As Co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Twelve, Etosha Cave is developing technologies that convert captured CO₂, water and renewable electricity into fuels, chemicals and industrial materials. Her work centres on a difficult question: how to move industries beyond fossil fuels without forcing them to rebuild everything from scratch.
Trained as a mechanical engineer and electrochemist, Cave helped transform research from Stanford University into commercially deployable systems now being adopted by companies including Microsoft, Mercedes-Benz, Procter & Gamble and Alaska Airlines. Under her scientific leadership, Twelve has developed electrochemical pathways capable of producing sustainable aviation fuel and essential chemical feedstocks using carbon already in the atmosphere rather than oil extracted from the ground.
What makes Cave’s approach distinctive is its practicality. Instead of asking industries to adopt entirely new systems, Twelve develops drop-in alternatives that work within existing supply chains and manufacturing infrastructure. This has made the company an important player in sectors such as aviation, manufacturing and consumer goods, where reducing emissions is particularly difficult.
Beyond Twelve, Cave is deeply involved in advancing scientific entrepreneurship in the United States. As Managing Director of Activate in New York, she supports researchers and founders building breakthrough technologies with global impact. She also advises the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on materials and computational sciences.
Combining scientific depth with entrepreneurial vision, Etosha Cave represents a new generation of industrial leaders working to build a low-carbon economy through innovation, scale and real-world deployment.
