LACI Advances City Climate Innovation Challenge for Zero Emissions Delivery with Rockefeller Foundation Grant

$500,000 funding supports technology, business model, and policy pilot projects to reduce congestion and pollution, while strengthening the American economy and entrepreneurship

9 U.S. cities in CA, FL, KY, NY, PA, OR, and D.C. participating, representing 1 in 6 Americans

LOS ANGELES | February 21, 2025  — The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) announced today that it has received a $500,000 grant from The Rockefeller Foundation to support LACI’s City Climate Innovation Challenge (Challenge) for Zero-Emissions Delivery (ZED Challenge). This first-of-its-kind initiative is helping cities pilot new innovations, develop partnerships to scale them, and create good-paying jobs–all while strengthening the American economy and entrepreneurship. Louisville, KY; Miami-Dade County, FL; New York City, NY; Oakland, CA; Portland, OR; and Washington, D.C., join anchor partner cities of Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and Santa Monica, where local governments’ combined metropolitan populations represent 55 million people – one in every six Americans–creating a bold market signal for zero-emissions delivery.

“Thanks to The Rockefeller Foundation, LACI will help US cities reduce emissions and grow the local economy by tapping into the best of American climate entrepreneurship and innovation for advancing zero-emissions goods movement,” said Matt Petersen, President and CEO of LACI. “The Rockefeller Foundation’s support could not come at a more important time to help cities and entrepreneurs continue to innovate and lead.”

The inaugural Challenge, formally launched in January 2024, focuses on reducing congestion and pollution from the exploding e-commerce and goods movement sectors. These cities have some of the most congested roadways in the world–New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Washington D.C. all rank in the top ten U.S. cities with the worst traffic. This congestion increases vehicle emissions, negatively impacting the public health, particularly among frontline communities.

City-scale action across the building, transport, and waste sectors can contribute 3.7 gigatons (Gt) of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions by 2030, according to a 2019 study by LACI, C40 and PwC. Through disruptive innovation and new technologies, LACI can target an additional 1.3 Gt of GHG reductions.

Support from The Rockefeller Foundation will enable LACI to further scale the ZED Challenge by supporting pilots with:

1. Electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure innovations to support medium and/or heavy duty delivery vehicles;
2. Last-mile delivery innovations (e.g., as e-cargo bike deployment, curb management solutions, or parcel lockers); and
3. Developing policy for an indirect source rule (ISR), which aims to reduce pollution from warehouses and trucks.

“LACI has a proven track record of empowering local governments and nearly 500 startups to bring decarbonization technologies — and more than 2,500 jobs — to communities across the United States,” said Maria Kozloski, Senior Vice President at The Rockefeller Foundation. “We are proud to support the City Climate Innovation Challenge, which is sparking opportunities that will help cities reduce emissions and create new jobs, thereby benefiting millions of Americans.”

The City Climate Innovation Challenge aims to help cities better invite and scale solutions needed to accelerate equitable climate action. Building on its unique model for piloting and scaling solutions with cities, LACI launched the inaugural ZED Challenge in 2024 in partnership with Climate Mayors and C40.

“For the health of New Yorkers, and especially our youngest, we must put major polluters in the driver’s seat to clean the air and reduce asthma rates in neighborhoods. And it must be done in a way that works for industry and community,” said New York City’s Deputy Mayor for Operations, Meera Joshi. “To walk such a fine line requires deep expertise and funding, and for that we’ve been grateful to rely on the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator and the ZED challenge. We are grateful for this partnership.”

“Climate work done right is no different from intelligent and responsible economic development. Oakland aims to be a global climate business hub by 2035 — a goal that centers sustainable local wealth generation,” said City of Oakland Climate Program Manager Shayna Hirshfield-Gold. “Our partnership with LACI, with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, is helping us to deploy and expand on-the-ground infrastructure that will support blue-collar jobs and boost local delivery businesses, all while reducing air pollution in Oakland communities.”

The grant also strengthens LACI’s capacity to support additional cities in future Challenges.

About LACI

The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) is creating an inclusive green economy by unlocking innovation through scaling cleantech startups, transforming markets through catalytic partnerships with policymakers, innovators, and market leaders in transportation, energy, and sustainable cities, like the Transportation Electrification Partnership, and enhancing communities through green jobs workforce training, pilots and other programs. Founded as an economic development initiative by the City of Los Angeles and its Department of Water & Power (LADWP) in 2011, LACI is recognized as one of the top 10 innovative business incubators in the world by UBI. LACI has helped 506 portfolio companies raise over $1 billion in funding, generated $344 million in revenue, and created 2,626 jobs throughout the Los Angeles region, with a long term economic impact of more than $733 million.

About The Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on collaborative partnerships at the frontiers of science, technology, and innovation that enable individuals, families, and communities to flourish. We make big bets to promote the well-being of humanity. Today, we are focused on advancing human opportunity and reversing the climate crisis by transforming systems in food, health, energy, and finance. For more information, sign up for our newsletter at www.rockefellerfoundation.org/subscribe and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn and LI @the-rockefeller-foundation.