Climate Tech, Clean Tech, Envirotech & Green Tech: What’s the Difference?

Digital Catapult is helping advance industrial sustainability through deep tech innovation, and we have supported numerous startups and technology adopters, such as National Grid, to innovate in order to monitor, mitigate and eliminate carbon emissions.  But the way that companies operating in sustainable innovation describe themselves and what they do can lack consistency: do you know your climate tech from cleantech, or envirotech from green tech? What’s the difference and why is it important? 

Cleantech

Coined in the early 2000s, cleantech refers to technologies and business models designed to reduce costs, minimise energy consumption, and use fewer materials, all while improving products or services. This term, popularised in the financial and business communities, spans diverse industries such as energy, agriculture, manufacturing and transportation. The key differentiator between cleantech and other terms is in the context where the term stems from – cleantech originates in the environmental movements in the United States during the 1970s when viable business models for clean technology were lacking.

Measurable.energy and Circulor are two examples of cleantech businesses that Digital Catapult has supported through our targeted innovation initiatives. Measurable.energy uses machine learning to eliminate waste energy in buildings, minimising unnecessary CO2 emissions and reducing electricity bills, while Circulor utilises distributed ledger technologies to monitor and track the origin of raw materials and CO2 emissions in supply chains.

Green Tech

Green tech is the most all-encompassing term of all and lacks a clear set of definitions, serving as an umbrella term for a broad range of environmentally friendly innovations from renewable energy to recycling models, electric vehicles to sustainable agriculture. Digital Catapult’s support for new green tech initiatives include the Hydrogen Innovation Initiative (HII) and our Hydrogen Sensor Accelerator Programme. We are a founding partner of HII, helping to accelerate the development of hydrogen technology supply chains to transform UK industry into a net zero powerhouse. A Welsh startup on the programme is working to refreeze parts of the Arctic with underwater drones powered by green hydrogen, helping to tackle climate change whilst preserving a critical ecosystem and working with Indigenous communities.