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Driving Investment

Technology and Innovation

Accelerating breakthrough climate technologies from prototype to market deployment

RMI and it's global climate tech accelerator, Third Derivative, are helping more promising early-stage innovation get to commercial operation.

We are seeing very promising innovation in climate-friendly energy and industrial technology, but it takes too long for these innovations to achieve material market penetration. Obstacles include real and perceived risk, industry conservatism, limited understanding of technology breakthroughs, policy uncertainty, and fragmented financing. RMI and it’s global climate tech accelerator, Third Derivative, remove these barriers by combining rigorous techno-economic diligence, early corporate and investor engagement, and policy support.

We help founders with mentorship, advice, connections, programming, and events. We also provide research and insights to corporations, investors, and other organizations that enable them to invest in and partner with the energy transition’s most promising startups.

Learn More About Third Derivative

Breakthrough climate technologies face systemic barriers to deployment

Even promising technologies can stall after early validation because project developers, investors, and customers lack the evidence, market signals, and/or financing structures needed to support and scale early-stage commercial deployments.

312

312

climate tech startups supported by RMI and Third Derivative

$4.3 billion

$4.3 billion

raised by our portfolio startups after joining the Third Derivative program

40+

40+

corporations are officially part of the Third Derivative network

Technology and Innovation Initiatives

Through the Third Derivative accelerator, RMI finds and helps the most promising early-stage climate tech companies and primes the market for their commercial adoption.

RMI connects leading corporations with emerging climate technologies to pilot solutions, validate performance, and create early market demand for breakthrough climate innovations.

RMI works with investors, development finance institutions, and corporate partners to unlock capital and reduce risk for first-of-a-kind commercial climate tech projects. Through initiatives such as Mark1, a developer-as-a-service platform, RMI helps later-stage startups plan, design, finance, and navigate regulation for particularly complex, capital-intensive first commercial-scale projects.

 

RMI works with heavy industry leaders and innovators to accelerate the deployment of technologies critical to decarbonizing and increasing efficiency in the “hard-to-abate” sectors including cement, steel, chemicals, fertilizer, maritime shipping, and aviation.

RMI supports climate innovation ecosystems across emerging markets by connecting startups with investors, corporations, and technical expertise to accelerate commercialization and scale breakthrough climate technologies.

Featured Insight

Featured Insight

Piloting Next-Generation Cooling for Extreme Heat

Passive daytime radiative cooling materials reflect sunlight, reducing buildings’ indoor temperatures without using energy. RMI and Third Derivative are piloting new cooling solutions globally to validate performance, generate open-source evidence, and accelerate adoption of this promising, low-cost cooling technology.

Insights on Scaling Climate Technologies

Explore RMI and Third Derivative research, tools, and analysis advancing climate technologies from early innovation to global market deployment.

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