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Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Releas­es Annu­al Cli­mate Solu­tions Challenge

Nov 17, 2025 5:14 pm

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island today announced the launch of its third annu­al Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge, this year cen­tered on the theme of ​“Adap­ta­tion.” This ini­tia­tive, pre­sent­ed through the Gov­er­nors Island Cli­mate Pilot­ing Pro­gram, offers ear­ly-stage com­pa­nies and inno­va­tors the oppor­tu­ni­ty to test and scale cli­mate prod­ucts and ser­vices in a real-world envi­ron­ment. Over 3‑to-18-month peri­ods, par­tic­i­pants receive rent-free phys­i­cal space on Gov­er­nors Island, where they gain access to valu­able tech­ni­cal sup­port, vis­i­bil­i­ty through events and mar­ket­ing, and net­work­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties designed to con­nect par­tic­i­pants with fun­ders, investors, cus­tomers, and the public. 

“Gov­er­nors Island is a true test­bed for inno­v­a­tive solu­tions that will help address real world cli­mate chal­lenges,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Over the past three years, more than two dozen com­pa­nies have been a part of this trans­for­ma­tive pro­gram, gath­er­ing data and grow­ing their ideas in a set­ting unlike any oth­er. We are proud to shine a light on their inno­va­tions and look for­ward to even more join­ing us next year.”

“Through this pro­gram, com­pa­nies are giv­en the vital resources — time, space, and funds — to grow their ideas, test and demon­strate their prod­ucts, and ulti­mate­ly scale their busi­ness­es while help­ing con­tribute to New York City’s green econ­o­my,” said Lau­ren Wang, Direc­tor of Cli­mate Pro­grams at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“We look for­ward to select­ing a new cohort of pilots to con­tin­ue this excit­ing work and wel­com­ing vis­i­tors to engage with these projects next spring.” 

2026 Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge: Adaptation

The 2026 Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge seeks urban adap­ta­tion solu­tions that will help com­mu­ni­ties adapt to chal­lenges fac­ing New York City and oth­er dense urban areas, such as chron­ic flood­ing, extreme heat, and water shortages. 

The Trust seeks pilot­ing projects that offer inno­v­a­tive approach­es to improve urban build­ings, infra­struc­ture, and nat­ur­al areas for ther­mal com­fort, flood adap­ta­tion, and healthy envi­ron­ments; resilien­cy solu­tions for small busi­ness­es and non­prof­its to min­i­mize dis­rup­tions to crit­i­cal oper­a­tions; or cli­mate risk man­age­ment solu­tions, includ­ing tools for afford­able, acces­si­ble com­mu­ni­ty-scale mea­sure­ment and sensing.

Pro­pos­als are due by Jan­u­ary 21, 2026, with win­ners announced in April 2026. Click here to learn more and apply.

Since the pro­gram launched in 2023, the Trust has sup­port­ed 26 unique pilot­ing projects with diverse rep­re­sen­ta­tion across busi­ness and non­prof­it sec­tors and grant­ed $277,000 to par­tic­i­pat­ing com­pa­nies. Of these par­tic­i­pants, 81% are local busi­ness­es, 38% are women-led, and 34% are minor­i­ty-led businesses.

The pro­gram has suc­cess­ful­ly opened doors to new cus­tomers, sup­pli­ers, tal­ent, investors, and pub­lic agency part­ner­ships for par­tic­i­pants, help­ing com­pa­nies, entre­pre­neurs, and non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions grow their busi­ness­es and scale their solu­tions. The pro­gram is a core ini­tia­tive of the Trust’s Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions, which is build­ing a com­mu­ni­ty of part­ners ded­i­cat­ed to accel­er­at­ing equi­table cli­mate solu­tions for cities.

Most recent­ly, the Trust has wel­comed four new com­pa­nies into the pro­gram through the rolling gen­er­al appli­ca­tion: Clip is pilot­ing its portable propul­sion device, which instant­ly upgrades any bike to an e‑bike; Hen­ning Larsen installed their radi­ant cool­ing shel­ter in Liggett Ter­race ear­li­er this year; Prometheus Mate­ri­als is test­ing its algae-based car­bon neg­a­tive cement replace­ment near Yan­kee Pier in part­ner­ship with The New York Cli­mate Exchange; and Zen­bul Labs is pilot­ing its mod­u­lar, auto­mat­ed aero­pon­ic farm­ing unit on the Island. For a full list of pilot­ing projects, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/​p​ilots.

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s cli­mate pro­grams are sup­port­ed by Ama­zon, Con Edi­son, the Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, and the New York Com­mu­ni­ty Trust.

The Trust is a mem­ber of the Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive (HCC), a joint ini­tia­tive with New York City Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion and Brook­lyn Navy Yard Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion to grow the city’s cli­mate ecosys­tem through pilot­ing pro­grams, leas­es, work­force devel­op­ment invest­ments, and reg­u­la­to­ry wayfinding.