The Carbon to Value Initiative Opens Applications for Year 5 of the Carbontech Accelerator Program

The accelerator seeks next cohort of carbontech startups and announces new Carbontech Leadership Council members

SOMERVILLE, Mass., HOUSTON and BROOKLYN, N.Y., June 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Carbon to Value Initiative (C2V Initiative)—a unique collaboration among the Urban Future Lab at NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Greentown Labs, and Fraunhofer USA—today announced the fifth year of its world-class carbontech accelerator program and an expansion of its Carbontech Leadership Council (CLC).

Global energy demand is rising, but emissions must fall to meet net-zero goals. Carbontech offers a critical set of solutions, reducing emissions through carbon reuse and enabling durable carbon removal. These technologies are essential to deploy at the gigaton scale to stay within 2°C of warming, but widespread support is required to help them scale. The C2V Initiative exists to meet this need: unlocking the trillion-dollar opportunity of carbontech by accelerating the most promising innovations and connecting them with the ecosystem they need to thrive.

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For its fifth cohort, the C2V Initiative invites applications from startups at Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 4-7 developing breakthrough carbontech innovations. Eligible solutions may fall into—but are not limited to—the following categories:

Carbon Conversion to Added-Value Products:

• CO2 to fuels (e.g. SAF/e-fuels, methanol, LPG, RNG)
• CO2 to chemicals (e.g. C2-C4+)
• CO2 to materials (e.g. carbonates, fertilizers, advanced carbon materials)
• Carbon-rich waste (e.g. waste biomass, municipal and industrial waste) to value (e.g. via gasification, fermentation, pyrolysis)

Carbon Capture:

• Point-source capture (e.g. from energy or process emissions)
• Direct air capture (DAC) and direct ocean capture (DOC)
• Gas-separation technologies (e.g. purification, biogas upgrading)

Carbon Sequestration and Removal:

• Marine CDR/blue carbon (e.g. ocean alkalinization, biomass sinking)
• Biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS) (e.g. waste biomass, biochar, biomass burial)
• Enhanced mineralization/rock weathering

Enabling Technologies:

• Hardware for measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) (e.g. remote sensing, IOT/sensors, continuous emissions monitoring, isotopic tracing)
• Hardware that improves carbon capture or conversion processes

This list is non-exhaustive; details on what technologies are included and excluded can be found in the request for applications.

The accelerator will provide each selected startup with a \$10,000 stipend, customized programming, and facilitated engagement with the CLC—an invitation-only group of corporate, nonprofit, and government leaders actively shaping the future of carbontech. CLC members provide invaluable mentorship and strategic connections to support commercialization efforts, mitigate risk, and identify paths to market.

Year 5 of the initiative is proud to welcome new CLC members from L'Oréal and TotalEnergies, who join returning leaders from Carbon180, Caterpillar Inc., the Consulate General of Canada in New York, CO₂ Value Europe, Energy Impact Partners, Evonik, Fluor, Johnson Matthey, Shell, Veolia, W. L. Gore & Associates, and XPRIZE.

Since its launch in 2020, the C2V Initiative has received more than 500 applications and supported 35 leading carbontech startups. To date, participating companies have raised over \$580 million in follow-on funding, launched multiple pilot projects, secured joint ventures and purchase orders, and helped define the emerging carbontech economy. Detailed outcomes from the most recent year of the C2V Initiative can be found here.

"The Carbon to Value Initiative is at the heart of a global effort to scale carbontech as a viable, gigaton-scale solution to climate change," said Frederic Clerc, Director of the C2V Initiative and Interim Managing Director of Urban Future Lab at NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

"NYU Tandon's Urban Future Lab is an extension of the innovative research spearheaded by our Sustainable Engineering Initiative," said Linda Ng Boyle, Vice Dean for Research at NYU Tandon.

"The Carbon to Value Initiative has emerged as a premier platform for carbontech commercialization," said Georgina Campbell Flatter, CEO of Greentown.

"As part of Fraunhofer USA's applied research mission, we are excited to help startups bring their CO₂-utilization technologies from lab to market," said Dr. Thomas Schuelke, President of Fraunhofer USA.

Applications for the Year 5 cohort are due by Aug. 29, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Selected startups will participate in a six-month program beginning in December 2025, with in-person events in Boston, New York, and Houston, alongside virtual programming. Learn more and apply at www.c2vinitiative.com.

About the Urban Future Lab at NYU Tandon School of Engineering

The Urban Future Lab at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering is a nonprofit innovation hub for best-in-class climatetech startups with a focus on clean energy and sustainable urban infrastructure solutions. It is home to ACRE, New York's longest-running climatetech incubator, Clean Start, an advanced certificate from NYU for people seeking a transition into the climatetech sector, the Carbon to Value Initiative and Offshore Wind Innovation Hub, which bring innovative technologies and solutions to industry leaders, and the Innovate UK Global Incubator Programme, which supports market entry in the U.S. for U.K.-based climatetech startups that can effectively scale and support the clean-growth goals of New York State. Since 2009, the Urban Future Lab at NYU Tandon School of Engineering has supported 170+ startups with an industry-leading 88 percent company survival rate and raised \$2.5B+ in venture capital, project finance, and grants. As an integral part of Tandon's Sustainable Engineering Initiative and NYU Tandon Future Labs network, the Urban Future Lab at NYU Tandon School of Engineering is home to programs focused on policy, education, and market solutions for the green economy.

About Greentown Labs

Greentown Labs is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit accelerating climatetech innovation and commercialization by empowering entrepreneurs and enabling collaboration. As the largest climatetech and energy startup incubator in the world—with locations in Somerville, Mass. and Houston, Texas—Greentown convenes the climatetech ecosystem to provide entrepreneurs the community, connections, labs, and resources they need to thrive. Greentown is home to more than 200 startups and has supported more than 575 since its founding in 2011; these startups have collectively created more than 13,500 jobs and raised more than \$8.2 billion in funding.

About Fraunhofer USA

Fraunhofer USA, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is dedicated to the advancement of applied research. Fraunhofer USA was founded in 1994 to conduct applied R&D for customers from industry and state governments and the federal government in the United States. Fraunhofer USA develops and validates scientific applications and technologies for industrial innovation in the USA. Fraunhofer USA's research centers in the United States and the Fraunhofer institutes of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Germany work together to provide the most versatile, cutting-edge technologies to a global market. Fraunhofer USA offers unique transatlantic business opportunities to close the innovation gap from the lab to the real market. The research centers of Fraunhofer USA pursue strategic alliances with one or more of the numerous Fraunhofer institutes of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Germany and with major research universities in the USA.