Industrial Innovation Cohorts

Heavy industry produces the most widely used materials you see in your daily lives, from concrete and steel for buildings to chemicals and plastics for consumer products. Industry is responsible for 30 percent of global carbon pollution — and half of that is caused by the production of cement, steel, and chemicals. 

Today, the world produces about 4 billion tons of cement (and about 30 billion tons of concrete), 2 billion tons of steel, and over 700 million tons of chemicals yearly. By 2050, forecasts estimate that demand will increase by 17 percent for cement, 27 percent for steel, and 46 percent for chemicals. Without innovation — and bringing that innovation quickly to commercialization — these industries could become the world’s biggest emitters within a decade.  

Although heavy industry is considered tough to decarbonize, we already have solutions to cut emissions cost-effectively, including fly ash to partially replace the use of clinker in concrete mixes, electric arc furnaces to produce steel from scrap using electricity, and feedstock diversification to produce chemicals with lower life-cycle emissions. Despite this progress, according to IEA, there are over 70 technology solutions for the cement, steel, and chemicals sectors at the lab, prototype, or demonstration stage that are needed to meet our net-zero carbon goals.  

Industry-focused startups already make up about one-third of Third Derivative's portfolio. These portfolio companies work on topics that include green hydrogen, green chemicals and fuels, industrial heat, next-generation steelmaking, carbon-negative cement, and more. We've learned from our existing portfolio that industrial innovations benefit from our ecosystem approach to startup servicing and that we must both cultivate more innovation in these sectors, and help bring that innovation more quickly to market.