LOS ANGELES, CA – C40 and Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) are partnering to help cities around the world embrace innovation and accelerate climate solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This new partnership will first embark on research to inform how start-ups, entrepreneurs and corporate innovation can scale up and deliver solutions for cities to limit global warming to 1.5°C, the target identified in the Paris Climate Agreement.
C40 research has shown that a lack of sufficient collaboration between city governments and the private sector is a key barrier to taking climate action. This partnership aims to overcome this barrier by bridging the gap between the private sector, both start-up and corporate, and city governments. C40’s Business & Innovation team have already commenced a range of programs to openly support cities to unlock this barrier, and this new partnership marks an important next step. LACI is uniquely positioned to partner with C40, given its proven track record of incubating numerous cleantech start-ups that have helped cities reduce greenhouse gasses, improve air quality, and create green jobs.
“As CEO of a leading cleantech incubator and former Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Los Angeles, I truly understand the opportunities and challenges for cities and start-ups to scale innovation,” said Matt Petersen, LACI President and CEO. “We’re eager to transfer some of the best practices we’ve developed in L.A. to help other cities embrace entrepreneur-led innovation to achieve the goals set forth in the Paris Climate Agreement.”
C40 and LACI recognize that cities globally are focusing on identifying collaborative climate solutions, ones that engage citizens, academics and the private sector in the design process of key city projects. The goal of this partnership is to equip cities with best practices to increase engagement with the start-up, entrepreneur, incubator, accelerator and corporate innovation community to scale proven and comprehensive climate change mitigation and adaptation solutions.
“Understanding the current barriers for start-ups to scale, and ways to enable this acceleration for climate action is key to unlocking more climate solutions for our cities. We’re really pleased to partner with experts from LACI, a world-leading cleantech incubator,” said Jonathan Walter, Director of C40 Business & Innovation. “In the face of a looming deadline to scale climate action at a time of federal inaction, C40 sees partnering with LACI as the natural progression to drive innovation to the scale and speed that is necessary to support the ambitions of cities to meet the Paris Agreement.”
About C40
C40 Cities connects 96 of the world’s greatest cities to take bold climate action, leading the way towards a healthier and more sustainable future. Representing 700+ million citizens and one quarter of the global economy, mayors of C40 cities are committed to delivering on the most ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement at the local level, as well as to cleaning the air we breathe. The current chair of C40 is Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo; and three-term Mayor of New York City Michael R. Bloomberg serves as President of the Board. C40’s work is made possible by our three strategic funders: Bloomberg Philanthropies, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), and Realdania.
About LACI
The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) is a private non-profit organization creating an inclusive green economy by unlocking innovation (through working with start-ups to accelerate the commercialization of clean technologies), transforming markets (through partnerships in transportation, energy and sustainable cities) and enhancing communities (through workforce development, pilots and other programs). Founded as an economic development initiative by the City of Los Angeles and its Department of Water & Power (LADWP), LACI is recognized as one of the most innovative business incubators in the world by UBI. In the past six years, LACI has helped 73 portfolio companies raise $184M in funding, $220M in revenue, create 1,700 jobs, and deliver more than $379M in long term economic value. Learn more at laci.org.
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