Top 15 ESG Startups to Watch in 2024
Guest Author: Emily Singleton.
Forget flying cars and robot butlers, those who can solve real-world problems are capturing the interest of today’s investors. In 2024, that means businesses that prioritize not just profit, but also environmental and social responsibility.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concepts have been developing since the advocation of equal rights by the working men parties in the 1830s, and pollution control in the mid-1850s — when Chicago pragmatically built the first US sewage system to improve water supply. A business that still holds fundamental value today.
The UN’s 2004 “Who Cares Wins” report was a major milestone, but it wasn’t until The Paris Agreement in 2015 that ESG took center stage, pushing companies to focus on environmental impact. Today, there’s growing pressure from investors, regulators, and consumers for businesses to prioritize ESG factors. Since sustainability is synonymous with business resilience, climate change regulation compliance, and long-term financial success, it’s a mainstream consideration for industries globally.
Meet our list of the 15 hottest ESG entrepreneurs, the innovators who are safeguarding our planet and communities — from the fields our clothes come from, all the way to the screens we use to shop for them.
Kilimo: AI-powered water efficiency in agriculture
It is estimated that between 50% and 70% of the water extracted in Latin America and the Caribbean is wasted due to evaporation, leaks and other reasons. While unsavoury practices and climate change absorb our water resources, population growth, urbanization and consumption patterns amplify water demand.
Jairo Trad, CEO and co-founder of Argentinian company Kilimo, dreamt of a solution to optimize agriculture’s water usage, uniting environmentally-concsious companies with local producers to operate in the region’s main watersheds. The company goal is to recommend efficient water management based on data, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI).
The team at Kilimo collect and consolidate public stations’ meteorological data to calculate hyperlocal evapotranspiration. Then use a multi-satellite array with AI, to provide specific irrigation recommendations that allow the farmer to irrigate according to actual needs.
In addition, by rewarding water-efficient practices and providing data-driven irrigation tools, they’ve empowered over 2,000 farmers across six countries, from large corporations to small-scale micro-farmers. This collaborative effort has led to a remarkable achievement: saving over 70 billion liters of water.
bottleplus: Sparkling water, without any PET wear
While it’s important to minimize chemicals in the earth to keep our water fresh, how we package it is just as polluting. Since the spring of 2020, Linus and Christian, the entrepreneurs behind bottleplus, have been all about the idea of banning PET bottles from sparkling water consumption. Offering a drinking bottle with an integrated carboniser, analogous to the successful soda makers for home use, the team made it so drinking water could always be bubbled by itself — practical and eco-friendly.
Without new and effective control measures, plastic production is set to double in 20 years, and plastic waste leaking into the ocean is projected to triple by 2040. As a result, the EU calls for a global ban on certain plastic products to combat pollution.
Instead, bottleplus set out to develop a product that can carbonate drinking water while on the move, eliminating the need to buy Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottles. Driven by the vision of making beverage consumption easier and more sustainable on the go, the bottleplus founders steer the beverage industry into a resource-saving future.
Fracttal: Smart maintenance is also sustainable
The next thing to think about is the environmental impact of the machines creating our products. Even without knowing each other, and with different professional experiences and approaches to the world of maintenance management, Christian Struve and Alejandro Pérez had identified the same need, and had a common idea on how to solve it. To take machinery maintenance practices to the next level, their Fracttal platforms, help companies ensure manufacturing equipment is used optimally.
Helping companies worldwide extend the useful life of assets and reduce energy consumption — this Latin American startup has sustainability at its core. Its predictive maintenance solutions cater to the food industry, office buildings, energy, hotels, factories, and transportation. The company integrates artificial intelligence (AI) into the maintenance planning process, forecasting asset reliability and establishing strategies that ensure efficient and sustainable resource usage.
From predicting voltage spikes and insulation failures to preventing cavitations in control valves, Fracttal’s mission is to keep industrial operations safe long-term.
Allie: Less downtime, less energy consumption
Another top runner when it comes to predicting behavior is Allie. Founders Alex Sandoval and Nicolas DeGiorgis recognized that downtime in the manufacturing industry is a $1.5 trillion problem, and also a cost on the environment. Whether its unintended polluting emissions caused by equipment malfunctions or wasted power to maintain minimal functions during fixtures, downtime is costly.
Instead, the Mexican technology enterprise helps production companies visualize their systems’ status from the cloud, enabling them to monitor and optimize all their processes to increase productivity and production.
Allie streamlines factories in three steps: connects machines to the cloud through Internet of Things (IoT) devices for real-time monitoring, predicts downtime with line-specific machine learning models, and uses AI for instant query access to metrics, trends, and alerts. As a result, across its clients, the company has seen a 22% average productivity increase.
Fairphone: Phones can do better
With automation that connects systems to analytics software, monitoring machinery downtime is increasingly simple, but more needs to be done to ensure employees get better rest and working conditions.
Cobalt, a critical mineral for lithium-ion batteries in our phones and laptops, remains tainted by unregulated or artisanal (small-scale) mining operations. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), stands out as the world’s leading cobalt producer, accounting for roughly 70% of global output. However, grappling with weak governance and high poverty rates, a lack of regulation leaves workers at risk of mistreatment.
founded by Bas van Abel, Tessa Wernink and Miquel Ballester as a social enterprise, Fairphone leaders put the people and their planet first. The company has committed to sourcing conflict-free minerals, taking steps to boost awareness and ensure their cobalt doesn’t come from mines that use child labor. Increasingly opting for recycled materials, and tracking and certifying responsible sourcing practices will help greaten transparency throughout these complex supply chains.
Everlane: Radical transparency in fashion
Everlane is reviving the fashion industry, allowing consumers to see the true cost of every garment they make. This radical transparency includes materials, labor, and transportation costs.
As part of their business model, the brand spends months finding ethical factories around the world, and regularly visits them to check in. Each factory is given a compliance audit to evaluate factors like fair wages, reasonable hours, and environmental conditions. Its goal is to score 90 or above in each element for every factory.
The fashion retailer prioritizes timeless, long-lasting pieces over fast fashion trends, chooses sustainable materials like organic cotton and recycled polyester, and strives for fair labor practices throughout their supply chain.
Transmetrics: Cutting couriers carbon footprint
Reducing the fashion footprint on the road (and those of other shipping companies), carbon-conscious couriers that implement Transmetrics can reimagine delivery with optimized routes, driver performance, and capacity usage.
Transmetrics’ long-term planning analytics help logistics companies champion on-demand, local production, minimizing transportation emissions. Logistics planners can use the tools to evaluate their hub network, creating sustainable long-term strategies to relocate warehouses and transportation hubs.
In the short-term, analytics software such as FleetMetrics can empower drivers to conserve fuel, while its planning tools can ensure every trip is optimized at full capacity to minimize carbon footprint — and driver burnout.
Scania: Energy alternatives to drive sustainably
Talking of driver burnout, Scania has been one of the first to trial autonomous trucks in open-road conditions across Sweden. Improved safety is a major factor, eliminating human error and driver fatigue to greatly reduce the risk of accidents. With the growing shortage of truck drivers, Scania’s autonomous trucks address this issue and reduce CO2 emissions by operating in a more fuel-efficient manner.
The commercial vehicle provider has also invested heavily in electric and alternative fuel trucks, minimizing the industry’s global impact. One of its most exciting projects is the solar-powered truck whose electrical propulsion is generated by the vehicle’s own solar cells, sited in a trailer that’s attached to a hybrid-electric vehicle.
Type One Energy: Clean fusion power
On a bigger scale, Type One Energy’s work on fusion provides an energy alternative to electricity that powers the grid. The group applies advanced manufacturing methods, modern computational physics, and high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets to develop a competitive stellarator fusion energy system — aka, clean energy.
The group undergoes rigorous safety checks, requiring permits, detailed partnership agreements, and operating licenses to ensure it meets clean energy standards. Unlike nuclear fission energy, fusion creates no long-lived radioactive waste. Moreover, the only electricity input this clean alternative needs is in the first ignition, after that, it’s basically self-sustaining, using a small amount of abundant components (deuterium and lithium found in water), and the output is super powerful!
Type One Energy CEO Christofer Mowry is on a mission to commercialize fusion, “Linking, for the first time, leaders in the technology, utility, and national laboratory sectors on its deployment project,” he said. The focus areas for the clean energy project are to boost energy efficiency, reliability, maintainability, and affordability.
Schneider Electric: Carbon-offsetting and local support
Schneider Electric tackles sustainability head-on. They’re a global leader in energy management and automation, with a goal to help businesses and organizations minimize their environmental footprint. Their innovative EcoStruxureTM software automates this process, optimizing energy use and reducing CO2 emissions.
It takes on social responsibility for its industry through its Livelihoods Carbon Funds, investing in local communities, promoting natural resource restoration, and bringing clean energy to rural areas.
The new Schneider Sustainability Impact (SSI) 2021-2025 program contributes to each of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, saving customers 120 million tons in CO2 emissions and giving over 30 million people access to energy.
Algenesis: Science for greener consumer goods
Algenesis isn’t your typical material science company. They’re on a mission to heal the planet from the damage caused by fossil fuel-based plastics. Their team of scientists is working on the world’s first high-performance, renewable, and completely biodegradable plastic made from plants.
Its product, Soleic™ redefines plastic. And its uses expand across footwear and surfboards. Each plant-based shoe biodegrades under aerobic composting conditions, meaning, they will break down in compost. With strong, sustainable, properties, this innovative alternative, paves a future where plastic doesn’t come at the cost of our environment.
Credibl: Say goodbye to greenwashing
More and more conscious businesses are looking to stand out from the rest, drive positive impact, and create long-term value for all stakeholders. Credibl helps companies with these goals, dismantling greenwashing with its innovative data analysis tools, and ensuring brands walk the sustainability talk.
After tracking over 1000 facilities per month, the company has calculated more than 200 million metric tonnes of total CO2 emissions. Its sustainability platform automates data assurance, offers real-time peer benchmarking, an AI-based virtual assistant, and comprehensive support on supply chain ESG data.
After recently expanding to the Middle East, founder and CEO at Credibl, Jitesh Shetty, explained “As a serial software entrepreneur, technology is in our DNA, but we believe technology should be used as a force for good. I eagerly look forward to rolling out our AI-driven sustainability platform to help improve ESG outcomes and deliver more impact.”
Gramener: Protecting biodiversity with data
As ESG reporting requirements continue to get stricter, data-driven ESG strategies help companies make informed decisions, improve their environmental impact, and meet stakeholder expectations.
Gramener understands that it’s often a struggle to get skilled auditors to evaluate physical areas for biodiversity. Instead, its AI-powered species detection solution automates the manual review process of images and videos that are captured in natural habitats.
The software provider leverages computer vision, geospatial technology, and AI to map nature-related impacts and dependencies. Together, these tools automate biodiversity monitoring for organizations, helping them accelerate nature conservation by eliminating manual efforts and reducing auditing time.
IBM Cloud: Greener data centers
IBM’s Impact report notes the tech giant’s plans for hybrid cloud and other technologies to assist clients with managing their climate-related risks.
While the shared environment of cloud computing itself requires fewer resources than individual data centers, IBM recognizes there’s work to do to reach net-zero goals by 2030. The company aims to procure 75% of its data centers’ energy worldwide from renewable sources, and has already met this goal in the EU — where 100% of data centers operate through renewable energy certificates.
IBM Cloud will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 65% and improve data center cooling efficiency by 20%. It achieves this through water-efficient cooling technologies and water-reuse strategies.
Iron Mountain: Securing data assets sustainably
A global leader in storage and information management services, and trusted by more than 225,000 organizations globally, Iron Mountain protects and extends the value of digital assets
Among a long list of ESG goals, Iron Mountain pledges that by 2040, it will use 100% clean electricity 100% of the time in its data centers. To accelerate the decarbonization of the grid, it is also committed to 100% renewable electricity. The data storage giant uses the Google methodology for matching site-by-site electricity use with local clean power generation every hour of every day to achieve 24/7 clean power.
In addition, they also considered their employees and physical assets, aiming to transition 100% of company cars and 50% of vans to electric vehicles by 2030. Their investment into employees’ work-life balance also led them to achieve a spot on Forbes’ America’s Best Large Employers List 2022 and Mogul’s Top Pioneers in Diversity and Inclusion 2022.
These 15 ESG companies are just a glimpse into what’s possible to make industries more sustainable. By supporting their innovations and making conscious choices, farmers, manufacturers, fashion brands, and data centers can rewrite the story of how we produce, consume, and manage resources — one that’s not just functional, but good for the planet and its people.