Climate tech companies to showcase their innovations at Cop26

A government technology “alliance” founded in Scotland has launched a global climate change challenge – inviting nations to showcase their clean tech solutions at the Cop26 summit in November.

The CivTech Alliance, forged by the Scottish Government’s CivTech innovation arm, has worked with countries around the world on a special competition to coincide with the UN event at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow.

Eighteen high growth companies from nine countries have been selected to take part in the CivTech Alliance Global Scale-up Programme, which brings together a “unique access programme for climate tech companies in the run up to, and during, Cop26”.

Since 6 September, the companies have participated in a series of virtual meetings with policy-makers and procurement specialists – as well as regional entrepreneurial ecosystems – networking with their peers in each country for two to three days. The purpose is to provide access to public sector and “ecosystem decision-makers” they would not otherwise know how to access.

From using food scraps to feed insect farms, waste biomass converted into hydrogen and platforms for sustainable fishermen to sell their catches directly to consumers, the solutions are all climate change and sustainability focused.

CivTech Alliance Global Scale-up Programme

Governments taking part:

  • Australia – Go2Gov – South Australian Government
  • Brazil – IdeiaGov, Sao Paolo Regional Government; InvestSP
  • Estonia – Accelerate Estonia, Estonian Government l Germany – InnoLab, Baden-Württemberg Regional Government
  • Lithuania – GovTech Lab, MITA, Lithuanian Government
  • Poland – GovTech Center, Polish Government
  • Scotland – CivTech, Scottish Government
  • United States – 10x Programme, General Services Administration, US Government

Academic institutions participating:

  • Denmark – Technical University of Denmark
  • Spain – PublicTech Lab, IE Business School
  • Brazil – BrazilLab
  • CivTech Alliance participating country teams: https://cop26.civtechalliance.org/ meet-the-teams

Philippe Schuler of Too Good To Go is on a mission to drastically reduce global food waste and the harmful greenhouse gases it produces

Two companies which have been previously part of the CivTech programme are part of the cohort – Iceni Earth, a land-use platform, and on demand transport app, The Routing Company.

Ivan McKee, minister for business, trade, tourism and enterprise for Scotland, said: “Scotland continues to demonstrate global leadership through the success of CivTech Scotland and the formation of the CivTech Alliance. These programmes have enabled us to foster international co-operation on shared global challenges and support pioneering investable companies.

“This is a clear demonstration of how the public sector can work with innovative companies and organisations to develop new solutions to the climate challenges we face while creating new green jobs.

“Collaboration between the public and private sector is essential in overcoming the climate crisis, and technologies like these are part of the global solution. I welcome this cohort to the Cop26 Global Scale- Up Programme and congratulate everyone in pulling this groundbreaking programme together.”

In collaboration with the United Nations Development Program, the World Resources Institute and the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc in Dundee, three challenges were set relating to the Cop26 goals around environmental resilience, food wastage and the decarbonisation of commercial vehicles.

Participating companies are from Scotland, Brazil, Israel, Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Aus- tralia and the US, and range in size from seven to over 1,200 employees.

At Cop26, which takes between 1 and 12 November, a series of hybrid events under the theme of “Climate Innovation in Action” will showcase both Scottish and international case studies in how the public sector has collaborated with business to develop solutions to the climate crisis both in Scotland and around the world.

Philippe Schuler, global impact manager for anti-food waste app Too Good To Go, said: “As we approach the 2030 deadline to achieve the UN’s sustainable development goals, the Scale-up Programme has identified a real need for the tech companies working to achieve them, and to scale faster than ever.

“We are on a mission to drastically reduce global food waste and the harmful greenhouse gases it produces, and build a more sustainable food system for all. This is an invaluable opportunity for us to engage with policy-makers and share our experience and knowledge as we learn from each other.”


Alexander Holt believes the membership of the Alliance Global Scale-up Programme is brimming with talent and expertise which can help the global community meet its shared net zero ambitions

Alexander Holt, founder of CivTech Alliance Global Scale-up Programme, added: “We urgently need to meet the challenges presented by climate change. Our alliance membership is brimming with talent, expertise, and with a shared goal of preserving our planet, we can help the global community meet its shared net zero ambitions.

“The calibre of companies joining this inaugural programme is exceptional. As a highly connected membership organisation we are focusing on more mature companies that have begun to scale, to leverage their potential and give them the opportunity to collaborate with public sectors around the world. This interaction enables them to inform decision-makers to drive meaningful change and find solutions to real-world problems.

“This access programme model is highly innovative in its cross-border collaboration and gives everyone involved a chance to shape this journey together.”