Some of the world’s biggest tech companies are turning data centers into testing grounds for cleaner infrastructure. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta are partnering with nonprofit investment firm Elemental Impact to help climate startups pilot technologies such as advanced cooling, energy storage, low-carbon building materials, and other tools that could reduce the environmental strain of AI growth. The initiative also gives startups access to major potential customers as tech companies face growing pressure over the energy and water demands of the AI boom.
As first reported by Axios, Elemental Impact will invest between $500,000 and $5 million in up to 10 startups through 2027 to support these data center pilot projects. While the tech giants are not formally committing direct investment dollars at this stage, they provided funding to launch the effort and will pay annual membership fees. The initiative also draws multi-year grant funding from philanthropic organizations, including the Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy and Lukas Walton’s Builders Vision Philanthropy.
The initiative is meant to help promising climate technologies move from early pilots into real customer environments. Startups will be selected through a request for proposals focused on cleaner materials such as green cement and steel, alternatives to copper wiring, energy storage, and new cooling methods. Microsoft Chief Sustainability Officer Melanie Nakagawa said many promising technologies “struggle to move from the pilot to large-scale deployment.”
The program comes as data center growth faces increased scrutiny over electricity demand, water use, and local infrastructure impacts. Organizers are focusing on technologies that could help data centers use energy and water more efficiently while giving startups access to major potential customers. Dawn Lippert, CEO and Founder of Elemental Impact, said the initiative is “not funding data center expansion itself,” but is working with entrepreneurs to shape how that expansion happens. Elemental Impact may expand the initiative beyond its initial 2027 timeline if the early pilots successfully scale.