How Carrefour got consumers to buy into reusable packaging

The Loop reusable packaging initiative, launched in 2019 as an e-commerce pilot by waste management company TerraCycle and two dozen high-profile brands including Procter & Gamble and Unilever, was a high-profile bet on the idea that people would buy detergents, ice cream, cereals and other products in refillable containers.

Almost seven years later, the only major market where the Loop model has scaled commercially is France, where grocer Carrefour stocks products with reusable containers from companies including CocaCola in more than 300 stores alongside products offered in disposable packaging. 

Consumers pay a deposit as part of the price for goods in reusable bottles or containers, which is returned to them digitally or via cash when they bring the container back. The overall price of the products, however, is less than the alternative offered in disposable packaging — including the deposit. That’s important to encourage participation, according to executives for Loop and Carrefour. 

“This is a point of differentiation,” said Bertrand Swiderski, chief sustainability officer for Carrefour. “You have a consumer that has to come back into your store. This is a value — it creates loyalty. We believe in the future it will be a competitive advantage.” 

Carrefour offers roughly 40 returnable products through Loop, focused primarily on beverages from companies such as Suntory, which sells brands like Orangina and Schweppes in returnable glass bottles. (Suntory’s products are available in about 100 Carrefour stories.)

“We believe that the power and awareness of our brands could be an effective lever for the reuse transition,” said Joshua Galant, sustainable packaging senior brand manager for Suntory Beverage & Food France. 

That said, Galant anticipates “it will take a long time to change purchasing and consumption habits.”

Pivot to retail

At the peak of its experimentation phase, the Loop service was available through limited pilots in the U.S., U.K., Canada, France and Japan. Those countries were picked, in part, because they’re where TerraCycle had on-the-ground resources. 

Loop ran as an online-only service for close to two years, with TerraCycle handling the logistics of collecting empty containers for refill, before including retailers such as Kroger and Carrefour and fast-food chains including McDonald’s and Tim Horton’s in the merchandising and physical collection process.   

For the initial phase of Loop, TerraCycle put $10 million of its own money into the project; now it’s running at a modest profit, said TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky, who has been personally involved since the launch.  

Getting retailers involved represented a critical turning point for scaling the Loop program, which now includes more than 200 companies and 370 products through an alliance managed by the World Economic Forum, he said.

One challenge with shifting to a reuse model is that it’s more complex for consumer packaged goods companies to handle on their own. “It’s not something, per se, that companies want to implement because it’s not incremental,” Szaky acknowledged.

Some retail participants, including Carrefour, were involved in the e-commerce phase, but enabling consumers to drop off empty containers during shopping trips made a big difference for adoption with both brands and consumers, he said. 

“What made France really work was a courageous and commercially focused retailer who took the reins and really pushed it, and used all their tools,” Szaky said. “You need one retailer who makes it a priority, and not a brand. It’s a retailer because they have to pull all the brands together and convince them to play ball.”  

France: Carrot and stick market

Carrefour’s deep involvement convinced other retailers, including Monoprix and Coopérative U, to get involved, according to Szaky. That was important for building the number of collection locations available for returns. “It also creates the competitive motivation for everyone else to join in,” he said. 

There’s another reason these French retailers are stepping up: France’s Anti-Waste and Circular Economy Law mandates a 20 percent reduction in single-use packaging by the end of 2025 and requires that supermarkets dedicate a certain amount of their shelf space to products with reusable packaging by 2027, especially for food. Businesses pay a fee related to disposable packaging. 

That law is a key reason that reuse is scaling in France, where it has failed to find commercial relevance in places such as the U.S. and other Western European countries, according to the participants.

As new regulations emerge, that’s where Loop will focus on potential expansion. Among the regions where that’s most possible: the U.K., Iberia and Benelux. “You need the carrot and stick approach,” Szaky said.

Best practices emerge

Consumer products companies and retailers considering a shift to reusable packaging can take a cue from what Loop, Carrefour and Suntory have learned. 

The price tag matters. When Loop launched, the idea was that consumers would pay a premium on unique packaging. But to encourage wider adoption, there needs to be an incentive for a consumer to choose the reusable version of a product. “The price must be lower, that is key,” said Swiderski.

Items should be placed with their category rather than in a standalone section. Sales are higher when products in reusable containers are placed on the shelf next to similar options; return rates also tend to be higher, Szaky said. 

Employee training is required. For Suntory, that means a different approach to in-store merchandising, to help potential customers understand the value proposition when it comes to costs and reduction of plastic waste. It’s also an initiative that’s still evolving, which means change management skills are helpful. For Carrefour, the biggest changes were back-of-house, where employees needed to learn how to prepare returns for collection.

Beverages or quickly consumed products do best. Carrefour has found the most success with beer, soda and water, which have a relatively short shelf life. Traction was lower for items such as shampoo or perfume. Szaky figures reusable containers are only appropriate for approximately one-third of all consumer products.

Consumers want options for deposit returns. Reverse vending machines are used in some larger stores. But in small convenience stores, where customers can hand containers directly to a store employee, many prefer their deposit back in cash.

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Circular boom(let): Resale and reuse surge as new fashion turnover slows

Old clothes are having a moment. Consider:

• At Fashion Week this year, models paraded eBay’s Endless Runway in secondhand styles, featuring Moschino in Milan, LUAR in New York and Niccolò Pasqualetti in Paris.

• H&M opened its second vintage Preloved store-within-a-store in Beverly Hills in November. 

• Buffalo Exchange reports more people trading in used garments this year toward credit on brands like Zara and Madewell.

• Secondhand sales will grow two to three times faster than “firsthand” in the next two years, to $317 billion, according to the State of Fashion 2026 by Business of Fashion and McKinsey.

All together the trend represents a bright spot for an industry expected to squeak out single-digit growth in the year ahead after falling by double digits last year. The report described a “sustainability stalemate” as tariffs and inflation squeeze brands and consumers. 

Resale and other circular business models address these tensions. Indeed, rising “circular” sales made up 27 percent of the luxury market and 4 percent of the mass market last year, according to data from the Mastercard Economics Institute. Luxury reseller Vinted became France’s top retailer by volume this spring after growing net profit past 330 percent between 2023 and 2024.

Resale rising

Many mid-market brands are embracing branded resale, with sales up by 300 percent between 2021 and 2025, according to State of Fashion 2026. Customer demand outpaces the supply for coveted labels.

Services such as Tersus Solutions and Trove provide the logistics.

At its packed Denver warehouses, Tersus Solutions logs, cleans and ships garments and shoes from more than 25 labels. “Brands such as Arc’teryx, New Balance, Dr. Martens and Lululemon have had banner years and are re-doubling efforts to keep momentum going into 2026,” said CEO Peter Whitcomb.

He anticipates sales to soar to 15 times the usual level in November and December, and Tersus has been readying eight new brand and retail partners.

“With each holiday cycle, we’re seeing the resale category grow, and each year the promotions have more of the polish and scale of broader retail campaigns,” said Terry Boyle, CEO of Trove, which provides resale logistics software. Trove surveys show most consumers would happily receive used items as holiday gifts, with nearly 60 percent preferring them over new.

Not so fast

Secondhand storefronts only represented 147 brands as of September, according to data from reseller ThredUp. While that’s up from nine in 2020, it’s hardly the majority of fashion names. So where does that leave thousands of other brands?

Only 7 percent of executives plan to support circular business models and other sustainability efforts, the State of Fashion found. In addition, less than one-third of industry executives called resale a priority for 2026.

Even the most popular secondhand websites represent a sliver of overall corporate sales. 

The North Face, part of VF Corporation, operates its Renewed resale program at the Tersus plant, even refashioning damaged puffer jackets with color-mismatched sleeves. However, Renewed sales reached 96,000 items last year, against hundreds of millions of new TNF products.

Hyper fast

Meanwhile, Shein, Temu and Amazon Haul are rewriting industry rules with nimble logistics, shipping synthetic styles straight to consumers. Hyper-fast fashions expire sooner than many fruits or vegetables.

Despite anti-fast-fashion laws in France, and protests in Paris against a Shein boutique this fall, the brand is bullish about its future there.

Gen Z and Millennials appear to be driving circular sales and the fast-fashion backlash.

But for most people, pre-loved clothing and super fast fashion are not mutually exclusive, according to Cynthia Power, a circular economy fashion consultant and podcast host.

“The same person who shops used to find a vintage treasure will also buy a new t-shirt for $5 without feeling a disconnect,” she said. “One going up doesn’t mean the other is going to go down.”

So much for the values-driven consumer.

In addition to its recent circularity splurge in Los Angeles, H&M is investing in textile-recycling startups and heat batteries for factories. Its Scope 3 emissions dropped in 2024 by 24 over 2019 levels.

Yet activists lambaste the company, and the industry overall, for overproducing. Only 11 percent of the biggest brands even share how much stuff they make, according to Fashion Revolution.

Experts warn of the “elephant in the room,” i.e., overproduction. Brands churn out 80 billion to 276 billion garments each year, roughly 38 percent either returned or never sold, according to Tech Tailors of Amsterdam.

An imperfect circle

Purely circular models also face a reality check. Garments usually wind up in a landfill even after multiple owners, according to Lynda Grose, a professor of fashion design and critical studies at California College of the Arts.

“The growth in secondhand is an additive business for companies,” she said. “It is not displacing the business of producing new goods.”

Resale also serves as a gateway: 43 percent of thrifty shoppers later buy first-hand products from the same brand, according to the State of Fashion.

“Unless all companies commit to growing their secondhand business and shrinking their new product business, we will not see any reduction in energy use, material extraction and post-consumer waste,” Grose said.

The industry needs to think beyond resale, noted Rachel Sheila Kan, a London-based circular economy consultant and former apparel designer. For example, brands can design durable garments for easy recycling — and explore things like memberships, digital experiences and pre-fab design kits.

“These multiple business revenue streams bring this vibrancy back to an industry that has always been one of the most creative in the world,” she said.

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At COP30, governments follow the lead on corporate climate procurement

The opinions expressed here by Trellis expert contributors are their own, not those of Trellis.​

Despite media headlines about government backsliding on climate in North America and Europe, evidence presented at COP 30 in Brazil shows climate policy is actually on the rise globally, with developing countries leading the way. 

Not only are we seeing a diffusion of government climate policy, but trends in the quality, ambition and rigor of climate policies are getting stronger. For example, our Climate Policy Monitor at the University of Oxford spotlights leadership in key Latin American and African nations with strong disclosure rules, including requirements on Scope 3 reporting and engagement — a trend that lines up with recent findings about increased corporate commitments to sustainable procurement.

Also, governments at this year’s COP 30 in Bèlem took to the stage to declare their own commitments to sustainable public procurement. This declaration represents a critical demand signal from governments to the private sector, for sustainable products, processes and practices across their own supply chains.

To deliver on their nationally determined climate contributions, governments have much to learn, and to buy, from companies leading on sustainable supplier engagement, product innovation and industrial collaboration. 

Yet procurement rules in too many countries still require officials to pick the lowest upfront cost option without considering their own stated goals for the future. That decision, repeated millions of times across jurisdictions, entrenches old industries and delays the very technologies governments claim they want to nourish.

Fixing the procurement gap

To fix this gap, 35 countries at COP30 with growing commitments have launched a new collective plan committing to:

  • Embed sustainability in procurement policies
  • Expand green procurement to more spending areas and support local green markets
  • Involve diverse communities in shaping solutions 
  • Collaborate globally to share knowledge and track progress in order to build institutional capacity to advance the sustainable public procurement agenda

A major driver

In advancing this declaration, the Brazilian government acknowledged that public procurement represents 13 to 20 percent of global GDP and drives roughly 15 percent of global emissions. No single buyer on Earth purchases more cement, steel, food, transport services, buildings or infrastructure than the public sector. 

So when governments decide to purchase greener options, markets shift at pace. When they don’t, businesses leading in sustainability are left fighting gravity without demand to justify their investment. Sustainable government procurement policies offer a future in which public promises match public spending. 

Our research on green public procurement across 11 countries shows many co-benefits from such efforts and some inspiring examples of progress. Public purchasers are shifting what they buy, who they buy from and how they buy. For example:

  • Korea, Japan, the EU and India are using national eco-labelling schemes to drive sustainable consumption and signal demand for climate-friendly goods and services. 
  • In Canada and the United Kingdom, suppliers must now meet minimum standards of corporate climate governance, including disclosures and transition plans, before bidding for major contracts.
  • Australia is weaving environmental objectives directly into its procurement law, linking payment and performance to measurable sustainability outcomes. 
  • Brazil and Kenya are using public food procurement to support indigenous and female farmers, proving that social inclusion and climate goals can go hand in hand. 
  • And from Ireland to California to the UAE, green public procurement is transforming construction, reshaping demand for green cement, steel and insulation.

No longer a niche

Companies leading on corporate procurement have taught us that procurement is a strategic engine, not an administrative sidenote. Embedding sustainability into purchasing has helped firms future-proof their supply chains, save costs, protect against risk and spur innovation. 

Governments, with even greater buying power, and public risk can do the same at national scale and businesses need them to. Without strong, consistent public demand for low-carbon goods, even the most ambitious companies struggle to justify investment in new technologies and materials. Green public procurement helps close that gap, often without new or additional spending. It aligns incentives, rewards climate leadership and creates stable demand.

Brazil’s COP30 declaration is more than a policy signal — it’s a chance for governments and companies to finally pull in the same direction towards a healthier future. If countries seize it, they’ll accelerate the rise of clean, competitive industries; if they hesitate, they risk losing their most ambitious businesses, or leaving them without the markets they need to grow.

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At COP30, governments build on corporate climate momentum

The opinions expressed here by Trellis expert contributors are their own, not those of Trellis.​

Despite media headlines about government backsliding on climate in North America and Europe, evidence presented at COP 30 in Brazil shows climate policy is actually on the rise globally, with developing countries leading the way. 

Not only are we seeing a diffusion of government climate policy, but trends in the quality, ambition and rigor of climate policies are getting stronger. For example, our Climate Policy Monitor at the University of Oxford spotlights leadership in key Latin American and African nations with strong disclosure rules, including requirements on Scope 3 reporting and engagement — a trend that lines up with recent findings about increased corporate commitments to sustainable procurement.

Also, governments at this year’s COP 30 in Bèlem took to the stage to declare their own commitments to sustainable public procurement. This declaration represents a critical demand signal from governments to the private sector, for sustainable products, processes and practices across their own supply chains.

To deliver on their nationally determined climate contributions, governments have much to learn, and to buy, from companies leading on sustainable supplier engagement, product innovation and industrial collaboration. 

Yet procurement rules in too many countries still require officials to pick the lowest upfront cost option without considering their own stated goals for the future. That decision, repeated millions of times across jurisdictions, entrenches old industries and delays the very technologies governments claim they want to nourish.

Fixing the procurement gap

To fix this gap, 35 countries at COP30 with growing commitments have launched a new collective plan committing to:

  • Embed sustainability in procurement policies
  • Expand green procurement to more spending areas and support local green markets
  • Involve diverse communities in shaping solutions 
  • Collaborate globally to share knowledge and track progress in order to build institutional capacity to advance the sustainable public procurement agenda

A major driver

In advancing this declaration, the Brazilian government acknowledged that public procurement represents 13 to 20 percent of global GDP and drives roughly 15 percent of global emissions. No single buyer on Earth purchases more cement, steel, food, transport services, buildings or infrastructure than the public sector. 

So when governments decide to purchase greener options, markets shift at pace. When they don’t, businesses leading in sustainability are left fighting gravity without demand to justify their investment. Sustainable government procurement policies offer a future in which public promises match public spending. 

Our research on green public procurement across 11 countries shows many co-benefits from such efforts and some inspiring examples of progress. Public purchasers are shifting what they buy, who they buy from and how they buy. For example:

  • Korea, Japan, the EU and India are using national eco-labelling schemes to drive sustainable consumption and signal demand for climate-friendly goods and services. 
  • In Canada and the United Kingdom, suppliers must now meet minimum standards of corporate climate governance, including disclosures and transition plans, before bidding for major contracts.
  • Australia is weaving environmental objectives directly into its procurement law, linking payment and performance to measurable sustainability outcomes. 
  • Brazil and Kenya are using public food procurement to support indigenous and female farmers, proving that social inclusion and climate goals can go hand in hand. 
  • And from Ireland to California to the UAE, green public procurement is transforming construction, reshaping demand for green cement, steel and insulation.

No longer a niche

Companies leading on corporate procurement have taught us that procurement is a strategic engine, not an administrative sidenote. Embedding sustainability into purchasing has helped firms future-proof their supply chains, save costs, protect against risk and spur innovation. 

Governments, with even greater buying power, and public risk can do the same at national scale and businesses need them to. Without strong, consistent public demand for low-carbon goods, even the most ambitious companies struggle to justify investment in new technologies and materials. Green public procurement helps close that gap, often without new or additional spending. It aligns incentives, rewards climate leadership and creates stable demand.

Brazil’s COP30 declaration is more than a policy signal — it’s a chance for governments and companies to finally pull in the same direction towards a healthier future. If countries seize it, they’ll accelerate the rise of clean, competitive industries; if they hesitate, they risk losing their most ambitious businesses, or leaving them without the markets they need to grow.

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As COP30 closes, climate, conflict and poverty dominate public concern

As COP30 enters its final days in Brazil — the first COP in the Amazon region and marking the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement — the world’s attention is on climate action. But public priorities extend beyond climate alone. Trellis data partner GlobeScan’s latest research reveals that climate change, war/conflict and extreme poverty dominate global concerns, ranking highest in both perceived seriousness and importance to address.

War and conflict tops the list for seriousness (68 percent), while climate change and extreme poverty are tied for first place in importance (41 percent). These crises are deeply interconnected; climate change drives resource scarcity and displacement, hitting the poorest the hardest and fueling instability. Poverty and inequality create conditions for conflict, while war undermines efforts to build climate resilience and economic security.

Other issues, such as corruption, water pollution and hunger also rank high on perceived seriousness but fall behind on importance compared to the top three. This underscores the unique urgency of climate, poverty and conflict as a combined global challenge.

What this means

As COP30 concludes, expectations for bold climate commitments are high, but progress may be constrained by competing priorities and geopolitical tensions. These interconnected crises make negotiations harder, as countries balance climate ambition with urgent social and security concerns. Public opinion signals that ambition cannot be siloed. Integrated strategies that address climate, poverty and conflict together will be critical to achieving global aspirations moving forward.

Based on a survey of more than 31,000 people in more than 30 countries conducted July-August 2025.

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Uber taps Mercedes exec as global head of electrification and sustainability

Andrew Cornelia, who has led the Mercedes-Benz high-power charging network in North America since June 2023, is joining Uber.

Cornelia said in a LinkedIn post that he’ll be Uber’s global head of electrification and sustainability, leading the transport company’s ongoing transition to electric and autonomous vehicles. Uber aims to have all its rides be zero-emissions by 2040. 

“With a global platform across Rides, Delivery, and Freight, millions of earners, and unmatched data, Uber can make electrification and autonomy real for cities, drivers, couriers, and consumers — not in theory, but in daily operations,” Cornelia wrote on LinkedIn. 

Uber said its drivers are going electric five times faster than the general population in the U.S. and Canada. To accelerate the transition, Uber in October announced it would give drivers $4,000 to switch to EVs — new or used — in New York City, California, Colorado and Massachusetts. The company also has partnerships with EV charging networks to secure better access and rates for its drivers. Uber is also expanding “battery matching” on the its platform, ensuring that drivers are only given trips that their current battery range can complete. 

On the AV front, Uber is partnering with companies including Waymo for rides and Nuro for deliveries. Uber also unveiled a deal with NVIDIA and Stellantis in October to roll out a fleet of 5,000 robotaxis and autonomous delivery vehicles in the U.S. and internationally. Stellantis plans to supply the cars equipped with NVIDIA’s AV software, while Uber will manage the operations, including charging and customer support. 

Cornelia said he’s built and scaled mobility and energy ventures for more than a decade. At Mercedes-Benz, he led a new team tasked with opening hundreds of charging stations throughout North America. Before that, he held leadership roles at Volta Charging and Tesla. 

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Terraformation creates new role for former American Forests CEO

Former American Forests President and CEO Jad Daley has been named president of Terraformation, a startup that connect companies with forestry projects. The role is a new position designed to strengthen partnerships and unlock the capital for the company, which was founded in 2019 by Yishan Wong, previously Reddit CEO.

Terraformation pitches itself as an extension of company sustainability teams that can identify, design and grow forestry projects to deliver high-quality carbon credits. Current projects include mangrove restoration in Ghana, restoration of degraded forest in the Congo Basin and the rehabilitation of ecosystems in Colombia to restore wildlife habitats and connect migration routes.

Time 100 list

At American Forests, Daley oversaw work on urban tree equity and large-scale ecosystem restoration that was backed by corporate partners including Bank of America, the Coca-Cola Foundation and Salesforce. He also served as vice president for conservation programs at The Trust for Public Land, where he focused on climate resilience and community-driven conservation efforts. Last year, he was one of 100 leaders named on the Time 100 Climate list.

Daley’s new role, announced this week at the climate negotiations in Belém, Brazil, will see him work with Wong and team to expand global partnerships and advance blended finance models. Daley will also be tasked with leveraging his non-profit leadership experience to raise funds from philanthropic, public and private-sector institutions.

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Tyson, JBS cases mark new level of scrutiny of corporate greenwashing

Tyson Foods has agreed to stop touting its “net-zero” by 2050 pledge on greenhouse gas emissions and its “climate-smart” beef initiatives as part of a settlement to end a greenwashing lawsuit.  

The Tyson case marks the second greenwashing settlement for a major food producer this month, following JBS USA’s agreement to revise its pledge to achieve “net-zero” emissions by 2040 in a case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The attorney general and environmental groups said the settlements send a message to the entire food industry: Climate marketing must be backed by credible plans and progress. Otherwise, companies risk attracting lawsuits for misleading consumers. 

“The outcome makes clear that corporate climate pledges must be transparent, verifiable and rooted in real change,” said Caroline Leary, general counsel and chief operating officer at EWG, one of the environmental groups that settled with Tyson Foods on Nov. 17.

‘False and misleading’

Tyson Foods and JBS USA are the two largest meat companies in the world. Neither admitted wrongdoing. 

A spokesperson for Tyson said the decision to settle was made “solely to avoid the expense and distraction.” Nikki Richardson, a spokesperson for JBS USA, said the company “remains driven to advance sustainable agriculture.” 

In 2021, Tyson Foods promised to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by midcentury. About two years ago, the Springdale, Arkansas, company began promoting plans for “climate-smart” beef. 

EWG in its lawsuit alleged those claims were “false and misleading” to consumers because Tyson Foods didn’t have a plan to substantially reduce emissions from its beef supply chain, which accounts for 85 percent of the company’s climate footprint.

In the settlement, Tyson disclosed that it invested more than $65 million to reduce greenhouse gas emissions relating to its beef products — a little over 0.1 percent of its $53 billion in revenue in 2024. 

Tyson pledged to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 30 percent and Scope 3 emissions by 30 percent per ton of finished meat by 2030, compared to a 2016 baseline — targets validated by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The company’s net-zero goal hasn’t been assessed. 

By contrast, none of JBS’s climate goals are SBTi-validated. The company withdrew from the process in January 2024 — about three years after the Brazilian meatpacking conglomerate pledged net-zero emissions across its sprawling global supply chains, according to its settlement with New York.

The agreement outlines how JBS’s climate plans lack transparency and credibility, including the company’s failure to disclose how much of its emissions are attributable to land-use changes, such as deforestation. That is likely a significant source, given that beef production accounts for more than three-quarters of the Amazon’s destruction, according to WWF.  

“JBS is a super emitter,” said Alex Wijeratna, senior director of investigations and law at Mighty Earth, which filed its own greenwashing lawsuit against JBS USA in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. “There are estimates that JBS’s overall emissions are greater than all of Spain. The company slaughters 27 million cattle a day in 25 countries. There’s a lot of methane emitted from cattle.”

How Tyson and JBS will change their marketing

JBS USA, which sells meat under brands like Pilgrim’s Pride and Swift Beef, in its settlement with the New York AG agreed to present net-zero as a “goal” rather than a “pledge” or “commitment.” If the company touts steps toward reducing emissions, its marketing has to list specific actions. 

Tyson Foods agreed to stop making “emission” and “net-zero” claims for five years. The company cannot introduce new ones unless they are “supported by expert analysis and verified facts” that the company and EWG both agree to. 

EWG’s Leary said the analysis would need to be done by experts in emissions accounting who don’t have a financial stake in approving Tyson’s marketing, e.g., an academic institution or a research and consulting firm. 

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Why XPRIZE is targeting methane mitigation for its next climate competition

The past 12 months have seen a surge of interest in methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that to date is responsible for around a third of global warming. The market for methane-reduction credits is booming, and a new emissions accounting method offers companies a more holistic means of assessing the impact of the gas.

That momentum could soon be boosted by the launch of Mission Methane, a new competition from XPRIZE designed to accelerate the progress of fledgling methods for avoiding methane releases or removing the gas from the atmosphere. 

The decision to prioritize a methane prize reflects an awareness that tackling the gas can provide near-term climate benefits that would complement existing strategies to address carbon dioxide, explained David Babson, XPRIZE’s executive vice president for climate, energy and nature. 

“Methane is the one to target to arrest warming quickly, and CO2 is the one to target to stabilize the climate long term and to end the long-term warming trend,” he said.

Why methane matters

Mission Methane was birthed at the annual meeting in Los Angeles in April 2024 of the XPRIZE Brain Trust, a group of more than 100 advisers from academia, business and other sectors. Around 10 potential prizes in climate, energy and nature were mooted, including one on methane. Brain trust experts in those areas whittled the list down to four over the summer, which were presented at a second meeting, known as the conclave.

Around a month before the group assembled, the importance of methane was recognized in a National Academies for Science, Engineering and Medicine report on the gas. Around two-thirds of released methane leaves the atmosphere after 12 years, but during that time its impact on warming is up to 150 times greater than that of CO2. That means cutting methane levels will have an outsized and relatively quick impact. The study, said Babson, “highlighted the unique opportunity to target methane as the greenhouse gas that could arrest warming the most quickly.”

The report added weight to arguments for a methane prize, as did testimony from Rob Jackson, an earth scientist at Stanford University who spoke at the conclave. “I have to give him a lot of credit,” said Babson. “He had such credibility when he spoke and was very eloquent.” When the votes were counted, methane emerged as the next XPRIZE priority, alongside a women’s’ health competition known as Ovarian Decoder.

Designing the prize

Babson is designing the competition and raising money for the prize pot. Taking inspiration from the XPRIZE for carbon removal, awarded in April to a company that helps smallholder farmers draw down carbon, competitors in Mission Methane will demonstrate technologies that can prevent the release of a certain amount of methane in a year, or remove the same amount from the atmosphere. Babson expects it will be on the order of 100 tons — relatively small, but the winner will also have to demonstrate a plausible path to scaling their technology.

On the avoided emissions side, Babson said the focus will be on dilute sources, such as livestock operations. Biotech companies developing vaccines that disrupt the formation of methane in cows’ stomachs would be one type of contender, he noted. Potential removal technologies include HVAC filters that react methane with oxygen to form CO2, a less potent greenhouse gas.

Projects that capture methane from point sources, such as disused oil wells, will not qualify because the technologies involved are already market-ready, said Babson. But the need to accelerate use of point-source methods was discussed during an XPRIZE session at Trellis Impact 25, held last month in San Jose, California. Babson said he came away from the session convinced of the benefits of growing the market for more mature methane technologies and is now working on a parallel funding mechanism for that, likely based on an advanced market commitment structure.

His priority for now, however, is convincing donors to back Mission Methane. A prize fund of $20 million to $50 million would be sufficient to spur the innovation he hopes to see. “In a perfect world, we would get that commitment later this year and be in a position to launch the prize by late of Q1 or early Q2 of 2026,” he said.

Meanwhile, the evidence continues to mount: A paper published last month in Science found that methane mitigation efforts have the potential to reduce the damages caused by climate change by more than a trillion dollars by 2050, while costing only one-sixth of that.

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Despite the noise, business isn’t backing down on sustainability

The opinions expressed here by Trellis expert contributors are their own, not those of Trellis.​

As the U.S. retreats from global climate efforts, it’s easy to focus on the negative. Yet most companies and investors aren’t just maintaining their sustainability commitments — they’re accelerating them. 

New research indicates that the private sector is forging ahead. A Harvard Business Review analysis of 75 global companies found 53 percent are holding steady on sustainability commitments, 32 percent are expanding on them — and just 8 percent are retreating. According to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the adoption of science-based targets continues to accelerate, with the number of companies setting near-term targets doubling and those committing to net-zero targets tripling in the past 18 months.

Next, follow the money. Globally, clean energy and grid investments are projected to reach $2.2 trillion in 2025 — twice the amount expected to flow into fossil fuels. Despite the U.S. federal government’s dismantling of policies supporting clean energy, S&P Global Commodity Insights estimates that clean energy will keep growing at a strong clip in the U.S. through 2030. Clean energy stocks are soaring — the S&P Global Clean Energy Transition Index gained 44 percent over the past year, significantly outpacing fossil fuels, with the S&P 1500 Oil & Gas Drilling Sub-Industry Index dropping 17 percent.  

Blue-chip companies lead the way 

Companies and investors we work with are taking strong public action. For instance, this year, General Mills updated its Climate Transition Action Plan, sharpening the action around four climate levers, from agriculture to transportation, first identified in last year’s plan to help meet its goals of cutting emissions by 30 percent by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2050. With a strong focus on assessment, policy, governance and human rights, the updated plan underscores General Mills’ commitment to transparency and collaboration.

Corporate water action is also gaining ground. Our latest Valuing Water Finance Initiative benchmark shows that two-thirds of companies improved their performance since 2023. Danone, Gap, Microsoft and PepsiCo lead the way in the four major industries we assessed, making advances on several fronts to reduce their impact on water and strengthen resilience. This is in line with expectations of the initiative, which is the only investor-led global effort focused on water action.  

The role of investment and advocacy 

With COP30 in the Brazilian Amazon putting the spotlight on protecting forests and other natural ecosystems, Nature Action 100 is proving how quickly investors can mobilize for change. Since its launch two years ago, the world’s first and largest global investor-led initiative on nature and biodiversity loss has expanded to over 240 investor participants, underscoring the growing recognition that nature’s resilience is essential to safeguarding the global economy.

And then there’s advocacy. For all the talk that companies are afraid to speak out in this political environment, they continue to do the important work of pushing for climate and clean energy policy. We saw dozens upon dozens of major companies and investors head to Capitol Hill throughout 2025 to champion and defend federal clean energy incentives, advanced manufacturing investment and good-paying jobs. 

This fall, we watched more than 40 business entities rally in support of reauthorizing California’s nation-leading cap-and-invest program. That’s a timely reminder about the opportunity for states to set policy and provide leadership. And late last month, leading companies in Illinois successfully backed the passage of one of the most important affordability wins of the year — model legislation for reducing electricity costs, modernizing infrastructure and delivering clean energy.

Stay focused despite the headwinds

Now, I am very clear-eyed about the current headwinds. At a time of global economic change, when the U.S. has every incentive to lead in clean industries and technologies, the federal government is actively obstructing progress on clean energy and competitiveness. Meanwhile, special interests are waging a politically-driven campaign to force investors to ignore climate risks, introducing hundreds of state laws to control private investment strategy.

But despite all of this obstructionism, companies are acting and investment is flowing. Because sustainability is good for business and essential for long-term value creation and global competitiveness. The only affordable path for meeting America’s surging energy demand is through clean, American-made power. 

A decade after the Paris Agreement, while we’ve fallen short of our most ambitious emissions goals, we must recognize the progress we’ve made. We avoided the UN’s projected estimate of up to 7.8 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century and the Rhodium Group estimates that warming is highly unlikely to exceed 3.9 degrees by 2100 and could be limited to 2 degrees. Every single tenth of a degree of warming counts. 

So stay focused. Make the case through advocacy, investment, or transition plans that clean energy is essential to economic growth and energy security as power demand and prices continue to rise. Just last month, JPMorgan’s global head of sustainable solutions underscored this point, warning that the U.S. will struggle to meet the energy demands of its rapidly expanding tech sector without wind and solar. 

Trust science and market forces

Around the world, the momentum behind a sustainable, clean energy economy is undeniable and unstoppable. It’s propelled by potent market and geopolitical forces including accelerating competition, rising energy demand, the global race for energy security, and the need to cut pollution and safeguard natural resources that businesses rely on. Politics will shift, but physics and market forces won’t. 

Act globally. International cooperation, coupled with private sector action, is an economic imperative to prevent escalating financial risks. A new Ceres analysis shows that five key drivers of nature loss could cost eight global sectors up to $430 billion each year. Yet, government and business action are already fueling economic and job growth, innovation and investment worldwide.

I’m an optimist, precisely because of the 35-plus years Ceres has spent driving home the business case for sustainability. Now is the moment to focus on how far we’ve come, how much we’ve learned and how much we have to gain — and lose. 

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