Q2 2026 Rankings
Climate Tech Startups to Watch, Q2 2026
Climate tech engineering activity is concentrated in grid software and carbon accounting tooling.
Key takeaways, at a glance
In Q2 2026, 0 of 5 tracked climate tech startups show positive engineering acceleration. carbon-design-system leads with 97 commits over 14 days (-1% change). The dominant signal pattern is "Deceleration". Average sector commit velocity is 31 commits per 14-day window. These engineering momentum signals have historically preceded fundraise announcements by three to six weeks.
Data sourced from public GitHub activity. Read our methodology
| # | Company | Stage | Geo | Commits (14d) | Change | Contributors | Contrib. Growth | New Repos | Signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | carbon-design-system An open-source design system built by IBM. View signal profile → | Growth | US | 97 | -1% | 374 | +9% | 1 | Deceleration |
| 2 | CliMA The next generation of climate models. Built in the open. View signal profile → | Growth | US | 15 | -57% | 81 | +0% | 0 | Deceleration |
| 3 | opennem Formerly OpenNEM, Open Electricity aims to make the wealth of public energy data more accessible View signal profile → | Seed | APAC | 29 | -79% | 9 | +121% | 0 | Deceleration |
| 4 | ESCOMP Earth system modeling infrastructure providing climate simulation tools for the scientific research community. View signal profile → | Growth | Unknown | 14 | -88% | 61 | +0% | 0 | Deceleration |
| 5 | nco nco is aclimate tech series a/b startup, modernizing their technology stack for scale. View signal profile → | Series A/B | Unknown | 2 | -92% | 25 | +0% | 0 | Deceleration |
Sorted by commit velocity change (14-day window, descending). Top 3 highlighted. Data last updated Q2 2026.
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Projected next milestone
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The free Sunday digest puts carbon-design-system and 4 other Climate Tech startups this period in context, 14-day acceleration deltas, contributor maps, and the top names not on Crunchbase yet. Five names every Sunday, no card, no code-reading.
Unlock with email →Projections are model estimates derived from each org's public commit signal and the SSRN-published methodology, not statements of fact. Cross-reference with primary sources before acting.
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The free Acceleration Watch: five venture-backed teams accelerating on the engineering signal, translated into plain English, 21 to 47 days before the deck circulates. No code-reading, no card.
More views of Climate Tech, Q2 2026
Best of 2026
Top Climate Tech startups ranked across all 2026quarters →
Q2 2026 vs Q1 2026
How Climate Techcommit velocity has shifted quarter-over-quarter →
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Frequently Asked Questions
What engineering signals are climate tech startups showing in Q2 2026?
In Q2 2026, we are tracking 5 climate tech startups with measurable GitHub engineering signals. 0 of 5 show positive commit velocity growth. The most common signal type is "Framework migration", observed in 4 of the tracked companies. The average 14-day commit velocity across the sector is 31 commits, with carbon-design-system leading at 97 commits (-1% change). These patterns have historically preceded fundraise announcements by three to six weeks.
Which climate tech startup has the highest engineering acceleration in Q2 2026?
carbon-design-system leads the climate tech sector in Q2 2026 with 97 commits over a 14-day window, representing a -1% change from the prior period. With 100 active contributors and 1 new repositories, carbon-design-system is showing a "Framework migration" pattern, one of the more reliable leading indicators of a significant product milestone or fundraise.
Where are the most active climate tech engineering teams located?
Among the 5 climate tech startups we track, US accounts for the highest concentration with 2 teams. Startups developing clean energy, carbon monitoring, and climate adaptation technologies. Geographic distribution matters for investors because engineering talent clusters correlate with sector-specific domain expertise and proximity to early adopter customers.