The Climate Challenge 2026: Launch Event and Panel
Explore climate and nature challenges, propose solutions, and win prizes with your team.
The Cambridge Climate Challenge is run by Cambridge Zero, in partnership with Cambridge Enterprise, Carbon13, the Maxwell Centre, Energy IRC, King’s Entrepreneurship Lab and CISL Canopy.
In a twist on our usual Thursday Speaker Series, come along to the launch event of the Climate Challenge, an early-stage climate entrepreneurship training programme for postgrads and postdocs, and hear from our exciting panellists.
Speaker Bios:
Tiago Alves, Solar Americas Capital
Tiago is active in the energy, impact investing, deep-tech and entrepreneurship scene through a range of executive, founder and board-level roles. Most recently, he co-founded Solar Americas Capital with a mission to accelerate the decarbonisation effort within commercial and industrial consumers in Latin America and EMEA, linking local knowledge to global investors.
Tiago has held a range of positions in start-ups he founded or co-founded and in leading multinationals such as IBM and ARM. He worked internationally doing business in Europe, Middle East, USA and Asia. As a Management Consultant, he worked with Marakon Associates in London with some of the world's best-known and successful companies in a range of sectors. He is a certified Board Director and Fund Manager.
Tiago completed his MBA (First Honors) as a Chevening Scholar at the University of Cambridge, where Tiago is also an Honorary Fellow. He holds a Masters degree in Marketing and a BSc degree in Electronics Engineering with Physics. Tiago is a Brazilian-born, who acquired his British citizenship during his years living in the UK.
Liv Andersson, Biozeroc
CEO at Biozeroc
Built Environment & Sustainability
Liv is an experienced built environment consultant & sustainability specialist leading international construction projects in residential- and commercial buildings, low-carbon developments and sustainability strategies. Her educational background includes a degree in Architecture & Civil Engineering and a Master’s degree in Industrial Ecology from Chalmers University of Technology.
As a senior sustainability consultant, Liv has championed emergent disruption in the built environment, bringing forward-thinking solutions to address real market challenges and comply with a net-zero future. She has experience working with frameworks such as BREEAM and WELL, assessing and improving embodied- and operational carbon, and aligning strategies with Circular Economy- and Social Value principles.
Liv champions sustainability both privately and professionally. She is a CIBSE award-winning digital engineer that has developed several platforms on environmental modelling, organised climate emergency hackathons, presented at the EU commission and participated in panel debates.
Anna Moore, Domna Homes
Anna is Founder and CEO of Domna, a housing asset management and retrofit specialist. Domna help social and private landlords keep their tenants happy and healthy, and stay compliant with regulation. They combine software and services — offering (1) asset management strategy, powered by Ara, our proprietary stock assessment tool (4bn data points, 98% accuracy), (2) the full suite of specialisms needed to scope and design projects (PAS2035 assessment, coordination, and design, Principal Designer, Decent Homes and stock condition surveying, etc.), and (3) project management and contracting.
Anna is committed to sustainability and the built environment. She sits on the Board of the Built Environment Trust; chairs the Finance working group of the National Retrofit Hub; sits on the City of London’s Skills for a Sustainable Skyline Task Force; and works with the Urban Land Institute and the British Property Federation.
Previously, Anna was a Partner with McKinsey & Company, where she led the firm's UK Construction and Real Estate practice and co-led its European Sustainability Strategy practice. In these roles, she was one of the leaders of McKinsey’s Net Zero Built Environment team and led the global launch of McKinsey’s Sustainable Materials Hub. She was lead author of McKinsey’s research on sustainable value pools, including the $2tn annual market in green construction and real estate.
The Climate Challenge 2026
The Cambridge Climate Challenge is run by Cambridge Zero, in partnership with Cambridge Enterprise, Carbon13, the Maxwell Centre, Energy IRC, King’s Entrepreneurship Lab and CISL Canopy.
Carbon13 sponsors this year's competition, they build and back ventures addressing the climate emergency and Earth's critical life support systems.
The Climate Challenge empowers innovators to make a difference. It supports postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers to take their first steps in climate entrepreneurship, or to progress early-stage ventures toward real-world impact.
Participants benefit from a free programme of networking, training workshops, mentoring, and socials between the launch at the end of January and the final at the beginning of May.
Prizes of up to £5,000 in cash are on offer for winning teams and runners-up.
Who is the Challenge for?
We’re looking for small (2–3 people) inter-disciplinary teams of postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers. You don’t need to be a seasoned entrepreneur. You also don’t need to be part of the University, as long as teams are at least 50% University members (see eligibility section below for more details).
You don’t need to be a scientist or engineer to participate! We’re also interested in ideas related to economic, societal and behavioural change that could lead to reductions in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
What does the Challenge involve?
We’re interested in ideas that are in their initial conceptual stages, rather than fully formed projects or products. If you have an idea that is further along in its development, you might want to explore some of the other entrepreneurship projects offered at the University.
The Challenge is a learning and skills development opportunity in entrepreneurship, with the potential to translate into a business opportunity.
What problems do we want you to solve?
The brief for the Climate Challenge is deliberately broad, as solutions could involve anything from on the ground innovations that could drive systemic behavioural change in individuals and communities, to technological and digital solutions. Critically, we’re looking for solutions that are intrinsically scalable, i.e., they have significant potential to grow in size, capacity or scope. Don’t worry too much, as this can be developed in the Ideas Jam during the first training session.
Examples of previous Climate Challenge (previously named Carbon Challenge) projects:
Climate Challenge 2025
Climate Challenge 2023
Climate Challenge 2022
Carbon Challenge 2018
Carbon Challenge 2017
WHEN: Thursday, 29th January 2026
5.30 PM – 6.30 PM: Panel Discussion in Keynes Lecture Theatre
6.30 PM – 7.30 PM: Drinks reception and networking in the King’s Bar
WHERE: Keynes Lecture Theatre, King’s College, Cambridge
TICKETS: register for your free ticket here.