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Q1 2026 Rankings
Climate tech engineering activity is concentrated in grid software and carbon accounting tooling.
Key Takeaway
In Q1 2026, 3 of 5 tracked climate tech startups show positive engineering acceleration. opennem leads with 31 commits over 14 days (+999% change). The dominant signal pattern is "Framework migration". Average sector commit velocity is 56 commits per 14-day window. These engineering momentum signals have historically preceded fundraise announcements by three to six weeks.
Data sourced from public GitHub activity. Read our methodology
| # | Company | Stage | Geo | Commits (14d) | Change | Contributors | Contrib. Growth | New Repos | Signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | opennem Formerly OpenNEM, Open Electricity aims to make the wealth of public energy data more accessible View signal profile → | Seed | APAC | 31 | +999% | 9 | +121% | 0 | Engineering hiring burst |
| 2 | ncoView signal profile → | Series A/B | Unknown | 2 | +100% | 24 | +220% | 0 | Engineering hiring burst |
| 3 | carbon-design-system An open-source design system built by IBM. View signal profile → | Growth | US | 100 | +19% | 100 | +9% | 1 | Framework migration |
| 4 | ESCOMPView signal profile → | Growth | Unknown | 89 | -9% | 61 | +0% | 0 | Framework migration |
| 5 | CliMA The next generation of climate models. Built in the open. View signal profile → | Growth | US | 58 | -28% | 81 | +0% | 0 | Framework migration |
Sorted by commit velocity change (14-day window, descending). Top 3 highlighted. Data last updated Q1 2026.
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Best of 2026
Top Climate Tech startups ranked across all 2026quarters →
Q1 2026 vs Q4 2025
How Climate Techcommit velocity has shifted quarter-over-quarter →
By signal type in this sector
By stage
In Q1 2026, we are tracking 5 climate tech startups with measurable GitHub engineering signals. 3 of 5 show positive commit velocity growth. The most common signal type is "Framework migration", observed in 3 of the tracked companies. The average 14-day commit velocity across the sector is 56 commits, with opennem leading at 31 commits (+999% change). These patterns have historically preceded fundraise announcements by three to six weeks.
opennem leads the climate tech sector in Q1 2026 with 31 commits over a 14-day window, representing a +999% change from the prior period. With 9 active contributors, opennem is showing a "Engineering hiring burst" pattern — one of the more reliable leading indicators of a significant product milestone or fundraise.
Among the 5 climate tech startups we track, US accounts for the highest concentration with 2 teams. Startups developing clean energy, carbon monitoring, and climate adaptation technologies. Geographic distribution matters for investors because engineering talent clusters correlate with sector-specific domain expertise and proximity to early adopter customers.