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Announc­ing the 2025 Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge Winners

Mar 4, 2025 3:44 pm

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island announced today the win­ners of the annu­al Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge. The sec­ond annu­al call for pro­pos­als focused on the theme of Cir­cu­lar Econ­o­my, seek­ing projects and tech­nolo­gies that reduce the cli­mate impact of the urban waste stream and extend resource recov­ery to busi­ness­es and neigh­bor­hoods. Win­ners will receive a site on Gov­er­nors Island to demon­strate their projects, grant awards of $10,000, and access to a com­mon pool of addi­tion­al funds to sup­port pilot implementation. 

“The selec­tion of the sec­ond annu­al Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge win­ners exem­pli­fies New York City’s posi­tion as a glob­al hub for cli­mate inno­va­tion and lever­ages the unique assets at Gov­er­nors Island to incu­bate cli­mate solu­tions,” said First Deputy May­or Maria Tor­res-Springer. ​“Con­grat­u­la­tions to the win­ners of the chal­lenge, who will undoubt­ed­ly demon­strate impact­ful tech­nolo­gies to sup­port a more cir­cu­lar economy.”

“Gov­er­nors Island has become a mean­ing­ful test­bed for inno­v­a­tive solu­tions that will cre­ate more resilient and sus­tain­able cities,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“These chal­lenge win­ners are ded­i­cat­ed to build­ing a bet­ter future and to grow­ing their busi­ness­es here in New York City. We look for­ward to all they will learn and accom­plish dur­ing their time on the Island and can­not wait to wel­come all New York­ers to come out and engage with these projects this summer.” 

“Invest­ment in inno­v­a­tive tech­nol­o­gy — and the indi­vid­u­als devel­op­ing it — is an invest­ment in our col­lec­tive future,” said Lau­ren Wang, Direc­tor of Cli­mate Pro­grams at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Shift­ing to a cir­cu­lar econ­o­my that reuses, refur­bish­es, and recov­ers is key to achiev­ing an equi­table, net-zero city. We look for­ward to sup­port­ing these com­pa­nies on their jour­neys while shin­ing a light on how solu­tions move from con­cept to scal­able product.” 

Projects select­ed fol­low­ing from this year’s Cir­cu­lar Econ­o­my Chal­lenge are:

• Arbon, a Direct Air Cap­ture (DAC) com­pa­ny that will pilot their humid­i­ty-swing tech­nol­o­gy to cap­ture and store CO2 (car­bon diox­ide) from ambi­ent air using an ener­gy-effi­cient, durable, and afford­able process, while also gen­er­at­ing car­bon cred­its and enabling down­stream appli­ca­tions of cap­tured CO2. Founder: Xiaoyang Shi
• Birdsview, a Nor­we­gian-based com­pa­ny that will pilot their ground-pen­e­trat­ing radar (GPR) struc­tur­al assess­ment tech­nol­o­gy, which uses pro­pri­etary analy­sis soft­ware to assess the inter­nal con­di­tion of build­ings and reduces waste by opti­miz­ing the preser­va­tion of exist­ing struc­tures. Founders: Olav Sko­gen and Simen Husøy
• Car­bon­CLAIR, a New York-based com­pa­ny ded­i­cat­ed to improv­ing urban air qual­i­ty by cap­tur­ing pol­lu­tants and CO2 in out­door envi­ron­ments, while pro­duc­ing a byprod­uct with com­mon indus­tri­al appli­ca­tions. They will pilot their off-grid mobile air qual­i­ty unit at a con­struc­tion and demo­li­tion site. Founders: Fares Al-Iahabi and Nazare­na Soria Hadad
• CO Adap­tive, a Brook­lyn-based com­pa­ny that will pilot their mod­u­lar wall sys­tem, made of reclaimed lum­ber, to retro­fit exist­ing build­ings to pas­sive house lev­el stan­dards of air­tight­ness and ener­gy effi­cien­cy. Founders: Ruth Man­dl and Bob­by Johnston
• Mira Intel, a New York-based com­pa­ny that will pilot their drone-based struc­tur­al assess­ments and pro­pri­etary analy­sis soft­ware to enhance build­ing and infra­struc­ture resilience through enhanced mon­i­tor­ing capabilities. Founder: Danielle Nicholson
• Phy­to­stone LLC, a woman-owned stu­dio mak­ing advanced nat­ur­al build­ing mate­ri­als. They will pilot Cast Car­bon, a biochar-enriched archi­tec­tur­al wall tile that is biodegrad­able, effi­cient­ly stores car­bon from sal­vaged pine pal­lets through a low-car­bon man­u­fac­tur­ing process and is mold-proof and fire­proof. Founder: Emi­ly Majewski
• Plan­taer, a Brook­lyn-based com­pa­ny ded­i­cat­ed to trans­form­ing urban envi­ron­ments through archi­tec­tur­al solu­tions that inte­grate veg­e­ta­tion direct­ly into build­ing mate­ri­als. They will pilot their liv­ing con­crete façade tech­nol­o­gy, a low car­bon, engi­neered con­crete that improves air qual­i­ty and mit­i­gates extreme heat. Founder: Manuel Ben­itez Ruiz
• Rego, the dig­i­tal util­i­ty meter for waste man­age­ment, which pro­vides pho­to and AI-based waste audits to track and ana­lyze waste streams in cities and increas­es diver­sion from land­fills. Founder: Josh Mastromatto

Of the select­ed pilots, 75 per­cent are local­ly based, 50 per­cent are minor­i­ty-led, and 50 per­cent are women-led. Pilots will be installed on Gov­er­nors Island over the com­ing months for peri­ods span­ning six to 18 months, with pub­lic Demo Days to be held through­out the year. 

Since its launch in 2023, the Trust’s Cli­mate Solu­tions Pilot­ing Pro­gram has sup­port­ed 14 dif­fer­ent projects with diverse rep­re­sen­ta­tion across busi­ness and non­prof­it sec­tors. Through this ini­tia­tive, the Trust makes the Island avail­able as a site for star­tups, small busi­ness­es, entre­pre­neurs, and non­prof­its to test ear­ly-stage cli­mate prod­ucts and ser­vices; col­lect data in a real-world envi­ron­ment; and direct­ly engage with fun­ders, investors, cus­tomers, and the Island’s near­ly one mil­lion annu­al vis­i­tors. In addi­tion to a themed annu­al chal­lenge, the pro­gram also includes a year-round gen­er­al appli­ca­tion seek­ing self-fund­ed pilot­ing pro­pos­als across all cli­mate sec­tors. For more infor­ma­tion and for a full list of cur­rent and past projects, click here.

“As a close part­ner of Gov­er­nors Island, we at The New York Cli­mate Exchange are excit­ed to see the ground­break­ing projects select­ed for this year’s Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge come to life,” said Shaina Horowitz, Direc­tor of Pro­gram­ming Inno­va­tion and Accel­er­a­tion at The Exchange. ​“Sup­port­ing cre­ative solu­tions and test­ing tech­nolo­gies that reduce urban waste and pro­mote a cir­cu­lar econ­o­my is crit­i­cal to our green eco­nom­ic trans­for­ma­tion, and Gov­er­nors Island can be a mod­el for New York City and beyond.”

“We con­grat­u­late the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island on the sec­ond annu­al cohort of pilot­ing projects and look for­ward to see­ing the pos­i­tive impact they will have on the com­mu­ni­ty. The busi­ness­es announced today are on the cut­ting edge of inno­v­a­tive approach­es to move towards a more cir­cu­lar econ­o­my, and we’re proud to sup­port their work through the Trust’s Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge,” said Sal­ly Fouts, Glob­al Leader, The Cli­mate Pledge at Amazon.

“We’re proud to sup­port The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s sec­ond annu­al Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge,” said Tim Caw­ley, the chair­man and CEO of Con Edison. ​“This ini­tia­tive aligns with our com­mit­ment to fos­ter­ing sus­tain­able prac­tices and advanc­ing solu­tions that reduce waste and build a clean­er future. Gov­er­nors Island serves as a cru­cial test­ing ground for the win­ners to show­case their trans­for­ma­tive solu­tions for New York’s homes, busi­ness­es, and neigh­bor­hoods. We look for­ward to the progress and insights these projects will yield and we invite all New York­ers to vis­it Gov­er­nors Island to learn and expe­ri­ence first­hand the inge­nu­ity that will shape a more sus­tain­able future.”

The Trust’s cli­mate pro­grams are made pos­si­ble with the gen­er­ous sup­port of Ama­zon, Con Edi­son, Deutsche Bank, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, LISC, and the New York Com­mu­ni­ty Trust.

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island is a core mem­ber of the Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive (HCC), a joint ini­tia­tive with New York City Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion and Brook­lyn Navy Yard Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion to grow the city’s cli­mate ecosys­tem through pilot­ing pro­grams, leas­es, work­force devel­op­ment invest­ments, and reg­u­la­to­ry wayfind­ing. Today’s announce­ment under­scores the collaborative’s com­mit­ment to dou­ble the num­ber of pilot­ing projects across these three sites. 

Gov­er­nors Island is at the fore­front of research­ing and demon­strat­ing urban cli­mate solu­tions, offer­ing a unique water­front envi­ron­ment; an award-win­ning park engi­neered for cli­mate change; near­ly one mil­lion annu­al vis­i­tors; oppor­tu­ni­ties for research and pilot­ing; pub­lic art­works engag­ing with cli­mate issues; and a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of edu­ca­tion­al, non­prof­it, and com­mer­cial ten­ants focused on cli­mate — includ­ing Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, the soon-to-open But­ter­milk Labs, and more. In 2020, the Trust and the New York City Mayor’s Office announced a vision to cre­ate the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions, a com­mu­ni­ty on Gov­er­nors Island to accel­er­ate cli­mate solu­tions for cities. In April 2023, The New York Cli­mate Exchange, led by Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty and a con­sor­tium of part­ners, was select­ed as the initiative’s anchor insti­tu­tion fol­low­ing a two-year com­pet­i­tive process. The Exchange will devel­op a $700-mil­lion cam­pus on the Island focused on advanc­ing cli­mate solu­tions and prepar­ing New York­ers for green jobs.