Cohort 1 Graduate the Accelerator
After a tumultuous year in which climate action has struggled to make progress in the face of economic and political crises around the world, it is heartening to see the continued development and impact of the startups in Subak’s community. On 17th and 18th November, the five Cohort 1 members - a diverse mix of data-driven climate not-for-profits - that have graduated from our Europe accelerator programme gathered in London to wrap up the nine month programme.
Cohort 1 (Europe) + the Subak London team during the bootcamp in our London office.
Since the kick-off of the Accelerate phase in March, these teams have attended workshops, benefited from top-tier mentor support, engaged with experts in business, tech, data and impact and enjoyed 1-to-1 sessions with the Subak team. They’ve progressed through the Accelerate phase, focused on building, testing, and innovating, through to the Grow phase, focused on applying what they’ve learnt so far to build, test, and scale. Through the Accelerator programme’s ‘Kitty’, the cohort have also conducted skills-sharing sessions for other members of the community, and received technical advisory support from our partners at Snyk. They have been incredibly busy and we’re so proud of what they’ve accomplished.
Some of the highlights that Cohort 1 have achieved include:
Green Web Foundation has grown their team to 8 people and built a fantastic new brand
Instrat’s analysis and advice has accelerated coal phase-out in Poland. They have also introduced higher standards of data governance, mainstreaming data commons and expansion of energy modelling tools
AimHi Earth’s climate and nature trainings resulted in 92% of participants making changes in their life due to things they have learnt. The team has grown hugely through the addition of 12 freelance and full time team members.
EnergyTag has published the world’s first granular certificate standard, creating a market signal for the first time about the value of clean storage and flexibility, and has grown support for the standard to 100+ organisations.
Autonomy has built a granular green jobs database that can plot high-carbon to low-carbon job transition pathways for any occupation, as well as producing two reports on carbon taxation and inequality which were featured in mainstream media including the Guardian and the Independent.
A week ago, we hosted a 2-day bootcamp to prepare our members to grow their organisations and to continue to scale their impact. The bootcamp consisted of workshops, discussions, an alumni panel and a graduation showcase. Over the course of the 2 days, we reflected on the personal and organisation growth that occurred over the last 9 months and ways that we can continue to work together as a climate community.
On the last day, representatives from Cohort 0 joined us for the alumni panel and shared their perspectives and lived experiences of scaling a climate not-for-profit. We rounded off the bootcamp with an Accelerator Graduation Showcase where Cohort 1 members shared their growth story with the wider Subak community, including advisors, trainers and others who have contributed to the success of the accelerator.
“It’s been challenging, but also a really fulfilling experience running the Subak Accelerator. I’m very inspired by the work that our members do, and the impact that they have had.”
Subak envisages a world in which climate challenges are solved rapidly, equitably, and collaboratively, enabling all beings to flourish in a safe and stable climate. To help us realise our vision, we will continue to support our community even after they graduate the Accelerator, by continuing to provide office hours, lifetime access to the Slack community, invitations to community events, as well as marketing and policy working groups.
This concludes our Cohort 1 Accelerator Programme. We are looking forward to opening recruitment for Cohort 2 in mid-January next year! Register your interest here to be notified when applications open.