Team for the Planet, the Lyon-based climate organisation founded in 2020, has launched a global call for innovation that will award €1 million to each selected climate inventor, targeting breakthroughs ready to move from the lab to industrial scale. Researchers, engineers, and entrepreneurs from any country are eligible to apply. The initiative reflects the organisation's founding conviction that decarbonisation must rest on financially sound footing.
A Prize Structure Designed for Scale-Up
The award is structured not as a grant for early-stage research but as capital to push proven innovations toward industrial deployment. That distinction matters: the gap between a working prototype and a manufacturable product is where most climate technologies stall, and Team for the Planet is explicitly targeting that choke point. Each winner receives €1 million, a sum calibrated to move a technology along the commercialisation curve rather than seed exploratory science.
Lyon as a Climate-Tech Hub
Team for the Planet has operated out of Lyon since its founding in 2020, and the new global call reinforces the French city's positioning as a base for coordinated climate action. The organisation's model — pooling resources to back inventors who can demonstrably cut greenhouse-gas emissions — has driven its growth since launch. The global scope of this latest call signals an expansion beyond the organisation's European roots, drawing on a worldwide pipeline of climate solutions.
What Applicants Need to Know
The invitation is open to the full spectrum of technical talent: academic researchers, independent engineers, and commercial entrepreneurs are all in scope. The focus is on innovations with a credible path to industrial scale, consistent with Team for the Planet's emphasis on decarbonisation that is economically viable, not just technically feasible. Applicants should expect their submissions to be evaluated against that commercial-readiness standard.
Why This Round Matters for Climate Investing
A structured, recurring prize mechanism from a dedicated climate organisation adds a non-dilutive funding option to the ecosystem at a moment when venture capital for deep-tech climate companies remains uneven. For inventors who have cleared the proof-of-concept stage but lack the capital to tool up for volume production, a €1 million award from Team for the Planet represents a meaningful bridge. The global call also broadens the sourcing funnel, increasing the odds that the most capital-efficient decarbonisation solutions — wherever they originate — can find their way to market.