< Previous104 JULY 2025 SITE SELECTION investors remain concentrated on the U.S. West Coast and East Coast. San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Boston, in that order, land top scores across metrics relating to market, growth, deals, exits, fundraising and more. China follows the U.S. in venture capital activity as three cities, Shanghai (No. ), Beijing (No. ) and Shenzhen (No. ), fi ll in the top . London, Tokyo and Singapore sneak into the sixth, seventh and eighth place ranks. Don’t Be Late e rate at which technology evolves is the speed at which startup ecosystems should be innovating themselves. Startup Genome Founder and CEO JF Gauthier says that we are at the beginning of what he likes to call the third era of exponential growth for startup ecosystems. For a company that advises clients across countries on how to build a healthy startup ecosystem, the key to success comes with embracing AI solutions or risk losing out on new economic opportunities and skilled talent. Some ecosystems are moving faster than others when it comes to supporting AI-native ventures, Gauthier shared during a “Catching Up to the AI Ecosystem Elite: A Focus on Policy Action” panel at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) held in Indianapolis, Indiana, in early June. Startup Genome defi nes an AI-native startup as a company that builds cutting-edge generative AI models and deploys AI agents that automate tasks, enhance decision-making and drive innovation. ese are entrepreneurs that leverage AI systems to address challenges and create new opportunities across every industry and do not account for companies that later integrate AI features. A study shows that between and , Silicon Valley led in AI-native startup creation at .%, followed by Seattle ( . %), Philadelphia ( .%), Tel Aviv ( .%) and Paris ( .%). e reality of funding to support these ventures is that % of current global AI investment is concentrated in Silicon Valley, Beijing and Paris. “We need to act rapidly to change that,” says Gauthier. “But what we see is governments acting on the advice of Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon to build infrastructure, which is important, but all the money goes toward supporting corporations, research and universities.” He says that instead of directing all funding toward infrastructure development to use a fraction of this budget to pour into local entrepreneurship. Examples of ecosystems that acted early and saw success in technology before experiencing exponential growth are best seen in Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. “ ey were early movers with no riveting investment but created an institute and assembly plants for semiconductors. ese countries were poor, and all became rich,” says Gauthier. “It’s an enduring advantage to move in early because after there is organic growth. Tech is growing everywhere and even if the government does less the private sector will take over and grow it.” Startup Genome released an AI First-Mover Ecosystem Score in April , which measures the share of AI funding to AI-native companies within the world’s top tech ecosystems. e report’s top — Beijing, Silicon Valley, Toronto- Waterloo, Paris, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, Amsterdam-Delta, Seattle and New York City — are all ecosystems that continue to dominate the global startup network. Meanwhile the report notes that ecosystems in locations such as Los Angeles, Tel Aviv and London risk losing dominance by underfunding AI-native startups. AI is projected to add $ . trillion to global GDP within the next fi ve years. Startup ecosystems that fail to prioritize AI face three It’s about creating the golden egg, an army of entrepreneurs that say, ‘I’m going to take this and create a business here that is going to export, make money and hire local people.’” — JF Gauthier , Startup Genome Founder and CEO, on focusing local resources to support AI-native startups It’s about creating the golden egg, 106 JULY 2025 SITE SELECTION challenges: economic decline through lost opportunities, talent flight and strategic vulnerability within industries like defense, health care and energy. According to CB Insights’ State of Venture Q1’25 Report, AI now captures one in five of all venture deals globally. This means that since OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT in 2022, annual venture deal share has doubled in AI companies. The sudden rise of AI, and unknown complexities of this technology, led many ecosystems to stall on cultivating new policy initiatives or allocating funding to support AI-native ventures at the time. There are positives and negatives to this delay, one benefit being a better understanding of what an ecosystem needs to enhance AI innovation. Gauthier says locations experiencing success are the ones creating a new ecosystem specifically for AI-native startups. Funding research is not enough: Ecosystems have to build AI-targeted programs, investment funds, accelerators, networking opportunities, incubators, tax credits and more that accelerate an entrepreneur’s ability to scale at home. New initiatives are taking place globally, as Israel is developing its own AI research foundation and the Empire AI Consortium constructs an AI computing center in New York. While these resources are beneficial to an ecosystem, they don’t aid in de-risking new investment into AI-native startups. However, in a growing AI-native ecosystem like Paris, which currently accounts for 4.3% of global AI-native funding, the city strategically decided to create its own investment fund dedicated to AI startups. “It’s about creating the golden egg, an army of entrepreneurs that say, ‘I’m going to take this and create a business here that is going to export, make money and hire local people,’” says Gauthier. “When you look at the funding, it has to be supporting this.” Scan this QR code to access bonus analysis and reporting by Alexis Elmore from the 2025 Global Entrepreneurship Congress held in June in Indianapolis.INVESTMENT PROFILE: SILICON RANCH How Communities Win In the Solar Farm Arena R unning a state’s economic development office — or the state itself — affords those officeholders valuable opportunities to hear what’s on the minds of company executives looking to invest capital in new facilities. As former Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen’s second term was winding down in 2011, he and his then Commissioner of Economic and Community Development, Matt Kisber, and his Commissioner of Revenue, Reagan Farr, saw an opportunity to deliver what the executives were looking for in their need for a robust supply of renewable energy. Enter Nashville-based Silicon Ranch, the solar energy company that builds, owns and operates utility-scale solar energy infrastructure. The market didn’t need another power provider coming between utilities and their customers, they reasoned. “From the very beginning, there were certain principles we adhered to in designing the by MARK AREND mark.arend@siteselection.com 108 JULY 2025 SITE SELECTION Sheep graze at a Silicon Ranch solar farm in Snipesville, Georgia. Photos courtesy of Silicon Ranchcompany,” says Silicon Ranch Chairman Matt Kisber. “One was being a partner to utilities and large energy users. We wanted to be a force for economic development because we all came from backgrounds that cared about community and economic development. We saw there was an opportunity to partner with utilities to deliver what their customers wanted. And we believed it was important to own the land that our solar farms would be built on.” Energy Users’ Trusted Partner Today Silicon Ranch operates more than 180 solar farms in 15 states and one in Canada on a combined roughly 50,000 acres. Its portfolio of projects account for more than seven gigawatts of energy between its operating projects, contracted projects and projects under construction. “We are a large investor in Tennessee where we have approximately $2 billion of investment, and in Georgia we have over $4 billion of investment,” says Kisber. “The rest is spread across the other locations. We have become the trusted partner to a number of large energy users, such as data centers. We work with them and their utility partners, including electric cooperatives, to deliver renewable energy as they need.” Kisber says Silicon Ranch generates more solar energy for electric cooperatives around the country than any other independent power producer. One example is Georgia-based Green Power EMC, which supplies Silicon Ranch-generated solar power to Meta’s operations in the state. “Its solar energy also serves leading tech companies including Amazon, Google and Microsoft.” Why Own the Land? “We saw that solar projects would be important tax sources for a lot of communities, many of which had not seen large projects,” Kisber explains. “Our coming in with these kinds of investments and tax revenues gave them resources they didn’t expect to have. Couple that with no demand on public services, and it really is accretive to their budgets.” Tax revenues paid by Silicon Ranch on a project in Terrell County, Georgia, for example, made it possible for local leaders to consider a $2,000 raise for every public school teacher in the county with leftover funds for the education department and additional funds for the county’s general budget. Already adept at recruiting companies to Tennessee, the Silicon Ranch team used those skills to bring suppliers of its solar farm components to the Southeast. These include solar panel manufacturer First Solar, which in September 2024 inaugurated a $1.1 billion manufacturing plant in Lawrence County, Alabama, forecast to create about 800 jobs. Silicon Ranch was a launch partner for solar panel recycler SOLARCYCLE, which is investing $344 million in a new recycling facility in Cedartown, Georgia, that’s set to create more than 600 jobs. “We also work with Hyosung HICO in Memphis, and they just announced an expansion,” notes Kisber. The company is investing $51 million in its transformer manufacturing facility in Shelby County. “About 20% of their production in 2024 went to Silicon Ranch projects. When we talk about having an impact on domestic manufacturing and helping to shape an industry, we’ve tried to be at the forefront of that.” Counting Sheep Silicon Ranch is at the forefront of another aspect of the solar farm industry — using regenerative land management practices, including livestock, to improve the land its projects occupy. The grass has to be cut, after all. Kisber explains: “This means planting native vegetation and using animals to graze, which improves the soil quality so that over time the soil becomes a carbon sink. We can use the land not only for solar but for agriculture, and improve the quality of that land over time.” Silicon Ranch worked first with owners of flocks of sheep. “We realized we needed to be able to do this at scale and have our own flock of sheep, so we bought a flock of about 400 and built a breeding operation in Houston County, Georgia,” says Kisber. “We are now up to about 4,500 sheep.” Today, adds Kisber, Silicon Ranch employs agrivoltaic specialists it trains to do minor maintenance on the solar farms and take care of the sheep. The company is expanding its livestock business to include cattle for land management purposes. “It’s great to talk to these people because they love to have a technology-related occupation that also allows them to be with the animals and to be outdoors doing something they love.” This Investment Profile was prepared under the auspices of Silicon Ranch. For more information visit www.siliconranch.com. SITE SELECTION JULY 2025 109 Matt KisberI t could stand for South, Southwest or both. But the S-shaped footprint of SXSW Center — the building in Austin, Texas, that’s home to the legendary South by Southwest Festival headquarters and all its off shoots — could just as easily stand for sustainability. It only makes sense in a metro area and state that both fi nd themselves once again atop the Site Selection Sustainability Rankings. Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, the Bay Area and Silicon Valley join Greater Austin as the greenest U.S. metro areas. California, Colorado, North Carolina and Arizona fi ll out the top fi ve states. e United States, Spain and Sweden top the country rankings, followed by Canada and Ireland. “States and municipalities continue to be a strong driver in green building implementation, and Austin’s Energy Green Building code is a great example of how to ensure our schools, homes and offi ces are high-performance, healthy buildings,” says Tommy Linstroth, founder and CEO of SaaS provider Green Badger, whose software aids in automating and reporting LEED compliance and ESG metrics. “It’s no surprise to see them (and Texas) topping the list. e city’s far-reaching program ranges from creating a new market for construction waste diversion services to driving sustainable housing and places of education. By collaborating across city departments, local organizations and building professionals, they’ve developed standards that advocate for higher performance levels in the design and development industry.” Now in their th year, our rankings reveal the territories cultivating the most fertile environment for a sustainability-oriented economy, based on a unique index incorporating such factors as green building square footage per capita, happiness, federal Energy Star certifi cations, manufacturing of renewable energy products, the degree by ADAM BRUNS adam.bruns@siteselection.com SUSTAINABILITY RANKINGS SUSTAINABILITY THE 2025 SITE SELECTION 110 JULY 2025 SITE SELECTION SITE SELECTION of corporate social responsibility among area employers and the number of sustainability-oriented incentives and policies in place. Unlike many green yardsticks, our index incorporates the “dirty” side of green industry too: We don’t just track where solar and wind energy are being produced, for example, but also — using NAICS industry codes labeled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as associated with green industry combined with our own Conway Projects Database data on corporate facility projects — where the solar panels and modules, wind turbines and nacelles are being fabricated, assembled and shipped out. For this reason among others, the rankings have attracted interest from a number of arenas, including the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business, where for multiple years I have delivered talks about the rankings and the broader subject of corporate sustainability in action to executive MBA program students. Insights from Those in the Know Partners and resources in this annual exercise include Measurabl, CSRHub, Fitwel (Center for Active Design), the U.S. Green Building Council, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Effi ciency, the Energy Information Administration and the International Renewable Energy Council. CSRHub tracks thousands of CSR actions and policies by corporations around the world, and for these rankings examines how Site Selection’s global corporate facility investment project data align with high-CSR companies. CSRHub Co-founder and Chief Technology Offi cer Bahar Gidwani says this year he saw “a lot more” matching than last year. “ is suggests to me a general increase in awareness of sustainability matters,” he says, “and that entities are reporting more details on their progress.” e fi ndings come against a backdrop that shows, despite high interest rates and geopolitical volatility, the transition to clean energy continues. Based on a survey of , senior energy transition investors across countries and industries, a KPMG report released in June reveals that investment in clean energy assets rose from $. trillion in to over $ trillion in . Agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are looking at outsourcing such programs as the ENERGY STAR certifi cation program. Congressional proposals include eliminating energy effi ciency tax credits. An April report from e Conference Board found that enacted and proposed tariff s and federal policies could post challenges to corporate ESG and sustainability strategies in the form of higher costs for clean energy inputs; project delays; and higher investment risk TOP 10 U.S. METROS RANK METRO LAST YEAR 1 Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos, TX 1 2 Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, TX 2 3 Denver–Aurora–Centennial, CO 7 4 San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont, CA 6 5 San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara, CA 11 6 Phoenix–Mesa–Chandler, AZ 5 7 Indianapolis–Carmel–Greenwood, IN 4 8 Albuquerque, NM 15 9 Charlotte–Concord–Gastonia, NC–SC 3 10 Cincinnati, OH–KY–IN 9 Sources: LEED Certifi ed Buildings – USGBC, cumulative and per capita, May 2025; Energy Star Buildings, cumulative and per capita, January 2025; latest Measurabl Data on building-level energy effi ciency; latest Fitwel building certifi cation data, Center for Active Design, cumulative and per capita; Green Industry Projects (Conway Data Projects Database) as defi ned by federal NAICS industry codes considered part of green industry supply chain, Jan. 1, 2022, through March 31, 2025, cumulative and per capita112 JULY 2025 SITE SELECTION due to potentially reduced incentives. Yet multinationals the world over continue to pursue their corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, and industry organizations continue to advocate for the sustainability of sustainability itself. “ e ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager plays a crucial role in standardizing energy effi ciency data, which is critical to track progress and comply with regulations,” said Mary Lue Peck, president and COO of Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International, in a June letter to Congress. “Without it, cities and states would most likely implement a fragmented approach, making compliance much more diffi cult and expensive.” Meanwhile, the Phoenix- based American Clean Power Association (ACP), in its new “State of Clean Energy Manufacturing in America” report, fi nds that the sector contributes $ billion to U.S. GDP annually, spurs $ billion in domestic spending annually and supports , American jobs. e report, released in May, fi nds that over manufacturing plants currently contribute to the U.S. clean energy supply chain, with at least one in every state, and that existing manufacturing facilities are actively building primary clean power components across states. If all announced manufacturing facilities become operational, clean power manufacturing is projected to support over , jobs and contribute $ billion annually to GDP by , ACP states. In keeping with the geographic scattergram of Site Selection’s rankings, employment from existing and planned facilities by by region is projected to be highest in the western U.S. (,+ jobs), followed closely by the South (,+) and the Mid-Atlantic (,+). “Surging clean energy deployment is creating new manufacturing facilities across the country. is success will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and revitalize American communities if policy leaders place economic progress over partisan division,” said Jason Grumet, CEO of ACP. “Today’s report shows that the manufacturing activities across the clean energy sector drive a ripple eff ect of economic growth that extends far beyond factory walls, reaching every corner of the country. Reshoring this critical supply chain requires a shared commitment by both industry and policymakers to prioritize domestic economic growth and global competitiveness.” Site Selection data partner Measurabl, whose work tracks building-level energy effi ciency for clients, issued bulletins earlier this year about ways to preserve ENERGY STAR data. And the company published its inaugural Measurabl Intelligence report titled “ e Business of Sustainability: U.S. Real Estate in ,” which stated, “Sustainability is no longer a box to check — it’s essential for success in real estate where performance drives business outcomes.” e report used Measurabl’s proprietary software and data sets to analyze energy use and carbon emissions intensity trends across seven U.S. property types from through September , encompassing , properties and , spaces within buildings. Among its fi ndings: TOP 10 STATES RANK STATE LAST YEAR 1 Texas 1 2 California 2 3 Colorado 3 4 North Carolina 4 5 Arizona 5 6 Illinois 7 7 Oregon 8 8 Minnesota 9 9 Virginia 6 10 Massachusetts 14 Sources: CSRHub Rankings; LEED Certifi ed Buildings – USGBC, cumulative and per capita, May 2025; Energy Star Buildings, cumulative and per capita, January 2025; Renewable Energy Generation – EIA, cumulative and per capita; Green Laws/ Incentives, DSIRE, cumulative and per capita; Solar Census Jobs – IREC, 2023 published in 2024, cumulative and per capita; latest Measurabl Data on building-level energy effi ciency; latest Fitwel building certifi cation data, Center for Active Design, cumulative and per capita; Green Industry Projects (Conway Data Projects Database) as defi ned by federal NAICS industry codes considered part of green industry supply chain, Jan. 1, 2022, through March 31, 2025, cumulative and per capita In addition to placing No. 3 in this year’s rankings, Sweden in June topped the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Energy Transition Index. As of 2022, more than 60% of Sweden’s electricity came from renewable sources. Port of Stockholm photo by Jann Lipka/ imagebank.sweden.se SITE SELECTION JULY 2025 113 Carbon reductions are outpacing energy effi ciency improvements by to percentage points, depending on property type, “suggesting the growing impact of power grid decarbonization and renewable energy integration.” • Offi ce energy use showed the steepest decline at % since , while warehouse energy use declined by % and manufacturing energy use declined by %. “Remote work and energy upgrades have reshaped offi ce building performance, creating a new baseline for effi ciency,” Measurabl stated. • At the state level, Illinois leads with a % reduction in overall energy use. Virginia and Washington, D.C., each achieved a % decrease, followed by New York at %. California and Texas — No. and No. in Site Selection’s rankings — showed energy use reductions of % and %, respectively. In offi ce energy use alone, Illinois led again with a % reduction, followed by our No. Colorado with a % reduction. What’s the benefi t of energy effi ciency? “If all existing commercial buildings in the U.S. were retrofi tted with energy effi ciency upgrades in compliance with their respective states’ current energy code,” the report stated, “$ billion of tax deductions could be recognized, resulting in $ billion in net total tax savings.” Several company case studies noted that BXP had realized $. million in demand-response payments through a program and $ . million in cumulative avoided energy expenses between and . “Organizations that integrate sustainability into fi nancial models will gain a competitive edge, improve operational effi ciency, and attract capital,” Measurabl said. “Sustainability is no longer a cost — it is a value driver that defi nes long-term success.” And data is at the center: “ is is the future of real estate: objective data over vague commitments, asset-level insights over broad corporate disclosures, and verifi able performance over proxies.” e granular data points behind the Site Selection Sustainability Rankings couldn’t agree more. (LEFT) Sunset in Austin, Texas Photo by Christopher Sherman courtesy of Greater Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau (BELOW) Sustainable practices are at the core of Texas Farmers’ Market at Mueller, held every Sunday on Philomena Street in Austin. Photo by Julia Keim, Texas Farmers’ Market, courtesy of Greater Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau TOP 10 COUNTRIES RANK COUNTRY LAST YEAR 1 United States 2 2 Spain 4 3 Sweden 3 4 Canada 1 5 Ireland 6 6 Australia 7 7 Germany 8 8 United Kingdom 5 9 Brazil 26 10 Italy 11 Sources: CSRHub Rankings; 2025 World Happiness Index; LEED Certifi ed Buildings – USGBC, cumulative and per capita, May 2025; Renewable Energy Capacity – IRENA – MW and MW per capita, March 2025; Renewable Energy Deployment – EY, 2025; Ocean Health Index; 2025 World Happiness Index; latest Measurabl data on building- level energy effi ciency; latest Fitwel building certifi cation data, cumulative and per capita; Green Industry Projects (Conway Data Projects Database) as defi ned by federal NAICS industry codes considered part of green industry supply chain, Jan. 1, 2022, through March 31, 2025, cumulative and per capita.Next >