Martijn Blom

Want to invest in climate technology?! Want to scale your climate tech biz?! Then, you'll want to listen to the latest episode of the #climatetechspotlight podcast, in which I spoke with Bas Van Den Brande, Country Manager of Carbon Equity. Link in the comments to listen. Let us know what you think? #climatetech #renewables

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This is compelling reading. “The damages are six times larger than the mitigation costs that are needed to limit warming to 2C.” Reducing emissions rapidly is the most rational action now.

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The climate summit in Baku will not lead to a breakthrough. This is not surprising, because climate summits rarely lead to breakthroughs. Of the 29 climate summits, 2 led to a breakthrough. The climate summit in Kyoto in 1997 and the Paris summit in 2015, both of which led to climate agreements with binding CO2 reductions. But then everything has to go well and everything stands or falls with the preparation. A climate agreement is a diplomatic tour de force and requires long-term and tactful political handiwork. For example, I worked at the UN in the run-up to Kyoto (1995-1997) and saw up close how attempts were made for a few years to involve Russia in the agreement, eventually successfully. And the success of the Paris Agreement was partly due to one of the world's best diplomats, Laurent Fabius, who managed to get all countries on the same page for a year, a diplomatic miracle. In addition, Paris had a high favor factor because of the terrorist attacks just before the climate summit. On the other hand, there are a number of flops, such as the climate summit in Copenhagen in 2009, for which expectations were high, but more than 100,000 climate protesters left heavily disappointed, because there was never a climate agreement. Most climate summits led to small successes in the form of compromises. The climate summit in Baku had already failed in advance due to the lack of diplomatic preparatory work and is taking place under an unfortunate star. The world is politically on fire and now has something else on its mind. Are climate summits pointless? No, they are rituals with an important meaning. While there were still a few thousand people present in Kyoto, today there are 60,000 to 80,000 people, most of whom have no clear role or function. Such a climate ritual ensures that worldwide attention is paid to the climate problem. And that is desperately needed, because never before has the urgency been greater. Climate change is being felt all over the world: see the major floods in Spain and Italy, but also extremes in Bangladesh, Chad, Mozambique, Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Brazil and the Philippines. This is how we stumble along, with the occasional big success and more often a small success. Like now in Baku, where a proposal is on the table to have rich countries pay 250 billion dollars annually to poor countries from 2035. If that is approved, no one is really happy with it, the poor countries think it is scandalously little (want at least 1000 billion), neither do the NGOs and the rich countries think it is substantial, more than double the 100 billion that has been raised annually so far. Ultimately, the power from below is stronger than that of climate summits, although both are necessary. All those hundreds of millions of people who are working on sustainability, all those tens of thousands of companies that are putting it into practice, all those social organizations that are working on it, are an immeasurable force.

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🌎“You may have the tech, but if you do, it doesn’t mean you have a company.” Rinke Zonneveld CEO of Invest-NL shortly addressed financial barriers to scale up climate tech. 🎥 Invest-NL identified a lack of private capital flowing into climate tech companies, and made it their mission to change this by stimulating and accelerating climate tech through financial backing. Main takeaway? Companies must be ready for impact investors like Invest-NL. 🤝 #Invest-NL #ClimateTeh #Scalingup #StartUp #WEC

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Don't miss the VentureFuel Visionaries #podcast tomorrow, with special guest Avra van der Zee, COO of Elemental Excelerator! In this episode, 'Scaling Climate Technologies,' we will talk about using entrepreneurship for social change, catalytic capital, how to scale new technologies, & more. Follow us for the latest Visionaries podcast updates! Get the newest content delivered right to your feed. #Innovation #ClimateTech

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🌟 We’re proud to be one of the founding partners of the Climate Tech Summit Benelux! 🌍 At 4impact capital, we're dedicated to investing in ventures that drive positive environmental change. We’re excited to share that we, together with Endeit Capital, Junction Growth Investors, Amsterdam Standard, De Roos and Change Inc., are supporting the top 100 most promising climate tech companies in the Benelux through jointly funding the Climate Tech Summit Benelux and the Benelux Climate Tech100. 🌱 The list showcases startups making strides in sustainable energy, circular economy, and CO2 reduction technologies. All companies will come together at the Climate Tech Summit Benelux in Amsterdam on October 22 to meet with prominent investors supporting a sustainable future. ➡ Find out more about the startups and the Climate Tech Summit here: https://lnkd.in/dqHf3Wse ➡ Is there a startup that should be on the list? You can still nominate them through this link: https://lnkd.in/epYGTQhe #venturecapital #vc #impactinvesting #tech4good #impact #software #sustainability  #tech #startup #growthcapital #climatetech

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Carbon capture can never be good for anybody except maybe fossil fuel stockholders. I am a BIG supporter of the wonderful work the United StatesDOE does, with the exception of any money wasted to research or implement carbon capture contraptions. However it will not stop or slow the great global renewable energy overbuild that will result in energy independence everywhere. Energy Independence’s cheap sometimes free energy everywhere is evolution’s path to climate stability, peace, and prosperity.

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🇳🇱 The Dutch are dominating the sustainable city race. The European Commission's 2050 Roadmap has been instrumental in guiding cities like Amsterdam towards a low-carbon future. This long-term strategy not only reduces greenhouse gas emissions but also fosters innovation and economic growth through sustainable cities. #SustainableCities #UrbanDevelopment #SDG

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With so much talk about decarbonization, I did not expect to find the Netherlands in sixth place among the most CO2-emissing countries in Europe.

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🌍 Can Wopke Hoekstra lead Europe’s green future? 🇳🇱 📄 The former Dutch finance minister is under scrutiny as he tries to prove his commitment to climate action. But can a conservative, free-market advocate truly bring the transformation the EU needs? 🤔 🎤 His hearing is today at 9:00 a.m at the European Parliament and you can access it 👇 https://lnkd.in/eBtVEsFT European Commission European Committee of the Regions European Economic and Social Committee #climatechange #EuropeanUnion #Sustainability

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Attending the 19th Sustainability Summit, Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change is the Chief Guest and spoke about complete ban on single use plastic among other things. However, countries that have overcome the challenge of waste have doe it differently. In The Netherlands, for instance, everytime you go to a store to buy monthly groceries, packaging ( plastic, beer cans and others) surcharge gets added to your bill. Next time when you go shopping and take empty cans and bottles, the amount gets knocked off your bill. Since there's a value attached to empty bottles, cans etc, what goes into trash, gets collected by the homeless and returned to the store for money. So manufacturers can take back packaging when they deliver goods. When it comes to Plastic bags these too are charged and people use them to shop. Therefore, I believe that ban on plastic is not the solution, we need to change our behaviour towards use of plastic. Because we give packaging free, Indian consumers attach no value to it and hence throw it on the garbage.

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>>>'Trump team preparing withdrawal from climate agreement'>>> - 4 billion tons of extra CO2 emissions are threatening our planet climate. At the start of the US election campaign, the climate site CarbonBrief calculated that Trump's return to the White House could lead to a total of 4 billion tons of extra CO2 emissions. That amount would more than offset all the emissions the world has saved in the past five years through sustainable generation. Trump's transition team is preparing for the US's withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, The New York Times reports based on anonymous sources involved in the talks. He also wants to drastically reduce the number of natural monuments in the country, in order to make more oil and gas drilling possible. The United States joined the climate agreement in 2015, when Barack Obama was still president. In 2017, Trump withdrew the US from the treaty, but after Biden succeeded him, the US was able to join again immediately. That was easy at the time, because countries could not immediately withdraw from the climate agreement within three years of joining. That was stipulated to prevent such a withdrawal. Now, a US withdrawal could have major consequences, because that waiting period no longer applies almost ten years after the agreement. Trump is also expected to end a Biden-imposed blockade on exports of new liquefied natural gas to major markets in Asia and Europe, the newspaper reports.

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Learned about a novel therapy to address symptoms of #longcovid, pioneered by EDF International that is visiting via 4TU.Federation 4TU.Startups with a strong team with an osteopathic doctor Job Weerstra and a design engineer Steve Kane from the Netherlands. We are still understanding the scope of long Covid, so the market size is likely vast. Talking to the founders made me wonder if my late mother, who had #fibromyalgia, could have benefited from this non-invasive device that can improve muscle strength, coordination, and balance. While we also do not understand fibromyalgia, some consider it an autoimmune disease, with many autoimmune diseases affecting motor skills, balance, and strength. Personally, after my late diagnosed severe #anemia and a third pelvic surgery, I paid out of pocket to have #physicaltherapy to regain function. Only, once I came off medical leave and re-started classes at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that needed investment in my own health (that the American health system was not making in me) fell off as I got busy. The amount of earnings I lost while on unpaid medical leave is more than what I need as a seed round as a founder. Imagine how much #disability and loss of #productivity or #qualityoflife we could address with simple, personalized, done-at-home, cost effective solutions. What if we preserved and allocated resources well, for a thriving, healthy, and prosperous society?

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🚨@here iwell has been selected for The Benelux Climate Tech100 Change.inc and Climate Tech Summit have selected 100 leading companies for the Benelux Climate Tech100. The Benelux Climate Tech100 showcases the most innovative and impactful companies in the Benelux, driving technological solutions for today’s major climate challenges. These businesses have progressed beyond the early startup phase, are scaling rapidly, and have secured significant growth capital. Recognized for their achievements, they lead the way in six categories: Energy, Mobility & Transportation, Food & Agri, Climate Fintech & Reporting, Carbon Solutions, and Industry & Circular Economy — with Energy being the largest. Vote now for iwell: https://lnkd.in/e_trFqVn

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Great news to start this week! 🎉 The Dutch Impact Media Platform Change Inc. (part of MT/Sprout/) loved our deep dive into the EU Emission Trading System (ETS) and asked to publish it in Dutch. This article explores the world's largest carbon emission trading scheme, diving into its dynamics and the critical insights for climate tech founders and investors. Key highlights include: 1️⃣ Decreasing carbon supply: The EU Commission's annual reduction of the emission cap drives long-term decarbonization, not fluctuating allowance prices. This is crucial for climate tech sales pitches focused on future risk mitigation. 2️⃣  Sector-specific benefits: While the energy sector sees immediate impacts from ETS, industrial sectors like steel and cement await the removal of free allowances for significant change. 3️⃣ CBAM's game-changing impact: Starting in 2026, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will level the playing field by imposing the same carbon costs on imports, erasing the threat of "carbon leakage." Check out the Dutch 🇳🇱 and English 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 versions of the deep dive linked in the comments below! ⤵️ A big thanks to our amazing team members Charlie Macdonald and Edward van der Hout for your research and write-up on this topic! 🙌 Teun Schröder #impact #climate #tech #sustainability #EUETS #impactinvesting #vc

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If we invested half of emission reduction investments into afforestation of abandoned land, we'd be done with reversing climate change. #climatechange #afforestation #investment #investments #carbon #carboncredits #permaforest #profit

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All over the news in NL today: ASN Impact Investors have made the bold decision to fully divest from the fashion industry. In my view, this is a courageous and justified move. There simply is no large fashion company creating sufficient positive impact on workers, climate and nature to offset the emissions, pollution and abuses in the value chain. A year ago, Kode21 climate innovation helped ASN Bank and ASN Impact Investors establish a vision of what a regenerative clothing industry might look like. The result (https://lnkd.in/eeZxHGBS) is a hopeful document describing many win-win-win solutions for the use of renewable energy and benevolent biobased fibers, for circular economy strategies that deliver great experiences with minimum resource use, and for instruments that protect and restore nature in the value chain - all while safeguarding workers' rights. It has also become clear that none of the fashion giants is taking sufficiently serious steps towards this entire set of solutions. Divesting from the bad actors is only the first step. We learned from the collaboration that there is an exciting and inspiring world of possibilities for regenerative fashion. We need finance, laws and customer choices all to start aligning in the right direction.

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Pollination co-founder and CEO Martijn Wilder AM joined the Climatalist podcast for an engaging chat about his love for nature, what led him to found Pollination and how it has grown in just five years from seeing itself as an advisory and investment firm to a global 'climate and nature solutions company'. "The vast majority of strategic advice is to corporates and institutions that are involved in the climate and nature transition," he says. "Some of our clients will just say: 'we need assistance with how to decarbonise our business. We've committed to these targets. How do we do it? How do we find a business that can help solve this emissions problem?" "Others will say they would like a whole strategy on nature because nature is an important part of their supply chain." "We've helped investors understand climate risk and nature risk. We've helped people develop projects. It's a very broad strategic advisory practice." "But then what we also tend to do with those clients is work with them to implement the solutions, as projects or through funding acquisitions, through setting up a new business or fundraising. Whatever they need." Martijn also discusses: - The challenge of attracting capital to fund the climate and nature transition - The different skillsets that make up an expert team like Pollination's and the importance of a values based approach to hiring and growth. - The establishment of Climate Asset Management, Pollination's joint venture with HSBC that aims to be the world's leading fund for natural capital. - What the future holds for Pollination as it continues to grow and change Listen to the full interview with Anton Babkov at https://lnkd.in/gD6NuYTZ #naturalcapital #climatefinance Global Nature Positive Summit 2024

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