Download VertueLab’s 2025 Annual Impact Report to read more about year of building the programs and ecosystems we need to accelerate a just transition.
OUR VISION
We envision a Pacific Northwest where place-based climate innovation keeps people safe and communities thriving—where entrepreneurs building technologies get the support they need, and the communities most impacted by climate change have a voice in designing the solutions meant to help them.
Letter From the President & Executive Director, Aina Abiodun
There has never been a more challenging time.
Frontline communities bear the sharpest costs of the climate crisis — and existing systems consistently fall short of meeting their needs. That's the gap VertueLab exists to close.
For nearly twenty years, we've funded climate tech entrepreneurs building innovations that actually serve people. We occupy a unique space at the intersection of economic development, community benefit, and the clean energy transition: an organization that takes early risk on entrepreneurs before traditional investors will, while evolving alongside a rapidly changing ecosystem. What started as a technology accelerator has become something the Pacific Northwest simply didn't have.
2025 was a pivotal year. Facing real headwinds, we reflected hard on how to stay effective — and chose to lean in. We deepened our role in the broader cultural movement for climate action, focused on steady execution, and assembled the resources entrepreneurs need to thrive, including securing $3.5 million in funding for the companies we support.
Climate tech deployment doesn't happen overnight. It demands patience, genuine relationships, and years of careful development. We don't rush that process — but we never lose sight of what we're building toward: a region where entrepreneurs, communities, and investors prove together that climate action is good for everyone.
That work depends on strong partnerships. When federal climate priorities shifted, we moved quickly to deepen ties with state and local partners across Washington and Oregon — connecting entrepreneurs to capital, communities to innovation, and policy to practice. These relationships are how equitable technology solutions actually move forward.
This is also a moment to double down on what sets VertueLab apart. Technology has not always been inclusive — our approach is resolutely the opposite. We exist to reclaim the positive, ethical potential of technology and ensure it serves the greater good.
The next few years will determine whether the Pacific Northwest builds the clean energy economy it's capable of. We bring nearly two decades of experience, deep roots in this region's communities and policy ecosystems, and a model built to move innovation into the real world. We are seizing this moment — and we intend to hand it to the next generation in better shape than we found it
Aina Abiodun
President & Executive Director