During the inaugural Australian Climate Tech Festival, held on December 7 2022 in Sydney, over 500 founders, mentors, investors and ecosystem supporters came together to recognise the people going above and beyond in the climate tech space during 2022.
There were so many incredible nominations for the six awards, so thank you to all who were nominated for your amazing achievements in 2022
And the winners are...
Newcomer Award
Awarded to a young company founded between 2021-2022 already doing great things.
The 2022 Newcomer Award goes to HydGene Renewables
HydGene Renewables has developed a new technology that has one solution to so many environmental and social problems. HydGene Renewables turn biomass waste into a green fuel - hydrogen.
There is value-add to farmers and waste producers by turning their waste into profit, and thereby provide them with more economic resilience, which feeds back positively to our food production and social stability. Through this value add, HydGene incentivises farmers to stop burning stubble on the field - a huge health hazard and environmental factor- and prevent organic waste ending up on landfill - another huge climate impact through release of methane when the organics break down unmanaged.
Through our process we also SEQUESTER CARBON from the biomass material, essentially reducing CO2 in the atmosphere. By making green hydrogen we disrupt the use of fossil fuels for making hydrogen conventionally, a process that is responsible today for 3% of the global GHG emissions. Essentially, Hydgene Renewables cleans the air. Further, a byproduct of the process is a soil enhancer which goes back into the field, improving soil health and facilitating more sustainable food production.
Finally, the technology offers a decentralised, circular economy solution, which reduces transport costs, reduces supply chain issues and brings back power to remote regions and communities. Waste is made decentral, so in order to utilise it as a sustainable resource we need decentral solutions too. HydGene's technology is a win win win on so many levels, a truly climate impactful tech that has just incorporated 2 years ago and is now on the rise to bring the technology into the field and into our industries to bring value to the world and help us transition to net-zero faster.
We predict that with the market size we want to cover, our technology could abate nearly 980 Mt of CO2 by 2030.
The 2022 Newcomer Award is sponsored by:
Investor Award
Awarded to an investor who goes above and beyond as voted by the founders in Climate Salad
The 2022 Investor Award goes to Ali Clunies-Ross
Her reason for nomination from a founder:
Ali is an absolute clean tech VC rockstar. She has been our chief point of contact from our seed round through our SAFE note round to our current Series A round. her door is always open and she is always willing to role her sleeves up and help out when asked. What is more she is one of few VC investors investing in deep tech who takes the time to learn more and doesn't try to pretend like she knows everything. She isn't shy to ask lots of questions and to question things at the same time.
And most importantly she forms her own opinions based on her own work. She doesn't fall into the trap of groupthink which is so common amongst the super cliquey VC industry.
She has truly gone above and beyond countless times for us. Without her support we will truly not be where we are today!
In my books she ranks as #1 for 2022 and also for 2020 and 2021!
The 2022 Investor Award is sponsored by:
Mentor Award
Awarded to a stellar mentor as voted by the founders in Climate Salad
The 2022 Mentor Award goes to John Wood
His reason for nomination from a founder:
John has been instrumental in getting our company investment-ready and prepared for scale-up. He has been an extremely valuable and active advocate to our technology, using his global network to get us in front of the right people and investors. He tirelessly has kept us on the right track with high spirit for which we are extremely grateful for. A humble person himself I feel he deserves official recognition of his background work in our company's success. Thank you, John!
The 2022 Mentor Award is sponsored by:
Outstanding Community Contribution Award
Awarded to a Climate Salad member who has given generously and embodies community spirit.
The 2022 Outstanding Community Contribution Award goes to Molly Fullee
What can't Molly do! At the age of 24 she became Australia's youngest female airline captain, and is now leading a micro-mobility storage solution startup with her husband Clinton (also an airline pilot). Fullee is a batter-as-a-service model and Molly was accepted into Shell ventures accelerator this year. She always goes above and beyond for the community and is so positive. She is also a fantastic supporter of Climate Salad and embodies the give-first mentality we strive to have in Climate Salad.
The 2022 Community Contribution Award is sponsored by:
Woman in Climate Tech Award
Awarded to a bad-ass founder, investor, mentor or ecosystem supporter.
The 2022 Woman in Climate Tech Award goes to Camille Goldstone-Henry
Fires, floods, drought, heatwaves, unseasonal and devastating storms, pollution. There is a long list of impacts (and it doesn’t stop there) that our global community is increasingly experiencing, pointing to our changing climate as the number one threat facing humanity. What’s less well understood are the consequences of decades of significant-impact human activity on our planet’s biological diversity.
Camille Goldstone-Henry, CEO & co-founder of Xylo Systems, is one of the few founders in the world tackling this problem using innovative technology. Founded by Camille in 2020, Xylo Systems is a cloud-based platform for businesses to measure and manage their biodiversity impact. Camille’s wealth of knowledge in wildlife conservation brings deep insight into and experience with the huge problem she is addressing. She's also one of a handful of Aboriginal climate tech founders in Australia. She frequently sheds light on the need to close the gender and First Nations gap in Australian tech startups through her writing, public speaking, mentoring and advocacy. Camille currently mentors young First Nations women in STEM and works with organisations like Investment NSW, CSIRO and National AI Centre to forge career pathways for First Nations women into climate tech.
Nature positive is very quickly becoming the new net zero. Camille is leading the charge as a Woman in Climate Tech, placing Australia as a leader in the biodiversity regeneration innovation. Xylo Systems has attracted significant interest from huge companies including Lendlease, Goodman and KPMG. In a year when less than 1% of investment capital went to female founded teams, Camille raised a pre-seed round of $200,000 from prominent investors Investible (Climate Tech Fund) & Startmate.
This year alone, Camille has been awarded the Women in AI ANZ Trailblazer Award and AI in Climate Award, she was a NSW Young Woman of the Year finalist, UNSW Founders Positive Impact finalist and named as a Vogue Australia Future Innovator, quantifying just how up and coming Xylo Systems is under Camille's leadership.
We can't tackle climate change without reversing the biodiversity crisis. Camille is a worthy recipient of the Women in Climate Tech Award for her strong advocacy for First Nations women in this space and her holistic innovation in tackling the climate crisis.
The 2022 Woman in Climate Tech Award is sponsored by:
Impact Award
Awarded to a climate tech which has made a big, and measurable, impact in climate tech.
The 2022 Impact Award goes to CIM
Our platform has created actions that have helped our clients avoid 67,736 MT of CO2 emissions in FY22. Which is, on average, a 9% reduction per client.
CIM's PEAK Platform is a world leading building analytics SaaS solution helping the global leaders in property to maximise operational efficiency across their portfolios. The PEAK Platform empowers operation teams to maximise operational and energy efficiency across building portfolios. Buildings with smaller carbon footprints achieve higher sustainability ratings, increased financial performance and deliver a superior customer experience.
Over the past 12 months, CIM has achieved a 47% increase in the number of buildings that the Platform monitors, and a 27% increase in the square metres of real estate being monitored by the Platform. This has resulted in a 45% increase in revenue. The team has also secured a massive 187% increase in investment, now with over $15M secured to further increase climate impact.
The 2022 Impact Award is sponsored by:
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