GM Experience
GreenMomentum is a market intelligence, high level advisory and innovation firm specializing in the incubation, acceleration and funding of innovative firms focused on renewable energy, climate change and clean technology. Since its founding in 2008, it has offered consulting services for the optimal design and implementation of public policy recommendations at the behest of foreign, federal, state and municipal governments, as well as international development agencies and multilateral finance and policy organizations. Our mission is to enable the development of breakthrough clean technologies, by fostering sustainable innovation, harnessing scientific progress, and enabling global partnerships to accelerate the development, financing, and adoption of transformative solutions to climate change, pollution, water scarcity and mobility challenges, incorporating a gender perspective.
GreenMomentum has provided technical assistance to the Federal Mexican Government and to international cooperation agencies such as the United-States Development Agency (USAID), the German Development Agency (GIZ), French Development Agency (AFD), the Breakthrough Energy Coalition (BEC), the European Union (EU), and the Private Finance Advisory Network (PFAN). Furthermore, GreenMomentum has an extensive network of strategic allies throughout the Americas, Europe and Mexico. We are part of the Mexico-U.S. Entrepreneurship and Innovation Council (MUSEIC), the Americas Competitiveness Exchange (ACE), the Network for Global Innovation (NGIN), the Latin American and Caribbean Council on Renewable Energy & Energy Transition (LAC-CORE), as well as the Latin American Observatory of Climate Action (OLAC, acronym in Spanish), among others.
Following is a sampling of GreenMomentum’s direct engagement in the space.
GIZ in 2022, offered GreenMomentum a contract to develop a roadmap to deploy solar water heaters in public hospitals in Mexico in a post COVID-19 scenario.
In 2021, GreenMomentum was selected by GIZ to execute the project “Financial Advisory for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Entrepreneurial Urban Projects, to Create Green Recovery Local Employment”, the beneficiaries are selected States and Municipalities Entrepreneurial Agencies.
In early 2020, PFAN and GreenMomentum signed a framework partnership agreement to jointly develop activities in Latin America and the Caribbean to support cleantech startups in the region, offering free business coaching and investment access.
In this same year, GreenMomentum, as part of a consortium headed by PwC-Luxembourg, was selected to implement the European Union program “Low Carbon Business Action in Mexico”, a multiannual exercise to foster joint business concepts between European SME’s and their potential Mexican counterparts.
GreenMomentum was contracted by AFD in 2019, to provide technical assistance under the project: “Finalization of the CFE strategic plan for the promotion of renewable energies and clean technologies”, enabling a holistic view on the social, economic, and environmental benefits of implementing low carbon technologies in the Mexican energy mix.
As part of Mission Innovation’s commitments, the Breakthrough Energy Coalition (BEC) commissioned GreenMomentum in 2018 to complete a comprehensive analysis of the Mexican clean energy innovation landscape to identify public policy recommendations and future investment opportunities in breakthrough energy technologies within the national context such as digital solutions based on the Industry 4.0 concept. Furthermore, the project included the design of a policy and technology roadmap to accelerate the development of innovations within the clean energy sector, involving stakeholders from the academia and the public and private sectors.
In 2018, GreenMomentum implemented the first Lab of Tomorrow in Mexico, a GIZ’s innovation methodology that comprises different phases with the aim of fostering the development of new business-driven solutions. The Mexican workshop tackled the challenge of enabling solar energy distributed system to access the Clean Energy Certificates market to obtain value for it. The Mexican Lab included the challenge definition, a workshop based on a design sprint methodology and the testing phase of the business model prototype.
In 2017, GIZ also commissioned GreenMomentum to conduct a detailed study to monitor and assess progress in the implementation of the workshop tools. For that purpose, GreenMomentum designed a methodology using specific indicators to measure the impacts of eco-innovations generated by applying eco-strategies such as resource optimization, circular economy, and co-creation, among others. To implement the methodology, we designed surveys and conducted a series of interviews to assess progress and determine which of the participants required further mentorship sessions to improve their environmental impacts.
In the same year, GreenMomentum produced a report, commissioned by the GIZ, with the aim of linking different initiatives of the Mexican Government that promoted the development of value chains and technology roadmaps in the solar energy sector. The report provided public policy recommendations for the development of technology and value chains in the solar sector, with a focus on industry 4.0 technologies. It is worth to mention, that as a relevant actor in the clean energy sector, GreenMomentum, participated in 2016 in the execution of the solar, wind and geothermal energy technology roadmaps, an initiative leaded by the Ministry of Energy and the Mexican Institute of Petroleum.
In 2016, GreenMomentum, through Innovación Social y Ambiental (ISA), and Mexico City’s Social Development Fund (FONDESO), created Cleantech Labs CDMX, a Cleantech Innovation and Commercial Scale-up Center, providing Cleantech startups with plug and play high-end manufacturing facilities, together with commercial scaleup programs. This project was funded by INADEM, and USAID, with the support of LACI and NGIN, ISA received the funding, and GreenMomentum executed the project.
From 2015 to 2017, the USAID and the Ministry of Economy commissioned GreenMomentum to implement a policy roadmap to consolidate the Mexico-United States Entrepreneurship and Innovation Council (MUSEIC), achieving the implementation of a strategic plan, including the installation of a Technical Secretariat in 2017, as a steppingstone for its institutionalization. Besides that, and as a founder of this binational council, GreenMomentum has been co-chairing the Energy Subcommittee, proposing public policy to support entrepreneurship and innovation in the clean energy sector in U.S. and Mexico.
As part of a collaboration with Zennström Philanthropies, the World Wildlife Fund Mexico, and the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, GreenMomentum authored the report “Unlocking Mexico's Cleantech Entrepreneurship Potential”. The objective of the study was to understand the state of and conditions surrounding cleantech innovation and entrepreneurship in Mexico and sketch a policy roadmap to promote its development. The study came up with key recommendations for the Federal and State governments, as well as academia, private sector, civil society, NGOs, and financial institutions, to focus on circular economy, cleantech innovation and commercialization; and a larger recommendation for the country to develop an integrated industrial cleantech policy.
Commissioned by the Ministry of Energy with the support of the GIZ, in 2015, GreenMomentum developed a methodology to assess the social impact of projects supported with the FOTEASE, a public trust that finances the energy transition and the sustainable use of energy in Mexico. Through this study, the Ministry of Energy adopted a social impact criterion to evaluate if the projects submitted to FOTEASE comply with the principles of sustainability, the economic, environmental, and social dimensions. It is worth to mention that the methodology included a gender equality component as part of the social impact indicators.
From 2014 until 2021, GreenMomentum was the only specialized management and consultancy firm approved to advise and assist in the management of the Energy Sustainability Fund which is the largest R&D public innovation fund, focused on financing the development disruptive clean technologies, as well as renewable and clean energy programs. GreenMomentum served as an operational extension to both Mexico’s Ministry of Energy and the National Council for Science and Technology, focused on verifying, coordinating, and following up each approved grant proposal. The main beneficiaries are the Mexican Energy Innovation Centers, public-private consortia created with the objective of developing technologies, products, and services applicable to the clean energy industry.
From 2010 until 2015, GreenMomentum was awarded a grant from the USAID to expand Cleantech Challenge Mexico’s operations, one of the most successful programs for the promotion of clean technology in Latin America that assists startup companies in the development, financing, and commercialization of clean technology solutions. As today, Cleantech Challenge Mexico has supported almost 1,400 projects, with more than 6,500 entrepreneurs involved, fostering the creation of more than 600 cleantech companies, 8,000 green jobs, and more than 560 patent applications. It is noteworthy to mention that 20% of the projects were led by women. Cleantech Challenge Mexico worked with other donors and partners including Citi Banamex, Aeromexico, Dow Chemicals, Coca-Cola Company, among others.
Summary of Relevant projects
• Contract for Providing Specialized Services for the Management, Monitoring and Technical Assistance for Projects under the Mexican Energy Innovation Centers (CEMIE, its acronym in Spanish). Commissioned by the Ministry of Energy/CONACYT, 2014-2021.
• CFE strategic plan for the promotion of renewable energies and clean technologies. Commissioned by the Development French Agency (AFD).
• Design and implementation of the first Lab of Tomorrow in Mexico (8 had been held worldwide) to facilitate access to the Clean Energy Certificates (CEL acronym in Spanish) market for distributed solar generation systems. Commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German Development Agency). Large Scale Solar Energy Program in Mexico (DKTI Solar), 2018-2019.
• Mapping the Clean Energy Innovation Ecosystem in Mexico. Commissioned by the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, 2018.
• Organizing, tracking and assessment of progress of Eco-innovation Management Workshop participants. Commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German Development Agency), 2017-2018.
• Coordination of Value Chain and Innovation initiatives in the Solar Sector. Commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German Development Agency), 2017.
• Strengthening the Mexico-United States Entrepreneurship and Innovation Council (MUSEIC). Commissioned by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in collaboration with the Mexican National Entrepreneurship Institute (INADEM) attached to the Ministry of Economy, 2015-2017.
• Social impact criteria for renewable energy projects financed by the Energy Transition Fund and the Sustainable Use of Energy Fund. Commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German Development Agency), 2015-2016.
• Unlocking Mexico's Cleantech Entrepreneurship Potential. Commissioned by the Zennström Philanthropies, (2015-2016).
• Renewable Energy in Mexico's Northern Border Region. Commissioned by the Wilson Center for International Scholars, Mexico Institute, (2015).
Working with PFAN-LAC to create the next breakthrough innovation model
