Submission deadline extended until 18th February
September 5, 2025
Backed by Temasek Foundation with new support from Singapore government agency A*Star, the ninth edition of the global competition doubles catalytic funding for disruptive decarbonisation and cooling innovations, with submissions now open.
Republished from Eco-Business: Original article here.
The Liveability Challenge (TLC), Asia’s largest sustainability solutions platform, has launched its 2026 edition with a record S$4 million (US$3.1 million) in catalytic funding – the biggest injection to date.
Announced at the launch of its ninth edition, Singapore government agency Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) has joined as a partner for the global crowdsourcing challenge for the first time.
A*Star will commit up to S$2 million (US$1.6 million) annually over the next three years to help finalists pilot their solutions in real-world industrial conditions, while Enterprise Singapore, a government agency that promotes Singapore’s position as a trading and startup hub, will extend grant support to boost commercialisation. Temasek Foundation continues as anchor funder, providing S$2 million in catalytic grants.
The 2026 call for submissions across two themes – decarbonisation and cool earth – has officially opened and will close on 9 February 2026. Finalists will pitch their solutions to judges and investors during the TLC grand finale at Ecosperity Week in Singapore next May.
Finalists working on the decarbonisation theme will have access to A*Star’s scientific expertise and test-bedding facilities on Singapore’s offshore refining and petrochemicals hub Jurong Island, which accounts for roughly a third of the city-state’s total emissions.
Meanwhile, the cool earth track will continue to focus on solutions that enhance adaptation to extreme weather, especially heat, as climate-related disasters intensify worldwide.
“Climate change affects all of us, impacting our health, work and how we live,” said Irene Cheong, assistant chief executive for innovation and enterprise at A*Star, which will be co-presenting the decarbonisation theme next year. “We look forward to partnering with start-ups from all over the world to co-develop innovative solutions to accelerate decarbonisation and achieve Singapore’s net-zero goals together.”
In 2021, A*Star first announced plans to build a carbon capture and utilisation translational test bed to rapidly scale emerging technologies that can be used to slash emissions for the city-state’s industrial sector.
In January, the government agency unveiled a new sustainable aviation fuel test rig that is able to convert 100 kg of carbon dioxide into 5 kg of hydrocarbons per day. A*Star is also exploring using captured carbon dioxide with waste materials, like incineration ash, to produce synthetic sand for various construction applications.
At the TLC launch event, Ng Wai Kiong, senior director at A*Star’s Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment told Eco-Business that its low-carbon technology testbed, which will also focus on developing solutions in the hydrogen supply chain, is currently still in the procurement and construction phase.
Ng added that the multi-purpose testbed will be able to reduce the trial period of new decarbonisation technologies from two years to about six months, which will help to lower the costs involved in scaling solutions.
The multi-purpose facility is expected to be fully up and running in 2027.
Panellists at the TLC launch event highlighted the critical role that catalytic funding will play at a time when climate tech investments are facing headwinds from economic uncertainty and higher borrowing costs.
“Venture funding globally has gone through a rough patch since 2021… Aside from big artificial intelligence projects, a lot of other innovations have struggled to find the funding they need,” said Milena Nikolova, a partner at Antares Ventures, a Singapore-based fund investing in early-stage deep tech startups.
“That’s why it’s really good that Singapore is placing so much effort in getting catalytic capital in place early on for innovators to get the funding they need to build the proof of concept that is ready for us to invest in,” said Nikolova. “Once you prove it at a commercial scale, funding comes.”
However, Jane Zhang, head of Southeast Asia for Breakthrough Energy Fellows, a global programme founded by tech billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates to support early-stage climate innovations, noted that funding does not always come that easily, even after proving commerciality of a solution, for climate and energy technologies.
In such cases, blended finance, where private investment is de-risked with the strategic use of public of philanthropic capital, will be needed when start-ups are delivering large-scale, capital-intensive projects for the first time, said Zhang.
Spencer Low, head of sustainability, Asia Pacific, at tech giant Google, noted that beyond funding constraints, government policies could be standing in the way of accelerating the adoption of green technologies.
“The way things were allowed to work that [led to the decline in climate tech funding] are probably not the ones that will get us out of it,” said Low. “We’ve seen many technologies which are novel, but as they try to scale… there are a lot of what-ifs, to the extent that some of these [policies] are too conservative and everything just dies.”
Since its inception in 2018, TLC has attracted thousands of applications from across the globe and deployed nearly S$14 million (US$10.8 million) in funding to 54 finalists.
This year’s winners include Singapore-based Krosslinker, whose passive cooling aerogel coating can reduce the electricity power costs of buildings by 10 per cent, and Canadian start-up Ayrton Energy, which is developing a cost-effective hydrogen storage and transportation solution.
Other past winners include United States-based Equatic, formerly known as SeaChange, which is currently building the world’s largest ocean decarbonisation plant in Singapore.
