Tencent's Search for the Next Generation of Climate Leaders
Tencent has named 50 finalists from 12 countries for its CarbonX Program 2.0, offering US$28m in funding to help early-stage climate technologies move towards commercial deployment.
The Shenzhen-based technology giant selected the finalists from a cohort of more than 660 applicants across 54 countries.
The programme focuses on four technology areas:
- Carbon dioxide removal
- Industrial decarbonisation for steel production
- Carbon capture and utilisation
- Long-duration energy storage.
Winners will receive grants alongside technical resources, expert mentorship and opportunities to pilot their solutions in Kenya, the Maldives and Serbia.
How Tencent is addressing the funding gap for climate tech start-ups
The initiative targets what climate experts often describe as the 'Valley of Death', which refers to the gap between early-stage innovation and large-scale deployment. It is during this phase that most promising technologies fail as a result of limited funding and difficulty in securing testing environments.
"The climate crisis is the defining challenge of our time and tackling it demands both bold innovation and collective action across the global ecosystem," says Davis Lin, Senior Vice President of Tencent.
"With CarbonX, we are not only investing in ground-breaking ideas, but also creating the pathways to turn them into real-world solutions."
The programme marks an expansion from CarbonX's inaugural iteration, which focused exclusively on China. With this broader reach, 2025's cohort promises to be diverse in nature.
Tencent's plan to road test the technologies from successful applicants
Tencent will select winners from each of the four technological categories it has set up. The winners of each category will then have their technologies tested in preordained locations, as facilitated by Tencent.
The carbon dioxide removal track will support pilots in Kenya which will be aimed at reducing the cost of direct air capture (DAC) technologies.
Industrial decarbonisation projects in Serbia will focus on carbon capture, utilisation and storage solutions for steel production, one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise.
The carbon capture and utilisation track, branded CarbonXmade, aims to transform captured carbon into chemicals and consumer products. The winners of this category will look to create a circular value chain supported by brand premiums in China.
The start-ups focused on long-duration energy storage projects will test technologies in the Maldives, with flow batteries identified as showing strong promise for commercially viable storage solutions to support renewable energy expansion.
When will Tencent select the winners?
A global panel of multi-disciplinary experts will evaluate the finalists in early 2026 to select the winning teams.
The group of 50 finalists is made up of universities, research institutes and start-ups, all working across the four technology areas.
Tencent announced the finalists at the CarbonX Summit in Shenzhen recently, which brought together business leaders, academics and policymakers to discuss innovation ecosystems for climate action.
"Sustainability can only be achieved through innovation," Hao Xu, Head of Climate Innovation at Tencent, said at the event.
"By supporting the world's brightest climate entrepreneurs, we aim to harness technology as a force for good – addressing one of humanity's most urgent challenges while creating shared value for future generations."
Tencent's climate commitments
Tencent has committed to achieving carbon neutrality across its operations and supply chain by 2030, with Time magazine naming it among the "World's Most Sustainable Companies" in 2024.
CarbonX is a big part of the company's own decarbonisation journey, but it has the potential to spread far beyond Tencent too.
Davis emphasises the programme's focus on creating pathways for technologies that can "store, transform and reduce CO₂ emissions at scale, laying the foundation for a truly low-carbon future".
The programme's structure combines financial support with access to real-world deployment environments in climate-vulnerable regions.
This approach seeks to accelerate the transition from laboratory development to commercial-scale implementation.
The finalists represent a geographic spread across multiple continents, though the document does not specify the breakdown by country or technology category.
Tencent has positioned the programme as part of its broader commitment to using technology to address global challenges.
The company is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and has been recognised by the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and Sustainalytics ESG Risk Rating.
