Trellis climate startup competition puts data centers at the heart of the sustainability debate
Sustainable innovation is no longer an optional talking point — it has become a real necessity within global digital infrastructure. And when we talk about digital infrastructure, we are inevitably talking about data centers — the physical structures that support virtually everything we do online, from a WhatsApp message to querying a generative AI model.
Data centers are growing at a pace few people imagined five years ago, and that growth comes with a steep price tag: energy consumption that is already worrying governments, companies, and investors around the world. Just to get a sense of the scale, recent studies show that data centers already account for roughly 1% to 2% of all electricity consumed on the planet — and that number is expected to grow significantly over the coming years, driven by the explosion of artificial intelligence, streaming, and cloud computing.
This is exactly the kind of landscape where a group of startups is starting to attract attention — and very deservedly so.
On May 20, 2026, at noon Eastern Time, Trellis is hosting the latest edition of its well-known competition format, Climate Tech Startups to Watch, with a full focus on data center solutions. Five companies will present their ideas in quick, straightforward pitches in front of industry experts and an audience that also gets an active voice in choosing the winner.
This is not just another corporate event. It is a real barometer for what is coming next in climate tech applied to digital infrastructure — and the solutions that will be showcased there have the potential to significantly change how we think about clean energy within the tech world. ⚡
Why data centers have become the center of climate attention
There is a very concrete reason why data centers have become one of the main targets in sustainability discussions within the tech sector. These physical facilities that store and process a staggering amount of data need to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without interruption. And to do that, they consume electricity in volumes that rival the usage of entire cities. When you send a message, run a Google search, or ask an AI for a recommendation, there is a server somewhere in the world working to make that happen — and that server needs electricity.
The problem deepens when we look at how these facilities are cooled. A significant portion of the energy consumed by a data center does not go toward actual data processing but toward keeping equipment at a safe operating temperature. Traditional cooling systems are energy-inefficient and, in many cases, still rely on fossil fuel sources to operate. This creates a cycle that is tough to break without real and intelligent technological intervention — and that is precisely where climate tech startups come in full force.
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With the AI race accelerating at a breathtaking speed, the demand for digital infrastructure is only going to grow. Companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have already announced multibillion-dollar investments in new data centers around the world, including in Brazil. That means the pressure for clean energy solutions and energy efficiency is not a passing trend — it is here to stay and will define which tech companies can operate sustainably and competitively in the years ahead.
What is Climate Tech Startups to Watch and why it matters
The Climate Tech Startups to Watch is a competition format created by Trellis with a very clear goal: to put the spotlight on companies that are building real solutions for the most pressing climate challenges in the tech sector. The 2026 edition has a specific and highly relevant focus: it is entirely centered on sustainability challenges within data centers.
The format is simple and effective: five selected startups present their projects in fast-paced, to-the-point pitches, in a model that prioritizes clarity of ideas and the practical impact of proposed solutions. Each founder answers questions from renowned industry experts, creating a live conversation about where data center sustainability is heading and what it takes to scale these solutions.
What sets this event apart from other competition formats is the active participation of the audience. Beyond the industry experts who evaluate the presentations using well-defined technical criteria, viewers also get voting power. The audience can help choose the winner, sending a startup to the in-person final at Trellis Impact 26, scheduled for June 24 in San Francisco, where the company will compete for the title of Trellis Climate Tech Startup of the Year in 2026.
This creates an interesting dynamic because it forces startups to communicate their solutions in an accessible way, without leaning on technical jargon that only makes sense to insiders. The result is a showcase that balances technical depth with communication skills — two abilities any startup needs to master in order to truly grow.
Beyond the competition itself, the event functions as a faithful snapshot of what is happening at the frontier of sustainable innovation applied to digital infrastructure. The startups that make it to this stage have already gone through a curation process, which means what will be presented on May 20 is not just promises — these are solutions with some level of technical and market validation. That makes the event an important reference point for investors, technology managers, and anyone who wants to understand where climate tech is heading. 🌱
The five startups competing in May 2026
One of the most interesting aspects of this edition of Climate Tech Startups to Watch is the technological diversity of the five selected startups. Each one tackles a different problem within the data center ecosystem, which shows how the pursuit of sustainability in this sector is multifaceted and goes far beyond simply switching the energy source.
Airloom Energy — next-generation wind power
Led by Neal Rickner, CEO of the company, Airloom Energy is working on a different approach to wind energy generation. Instead of the conventional turbines we already know, Airloom’s proposal involves a next-generation wind energy capture system designed to be lighter, cheaper, and more flexible to install. This could be a game changer for data centers looking for renewable sources integrated into their operations without relying on large traditional wind farms.
etalytics — energy optimization with artificial intelligence
Co-founded and led by Niklas Panten, etalytics uses artificial intelligence to optimize energy consumption in industrial and digital infrastructure environments. The idea is to use advanced algorithms to identify bottlenecks and redistribute workloads more efficiently, reducing energy waste without compromising performance. This type of intelligent software-based solution is particularly attractive because it can be deployed in existing data centers without the need for major physical renovations.
Aikido Technologies — offshore AI infrastructure
Sam Kanner, CEO of Aikido Technologies, brings a pretty bold proposal: taking AI infrastructure to offshore environments. This approach could simultaneously solve two critical data center problems — land space, which is increasingly contested, and cooling, which naturally becomes more efficient in marine environments. It is the kind of solution that challenges the conventional model of where and how we build digital infrastructure.
WAVR Technologies — next-generation water harvesting
WAVR Technologies, led by Rich Sloan, focuses on a resource that often flies under the radar in data center discussions: water. Data centers consume enormous volumes of water for cooling, and in regions where that resource is scarce, this becomes a serious problem. WAVR is developing a next-generation water harvesting technology that could drastically reduce dependence on traditional water sources, making data center operations more sustainable in terms of water consumption.
Magnefy — magnetic energy storage
Rounding out the group, Magnefy, co-founded and led by Joseph Kao, works with magnetic energy storage. This is an area gaining traction in the market as an alternative to traditional lithium batteries, potentially offering greater durability, less degradation over time, and a lighter environmental footprint. For data centers that need reliable and consistent energy sources, having an efficient storage option is critical to making the transition to renewable energy fully viable.
Who is evaluating the startups
The panel of experts for this edition features notable names from the climate tech investment world. Katherine He, an investor at TDK Ventures, and Jamie Daudon, an investor at The Westly Group, will analyze the pitches and pose questions to the founders during the presentations. The presence of investors with this profile is a clear signal that the venture capital market is paying close attention to the intersection of sustainability and digital infrastructure — and is willing to put money behind these solutions.
Moderation is handled by Jake Mitchell, Director of Climate Tech Innovation at the Trellis Group, who steers the conversation and ensures the audience has a clear understanding of the technical and market implications of each solution presented.
The role of the audience in choosing the winner
One of the most interesting elements of the Climate Tech Startups to Watch format is that the decision does not rest solely with a small group of judges. The audience watching the live webinar has the ability to vote and directly influence which startup advances to the in-person final. This mechanism democratizes the process and creates a level of engagement that goes beyond passive viewership.
For the startups, this represents a dual test: they need to convince both the experts and a broader audience that may not have deep technical expertise but can identify the impact potential of a solution when it is communicated well. It is a valuable exercise and one that reflects, in many ways, the real challenge these companies face in the market — where you need to speak to engineers, investors, regulators, and end customers alike.
What 2026 is signaling for sustainability in the tech sector
What the Trellis event in May 2026 represents is actually a symptom of a much larger shift happening across the entire technology industry. Regulatory pressure is increasing in several regions of the world, especially in Europe, where decarbonization targets for data centers already have defined deadlines and increasingly ambitious goals. In the United States, the conversation is also advancing, with federal and state initiatives beginning to require greater transparency about the energy consumption of large-scale digital infrastructure. In Brazil, the sector’s accelerated growth is also starting to put this topic on the agenda of regulatory authorities.
For climate tech startups, this more demanding regulatory environment is, paradoxically, a major opportunity. Companies developing solutions that can help the big players in the industry meet their sustainability goals have an enormous and growing market ahead of them. The question is no longer whether major tech companies will need these solutions — it is when and how fast that adoption will happen. And the signals from 2026 indicate that moment is arriving faster than many people expected.
The diversity of solutions showcased in this edition of Climate Tech Startups to Watch — ranging from next-generation wind energy to magnetic storage, through offshore infrastructure and AI-driven optimization — illustrates how the data center sustainability problem demands a broad approach. There is no silver bullet. The solution will come from a combination of technologies working together, covering different fronts simultaneously: energy generation, storage, cooling, water usage, and operational efficiency.
Sustainable innovation within the data center sector is not, therefore, a niche narrative or a long-shot bet with no certainty. It is a concrete response to a real, urgent, and growing demand. The startups developing these solutions right now are positioned at a very strategic point — between the urgent need to decarbonize digital infrastructure and the technical capability to deliver something that actually works at scale.
And it is precisely this meeting point between problem and solution that makes events like Climate Tech Startups to Watch so relevant for anyone who wants to closely follow the future of technology. May 20 promises to be a window into what we will see much more frequently in the coming years: technology and sustainability moving forward together, not as opposites, but as essential parts of the same equation. 🚀
