Startups: Don’t ‘dial down’ the climate narrative. Refine it

Over the past 18 months, we’ve seen a growing tendency for companies to dial down the climate narrative. In some cases, they’re shifting their language toward energy, resilience, or cost and away from explicitly naming climate change. 

While this shift in framing is becoming more common, stepping back from the climate message risks missing the bigger picture: The climate narrative is intertwined with energy and the economy, and those combined issues are as high a priority as they’ve ever been. 

Electricity demand is accelerating, driven by artificial intelligence, electrification, and industrial growth. And the war in Iran has brought energy issues into even sharper focus, with rising prices around the world highlighting the importance of secure and resilient energy access.

The good news: The energy landscape is evolving, creating new opportunities for innovation, economic growth, and long-term resilience.

Technologies that once seemed fringe are now scaling rapidly. Wind and solar costs have fallen dramatically and are now competitive with fossil fuels in many markets. In 2025, more than 90% of new utility-scale power capacity in the United States came from wind, solar, and storage, and in March 2025, clean energy sources generated more electricity in the U.S. than fossil sources for the first time.

The task now isn’t to retreat from climate messaging — it’s to refine how we connect climate to other essential topics: reliable energy, economic growth, and competitiveness.

A powerful opportunity for startups

Addressing those intertwined energy challenges requires a full portfolio approach — one that includes already-commercialized clean energy sources, such as solar, wind, hydropower, and nuclear, as well as newer clean energy sources, such as enhanced geothermal and fusion. Long-duration storage, grid optimization, and the decarbonization of existing systems will fill in gaps left by these new power sources.

For entrepreneurs, this creates a powerful opportunity. The world needs more energy to support growth, and it must reduce emissions and strengthen infrastructure. The defining companies of the next decade will be those that can deliver on all of those fronts.

This is not theoretical — we’re already seeing it happen. Companies incubated by Greentown Labs, such as Form Energy, are strengthening grid reliability with long-duration energy storage, helping ensure that power is available when it’s needed most. Fervo Energy is unlocking next-generation geothermal to deliver always-on clean power. Nth Cycle is building a domestic supply chain of recycled critical minerals, reducing cost and increasing resilience. Via Separations is vastly reducing the amount of energy used in industrial separations, as well as the associated capital expenditures.

These companies are not operating at the margins. They are addressing core infrastructure challenges, creating economic value, and demonstrating that climate solutions can also be superior business solutions.

This same dynamic is increasingly visible at scale. In partnering with leading corporations, we’re seeing real demand for these solutions. Through Greentown Labs’ partnership with Amazon, for example, startups are developing next-generation materials and technologies to decarbonize the built environment — from fulfillment centers and offices to data centers and grocery stores — while improving performance and cost.

These are not trade-offs. They are better solutions.

Connecting climate to energy and the economy

As professionals who support climate and energy entrepreneurs, we’ve long offered founders this simple advice: Lead with the value you create for customers. Almost all customers make decisions based on performance, cost, reliability, and risk. The most successful companies communicate clearly how their solutions solve real problems and create tangible benefits. 

That principle is central to the approach that Ben and his co-authors lay out in their book, “Disciplined Entrepreneurship for Climate and Energy Ventures,” which emphasizes building companies that deliver both customer value and broader impact.

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At the same time, there’s no need to avoid the climate context. Refining the climate message doesn’t mean muting it. 

Both of us are part of OpenMinds, a nonprofit network of energy and climate experts advancing the idea that the world faces a dual opportunity: providing more energy and reducing emissions. This framing reflects the fundamental reality that these challenges are interconnected and that progress depends on addressing them together.

In the marketplace, investors, employees, corporate partners, and policymakers still care deeply about climate outcomes. The opportunity is to connect climate explicitly to energy and economic priorities. That is the power of “and” — more energy and fewer emissions; reliability and affordability; growth and resilience. 

Ecosystems play a critical role in making this possible. Entrepreneurs don’t build alone. At Greentown Labs, we see what happens when founders are connected to the right communities, partners, customers, and capital. At MIT, initiatives such as the MIT Climate Project, the MIT Energy Initiative, and the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship are bringing together talent and resources to accelerate climate and energy solutions and translate breakthrough science into real-world impact.

We are seeing this play out across the private sector as well. Corporations are investing in technologies that improve efficiency, reduce risk, strengthen supply chains, and open new markets. What once sat on the margins is becoming central to long-term strategy.

Enduring challenges, enduring opportunities

These dynamics extend beyond any single moment. Market signals and priorities will continue to evolve, but the underlying needs remain constant. The world still requires more energy, more resilient systems, and emissions reductions at scale. These are enduring challenges, and they are also enduring opportunities.

Taking action on climate and energy isn’t about constraint — it’s about growth, innovation, resilience, and economic opportunity. It’s about inventing the future. And entrepreneurs have a critical role to play. By building solutions that deliver real value, they can strengthen industries, create jobs, and help shape a more resilient and prosperous world.

Georgina Campbell Flatter, SM ’11, is CEO of climate-tech startup incubator Greentown Labs and a lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Previously, she was co-founder and executive director of TomorrowNow.org, a global nonprofit seeking to connect vulnerable communities on the front lines of climate change with next-generation weather and climate technologies. 

Ben Soltoff is an entrepreneur in residence and the ecosystem-builder in residence at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, a lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a co-author of “Disciplined Entrepreneurship for Climate and Energy Ventures.”