This story originally appeared on Cheddar. It is republished here as part of Worth’s partnership with Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story.
As the negative effects of climate change continue to impact the world, one startup accelerator is turning to the next generation of business for solutions.
Car brand MINI partnered with venture firm Urban Us to create URBAN-X. The accelerator invests in founders fighting the climate emergency and startups reimagining city life.
“Cities are at the epicenter of this battle, and we consume about 70 percent of total energy supply responsible for more than 70 percent of our emissions, and we think that this is where solutions are going to come from,” Micah Kotch, managing director of URBAN-X, told Cheddar Thursday.
But Kotch said it’s not just about the United States.
“It’s not just places like New York, but really in every corner of the globe, [that] contend with the impacts of climate change and search out new human-centric solutions for the related challenges around food systems and waste and water,” Kotch said. “We think that a new generation of leadership is answering the call, and we want to support those founders really from all around the world.”
Some of the companies, with support from URBAN-X, use data and machine learning to solve complex issues in global industries. Cove.Tool creates carbon-negative buildings. Food for All partners with restaurants to turn excess food into affordable, quality meals. And Varuna provides analytics and insights to improve water quality.
Kotch said URBAN-X looks for founders who can impact 100 cities in the next two to five years.
“We’re looking for the best founders and then providing them the resources that they need from a customer development perspective, from a product development perspective, and from a fundraising perspective to help them level up and address this issue,” Kotch said.
Demo Day for URBAN-X is September 26 during Climate Week NYC.
