Key takeaways:

• The Climate Pledge launched Velocity, a nine-month joint action program in collaboration with The Earthshot Prize, AWS, and Plug and Play Sustainability to help late-stage climate solutions reach commercial scale.

• Applications are open through November 6 for the inaugural program, which will focus on materials innovation and energy independence. Four climate solutions will be announced in January, and the selected companies will receive up to $100,000 in AWS promotional credits and bespoke strategic support to help accelerate commercial adoption.

The climate transition isn't limited by bold ideas—it's limited by the challenges innovators face as they try to turn promising pilots into commercially viable solutions. Almost one-fifth of more than 600 energy technologies the International Energy Agency tracks are commercially available but not yet widely adopted. The Climate Pledge, in collaboration with The Earthshot Prize, AWS, and Plug and Play Sustainability, is working to change that with Velocity, a nine-month joint action program designed to bridge that gap.

Proven technologies need more than just a viable, commercially ready solution to scale; they require investment with the right partners, public sector collaboration, strategic customer connections, and opportunities to showcase climate innovations on a prominent global stage. Velocity connects proven, late-stage climate solutions at a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 or higher—technology that is fully functional and has been tested or deployed in a realistic environment—with the corporate partners, expertise, and capital needed to move from "it works" to "it works everywhere."

Global textile production continues to rise, yet, according to the World Economic Forum, less than 1% of clothing material is recycled into new clothing. Regulatory focus on product stewardship is increasingly encouraging companies to help pay for the collection, sorting, and recycling of the products they produce. As these requirements expand, textile companies need to move quickly to redesign products, build recycling partnerships, and scale proven technologies—or risk falling behind. Amazon recently co-founded The Climate Pledge Fashion Coalition to scale more sustainable materials and help prevent waste. So, we’re interested in materials innovation solutions that can help companies implement smart sorting and material recovery technology for textiles, plastics, and other materials. Materials innovation is also needed in areas like waste-to-energy tech and building materials that will help tackle the embodied carbon that, according to the International Code Council, makes up 11% of global, energy-related carbon emissions. For energy independence, we’re looking for solutions that address cooling, back-up energy storage, distributed energy systems, and more.

Velocity is designed to be a resource for companies that have already advanced solutions in these areas. As such, eligible applicants include Climate Pledge signatories, Climate Pledge Fund investees, Amazon suppliers, The Earthshot Prize finalists and winners, and Plug and Play network affiliates. Eligible applicants may also nominate companies they’ve worked with, or solutions they’ve implemented within their own operations and want to scale commercially.

Applications are open through November 6, and the selected participants will be announced in January. Each of the four companies chosen will receive up to $100,000 in AWS promotional credits. They will also get access for nine months to corporate partners, strategy consultants, academic research partners, potential investors, and AWS sustainability architects and builders to help integrate AI solutions or provide other tech services. Plus, participants will have opportunities to connect with over 700 Climate Pledge signatories. Benefits also include curated site visits and visibility through The Climate Pledge's global events.

Early collaborators: The technologies shaping Velocity

Before Velocity officially launched, we worked with four climate solution providers to test the program’s concept. Their technologies represent the kind of innovation Velocity is designed to nurture.

Molg is tackling the world's fastest-growing waste stream: e-waste. Using AI-powered robotic "microfactories," Molg automates the precise disassembly of retired servers and electronics—recovering high-value components like magnets, memory modules, and circuit boards for reuse or recycling. Less than a quarter of the more than 50 million metric tons of e-waste generated annually is recycled according to the U.N. Global E-waste Monitor, but Molg's technology has the potential to transform how end-of-life hardware is managed.

Infinium is rethinking how data centers are cooled. The Infinium Edge platform uses custom-engineered dielectric fluids for immersion cooling, removing heat directly at the point of computation. The result: zero-to-low water use, reduced energy consumption, and smaller-footprint facilities that can be built faster. As AI drives data center demand, Infinium's approach offers a fundamentally different path forward.

Mill is turning food waste from a business expense to a resource. Mill's commercial-scale technology uses embedded computer vision to measure and classify food as it's discarded, then dehydrates it into a nutrient-rich output for animal feed, compost, or anaerobic digestion, reducing hauling costs and cutting methane emissions at the source.

The Small Format Coalition, an initiative that includes Nespresso, a Climate Pledge signatory, is building the sortation infrastructure needed to recover small-format packaging like coffee capsules and single-serve containers that traditional recycling systems routinely miss. This coalition is also helping brands across industries satisfy changing regulations around product stewardship. 

These early collaborations helped inform the Velocity model and represent the solutions we're looking for: proven technologies and approaches that are ready to scale with targeted, comprehensive support. 

Apply to Velocity through November 6. 

Questions? Contact velocity@pnptc.com.