Helping Bharat
accelerate decarbonisation
and ensure water security

ACT For Environment

The Challenge

India, like many other nations, is grappling with an urgent need to address the climate crisis. Our country’s annual contribution to global carbon emissions is projected to rise by 4.6% and experts foresee the demand for water outpacing the supply by 40% by 2030.

8.2%

Of global carbon emissions annually are contributed by India

54%

Of India is facing high to extremely high water stress

The need of the hour is to nurture and scale innovations that can enable progress on our climate goals and help create a cleaner and greener environment.

Our Thesis

ACT For Environment aims to catalyze climate action through tech-first innovations to accelerate India’s progress on decarbonisation and ensure water security.
The 50 Cr fund will seed the capabilities of ‘new and novel’ innovations that have the potential to create outsized climate impact as well as accelerate the progress of validated ‘here and now’ innovations that have a measurable environmental benefit.

Electrify Transportation

ACT

Reduce transport emissions by accelerating the adoption of green mobility: advanced cell chemistries, battery management & recycling, ZET, renewable integrated charging infrastructure etc.

Decarbonise The Grid

ACT

Reduce the dependence of energy grids on fossil fuels and manage power more efficiently: Biofuels, DRE, renewable efficiency solutions, energy storage & management, virtual power plants etc.

Fix Agri Systems

ACT

Reduce AFOLU emissions and save water while aiding livelihoods for smallholder farmers: water-efficient irrigation, biotech fertilizers, waste to value solutions, food waste avoidance, affordable precision farming tools etc.

Clean Up Industry

ACT

Reduce hard to abate industrial emissions and enable water circularity: alternative materials, wastewater treatment and reuse, sustainable heating/cooling, circular recycling, industrial carbon capture etc.

Remove Carbon

ACT

Create economies of scale on direct carbon removal and storage: engineered solutions like ERW, BECCS, DAC and nature-based solutions like biochar, blue carbon restoration, algae-led carbon capture etc.

Our Portfolio

ACT

Agri To Power

An AI based platform that uses satellite imagery to identify areas where crop waste burning is prevalent & creates a marketplace where crop waste can be turned into clean biofuels instead.

ACT

Alt Carbon

An ERW startup developing an in-house MRV system to generate high-quality removal credits by spreading basalt rock dust on agricultural land to capture atmospheric carbon while improving soil health and crop yield by 30-50%.

ACT

alt M

An alternative materials startup that’s transforming agricultural waste into bio-materials and is conducting an application-led study to develop agri-lignin for industrial use that can replace petrochemical based manufacturing inputs.

ACT

Ambee

A platform that provides hyperlocal environmental intelligence to enable real-time climate action.

ACT

APChemi

An advanced pyrolysis solution that converts non-recyclable plastic waste into a purified oil that can be used to produce aviation fuel and sustainable chemicals.

ACT

Brisil

A process tech company that converts rice husk ash into green precipitated silica and activated carbon for industrial purposes.

ACT

Cancrie

A tech company that uses agri-waste to create advanced nano carbons which are used on battery electrode plates to increase the battery cycle life and enhance energy efficiency.

ACT

Centre For Environment Concerns

A first-of-its-kind root zone measured moisture diffuser that comes as an add-on to drip irrigation laterals along with locally farm-made microbe inoculum to foster soil health.

ACT

FIB-SOL

A biotech startup whose microbial gel-based product increases agri-yield and improves soil quality while reducing the need for chemical fertilizers and decreasing farmer costs.

ACT

Farmers for Forests

A forestry startup whose payment for ecosystem services model financially compensates local communities for providing environmental services like carbon sequestration, afforestation etc.

ACT

Grassroots Energy

An energy startup that uses a patented reactor design and proprietary microbial cultures to convert organic waste into Green Hydrogen.

ACT

Greenpod Labs

A biotech startup pioneering a patented solution made of natural plant extracts that leverages biomimicry principles to reduce post harvest over-ripening + microbial rotting of fruits & vegetables during transportation, thus increasing their shelf life by 40-80%.

ACT

Indra Water

An electrically-driven modular system that’s designed to treat wastewater in a decentralized manner at the point of source.

ACT

REVY

A biotech startup whose specialized microbial formulation transforms agri-stubble into a rich organic manure.

ACT

Minimines

A battery recycling startup that uses an energy and water efficient hybrid hydrometallurgy process to extract rare metals like Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel and Manganese from Li-ion battery waste.

ACT

Solinas Integrity

A robotics startup building a ‘Rehabilitation Bot’ that can enable end-to-end inspection and cleaning of sewer pipelines to prevent water contamination at source.

ACT

Zerocircle

A climate startup building an alternative to plastic packaging by extracting dried biomass from seaweed to build flexible films that are fully home-compostable and marine-degradable.

Our Technical Advisors

What Are We Looking For

If you’re a social entrepreneur building an innovative tech-first climate impact solution, we want to hear from YOU!

Here is a quick checklist that’ll help you understand what we’re looking for and whether your product / solution would be eligible to be evaluated for a grant:

 

  • Tech-First:
    Should have tech-led innovation as a core element of the product, process or business model.
  • Addresses Issue At Source:
    Should solve for the cause instead of being built to address the resulting symptom.
  • Evidence Of Environmental Impact
    Should have demonstrated potential for climate impact at scale from a decarbonisation and/or water security lens.
  • Roadmap To Sustainability
    Should have a clear rationale for catalytic funding and a roadmap to grow sustainably beyond ACT’s support.

We do not look at funding large scale renewable energy projects, EV MaaS / OEMs / financing / charging infra and waste management logistics / traceability as they’re already in the advanced stages of market validation. We also actively screen out solutions that may contribute to greenwashing or have an indirect negative environmental impact.

Apply For A Grant

ACT Capital Foundation For Social Impact is a not-for-profit company incorporated and registered under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013. All donations made to ACT Capital Foundation are eligible for income tax deduction under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act.

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