As 2025 comes to a close, the energy sector is writing a new chapter — one defined by expansion, optionality, and reinvention. Natural gas, once viewed as a transitional bridge, has emerged as a resilient cornerstone of global energy systems, even as the push for decarbonization intensifies. At the same time, a wave of innovation in Green Molecules® is powering the energy expansion and energy security.

This year was a turning point: policy momentum, project scale-up, and investor appetite all converged to accelerate progress across the natural gas value chain. At Energy Capital Ventures® we’ve had a front-row seat to this transformation. In this special year-end issue, we highlight the most meaningful industry developments, share key updates from our portfolio companies, and reflect on how ECV’s platform continues to back the ideas and technologies redefining the role of gas in a sustainable energy landscape.

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Natural Gas Industry in 2025: Resilience Amid Turbulence

Stability and Surprises: After a tumultuous few years, 2025 saw natural gas demand and production reach record levels in the United States and globally. U.S. gas consumption hit a new high, buoyed by economic growth and the need for reliable power. Surprisingly, natural gas prices rebounded from 2024 lows – averaging around $3.80 per MMBtu – reflecting tighter supply-demand balances. This resurgence defied some expectations of an “energy downturn,” underscoring gas’s ongoing role as a dependable workhorse fuel even as the energy decarbonization advances.

LNG and Energy Security: Liquefied natural gas (LNG) continued its remarkable expansion. With Europe pivoting away from Russian pipeline gas and Asia’s economies growing, U.S. LNG export capacity operated near full throttle. New LNG terminals and contracts came online, reinforcing natural gas as a pillar of global energy security. Geopolitical tensions in 2025 only heightened the strategic importance of domestically sourced gas and LNG, as nations prioritized secure supply chains for both conventional and clean energy. This focus on energy security ultimately boosted investment in gas infrastructure, even as decarbonization efforts gained speed.

Grid Reliability and New Demand: A notable trend was natural gas’s evolving role in stabilizing renewable-heavy power grids. In regions with high wind and solar penetration, gas-fired plants provided crucial backup to maintain reliability during intermittency. Moreover, new sources of gas demand emerged – for example, large-scale data centers and AI computing hubs installed on-site gas microturbines for resilient, lower-emission power supply. Industry analysts estimate that powering tech infrastructure could add significant incremental gas demand by decade’s end. This convergence of the digital economy with the gas sector was a new development in 2025, highlighting gas’s adaptability to new use-cases.

Policy and Emissions Pressures: Even amid growth, the natural gas industry grappled with mounting climate regulations. Governments proposed stricter methane emission rules and carbon pricing frameworks that could affect gas operations. Some cities and states pushed ahead with building electrification policies, while others explored “clean heat standards” to reduce emissions from natural gas use. These pressures kept the industry laser-focused on solutions to cut the carbon intensity of gas. Notably, many gas utilities and producers upped their investments in low-carbon technologies – ranging from advanced leak detection to carbon capture at processing plants – aiming to align with long-term climate goals without sacrificing the fuel’s advantages.

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Green Molecules® Gain Momentum: Implications for Innovation

The shifts in 2025’s gas landscape reinforced that green molecules® are no longer niche experiments, but critical enablers of the energy expansion. Many of these technologies will enable the power necessary for the coming wave of data centers, on-shoring of manufacturing and the new industrial renaissance. developments in natural gas have accelerated the need for innovation in renewable and decarbonized fuels:

• Renewable Natural Gas (Biomethane): This year saw biomethane scale up at an unprecedented pace. Despite some policy uncertainty, North America’s renewable natural gas (RNG) production capacity expanded robustly, building on record growth in 2024. New biomethane plants – converting landfill gas, agricultural waste, and wastewater into pipeline-quality gas – came online across the U.S. and Europe. The RNG market’s roughly 35% growth since 2023 indicates that waste-derived gas is making progress to becoming a mainstream fuel. These gains matter because every cubic foot of RNG directly displaces fossil natural gas, cutting lifecycle emissions. In 2025, several utilities announced plans to blend RNG into their supply (see recent example here), signaling confidence that biomethane can scale as a reliable, drop-in green molecule for heating and power.
• Hydrogen’s Breakthroughs and Hurdles: Hydrogen firmly grabbed center stage in 2025. Low-carbon hydrogen production (from electrolysis and methane reforming with carbon capture) climbed about 10% over last year – impressive growth, yet still under 1% of total global H₂ supply. Major “hydrogen economy” milestones were achieved  as the EU began requiring a blend of sustainable aviation fuels (with hydrogen-derived e-fuels) in jets, and multiple pilot projects have started injecting hydrogen into existing gas pipelines at 5–20% blends (see a recent example here). One of the year’s eye-opening developments came from Eclypse Energy, who has produced hydrogen from unexpected sources – including microbes feeding on depleted oilfields. These advances suggest hydrogen can be made cleaner and cheaper than previously thought, potentially undercutting even natural gas on cost in the future. At the same time, 2025 reminded us that hydrogen’s path to ubiquity still has challenges: infrastructure build-out is slow, and using hydrogen at scale (for fuel or storage) requires continued innovation in transport and safety. Nonetheless, the momentum is unmistakable – hydrogen is increasingly viewed as a vital complement to electrification, especially for decarbonizing heavy industry, long-haul transport, and balancing the grid.
• Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS): In response to rising emissions pressure, 2025 became a banner year for carbon capture initiatives. Globally, operational CO₂ capture capacity inched above 50 million tonnes per year, and a strong pipeline of new projects was announced, from power plants to cement factories. Importantly, integrated approaches that pair carbon capture with useful outputs gained traction. For example, some projects focused on turning captured CO₂ into fuels or chemicals (carbon utilization), while others tied carbon removal to co-benefits like clean water production. Government incentives – such as enhanced tax credits in the U.S. – spurred private investment, making CCUS more economically viable. The lesson of 2025 is that carbon management is no longer optional for the gas industry’s future; it’s a field of rapid innovation. This bodes well for scaling carbon removal techniques in coming years, which will be needed to offset emissions from hard-to-decarbonize gas uses.
  
• Convergence with Infrastructure: A key theme this year was the convergence of green molecules® with existing gas infrastructure. Natural gas pipelines and storage facilities are being reimagined as enablers of the transition – carrying renewable gases (see example here), hydrogen blends (see example here), or CO₂ for sequestration (see example here). In 2025 we saw the first instances of legacy gas assets repurposed for low-carbon operations. This trend means that innovation isn’t happening in isolation; it’s directly influencing how utilities and pipeline operators plan for the next decade. Technologies that allow seamless integration of green molecules (be it injecting biogas, co-firing hydrogen at power plants, or retrofitting pipelines for CO₂ transport) gained serious attention. The implication for innovators is clear: solutions that complement and upgrade the existing gas network can achieve faster adoption and outsized impact.

In summary, the changes in the natural gas industry this year – rising demand for reliable energy, higher scrutiny on emissions, and new use-cases – all point to one conclusion: Green Molecules® are moving from “nice-to-have” toward “must-have.” The door is wide open for entrepreneurs and technologists to solve for the massive energy expansion needed for the new energy demand. The Energy Capital Ventures® portfolio was at the forefront of this movement throughout 2025, demonstrating how innovation can turn industry challenges into opportunity.

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2025 Portfolio Highlights: Advancing Green Molecules® Solutions

ECV’s portfolio companies achieved significant milestones in 2025, each contributing to the burgeoning green molecules® ecosystem. Below are some highlights of how our startups drove progress this year:

• Cemvita – The industrial biotech earned global recognition as its cofounders were named to the 2025 Bioeconomy 500, honoring top leaders in sustainable innovation. Cemvita forged a groundbreaking partnership with Brazil’s biofuel innovator Be8 to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) feedstock. It also signed an agreement with the State of Rio Grande do Sul’s InvestRS agency to build the world’s first industrial-scale bioconversion plant. This facility will produce FermOil™, a renewable oil from waste glycerin to be used in SAF production, and FermNatural™, an innovative bio-fertilizer. These moves position Cemvita at the cutting edge of turning carbon waste into valuable products – illustrating the promise of a circular carbon economy.‍

• Sapphire Technologies – ECV’s portfolio company focused on energy efficiency had a banner year. CEO Freddie Sarhan was honored as Best Technology Company CEO at the Octane High Tech Awards, reflecting Sapphire’s visionary leadership in cleantech. The company also secured an $18 million Series C funding round (with strategic investors like Mitsubishi Heavy Industries joining in) to accelerate deployment of its FreeSpin® in-line turboexpanders. Sapphire’s technology captures energy from pressurized gas letdown processes – for example, converting excess pressure in natural gas pipelines into electricity. In 2025, Sapphire expanded installations of these turboexpanders in North America and Asia, turning wasted pressure into clean power. The infusion of capital will scale up manufacturing and help utilities worldwide improve efficiency and reduce emissions, underscoring that sometimes the greenest molecule is one that’s never wasted in the first place.‍

• enaDyne – This German-based startup closed an oversubscribed €7 million seed round co-led by Energy Capital Ventures® and Apex Ventures, alongside a strong syndicate of European and Asian partners. enaDyne is pioneering a modular, containerized plasma catalysis platform for the abatement of hazardous industrial emissions—specifically in applications where traditional systems fail. In 2025, the company announced a key development partnership with a global chemical supplier to deploy its technology in challenging environments. With pilot deployment set for 2026, enaDyne is gaining traction as a flexible, electrified emissions solution for hard-to-abate sectors. The deal also highlights ECV’s global commitment to investing in the next generation of green molecules® innovation.

• ‍Eclipse Energy – 2025 proved the concept of “gold hydrogen” is more than just a theory. Gold H2 refers to hydrogen generated biologically in depleted oil reservoirs, and this year our portfolio venture achieved a world-first: a successful field trial in California where oil-eating microbes produced hydrogen in situ. The pilot yielded hydrogen-rich gas flows and validated a pathway to hydrogen production at under $0.50 per kilogram – a stunning cost level that challenges the status quo of hydrogen economics. Most recently, Eclipse confirmed that microbes continued producing hydrogen autonomously for over four months, with nearly 80% of the gas stream composed of hydrogen. In parallel, the company announced a strategic partnership with Weatherford to accelerate commercialization of its subsurface hydrogen platform — read more [here]. By turning abandoned oil fields into clean fuel assets, Eclipse is reimagining yesterday’s infrastructure for tomorrow’s energy. If scalable, Gold H2 could offer a zero-carbon, ultra-low-cost hydrogen source for power and industry, while mitigating legacy environmental liabilities.

• ‍Osmoses – A developer of advanced gas-separation membranes, Osmoses made strong strides in 2025 toward commercializing its technology. The company secured a $500,000 START grant as part of a Massachusetts deep-tech scaling program, supporting the build-out of its pilot manufacturing line. Osmoses’ membranes offer a high-efficiency way to separate gases like CO₂, methane, and hydrogen with a fraction of the energy use of traditional methods. This year, Osmoses progressed partnerships to test its membranes for applications such as upgrading biogas to pipeline-quality RNG and separating hydrogen from mixed gas streams. By improving these molecular filters, Osmoses is tackling a crucial bottleneck for green molecules®– the ability to purify and handle them cost-effectively. The additional funding and support in 2025 are helping Osmoses move from lab prototypes to full-size modules, bringing us closer to a future where capturing carbon or isolating clean hydrogen is as easy as filtering water.

• Capture6 – In 2025, Capture6 raised $27.5 million in Series A funding with participation from ECV to accelerate deployment of its cost-effective water purification and direct air capture system. Based in Berkeley, CA, the company’s integrated technology removes CO₂ from the atmosphere while transforming waste brine into clean, usable water. With new capital, Capture6 is advancing pilot projects in California and Asia to prove out the model at scale. The system delivers highly cost-effective clean water to communities while also reducing their carbon impact—demonstrating a compelling value proposition for utilities and governments facing dual water and climate pressures. Throughout the year, Capture6 expanded its partner network and cemented its role as one of the most scalable and affordable players in the carbon removal space.

• CarbonQuest – In 2025, CarbonQuest raised $20 million in new funding to accelerate the deployment of its modular carbon capture systems. The ECV-backed company is now scaling its technology to address industrial sources of CO₂ emissions—such as manufacturing plants, district energy systems, and other hard-to-abate facilities. Over the past year, CarbonQuest made progress adapting its systems to larger-scale operations, providing an accessible and lower-cost pathway for industrial emitters to reduce their carbon footprint. The company’s solution is compact, retrofittable, and designed to capture CO₂ at the source for reuse or permanent sequestration. With an expanded team and investor base, CarbonQuest is positioned to help accelerate decarbonization in sectors that can’t wait for long-term electrification.

• ‍Vertus Energy – It was a pivotal year for Vertus as it deepened its  traction and validated performance in the field. The company announced a major partnership with Verdalia, Goldman Sachs’ European biomethane platform, signaling strong alignment with large-scale AD developers. Across their pilot sites, Vertus demonstrated meaningful improvements in methane yield and process efficiency — showcasing how its bioreactor control system can boost returns and decarbonization outcomes for biogas plants. With momentum building, Vertus is quickly establishing itself as a key enabler of smarter, more profitable anaerobic digestion.

• ‍ACTUAL – 2025 saw rapid market adoption of Actual’s decarbonization planning and tracking platform, as companies sought more actionable, transparent ways to meet climate targets. Actual’s intuitive, simulation-based software gained traction across energy, infrastructure, and industrial sectors, enabling stakeholders to model emissions outcomes and optimize capital decisions in real time. With growing demand from both corporates and municipalities, Actual solidified its position as a category-defining tool for operationalizing net-zero goals and managing the complexity of energy transition investments.

• ‍Furno – In 2025, Furno achieved major technical milestones in its mission to reinvent cement production. The company’s modular, low-emission kilns surpassed traditional performance benchmarks, including producing cement at twice the ASTM standard. Furno deepened its strategic partnership with Ozinga, a leading materials company, and received multiple awards recognizing its breakthrough in decarbonizing one of the world’s most polluting industries. As demand grows for scalable, clean construction solutions, Furno’s compact platform is emerging as a game-changer in industrial innovation.‍‍

• ‍Highwood Emissions Management – As scrutiny on methane emissions intensifies, Highwood is emerging as a key digital partner for industrial decarbonization. In 2025, the company launched its MILE program—a new compliance and emissions management tool aligned with OGMP 2.0—tailored for natural gas distribution networks. Building on strong product-market fit, Highwood secured new SaaS contracts and continues to grow. As the platform scales, Highwood is deepening its role in helping operators measure, manage, and meaningfully reduce methane emissions across the energy landscape.

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ECV in Action: 2025 Firm Highlights and Engagements

Beyond investments, Energy Capital Ventures® actively convened and supported the ecosystem around Green Molecules® in 2025. Our firm took pride in fostering dialogue, knowledge-sharing, and collaboration through several key initiatives:

• Green Molecules® Dinner at CERAWeek: In March, ECV hosted a special leadership dinner alongside the annual CERAWeek conference in Houston. Over 100 attendees – including industry executives, policymakers, and innovators – joined this event, making it one of CERAWeek’s highlights focused on decarbonization. The dinner sparked candid discussions about the future of natural gas in a net-zero world, the rise of hydrogen and RNG, and the investment needed to scale new technologies. Bringing together diverse stakeholders in an informal setting helped catalyze partnerships (and, we daresay, a few deals) that will carry forward after 2025. It also reinforced ECV’s reputation as a thought leader at the intersection of gas and climate – championing the concept of green molecules on one of the industry’s biggest stages.
  

• LP Roundtables on RNG and Geothermal: This year we organized two in-depth roundtables exclusively for ECV’s limited partners and strategic industry advisors. The first roundtable delved into Renewable Natural Gas (RNG), examining project pipelines, regulatory outlooks, and how utilities can integrate RNG at scale. The second session focused on Geothermal energy – particularly next-generation geothermal technologies relevant to gas utilities (such as geothermal heating loops and subsurface energy storage). In each case, we facilitated expert presentations and frank dialogue among our LPs, who include several leading gas distribution companies. These roundtables provided our partners with actionable insight into emerging sectors adjacent to their core business, and helped ECV identify new opportunity areas for investment. The geothermal discussion was especially timely in 2025, as interest in leveraging gas utility skillsets for geothermal district heating and heat-pump systems has grown. By convening these forums, ECV strengthens the bridge between incumbent industry players and startup innovators.
  

• Annual General Meeting: In September, we held our AGM which brought together ECV’s LPs, advisory board, and the founders of our portfolio companies. The AGM featured portfolio company updates, where founders shared 2025 progress and upcoming milestones, often prompting lively Q&A and brainstorming with our LPs. The spirit of the meeting was optimistic and solutions-oriented. LPs left with a strong sense of how their partnership with ECV is driving real decarbonization results, and our entrepreneurs gained invaluable feedback and connections. The AGM underscored ECV’s model of deep integration between startups and strategic investors – a theme that was woven through everything we accomplished in 2025.
  

• Industry Thought Leadership – ECV took the stage at several major industry events in 2025, including the North American Gas Forum and SEP Hydrogen Forum, sharing perspectives on where the gas sector is headed and how innovations in Green Molecules® are reshaping its future. These conversations emphasized the critical role of venture-backed technologies in delivering scalable, low-carbon gas solutions.

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Looking Forward to 2026

If 2025 made anything clear, it’s that the era of energy expansion is here — and it’s being powered by innovation in natural gas and green molecules®. From grid stability to industrial decarbonization, the role of gas is evolving rapidly, not shrinking. It is abundantly evident that the energy expansion and the world's insatiable energy demand will only be met with green molecules® and natural gas.

At Energy Capital Ventures®, we remain deeply bullish on green molecules® as a foundational pillar of this transformation. Our portfolio companies are proving that practical, scalable innovation is not only possible — it’s already happening. And through strategic collaboration with utilities, policymakers, and industry leaders, we’re seeing those innovations gain real traction.

As we move into 2026, we’re excited to continue supporting the people and ideas that are reshaping the future of energy. To our investors, founders, and partners: thank you for an incredible 2025. We’re just getting started.