The Liveability Challenge 2026 drew over 1,500 submissions across 100 countries, with eight stand-out solutions shortlisted after a rigorous selection process. Image: Eco-Business.

Eight high impact start-ups have been shortlisted in The Liveability Challenge (TLC) – a global crowdsourcing platform presented by Temasek Foundation and organised by Eco-Business.

Chosen from a record 1,500 submissions across 100 countries, the finalists represent the cutting-edge innovations addressing urgent sustainable development challenges in the urban tropics.

These disruptive and technology-driven solutions in the two chosen themes for the year – Decarbonisation and Cool Earth – range from closed-loop systems that reduce buildings’ cooling energy use to advanced textile recycling with significant reductions in energy, water and emissions, and next-generation carbon capture and hydrogen production systems. 

The 8 finalists for The Liveability Challenge 2026 are:   

1. Endo Enterprises (United Kingdom)
   Closed-loop hydronic additive for the built environment that reduces energy for cooling by up to 15%.
2. FlueVault (Singapore)
   Low cost, low-purity industrial CO2 capture and storage with critical metal recovery.
3. MacroCycleTechnologies (United States of America)
   Textile-to-textile polyester recycling technology with 80% lower energy usage, 80% lower CO2 emissions and 99% less water usage, all at price parity.
4. Metha8 (Singapore)
   Methanol-to-power technology for 24/7 baseload generation with 60% efficiency and integrated CO₂ capture.
5. Power To Hydrogen (United States of America)
   Low-cost hydrogen production system with five times greater durability, 65% lower capex and a pathway to US$2/kg of hydrogen.
6. SPACECOOL (Japan)
   Passive radiative cooling that cuts energy use by up to 11% and reduces urban heat island effects.
7. UP Catalyst (Estonia)
   Utilisation of flue gas to produce battery-grade carbon materials at 26% lower cost than conventional methods.
8. YAMA (France)
   Electrified carbon capture technology for dilute gas-fired streams, delivering up to 50% lower costs than conventional methods while enabling flexible operation.

Two finalists will each receive S$1 million in catalytic grant funding at The Liveability Challenge 2026 Grand Finale, which will be held on 20 May 2026 at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre – a flagship partner event of Ecosperity Week 2026 by Temasek.

In addition, A*STAR has committed up to S$2 million annually over the next three years to support TLC, marking the platform’s largest funding injection to date, with Temasek Foundation as the anchor funder.

TLC was established in 2018 and is Asia’s largest sustainability solutions platform, supporting the commercialisation of innovative technologies from the lab to market.

Now in its ninth edition, TLC 2026 will see finalists pitch their solutions live at the Grand Finale, across two themes:

1. Decarbonisation
   Disruptive deep-tech solutions that provide scalable and impactful solutions to reduce carbon emissions across diverse industries.
2. Cool Earth
   Groundbreaking innovations that address the challenges posed by climate-induced extreme weather conditions.

The eight finalists were carefully selected by an expert panel comprising leaders from government, finance, industry and the technical community.

“While global politics remain divided, the urgency of the climate crisis continues to intensify, with rising temperatures and increasing climate-related disasters. The strong global response to TLC 2026 reflects the determination of the innovation community to tackle these challenges, particularly in vulnerable regions such as the tropics. Governments, financiers and corporates must now match this ambition with sustained support to scale these solutions and deliver real-world impact,” said Meaghan See, Chief Commercial Officer, Eco-Business.

To date, TLC has attracted thousands of applications globally, shortlisted and incubated 54 start-ups and deployed more than S$16 million in funding to help these startups, who have gone on to raise hundreds of millions more.

Join global innovators, partners and funders for The Liveability Challenge 2026 Grand Finale on 20 May 2026. 

Click here to register your attendance (in-person or virtually) now.

For more information, visit The Liveability Challenge website at  www.theliveabilitychallenge.org.