030, this number is projected to increase to 3 million, or 7% of the global fleet. By 2040, electric buses are projected to represent 67% of new sales, driven by declining lithium-ion battery prices, lower total cost of ownership and government emission reduction commitments, at the local to national level. A key challenge with operating electric buses is the current limited range. While diesel buses can run for nearly 700 miles on a full tank, battery electric buses are limited to 265 miles in range. In some cases, three to four battery electric buses have been necessary to operate a route previously serviced by one diesel bus. Not only does this create operational challenges, the cost of additional drivers chips away at the lower total cost of ownership. Operating a fleet of electric buses as a network, rather than a group of individual vehicles, requires more sophisticated routing, scheduling and charging mechanisms than transit agencies have historically used. Software-based, data-driven solutions are needed to provide operators with the tools they need to make electric buses work for all fleets.
Innovation for Resilience in Logistics: Traceability, Visibility and Asset Monitoring
| 31 May 2020
Supply chains are now more globalized and complex than ever. While this creates immense opportunities, it also exposes supply chains to heightened risk. In the context of climate change, supply chain risks can mean operational disruptions from damage to vital infrastructure, demand fluctuations, production shortfalls or logistics failures when transport routes and raw material sources are impacted by extreme weather. In complex supply chains, where materials and components are sourced from hundreds of suppliers globally, risk in one piece of a supply chain exposes other parts to disruption heightened by companies having less visibility into operations outside of their own inventory. Innovation in supply chain management, including traceability and provenance, visibility, critical asset monitoring and predictive maintenance can improve resilience of supply chains by providing data-driven, real-time and predictive intelligence into supply chain activity and disruptions and tools to quickly adapt.
2020 Global Cleantech 100 Report
| 16 January 2020
2020 marks the 11th year of the Global Cleantech 100, our list of the innovative companies poised to make a significant commercial impact in the next five to ten years. On the list, you’ll find the most promising ideas in cleantech – the ones best positioned to help us build a more digitized, de-carbonized and resource-efficient industrial future.
50 to Watch - The Companies Fighting Our Biggest Battles With High-Impact Solutions
| 23 September 2019
After a decade of success with our Global Cleantech 100, we are launching 50 to Watch, an annual program designed to surface and recognize the best early-stage companies fighting to get us back on track while turning a profit. In this report, we show how they could change every
aspect of how we live, for the better. Together, they
form a roadmap to a more sustainable future.
2019 Global Cleantech 100 Report
| 28 January 2019
For the tenth year running, Cleantech Group is proud to present the annual Global Cleantech 100 list, our barometer reading of the global innovation community’s shifting views on which companies, and which types of companies, today seem most likely to make significant market impact within the next 5-10 years.
Chubb Whitepaper - Cleantech's Global Balancing Act
| 25 January 2019
Constant innovation coupled with explosive expansion leads to new risks. Cleantech companies are expanding into more industries than ever before. This new whitepaper from Chubb was created in partnership with Cleantech Group. It explores insights from a 2018 survey of cleantech CEOs from across the globe and finds answers to key questions about the emergence of a new balance between risk and reward.
Food, Energy, Water Nexus Landscape
| 9 January 2019
In collaboration with the Innovation Incubator (IN2), this report aims to identify technology areas where IN2 can support the AgTech sector startup community's activities that intersect with the underlying themes of water conservation, food distribution, and ag production digitization. The report looks to identify technology areas with the greatest potential to address energy consumption, water use and/or greenhouse gas emissions within each of the identified themes that, for a variety of reasons to be explored further, are not currently receiving investment support,, so that IN2 could help them toward commercialization.
Executive Summary: Food, Energy, Water Nexus Landscape
| 9 January 2019
This report provides a summary of recommendations for IN2 to support the agtech sector startup community’s activities that intersect with underlying themes of water conservation, food distribution, and ag production digitization.
Blockchain Executive Summit NY - Oct 2018 - Slides
| 9 November 2018
Over the past three years, blockchain technology’s potential to disrupt energy and mobility markets has been the topic of much hype and discussion. After the first trades of 2016 and the record investments of 2017, 2018 is the year blockchain is looking to scale up, especially in energy settings. However, getting to scale means overcoming significant technical, commercial and regulatory challenges. For three years, Cleantech Group has been at the forefront of covering this innovation wave, and helping our corporate, investor and government clients navigate it and make the right connections. After a successful first executive summit on the topic in November 2017 in Boston, we repeated the experience this October, and gathered a group of top executives from energy, industrial and mobility corporates, along with top innovators in the field. We switched our focus from use cases to the scale-up challenge.
Sweden in the Global Cleantech Innovation Index 2017
| 25 May 2018
This report aims to summarize the factors that led to Sweden being placed 3rd overall in the 2017 Global Cleantech Innovation Index, before making a critical assessment of how the country could do to claim the top spot by addressing remaining weaknesses and thereby becoming a true global hotspot in continually nurturing and growing cleantech innovation startups at scale.
2018 Global Cleantech 100 Report
| 22 January 2018
For the ninth year running, Cleantech Group (CTG) is proud to present the annual Global Cleantech 100 list, our barometer reading of the global innovation community’s shifting views on which companies, and which types of companies, today seem most likely to make significant market impact within the next 5-10 years.
Blockchain in Energy & Industry - Executive Summit Recap
| 16 November 2017
Blockchain technology is currently one of the hottest topics in energy innovation. The number of investments, partnerships and consortia between start-ups and corporates keeps growing, and an increasing number of use cases are being piloted. But for all its hype and potential, blockchain technology is still early, and cases of actual value creation are rare. An engaged stakeholder in the ecosystem, Cleantech Group hosted an executive summit on Blockchain in Energy & Industry in Boston on November 9th, in partnership with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. This report touches on some of the highlights of the day and key discussions that took place.
GCIP Country Innovation Profiles 2017
| 15 November 2017
As part of our Global Cleantech Innovation Index programme in 2017, Cleantech Group took a closer look at 8 countries that are participating in the Global Cleantech Innovation Programme (GCIP). The programme, an initiative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) is conducted in Armenia, India, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey. The GCIP aims to foster innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems, and to catalyse investment to support and accelerate start-up entrepreneurs towards the development and commercialization of cleantech solutions to protect our global commons. The Global Cleantech Innovation Index 2017 – Global Cleantech Innovation Programme (GCIP) Country Innovation Profiles draw on a wide range of factors and sources, and seeks to answer the question: which of these countries currently have the greatest potential to produce entrepreneurial cleantech start-up companies that will commercialize clean technology innovations over the next 10 years?
Global Cleantech Innovation Index 2017
| 12 June 2017
The Global Cleantech Innovation Index (GCII) programme investigates where, relative to GDP, entrepreneurial clean technology companies are most likely to emerge from over the next 10 years – and why. Drawing on a wide range of factors and sources, the study seeks to answer the same question as the 2012 and 2014 GCII reports, namely: which countries currently have the greatest potential to produce entrepreneurial cleantech start-up companies that will commercialise clean technology innovations over the next 10 years?
2017 Global Cleantech 100
| 24 January 2017
For the eighth year running, Cleantech Group (CTG) is proud to present the annually-refreshed Global Cleantech 100 list, our barometer reading of the global innovation community's shifting views on which companies, and which types of companies, are most likely to have big commercial impact in a 5-10 year timeframe. The companies represent the most innovative and promising ideas in cleantech and that are best positioned to solve tomorrow’s clean technology challenges.
2015 Global Cleantech 100 Report
| 18 February 2016
For the seventh year running, Cleantech Group (CTG) is proud to present the annual Global Cleantech 100 list, our barometer reading of the global innovation community’s shifting views on which companies, and which types of companies, are most likely to have big commercial impact in a 5-10 year timeframe.
Mobility Services Flourish in On-Demand Age
| 25 September 2015
This whitepaper focuses in on four highly active sub-sectors (taxi-hailing, autonomous driving, fleet management and smart parking) within the broader transportation ecosystem which have seen tremendous growth in 2015. Download this paper to learn more about these burgeoning sectors and what it means for the larger industry as a whole!
Solar PV - Balance of Systems Innovation Reducing Installed Cost
| 24 June 2015
Balance of Systems technology areas are the main drivers of cost reductions in the residential, commercial, and utility-scale markets and increasingly becoming a hot interest area of development for start-ups, VC investors, and large corporations in the solar industry. Find out more with this report!
The Hidden Challenge: What Lies Beneath Clean Tech’s Global Plans
| 15 June 2015
For a growing cleantech company, every opportunity comes with a potential risk. How can executives keep those risks from affecting their future? The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies and Cleantech Group sought to answer this question in their new report, The Hidden Challenge: What Lies Beneath Clean Tech’s Global Plans. The report, based on a survey of 300 cleantech executives, reveals that many cleantech companies are putting their success at risk by not implementing robust risk management strategies that support their future plans. Read the report for insight in your peers’ priorities and tips on how to better manage your company’s risks.
European Cleantech Fundraising: Revisited 2015
| 24 April 2015
All leading indicators suggest that that the challenges for fundraising companies are only going to increase in 2013‐14, the focus of this research. Cleantech Group and Georgieff Capital have analyzed this issue and produced this report to help lift the veil on what is really going on and what we anticipate for the funding of new companies in the near‐future (2013‐14).
The Digital Oilfield:Transforming Upstream Oil & Gas with Big Data and Cloud
| 23 January 2015
The emergence of Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) technologies in other areas has not been lost on the oil & gas industry, and in fact has led to the birth of a new innovation theme in oil & gas, commonly referred to as the digital oilfield. This paper will provide our insights on the space and a preview of the innovators, investments, partnerships, and industry trends discoverable on i3.
A Discussion on Innovation in Water Amidst Drought Conditions
| 10 December 2014
In September, innovators, cor porates, utilities, investors, and other stakeholders in the water sector gathered in Berkeley, California, in the shadow of the state’s severe drought conditions. Indeed, the wide ranging discussions at Cleantech Group’s third annual Water Innovation Summit all seemed to draw on the sense of urgency in the Golden State. A consensus was reached that this drought must not be wasted; that the case for adoption of innovative solutions toward sustainable water use must be strengthened by it. This was, of course, not the only theme to come out of the two days’ discussions. The gathering yielded several core learnings, of which four will be detailed in this white paper.
2014 Global Cleantech 100 Report
| 7 October 2014
Our annual Global Cleantech 100 is a significant research exercise, pulling together thousands of datapoints—objective and subjective; quantitative and qualitative—from all over the world, with the end goal of identifying where the consensus of sentiment and opinion seems to lie amongst the international cleantech community.
The Global Cleantech Innovation Index 2014
| 27 June 2014
This report investigates the countries where entrepreneurial clean technology companies are most likely to emerge from over the next 10 years – and why. Drawing on a wide range of factors and sources, the study seeks to answer the same question as the 2012 Global Cleantech Innovation Index, namely: which countries currently have the greatest potential to produce entrepreneurial cleantech start-up companies which will commercialise clean technology innovations over the next 10 years?
2013 Global Cleantech 100 Report
| 6 June 2014
Our annual Global Cleantech 100 is a significant research exercise, pulling together thousands of datapoints—objective and subjective; quantitative and qualitative—from all over the world, with the end goal of identifying where the consensus of sentiment and opinion seems to lie amongst the international cleantech community.
Agriculture Gets Smart: The Rise of Data and Robotics
| 3 June 2014
Big data and agriculture came crashing into the wider consciousness in late 2013 when Monsanto placed a billion dollar bet and acquired The Climate Corporation, a San Francisco-based provider of agriculture insurance underpinned by data analytics on climate. What can we expect next from the intersection of data and agriculture? This paper highlights some of the innovative companies operating in this space and addresses the challenges for bringing this innovation to the fields.
Looking Back, Looking Forward: the Best is Yet to Come
| 25 May 2014
A commemorative piece for the 10th annual European Cleantech Forum, this report sets out to provide reflections on the last 10 years of innovation and some thoughts on the next 10 – within the context of clean technologies and sustainable innovations.
Partnering with Corporates -- An Important but Complicated Aspect of Growing Cleantech Companies
| 18 February 2014
In partnership with VantagePoint Capital Partners and Silicon Valley Bank, we have explored the role corporate partnerships play in the growth of cleantech companies. Corporates, with their capital, access to markets, technological know-how, and validation, often seem like obvious partners to help cleantech startups overcome two of their biggest barriers to success: adoption and scale. Yet despite all the noise and recognized importance of partnerships—amongst entrepreneurial companies (“startups”), large established corporations (“corporates”), and investors alike—the success rate from these complex relationships has been less than we expected.
2012 Global Cleantech 100 Report
| 11 September 2012
For its fourth year running, Cleantech Group (CTG) is proud to present the annual Global Cleantech 100 list, our barometer reading of the global innovation community’s shifting views on which companies, and which types of companies, are most likely to have big commercial impact in a 5-10 year timeframe.
The Global Cleantech Innovation Index 2012 Report
| 1 March 2012
Cleantech Group and The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) reveal a first-of-its-kind report on the most innovative cleantech countries of 2012.
The report covers:
- Which countries are producing cleantech innovation today?
- Which countries should we watch in the future?
- Unique insight into the sources of cleantech innovation around the world.
- What can countries do to promote cleantech innovation in their economies?
2011 Global Cleantech 100 Report
| 17 October 2011
Collated by combining proprietary Cleantech Group research data, with over 6,000 nominations and specific input from an expert panel, the Global Cleantech 100 companies represent the most innovative and promising ideas in cleantech – the companies that are best positioned to solve tomorrow’s clean technology challenges.
Global Cleantech 100 - A Barometer of the Changing Face of Global Cleantech Innovation
| 17 October 2010
The Global Cleantech 100 is an annual list published by the Cleantech Group on the most promising 100 private companies developing the cleantech solutions of tomorrow. The report is carefully constructed synthesizing existing cleantech lists, historical investment data, as well as the opinions of a prestigious and diverse judging panel.
This report covers the following:
The 100 top innovators in cleantech today, trends in the 2010 list, analysis by region and sector, funding and investor data, and the Lust and Marmite lists: the companies with the most admiration and the ones that divided the panel.