Seven climate tech winners secure $770,000 for Vietnam pilots

Daniel Okafor

The 2026 Net Zero Challenge has earmarked $770,000 in catalytic grants and investment prizes for seven winners selected to pilot technologies in Vietnam.

Three startups won grand prizes, while four received $50,000 investment prizes. The fourth edition was co-hosted by Touchstone Partners, Singapore’s Temasek Foundation and the Vietnam International Financial Center in Ho Chi Minh City.

How competitive was the 2026 field?

Touchstone Partners said the challenge received more than 1,100 applications from 80 countries and territories. Organizers called it the most competitive edition since the program launched in 2023.

Nine finalists presented at the Grand Finale, covering renewables and carbon removal; food systems and sustainable agriculture; and circular economy and waste management.

The field produced three grand prize winners, one in each category, and four $50,000 investment prize recipients.

More than 1,100 applications narrowed to nine finalists and seven funded winners.

Which material streams won grand prizes?

• Renewables and carbon removal — Recoal, Switzerland: Its Biomass Carbon Removal and Storage, or BiCRS, process converts wet biomass residues into hydrochar for permanent underground storage.
• Food systems and sustainable agriculture — STRING BIO, India: Its CleanRise biological input helps rice farmers grow more with less fertilizer and can lower crop methane and nitrous oxide emissions.
• Circular economy and waste management — Phuc Sang Minh Gas, Vietnam: Its system upgrades waste-derived biogas into BioCNG to replace fossil fuels in industrial heating.

The awards therefore follow three material routes: biomass residue, crop production and waste gas, each tied to a distinct end use.

What does Recoal’s biomass route add?

Recoal’s process handles wet biomass without a pre-drying step. It converts the residues into hydrochar and stores that product permanently underground.

The challenge’s grand prize supports a Recoal pilot deployment in Vietnam. The company is still working on engineering details for a pilot facility in Switzerland, so the announcement does not yet describe an operating plant for either location.

Recoal states a mission to remove 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year by 2031. That deadline and volume define a corporate commitment, not current removal output.

Recoal brings a no-pre-drying biomass route to Vietnam, but its infrastructure remains at pilot-design stage.

How do farming and waste gas fit?

STRING BIO’s CleanRise is a biological input designed to help rice farmers grow more with less fertilizer. The company says the solution can enable up to 50% lower methane and nitrous oxide emissions from crops.

The release does not disclose treated acreage, fertilizer volume or measured emissions from a Vietnamese deployment. Its 50% figure therefore remains an enabling claim tied to the planned pilot work.

For the circular-economy category, Vietnamese company Phuc Sang Minh Gas upgrades waste-derived biogas into BioCNG. The intended end use is industrial heating in place of fossil fuels, connecting the waste-gas stream directly to an industrial heat application.

The announcement gives no biogas feedstock tonnage, BioCNG output, plant capacity, site or commissioning date for that project. Those operating measures will determine whether the waste stream can supply industrial heat at more than demonstration scale.

These two category winners put fertilizer use and industrial heat on the operating agenda, not just carbon accounting. Their next test is whether both pilots can move from award selection to working deployments in Vietnam.

Who received the four $50,000 investment prizes?

TRINANO Technologies of India, Zenwood of Vietnam, Living Roots of Thailand and Phuc Sang Minh Gas each received a $50,000 investment prize. Phuc Sang Minh Gas therefore won both a grand prize and an investment prize.

Sembcorp Industries, LOTTE Ventures, Monsoon Ventures and Touchstone Partners provide the investment support. The announcement does not match each recipient to a particular investor or disclose the amount of each grand prize.

The announcement also does not describe the technologies, material streams or operating metrics for TRINANO Technologies, Zenwood or Living Roots. The investment slate expands the funded group, but leaves those companies’ pilot details unstated.

The $50,000 awards add four funded companies to the three category champions, while leaving the investor-recipient pairings and grand-prize allocations unspecified.

What milestone comes next?

The $770,000 announcement identifies funded pilot winners, not operating facilities. Across the portfolio, it gives no plant capacity, processing throughput, Vietnamese pilot site, commissioning date or individual grand-prize allocation.

A related report highlighted alongside the challenge said Vietnam’s first carbon exchange traded more than 1,200 tonnes on its debut day. That market activity sits outside the award allocation but adds a separate benchmark for the Vietnamese carbon market.

The decisive milestone is whether the seven winners move from financing into pilot deployments in Vietnam. Until those projects start, the challenge supports an announced portfolio rather than installed waste-gas, biomass or carbon-removal capacity.