2026 Startups 100 | Sustainability Award winner and shortlist

From intensive meat production to the net-zero transition, sustainability startups are absolutely key in helping us solve some of the biggest issues of our time when it comes to our impact on our planet. 

This year’s Sustainability Award – with the shortlist chosen from our 2026 Startups 100 Index, powered by Sage – was a fiercely contested category, as so many conscience-led ventures are out there trying to find solutions. This category that filled us with hope that there are great and innovative minds working tirelessly to make a difference. 

Here is the winner and shortlist for the 2026 Startups 100 Index Sustainability Award.

Winner – OXCCU

In 2023, aviation accounted for 2.5% of global energy-related CO₂ emissions. It is an industry that has proved slow to change, despite its reputation as a high polluter. 

The main problem has been finding an alternative to the fossil fuel-based aviation fuel that powers the majority of fleets. In 2024, the aviation industry accounted for around 8% of global final oil consumption, as compared with maritime shipping, which sat at around 7%. 

OXCCU’s mission is to develop the world’s “lowest cost and lowest emission” pathways to make sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from waste carbon. The team explains that it combines the biogenic carbon and hydrogen contained in waste biomass or biogas and/or CO2 from a variety of sustainable sources, and adds electrolytic H2 if required. 

The team has already launched a demonstration plant at Oxford Airport, and has won £18m in Series A funding plus £20.75m in Series B, as well as £5.9m in government grants.

The team sees its work as part of a wider movement to push the aviation industry to net-zero, as its technology will “enable people to continue to fly and use hydrocarbon products but with a reduced climate impact”. And this is why the aviation industry is interested. 

Shortlist – PulpaTronics

This startup caught our attention last year when it was also nominated for our 2025 Sustainability Award, and it has again won a place on the shortlist for 2026. This team set out to tackle an issue that so many of us ignore or aren’t aware of: the e-waste caused by discarded RFID tags. 

These tags are prolific. We use them in shops across the world. However, more than over 30 billion single-use tags end up in landfills every year.

PulpaTronics has created metal-free and chipless RFID tags made only from paper using a laser technology. They use fewer components than traditional tags and have a simpler manufacturing process. This means that, not only are they recyclable, they are also cheaper to make. 

What started out as a final year master’s project could now have a profound impact. PulpaTronics has the backing of the Imperial Enterprise Lab and Innovate UK, among others, and is actively recruiting to boost its team. 

PulpaTronics was also one of the winners of this year’s H&M Global Change Awards. This brought a €200,000 prize, but also access to mentors, collaborators and industry leaders from the fashion world.

For an industry in which there have been some high profile accusations of greenwashing, the switch to sustainable RFID tags could have an immediate and yet lasting impact. 

Shortlist – Adamo Foods

Intensive meat production is now well-known to be bad for the environment and people’s health, and Adamo Foods has set out to find an alternative. However, as founder and CEO Pierre Dupuis says, the plant-based meat alternatives on the market are often mushy and have a poor texture, which puts consumers off. 

The Adamo Foods team set about creating an alternative to meat whole cuts, which represent 85% of the $1.2trn real meat market. It developed a proprietary fermentation process to create a fungi which has long, densely-packed fibres. This replicates the texture of real meat, and is also high in protein and fibre.

Its production also used 93% less CO₂e than conventional meat, and 99% less water and land. “This will save 74,000 tonnes of CO₂e in the next five years,” says the team. 

Dupuis has been a vegetarian since the age of 12, and while this was driven by concerns about animal welfare at the time, his motivation now also includes broader environmental and health concerns. Led by him, Adamo Foods is creating products that hit the mark for taste and nutrition, but don’t come with a hefty price tag for our environment. 

Shortlist – Treeapp

Treeapp lets anyone with a phone contribute to reforestation in under a minute and at no financial cost. This incredible eco-friendly startup has now planted more than six million trees across 20 countries, with each site working towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

“Collectively, these trees will absorb an estimated 654,000 tonnes of CO₂ over their lifetimes, equivalent to almost one million London to New York flights, while restoring 4,002 hectares of land and creating 60,000 fair-wage workdays worldwide,” the team shares proudly. 

The app has already gained a following among businesses as diverse as sock brand ChattyFeet and Brighton & Hove Albion football team. As well as catching the attention of the press, the team has also won accolades, including the World Economic Forum’s Uplink Challenge for Restoration at Scale and One Young World’s Lead2030 Challenge. 

Now a certified B-Corp, the team is hoping to launch in more countries in the future, and bring in more businesses, both as partners and as clients. The aim is to make helping the planet seamless but effective – one tree at a time. 

Click below to discover the nominees and winners for our other Startups 100 Awards:

• Startups 100 Exceptional Founder Award 2026
• Startups 100 Technology Award 2026 
• Startups 100 Marketing Award 2026