USGBC California Announces 2025 Net Zero Accelerator Cohort to Advance Sustainable Building Technologies

USGBC California (USGBC-CA) has announced the 2025 cohort of the Net Zero Accelerator® (NZA), the world's first accelerator exclusively focused on net zero innovation for the built environment. This year's program features a curated group of companies prepared to deploy practical, cost-effective solutions in partnership with industry leaders across California and beyond. The 2025 cohort delivers across core pillars of high-performance building technology, including energy, water, materials, HVAC, platforms, and waste, offering actionable systems designed for real-world use and scalable impact.

These companies represent a wide geographic range, from California and Texas to Canada, the UK, and Singapore, reinforcing California's role as a commercial testbed for durable, future-ready real estate and infrastructure solutions. Since its inception, the Net Zero Accelerator has helped more than 100 growth-stage companies secure over 60 pilot deployments, advancing commercial readiness and long-term economic performance across the state. Colin Mangham, Director of Innovation at USGBC California, stated that these founders are building things the world really needs with urgency, clarity, and a strong business case, bringing disciplined focus and economic logic to the implementation of common-sense solutions in high demand.

The 2025 cohort members include companies across multiple focus areas: Advanced Materials with HempCement Co. and Mad River Mass Timber; Building Envelope with ThermalShell; Building Systems with Gradient and Verdant Structural; Energy Resources & Efficiency with AlumaPower, Ampd Energy, Verv Energy, and Wayside Energy; HVAC & Air Quality with Build Smartr Robotics and Harvest Thermal; Waste Reduction & Circularity with Atrium Energy, Further JanSan, and Digne; and Water Conservation with Capture H2O and Performance Resource Management. The NZA's six-month program is designed to help pilot-ready, commercially available building technologies overcome the biggest barriers to market adoption.

Open to companies from around the world, the program offers a high-impact blend of strategic support and practical opportunity. Cohort participants engage in targeted workshops, connect with investors, advisors, and pilot hosts, and receive tailored guidance focused on achieving product-market fit in California's diverse regions and cities. Ben Stapleton, Executive Director of USGBC California, emphasized that this is a mature group of companies ready to scale today, delivering on new building materials, energy storage, electrification, and climate resilience to help California lead in pushing the future of buildings to create healthier and more affordable communities globally.

Participants gain access to a trusted network of industry professionals, municipal partners, and technical experts through the USGBC California community, all working toward advancing solutions that improve building performance, lower risk, reduce waste, and deliver long-term value. Pilot deployments are at the heart of the NZA experience, with past participants completing high-profile pilots in affordable housing, higher education, and public-sector demonstration projects. The annual NZA Community Meet & Greet returns on September 12, 2025, featuring rapid-fire presentations and one-on-one advisor matchmaking, with more information available at https://www.netzeroaccelerator.org/.

Returning and new partners include leaders from real estate, architecture, engineering, public utilities, finance, and academia, including The 50L Home Coalition, Buro Happold, Business Finland, Consulate General of Canada, CIM Group, CSUDH, Environmental Defense Fund, Frederick Fisher and Partners, Gensler, GreenNRG Institute, Hathaway Dinwiddie, HDR, IQHQ, Kilroy Realty, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Lennar, Metro, Momentum, NRDC, NREL, Rexford Industrial, Rising Realty, Skanska, Southern California Edison, Southern California Gas Company, Urban Land Institute, UCLA, USC, Verdical Group, and others onboarding for 2025. Mangham added that net zero isn't the finish line but rather breakeven, with the real goal being net positive solutions that create more than they consume, leading to both environmental and financial benefits.