Four Harvard research teams receive translational funding to advance climate change tech

The climate crisis demands new and better technology – from green energy sources to cleaner industrial processes and far beyond. Universities, including Harvard, play a significant role in generating that new tech.

“Many of the innovations driving clean tech started in university labs,” said Jim Stock, Vice Provost for Climate and Sustainability and Director of the Salata Institute. “The trick is getting the best ideas out of the lab and into the world where they can reduce climate pollution and save lives.”

Harvard’s Office of Technology Development and the Salata Institute launched the Climate and Sustainability Translational Fund to accelerate the pace of startup formation by providing crucial gap funding, mentorship, and guidance for Harvard research teams to address climate and sustainability challenges.

“Advancing creativity in the lab toward effective commercial solutions is vital for tackling pressing climate and sustainability challenges,” stated Isaac Kohlberg, Senior Associate Provost and Chief Technology Development Officer at Harvard University. “This fund provides Harvard researchers not only translational funding, but also creates the connections with mentors, companies, and investors necessary to build successful companies.”

Today, the Office for Technology Development and the Salata Institute announced the fund’s first awardees, supporting four research projects that offer solutions to global climate and sustainability challenges.

The four research projects receiving the 2024 Climate and Sustainability Translational Fund awards are:

• Bacteria Strains to Improve Carbon Capture and Storage
• Electrified hydrogen peroxide production and advanced green oxidation
• Bionic Leaf-C at manufacturing scale-up
• Photonic materials for sustainable packaging

Explore the project descriptions below and learn more about the Climate and Sustainability Translational Fund here.

Are you a Harvard researcher pursuing a climate or sustainability technology? Proposals for the 2025 Climate and Sustainability Translational Fund will open in April.

2024 Climate and Sustainability Translational Fund Awardees:

Bacteria Strains to Improve Carbon Capture and Storage

Researchers: Pamela Silver and Michael Springer

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most common greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. CO2 also lingers longer than other greenhouse gases, which means it must be removed from the atmosphere to stop warming temperatures. The rock cycle is Earth’s natural way of capturing CO2 through rock weathering, which permanently locks CO2 into the oceans. However, weathering takes millions of years, and the need to address climate change is urgent.

A team of Harvard researchers is trying to harness rock weathering using bacteria. From the labs of Pam Silver, Elliot T. and Onie H. Adams Professor of Biochemistry and Systems Biology, and Michael Springer, Professor of Systems Biology, a research team led by Neil Dalvie, a Fellow in Systems Biology, is developing a technology that uses engineered bacterial strains to accelerate mineral weathering. The technology may provide a natural, scalable solution to accelerate CO2 sequestration for long-term storage.

Electrified hydrogen peroxide production and advanced green oxidation

Researcher: Michael Aziz

Hydrogen peroxide is a key industrial chemical used widely in manufacturing products ranging from paper to textiles. Making hydrogen peroxide currently requires fossil fuels and expensive catalysts, contributing to climate change. The process of creating the chemical also produces hazardous byproducts.

A research team led by Michael Aziz, Gene and Tracy Sykes Professor of Materials and Energy Technologies, has developed a novel approach to produce ‘green’ hydrogen peroxide. This approach converts air, water, and electricity into hydrogen peroxide, with water as the only byproduct.

The method removes the need for fossil fuels, expensive reagents, and harsh processing conditions to produce the widely used chemical. With funding, the team aims to sustainably produce hydrogen peroxide and to demonstrate the use of green hydrogen peroxide in the production of commodity chemicals at an industrial scale.

Bionic Leaf-C at manufacturing scale-up

Researcher: Daniel Nocera

The crux of the climate problem is the reliance on fossil fuels. Whether deployed directly as fuel or used in the production of other chemicals, these fuels are the primary driver of planet-warming carbon emissions. In the United States, the transportation sector is responsible for the lion’s share of greenhouse gas emissions. A not-insignificant chunk of those transportation emissions come from the jet fuel needed to fly planes. While electric vehicles and other more sustainable transportation options can reduce transportation emissions on the ground, finding a greener alternative to jet fuel remains a tricky problem.

A research team led by Daniel Nocera, Patterson Rockwood Professor of Energy, is developing a biofuel alternative to fossil-based jet fuel. The hybrid inorganic-biological system only requires sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide from the air to produce hydrocarbons. This removes the need for fossil fuels and directly reduces the amount of planet-warming carbon in the atmosphere.

With funding, the team will work to optimize the engineered bacteria strain and increase the output of the bioreactor system, with the end goal of large-scale and competitive jet fuel production.

Photonic materials for sustainable packaging

Researcher: Vinothan N. Manoharan

Most plastic packaging is not recyclable and adds to waste pollution. But plastic is doing much more to harm the planet than sitting in landfills for decades and polluting our oceans. Creating plastics requires fossil fuels, emitting large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. Thanks to dyes and additives, many of the plastics in use today are un-recyclable.

A research team led by Vinothan N. Manoharan, Wagner Family Professor of Chemical Engineering and Physics, and Audrey von Raesfeld, a PhD student in Applied Physics, is taking an innovative approach to enabling a circular plastic economy. The team has demonstrated that introducing microscopic structures into plastic films can lead to performance that previously required the addition of dyes to packaging.

The dyes and additives that render many plastics unrecyclable are necessary to improve food stability by protecting the food from damaging environmental stimuli like light or gases. By manipulating the structure of the films without altering their composition, the team aims to maintain the protective properties of the packaging while also retaining the recyclability of the base plastics. To ensure this technology can succeed and deploy rapidly, researchers aim to fabricate these films in a way that integrates with established manufacturing techniques.

Media Contact: David_Trilling@harvard.edu