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In our last episode, we covered a recent study on climate venture studios conducted by Jamil Wyne and Hazelwood Network and discussed the role studios can play in accelerating climate innovation.
Today, we’re seeing what that looks like in practice in a region critical to our climate future.
Across Southeast Asia, growing incomes and rapid urbanization are driving demand for energy, housing, and food. Meeting those needs creates an enormous business opportunity—and the choices made today will shape emissions for decades.
Our guests are Steve Melhuish and Marie Cheong, founding partners of 100x100, which builds climate companies across Southeast Asia and India. Their first fund raised $60 million and launched 26 businesses, with companies generating revenue in just five and a half months, on average.
We explore how they recruit experienced entrepreneurs, identify overlooked opportunities, and build businesses that can deliver both financial returns and meaningful emissions reductions.
On today’s episode, we cover:Connect with us
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How can we give climate startups a better shot at success—and get their solutions into the world faster?
Companies built through venture studios can reach seed funding in about half the time and exit roughly 33% faster than other startups. Those findings span industries, but they raise an exciting question: what could this model do for climate?
Today, Jamil Wyne returns to Invested in Climate to share new global research from the Hazelwood Network on climate venture studios—organizations that act as co-founders, bringing together talent, funding, and customers to build businesses from the ground up.
We explore what makes these studios work, the challenges they face, how they differ by region and industry, and their potential to accelerate climate solutions, especially in emerging markets.
For anyone interested in improving outcomes for climate ventures, there’s lots to learn in this one.
On today’s episode, we cover:If you like what you hear, subscribe and rate to support the show! Have feedback or ideas for future episodes, events, or partnerships? Get in touch!
The climate transition will require trillions of dollars of investment, but many of the biggest opportunities still face structural financing barriers because our financial system was not designed for a challenge of this scale and complexity. As investors, entrepreneurs, and institutions work to accelerate the transition, there is a growing need for new financial models that can bridge those gaps and unlock capital more effectively.
Today, we’re joined by Bob Zulkoski of Conduit Capital, a firm taking a very different approach to climate finance. Rather than building one big fund, Conduit is creating platforms designed to unlock private capital at scale — from financing energy-efficiency upgrades in commercial real estate, to launching climate-transition SPACs, to developing a new blended-finance vehicle aimed at helping impact investment managers bridge what Bob calls the “Pioneer Gap.” Bob calls the model radical collaboration, and the goal is not just to invest well, but to prove new models that others can replicate.
On today’s episode, we cover:If you like what you hear, subscribe and rate to support the show! Have feedback or ideas for future episodes, events, or partnerships? Get in touch!
Climate philanthropy does far more than fund advocacy and conservation—it bridges critical funding gaps for breakthrough technologies that traditional, financially driven investors often overlook. In this special episode, we continue our ongoing Climate Philanthropy series in partnership with the Skyline Foundation to explore how non-profit support accelerates the climate tech pipeline.
Shereen D’Souza (Climate Solutions Portfolio Lead at Skyline Foundation) sits down with two powerhouse CEOs from her grantee portfolio, Deepa Lounsbury of LabStart and Andrew Chang of New Energy Nexus, to discuss what it really takes to move climate innovation from a university lab to global deployment.
Why This Episode MattersBringing a "hard tech" climate startup from initial lab concept to commercial scale takes an average of 10 years, and every single step of that journey faces a unique "valley of death." Because scaled deployment looks drastically different depending on the geography, supporting entrepreneurs requires a highly specialized ecosystem.
This conversation highlights how philanthropy strategically funds distinct, critical phases of the lab-to-market pipeline to scale viable climate solutions faster.
On today’s episode, we cover:If you like what you hear, subscribe and rate to support the show! Have feedback or ideas for future episodes, events, or partnerships? Get in touch!
Today, we’re diving into a part of the climate transition that doesn’t get nearly as much attention as solar panels, electric vehicles, or AI: the materials, minerals, and manufacturing systems that make modern civilization possible. Steel alone accounts for roughly 7–8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and the energy transition is driving unprecedented demand for critical minerals, advanced materials, and domestic manufacturing capacity. These sectors offer incredible investment opportunities, and that’s the focus of my guest, Kavita Patel.
Kavita is a portfolio manager for venture investment for MUUS & Company (MUUS), the family office of TIGER 21 Founder and Chairman, Michael Sonnenfeldt, and his family.
We discuss opportunities ranging from critical mineral recycling to next-generation building materials, what she’s learned investing through the ups and downs of climate tech, and why she believes some of the most compelling opportunities today may be hiding in sectors many investors overlook.
We also explore where climate capital is flowing, where it may be underinvesting, and how investors can think rigorously about both financial returns and real-world climate impact.
I learned a lot from this conversation, and I think you will too. Here we go.
On today’s episode, we cover:If you like what you hear, subscribe and rate to support the show! Have feedback or ideas for future episodes, events, or partnerships? Get in touch!
Most people assume the main barrier to clean energy in America is technology or cost. Neither is true anymore. The sun is cheap. The wind is free. The turbines work. What doesn't work is the system we've built around them. Between 70 and 90 percent of renewable energy projects started in the US never reach construction. The ones that survive face a gauntlet of federal reviews, local ordinances, interconnection queues stretching years, and organized opposition campaigns funded by interests that don't want to see the grid change. We're talking about over 2,000 gigawatts of clean energy projects sitting in line waiting to plug into the grid — enough to power the country many times over.
Today's guest is doing something about this problem. GoodPower is a nonprofit organization using research, strategic communications, campaigns, and even technology to accelerate the transition to renewable energy around the world. In this conversation, I’m joined by Leah Qusba, GoodPower’s CEO, who has been with the organization for almost 17 years.
We spoke about GoodPower's history and evolution, its work in changing culture, building political power, accelerating an economy that works for all, and much more.
Leah reflects a fast-growing school of thought — calling it the abundance mindset, after Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein's influential book — that sees future-forward infrastructure as the key to unlocking tremendous economic opportunity. It's a compelling, inspiring perspective that has spread quickly and is already driving real policy and investment.
So buckle up and enjoy.
On today’s episode, we cover:If you like what you hear, subscribe and rate to support the show! Have feedback or ideas for future episodes, events, or partnerships? Get in touch!
Whether or not we want to acknowledge it, we’re in a new era of climate investing. Unprecedented uncertainty, federal policy upheaval in the United States, repeated energy shocks from wars, inflation, high interest rates, a persisting liquidity crunch, the AI data center boom – much has happened, the game has changed and investors are thinking very differently about climate than they did just a few years ago.
Three expert climate finance advisors who have worked in climate finance for decades set out to understand what has changed in climate investing. Dan Firger, Will Coleman, and Bill Tarr are highly respected thought leaders and strategic advisors working with large family offices, foundations and prominent climate investors. They teamed up and interviewed over 150 investors and experts to develop Climate Capital Reset Project, a detailed account of the new thinking defining this new era of climate investing. We spoke about the trends reshaping climate finance today, emerging dynamics, recommendations for capital allocators, considerations for philanthropists, and much more. Dan, Will, and Bill’s report will likely be one of the most influential pieces written on climate finance this year. It’s already the basis for closed-door consultations and convenings with prominent investors, and our conversation shed incredible light on the new paradigms already driving climate finance today.
On today’s episode, we cover:If you like what you hear, subscribe and rate to support the show! Have feedback or ideas for future episodes, events, or partnerships? Get in touch!
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Education and our ability to respond to climate change are inexorably linked. Major international studies have shown that education is the single strongest predictor of whether or not someone is aware of climate change. In the US, while 74% of Americans support climate action, support is typically 10–20 points higher among those with a college education.
It's not about perceptions on climate change; a more educated workforce is better able to innovate, accelerate the climate transition, and adapt in a less stable world – especially if that education builds climate resilient skills.
One could almost imagine a university designed around this need – and that is exactly what the team at Unity Environmental University are building.
Today, we're joined by Unity President Dr. Melik Khoury who is creating not just a new curriculum, but a new, more inclusive approach to higher ed. Dr. Khoury argues powerfully against the elitism that has underpinned our educational system and climate narratives. We spoke about his background, the role of education in addressing climate change, how Unity is different, and the influence it could have. Dr Khoury’s energy is contagious and we're sure he’ll get you thinking. Enjoy.
On today’s episode, we cover:If you like what you hear, subscribe and rate to support the show! Have feedback or ideas for future episodes, events, or partnerships? Get in touch!
Imagine for a moment if economic activity made nature and society healthier. It’s a notion that at first might seem absurdly idealistic, and then when you think about it, maybe essential for our survival and thus perhaps what the goal of an economy should actually be. Welcome to the concept of regenerative economics. There’s a growing number of leading thinkers, organizations, policymakers, and even businesses fueling the regenerative movement. With AI and a new geopolitical order creating massive disruption, it’s an important time to consider bold visions for the future.
Today, we’re joined by someone who’s both a bold visionary and practical implementer. Eugene Kirpichov left his dream job at Google in 2020 to found Work on Climate, a community that has now helped tens of thousands of people looking for ways to address climate change. Eugene sees communities as mindbogglingly effective for scaling impact. By helping people realize their potential as climate leaders, Work on Climate is harnessing the power of community to work towards a regenerative economy. Eugene is a guy of big ideas, who thinks about systems strategically and makes things happen. It was a blast talking to Eugene and we suspect you’ll enjoy the conversation as well. Here we go.
On today’s episode, we cover:If you like what you hear, subscribe and rate to support the show! Have feedback or ideas for future episodes, events, or partnerships? Get in touch!
Frequent listeners know we're always eager to learn about how climate investing needs to change to be more effective. With the attacks on ESG and a new political era, we’re clearly in a new chapter for climate investing and being intentional about the ingredients, language and goals of this new chapter is critical for delivering both solid returns and real impact.
Rob Brown argues that its time to step back from overreach and inauthentic impact goals, and fuel this new chapter with rigor. Rob wears a couple of hats as Director of Climate Research at Resolution Investors and Chief Research Officer at Impact Evaluation Lab. In these roles, Rob bring his decades of investment experience using research and analysis to improve long term thinking, risk management and what he calls mission authenticity, or the ability to really deliver on the kind of impact one promises. Tune in for a deeply fascinating conversation about how climate investing is maturing and the work that still needs to be done for this new chapter. Enjoy.
On today’s episode, we cover:If you like what you hear, subscribe and rate to support the show! Have feedback or ideas for future episodes, events, or partnerships? Get in touch!
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