ZERO13 Crowned World’s Best Venue for Sustainability at Euromoney Markets Awards 2026

ZERO13 has been named the World’s Best Venue for Sustainability at the Euromoney Markets Awards 2026. For fintech professionals, this recognition highlights the growing maturity of digital market infrastructure in bridging the gap between institutional capital and sustainable real-world assets, particularly through the integration of AI and regulated trading platforms.

What was announced

ZERO13’s recognition follows a comprehensive research process by Euromoney involving written submissions, market research, and interviews with market participants. The award specifically acknowledges the platform’s work in building connected digital infrastructure for sustainable finance. This marks the second consecutive year the platform has received an accolade in these awards, following its win as the World’s Best Exchange for ESG in 2025.

The platform operates based on an "AI Resource Loop" thesis. This framework interconnects critical minerals, rare-earth elements, renewable energy, and AI infrastructure within a unified circular sustainability model. The goal is to transform otherwise passive real-world asset value into active liquidity, yield generation, and opportunities for portfolio expansion. The infrastructure is designed to serve a diverse range of participants, including project owners, local communities, sovereign nations, and institutional capital providers.

Central to the ZERO13 model is the regulated SECDEX platform, which supports the financing, trading, and settlement of sustainable real-world assets. By combining traditional financial market infrastructure with digital market infrastructure, the platform seeks to address persistent industry challenges such as financing gaps, market fragmentation, and a lack of transparency in environmental markets. Beyond the Euromoney accolades, the platform has previously won the COP28 UAE TechSprint for its blockchain solution in sustainable finance.

"To be recognised by Euromoney as the World’s Best Venue for Sustainability is a significant achievement for ZERO13 and, importantly, recognition of what we are trying to change. Nature finance does not suffer from a shortage of ambition or potential capital; the challenge is connecting that capital efficiently and transparently with credible projects by structuring them as great yield-generating opportunities, which can deliver measurable environmental, social and economic outcomes."

Hirander Misra, Founder, Chairman and CEO of ZERO13.

The companies involved

ZERO13 is a nature fintech platform and a subsidiary of GMEX Group. As the parent company, GMEX Group provides the foundational market infrastructure expertise that ZERO13 leverages to target the sustainable real-world asset sector. The platform is led by Hirander Misra, who serves as the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer. Under his leadership, the firm has positioned itself as a connector between the source of sustainable projects—ranging from local communities to entire countries—and the institutional investors seeking to monetize those assets.

The company’s primary focus is the creation of digital market infrastructure that facilitates the distribution and monetization of sustainable assets. By utilizing the regulated SECDEX platform, ZERO13 operates within a framework designed to meet the rigorous standards required by global capital markets. This approach is intended to ensure that the economic benefits of sustainability are shared equitably with the originators of the projects. In addition to its recent awards, the company has been recognized by 11:FS in the Fintech for Good category, as well as by Asset Servicing Times and the London Fintech Awards.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely followed the development of ZERO13’s ecosystem and its strategic partnerships within the climate finance sector. In early 2024, the publication reported on a major initiative where ZERO13 and XTCC announce $100bn climate finance investment drive at Davos World Economic Forum, a move aimed at mobilizing significant capital toward climate-related projects. Previously, the platform’s collaborative efforts were highlighted when GMEX ZERO13 and Zumo collaborate on new carbon credit offering for banks and corporates. This earlier reporting underscored the company’s focus on creating practical, bankable solutions for the carbon market, providing the necessary infrastructure for corporate and institutional participants to engage with environmental assets through a trusted digital framework.

What this means

The recognition of a specialized "venue" for sustainability suggests that environmental assets are moving toward institutional formalization. By focusing on the "AI Resource Loop," ZERO13 highlights a shift toward the tokenization of tangible resources like rare-earth elements, which are essential for the green transition. This puts pressure on traditional commodity exchanges to prove they can offer similar transparency and circularity. However, the sector still faces a major hurdle: the "economic sustainability" of these projects depends on the continued integrity of environmental asset structures. If the market cannot maintain trust in the underlying yield-generating projects, even sophisticated digital infrastructure will struggle to mobilize capital at the scale required for global climate goals.