{"id":16444,"date":"2026-01-15T11:54:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T11:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/15\/climate-technologies-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T11:54:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T11:54:34","slug":"climate-technologies-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/15\/climate-technologies-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Three climate technologies breaking through in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Happy New Year! I know it\u2019s a bit late to say, but it never quite feels like the year has started until the new edition of our 10 Breakthrough Technologies list comes out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For 25 years, MIT Technology Review<\/em> has put together this package, which highlights the technologies that we think are going to matter in the future. This year\u2019s version<\/a> has some stars, including gene resurrection<\/a> (remember all the dire wolf hype last year?) and commercial space stations<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And of course, the world of climate and energy is represented with sodium-ion batteries<\/a>, next-generation nuclear<\/a>, and hyperscale AI data centers<\/a>. Let\u2019s take a look at what ended up on the list, and what it says about this moment for climate tech.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sodium-ion batteries<\/strong><\/h4>\n

I\u2019ve been covering sodium-ion batteries for years<\/a>, but this moment feels like a breakout one for the technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, lithium-ion cells power everything from EVs, phones, and computers to huge stationary storage arrays that help support the grid. But researchers and battery companies have been racing to develop an alternative, driven by the relative scarcity of lithium and the metal\u2019s volatile price in recent years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sodium-ion batteries could be that alternative. Sodium is much more abundant than lithium, and it could unlock cheaper batteries that hold a lower fire risk.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are limitations here: Sodium-ion batteries won\u2019t be able to pack as much energy into cells as their lithium counterparts. But it might not matter, especially for grid storage and smaller EVs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In recent years, we\u2019ve seen a ton of interest in sodium-based batteries, particularly from major companies in China. Now the new technology is starting to make its way into the world\u2014CATL says it started manufacturing these batteries at scale in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Next-generation nuclear<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Nuclear reactors are an important part of grids around the world today\u2014massive workhorse reactors generate reliable, consistent electricity. But the countries with the oldest and most built-out fleets have struggled to add to them in recent years, since reactors are massive and cost billions. Recent high-profile projects have gone way over budget and faced serious delays.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Next-generation reactor designs could help the industry break out of the old blueprint and get more nuclear power online more quickly, and they\u2019re starting to get closer to becoming reality.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a huge variety of proposals when it comes to what\u2019s next for nuclear. Some companies are building smaller reactors, which they say could make it easier to finance new projects, and get them done on time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other companies are focusing on tweaking key technical bits of reactors, using alternative fuels or coolants that help ferry heat out of the reactor core. These changes could help reactors generate electricity more efficiently and safely.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kairos Power was the first US company to receive approval to begin construction on a next-generation reactor to produce electricity. China is emerging as a major center of nuclear development, with the country\u2019s national nuclear company reportedly working on several next-gen reactors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hyperscale data centers<\/strong><\/h4>\n

This one isn\u2019t quite what I would call a climate technology, but I spent most of last year reporting on the climate and environmental impacts of AI, and the AI boom is deeply intertwined with climate and energy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Data centers aren\u2019t new, but we\u2019re seeing a wave of larger centers being proposed and built to support the rise of AI. Some of these facilities require a gigawatt or more of power\u2014that\u2019s like the output of an entire conventional nuclear power plant, just for one data center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(This feels like a good time to mention that our Breakthrough Technologies list doesn\u2019t just highlight tech that we think will have a straightforwardly positive influence on the world. I think back to our 2023 list, which included mass-market military drones<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no denying that new, supersize data centers are an important force driving electricity demand, sparking major public pushback, and emerging as a key bit of our new global infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This article is from The Spark, <\/em>MIT Technology Review\u2019s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, <\/em>sign up here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy New Year! I know it\u2019s a bit late to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[226],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16444\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}