Photograph courtesy of The Spectator, Tom Aizenberg.
Press Release, 16th December 2025, Edinburgh:
Artus Air, the Scottish-founded climate tech company pioneering sustainable air conditioning solutions, has achieved a remarkable double win at The Spectator’s Economic Innovator of the Year Awards 2025, taking home accolades for ‘Scale Up – Scotland and Northern Ireland’ and ‘Excellence in Sustainability’. Artus Air was the only business to secure two awards at this year’s ceremony.
The prestigious awards celebrate British businesses driving economic growth and societal impact, with regional category winners and special recognition for sustainability leadership.
Buildings contribute 39% of global carbon emissions, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems account for approximately 15-20% of that total. With global cooling demand forecast to triple by 2050, the need for low-carbon, cost-effective, and easy-to-install solutions has never been more urgent.
Artus Air’s innovative, compact HVAC technology is designed to tackle these challenges head-on – boosting energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions, and transforming indoor comfort.
Since its founding in 2021, the company has scaled rapidly with offices in Edinburgh and London, creating multiple jobs across the UK with a headcount growth of 80% in the last year and more new jobs to come in 2026. The company has a strong customer base in the UK, with growing demand internationally, reflecting strong market appetite for sustainable alternatives in the built environment.
Rebecca Stewart, CEO of Artus Air, said: “We founded Artus Air in Edinburgh in 2021, with a core purpose of changing the way buildings are cooled and heated globally, reducing carbon and increasing comfort. The awards recognise the business innovation which we have built around a fundamentally disruptive technology. Having a good idea is the foundation. Commercialising it to have wide-spread impact is the next imperative for enabling change for the better.”
Duncan Macrae, CFO of Artus Air, said: “Artus is at a very exciting stage of growth as we start to truly scale internationally. Our product/market fit is strong, helping existing and new buildings meet future energy legislation which reduces the risk of unlettable, stranded assets; a growing problem across the UK.
Edinburgh-based Par Equity has supported Artus Air in two early investment rounds, alongside Arup in the first round and BGF in the second.
Earlier this year, Artus Air became the first UK air conditioning supplier to obtain independently-verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for its AR60 and AR75 models. EPD is a standardised third-party verification which transparently reports across a product’s entire life cycle for detailed environmental impact assessment.