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Houston startups named to World Economic Forum cohort for carbon removal, clean technologies

top honor

Two Houston startups have been named World Economic Forum Technology Pioneers. Photo via LinkedIn

Two Houston-based startups have been selected to join the World Economic Forum's Technology Pioneers community.

The two-year program aims to help mission-driven, early-stage start-ups scale their innovations through multi-stakeholder initiatives, co-creating partnerships and other gatherings for community members. One-hundred startups are selected each year from around the globe, this year hailing from 23 countries and working in AI, energy, space, biotech markets and more.

Cleantech startup Vaulted Deep was one of 11 energy and climate companies to be named to the cohort. Julia Reichelstein and Omar Abou-Sayed founded the company in 2023. Its technology injects excess organic waste underground to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Last year, Vaulted Deep inked a 12-year deal with Microsoft to remove up to 4.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the environment.

The startup has earned several accolades in recent years, including a No. 3 spot on Fast Company’s list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2026. It was also recently named to market intelligence and advisory firm Cleantech Group's annual Global Cleantech 100 list for a second year in a row.

"Waste management is one of the world's great invisible infrastructure systems ... The need for new infrastructure is growing as disposal challenges become more complex and regulations evolve. Vaulted is building the first new disposal pathway for organic waste in decades by putting it deep underground, permanently," the company shared in a LinkedIn post. "This year, we're joining the World Economic Forum's 2026 Tech Pioneers alongside innovators working on the many interconnected challenges shaping our future."

Houston-based Venus Aerospace was also selected to join the cohort, along with six other spacetech companies. The company was founded in 2020 by Sassie and Andrew Duggleby.

The startup specializes in next-generation rocket engine propulsion as a cleaner alternative to traditional combustion engines. The company's rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) burns fuel more efficiently and completed a successful high-thrust test flight last year. Venus says it’s the only company in the world that makes a flight-proven, high-thrust RDRE with a “clear path to scaled production.”

"Frontier technologies matter most when they expand what people, industries, and nations can do," Sassie Duggleby, co-founder and CEO of Venus, said in a news release. "For Venus, RDRE does not just represent a more efficient engine. It is a foundation for faster movement, more capable space systems, and new forms of connectivity across the planet. Being named a Technology Pioneer validates the potential of this technology to help shape a future where distance is less limiting."

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Telsa eyes Houston area for $10 billion solar manufacturing plant

under review

Electric vehicle and clean energy company Tesla is considering building a new $10.1 billion solar cell manufacturing facility in Fort Bend County, according to documents filed with the Texas Comptroller’s Office.

If approved, the plant, called Project Sun City, would be located on a 3,050-acre site off FM 762 and FM 1994 in Richmond, Texas. Tesla aims to finish construction in 2028, with the plant being operational by early 2029.

The plant will manufacture photovoltaic (PV) solar cells and modules that can convert sunlight into electricity. PV Magazine reports that the facility is "the largest single manufacturing investment Tesla has proposed on paper."

Advisory and consulting firm Kroll submitted the documents to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and noted if an agreement regarding tax incentives isn't reached, the project will exit Texas.

Tesla has requested credits under the Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation (JETI) Act. The incentive program aims to attract large, capital-intensive economic development projects by lowering the property taxes an entity must pay over 10 years if it meets requirements related to job creation and investment. For example, pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb Co. recently announced that its forthcoming $2.3 billion Houston-area manufacturing site is a qualified project under the JETI program.

Kroll predicts that the facility would create 9,712 new full-time jobs, over 1,100 construction jobs and billions of dollars in future property tax revenue, the documents show. Additionally, it says the project will spur $1.1 billion in local business expenditures and that Texas would increase its GDP by approximately $107 billion as a result of the project activities.

Tesla opened its $200 million Megafactory in Brookshire, Texas, last year. The company is continuing its goal to deploy 100 gigawatts of solar manufacturing in the U.S before the end of 2028. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 100 gigawatts is equal to about 8 percent of the country's power grid capacity.

Houston researchers land $10M grant to study how climate change drives disease threats

climate health research

Researchers from Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas School of Public Health have received a $10 million grant to support research and public education on how climate change is linked to public health.

The funding comes from North Carolina-based Burroughs Wellcome Fund and is known as the organization’s Climate + Health Excellence (CHEX) award. It will be used over the next five years to launch the new FORECAST initiative, led by Rice professors and co-investigators Sylvia Dee and Joseph Campan.

FORECAST will “study how a rapidly changing environment and weather drive the emergence and expansion of deadly pathogens in human populations,” according to a release from Rice.

“This grant supports novel research linking climate change projections to health care solutions while simultaneously ensuring the next generation of scientists, leaders and policymakers have the training to assess and respond to the climate change risks that we already know are increasing every year,” Dee said in the release.

The funding will go toward a variety of new initiatives and centers.

At Rice, the funding will help launch the new Center for Climate and Environmental Health, as well as cross-campus multidisciplinary collaborations, seed grants, postdoctoral and graduate positions, and more, according to the university.

The grant will also support the statewide “Middle to Medical” climate-health educational program for youth. The program will focus on teaching how pathogens spread and how climate change plays a role in the process.

“FORECAST will prepare youth across Texas to make informed health decisions that protect themselves and their families and communities from extreme weather and disease-related risks,” Nancy Moreno, a professor of education, innovation and technology at Baylor College of Medicine and co-investigator on this grant, added in the release.

Anthony Maresso, professor of molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, will share expertise in viral pathogen sewage detection that was developed during the COVID-19 pandemic; while Eric Boerwinkle, dean of the UT School of Public Health, will share insights from the Texas Wastewater Environmental Biomonitoring Network, which tracks disease-causing viruses and bacteria by testing wastewater weekly at Texas sites.

“Hotter days, bigger storms, new disease threats — Texas’s future demands preparation,” Boerwinkle added in the release. “With support from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the FORECAST team is helping Texas detect threats earlier and respond faster, saving lives and strengthening our economy.”

EV surge could shutter 40 refineries by 2040, Wood Mackenzie report warns

ev outlook

The rise of electric vehicles could spell trouble for Houston’s oil and gas sector, a new report suggests. But the oil and gas industry stands to benefit from potential sluggishness in U.S. adoption of EVs.

If worldwide EV adoption rises as expected, global oil demand could fall by five million barrels per day by 2040, accelerating the closure of about 40 oil refineries, says the report, published by energy research and consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. The firm’s North American hub is in Houston.

Those closures might spell trouble for refinery operators with a sizable Houston-area presence, including BP, ExxonMobil, Marathon, Saudi Aramco, and Valero. In 2025, the five companies collectively earned roughly $33 billion from downstream operations, including refineries. One caveat: Each company assigns a different definition to “downstream.”

Refineries in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, including the U.S. but excluding Middle Eastern heavyweights, “are most at risk due to their high energy costs and carbon prices,” the Wood Mackenzie report says.

On the flip side, an abundant U.S. oil supply means American drivers have less of an incentive to switch from traditional cars to electric vehicles, despite stubbornly high fuel prices, according to the report.

Wood Mackenzie predicts EVs will account for 20 percent of the U.S. personal and commercial vehicle fleet in 2040, up from three percent in 2025. That compares with a global forecast of 25 percent in 2040, up from 4 percent last year.

Another U.S. roadblock to EV adoption cited in the report: the country’s relative lack of advanced battery manufacturing.

“Without advanced battery technologies, the U.S. auto sector is at risk of ceding its home market to non-Chinese EVs and falling behind competitors internationally,” the report says.

Furthermore, according to the report, Chinese investment in EV manufacturing in the U.S. probably will remain a no-go and tariffs on Chinese EV imports likely won’t be lifted, even if Democrats resurrected EV incentives following a White House win in 2028.

“Competition among EV manufacturers in international markets will only intensify,” the report notes. “Companies that can offer competitive products in high-growth markets will be best positioned for long-term success.”

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