Climate Piloting Opportunities
The Trust for Governors Island offers the unique opportunity for startups, small businesses, nonprofits, and entrepreneurs to test climate solutions that address climate mitigation, climate adaptation, and environmental justice. Selected projects utilize the Island’s built, social, and natural environments — including a 2.2‑mile waterfront, 43-acre climate-resilient park, 7 miles of car-free streets, 50+ historic buildings, and sewer and water infrastructure — allowing them to accelerate climate innovation, economic opportunity, and social impact in diverse urban communities.
All piloting projects on Governors Island address one or more of the following:
- Climate Mitigation: Does your product or service reduce harmful emissions that cause climate change?
- Climate Adaptation: Does your product or service maintain a safe, comfortable environment for everyday life in a changing climate?
- Environmental Justice: Does your product or service address adaptation or mitigation while centering human health, the environment, or climate change in frontline communities?
Projects are all temporary and intended to support product or service development through testing and solutions validation.
How to Apply
- Apply to the annual Climate Solutions Challenge by December 5, 2024: Win a $10,000 prize and access to supplemental grants generally not to exceed $20,000 to support project design and deployment. All program funding is non-dilutive and grant amounts will be based on demonstrated need. The 2025 theme is "Circular Economy." Selected teams can access opportunities with the Trust’s network of climate partners, including the New York Climate Exchange, regulatory agencies, and content area experts such as Closed Loop Partners.
- Submit a General Application on your own schedule: A year-round rolling application is open to all climate sectors. Project teams are responsible for all costs.
Current Pilots
EARLY STAGE START-UP
FOUNDER: Chris Graff and Barent Roth
WEBSITE >>
Circular Economy Manufacturing is a start up company created after winning a competition asking for ideas to turn NYC’s trash into products.
Product: MicroFactory
Location: South Battery
Visit South Battery to experience Circular Economy Manufacturing's 100% solar powered MicroFactory capable of recycling single use plastic into durable eco-friendly products using an innovative, energy efficient, rotational molding process. Within a repurposed shipping container they shred post-consumer plastic collected by the City of New York that may otherwise be sent to landfill, melt it and mold it into products using only the attached solar panels for power.
2024 CHALLENGE: WATER ABUNDANCE
EARLY STAGE START-UP
FOUNDER: Brian Wilson
WEBSITE >>
Based in the South Bronx, Duro UAS develops advanced environmental monitoring technologies to expand access to environmental intelligence with the goal of improving how environmental data is collected and shared with affordable, easy-to-use water monitoring systems and data services.
Product: Nearshore Sonde
Advancing IoT (Internet of Things)-based environmental monitoring for urban ecosystem resilience and diversifying the climate tech workforce.
Location: In the water at Soissons Landing (pictured) and Yankee Pier
Duro UAS will pilot portable continuous water quality monitoring devices (or “sondes”) in the waters off Governors Island that will collect data including pH, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, oxidation-reduction potential, and temperature. This information will be available in real time through the Duro Dashboard—a cloud-based data visualization and analysis tool—providing the public access to key water data from New York Harbor.
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Joy Gardner
WEBSITE >>
Empire Clean Cities is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and the U.S. Department of Energy’s designated Clean Cities and Communities Coalition for New York City and the Lower Hudson Valley.
Product: Sustainable last-mile delivery
Reducing traffic emissions and congestion through last-mile delivery solutions.
Location: Used for deliveries to Governors Island tenants and vendors
Empire Clean Cities is demonstrating last-mile decarbonization using electric cargo bikes paired with maritime middle-mile transportation to reduce traffic emissions and congestion. On Governors Island, they will use their heavy-duty, automotive grade cargo bikes to deliver goods to Governors Island tenants and vendors that would normally be dispatched by trucks, vehicular traffic, and minimizing local congestion and emissions in a commercially viable manner.
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION
WEBSITE >>
GrowNYC is an environmental nonprofit in New York City helping more than 3 million New Yorkers by providing essential sustainability services and taking action to make NYC a truly livable city.
Product: Container Farm
Location: Parade Ground (behind Colonels Row)
Demonstrating the future of urban hydroponic farming.
GrowNYC's Container Farm is a joint effort between the organization, Con Edison, EPRI, and the Trust for Governors Island. Their hydroponic system produces less CO2 emissions, uses 10 times less water than traditional agriculture, and can grow food in all seasons and weather conditions. Currently, the pilot is growing lacinato kale as part of a wider research project to collect data on growth and energy efficiency. The produce grown is donated to New Yorkers in need through GrowNYC's network of community-based partnerships.
START-UP
FOUNDERS: Nathan King, Tiya Gordon
WEBSITE >>
Highly scalable, itselectric is the world’s public charging system powered by buildings. The two leading barriers for EV adoption in the US are the cost of EVs and directly after that access to charging. itselectric's model of providing free chargers that revenue share back to communities that closes the gap for the current disparities in where charging can be found. Highly scalable, itselectric is the world’s public charging system powered by buildings.
Product: Behind The Meter Level 2 EV Charging
Public charging solution that brings clean transportation infrastructure and the benefits of the green economy into neighborhoods around the U.S.
Location: Battery Maritime Building ferry terminal and other locations to be installed (for use by Governors Island operations vehicles; Governors Island is a car-free space)
To support the Trust for Governors Island's goal of all-electric operations vehicles, several charging posts will be installed across Governors Island. This unique technology connects behind-the-meter to draw spare electrical supply from adjacent buildings, leveraging existing resources and providing a model for widespread installation. itselectric charging posts have previously been installed in Brooklyn, New York, Detroit, Michigan, with a critical focus on frontline and Justice 40 communities to bring affordable, equitable, curbside EV charging to city drivers across the United States.
2024 CHALLENGE: WATER ABUNDANCE
SMALL BUSINESS
FOUNDER: Jamie Ong
WEBSITE >>
Just EcoCities represents a nature-based solutions consultancy working to improve water quality, expand habitat, and promote engagement with New York City’s waterways.
Product: Tidal Planter
Modular wetland system fused with living shoreline design to expand habitat, improve water quality, and engage communities with their waterways.
Location: Water Abundance Hub at Yankee Pier (installation coming soon)
On Governors Island, Just EcoCities will partner with Biohabitats, an ecological design firm whose mission is to restore the Earth and inspire ecological stewardship, to pilot a Tidal Planter that creates salt marsh while removing pollutants from New York Harbor.
2024 CHALLENGE: WATER ABUNDANCE
EARLY-STAGE START-UP
FOUNDER: Noemi Florea
WEBSITE >>
Laero represents a collaboration between experts across fields of water advocacy, manufacturing, and electromechanical engineering working to reduce the levels of untreated wastewater that enter New York City’s municipal infrastructure.
Product: Cycleau
Decentralized point-of-use greywater treatment retrofits that can reduce water pollution in local waterways.
Location: ADA bathroom trailer at Yankee Pier & Parade Ground water station (behind Nolan Park)
Cycleau is a compact greywater treatment system that is designed to retrofit below sinks, showers, and laundry machines. On Governors Island, the system will be installed at the Parade Ground water station and the Yankee Pier bathrooms. The Cycleau system will directly involve Island visitors in the water quality treatment process while modeling a scalable solution for wastewater management that can be easily deployed in urban areas worldwide. Throughout the pilot, they will engage visitors in water quality testing and raise awareness of the impacts of wastewater pollution on New York City neighborhoods.
2024 CHALLENGE: WATER ABUNDANCE
SMALL BUSINESS
FOUNDER: Marcus Carter
WEBSITE >>
Object Territories is a critical design practice based in New York and Hong Kong that works at the intersection of architecture, landscape, and urbanism. Their pilot on Governors Island represents a collaboration with the Center for Architecture, Science, and Ecology (CASE) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Product: Intertidal Objects
Coastal infrastructure retrofits that actively promote biodiversity along the water’s edge by creating refuge and reducing heat stress through design.
Location: Water Abundance Hub at Yankee Pier (installation coming soon)
Object Territories will install their Intertidal Objects along Governors Island’s shoreline. The Intertidal Objects are retrofitted concrete ecological coastal armoring units that promote a living shoreline and provide erosion protection, and were designed in collaboration with the Center for Architecture, Science, and Ecology (CASE) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, after NATURE, and Fort Miller Group. They create refuge for wildlife and reduce heat stress, and have been previously deployed in Hong Kong.
2024 CHALLENGE: WATER ABUNDANCE
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION
Gita Nandan, Founder, RETI center and Principal, thread collective
Tim Gliman Sevcik, Executive Director, RETI Center
WEBSITE >>
RETI Center is a Red Hook-based nonprofit that works to educate, train, and work with local youth, experts, professionals, and community members to transform our coastal city from one that is driven by fossil fuels to one balancing equity, ecology, and economy.
Product: BlueBlocks Gardens
Scalable education and training platform for local youth leaders in living shoreline construction and ecological monitoring.
Location: Water Abundance Hub at Yankee Pier
RETI Center will install their BlueBlocks Gardens, modular nature-based floating marshlands, in the waters off Governors Island with design lead thread collective. With a multilayered design that mimics an integrated ecological system, the BlueBlocks Gardens allow marine habitat to thrive both in and above the water. Previously deployed in Red Hook, this pilot will test the product’s resiliency and bring the project’s unique education and training platform to Governors Island’s community of visitors, partners, and tenants.
2024 CHALLENGE: WATER ABUNDANCE
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION
FOUNDERS: Shanjana Mahmud and Luke Eddins
WEBSITE >>
Seaweed City is a citizen science initiative exploring the benefits of seaweed aquaculture in New York City’s waterways
Product: Urban Seaweed Farming and Nursery
Urban seaweed farming to restore marine ecosystems, clean waterways, and promote community investment in the New York City estuary.
Location: Water Abundance Hub at Yankee Pier
Seaweed City will pilot their urban kelp farming infrastructure in the high energy coastal waters off Governors Island, demonstrating how aquaculture contributes to ecologically, economically, and culturally productive urban shorelines and creating the first kelp nursery in the five boroughs. The project is fiscally sponsored by Newtown Creek Alliance.
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION
FOUNDER: Melissa Barber, MD, and Mychal Johnson
WEBSITE >>
South Bronx Unite brings together neighborhood residents, community organizations, academic institutions, and allies to improve and protect the social, environmental, and economic future of Mott Haven and Port Morris.
Product: Community Science Air Quality Monitoring
Location: Base of Outlook Hill
Citizen science-driven air quality monitoring and analysis.
South Bronx Unite has deployed 65 advanced air quality monitors throughout the South Bronx to collect publicly accessible data that they will use as a community organizing tool and to strengthen their advocacy for cleaner air. They have installed a "control" monitor on Governors Island to measure waterfront air quality in a less dense urban environment. This initiative also engages local middle and high school students through hands-on STEM education, teaching them to build low-cost air quality sensors while developing their voices as community advocates.
EARLY STAGE START-UP
FOUNDER: Garrett Boudinot
WEBSITE >>
Vycarb is a Brooklyn-based startup enabling decentralized carbon removal through real-time, autonomous, and direct measurement of CO2 in water.
Product: Autonomous Carbon Monitoring Device
Using novel technology for real-time, direct, and autonomous measurement of the full carbon cycle and the responsive management and removal of carbon in water.
Vycarb is piloting their autonomous carbon measurement and mitigation apparatus at the end of Pier 102 on Governors Island. The device removes carbon dioxide from water, stores it as stable dissolved carbon in water, and measures exactly how much carbon was removed in a low-cost, modular, hardware-software integration.