Future Cleantech Architects: Top Climate Nonprofit Spotlight

Giving Green classifies Future Cleantech Architects (FCA) as one of our top recommendations to address climate change. Hard-to-abate sectors—such as heavy industry, baseload power, and aviation—require significant technological advances to decarbonize, yet are often neglected by funders and governments. FCA works to close these innovation gaps by (i) engaging with policymakers to prioritize R&D for critical interventions and (ii) leading research consortia to advance scientific knowledge for these applications.

We specifically assessed FCA’s work to decarbonize cement production, hydrogen production, and high-temperature heat processes across heavy industry, as well as the organization’s general work to strengthen EU climate policy. We were impressed by the level of FCA’s in-house expertise, depth of engagement with technical research, and sophisticated understanding of the innovation landscape. In addition, despite being a relatively new organization, FCA has already developed an effective track record of shaping EU policy and contributing to international climate discourse through engagement with UN organizations. We think FCA fills a critical gap in the climate policy ecosystem by connecting lessons and learnings from its ‘boots on the ground’ technical work to high-level policymaking.

While we have not assessed FCA’s other program areas (aviation, long-duration energy storage, and thermal energy storage) in detail, we are confident in FCA’s strategy and work overall; our recommendation is for unrestricted funding for the organization at large.

For more information, see our deep dive report on FCA and our broader report on decarbonizing heavy industry.

Future Cleantech Architects is a registered charity in Germany. This is a non-partisan analysis (study or research) and is provided for educational purposes.