Because the urgency of local weather motion grows, Europe has a key alternative to guide the subsequent part of local weather tech innovation. On this dialog, Fernando Casado Cañeque shares a hopeful imaginative and prescient from the entrance strains of European enterprise capital. As Co-founder and Basic Accomplice at Inclimo Local weather Tech Fund, he brings to investing in local weather innovation a background that blends deep experience in affect investing, worldwide growth, and sustainability.
Fernando makes the case for accelerating local weather tech, spanning AI-powered vitality grids to regenerative agriculture. He discusses Barcelona’s rise as a local weather innovation hub and highlights how founders are shifting in direction of market-driven options. And whereas acknowledging international uncertainties, he highlights neglected alternatives in sectors like water and agrotech, explaining how a powerful European local weather tech ecosystem can drive each environmental affect and business success—no matter political shifts throughout the Atlantic.
May you begin by sharing with us your journey to changing into a Basic Accomplice at Inclimo Local weather Tech Fund? What formed your conviction about enterprise capital’s function in tackling local weather challenges?
My journey has been formed by a deep-rooted perception that technology-driven options are the important thing to accelerating local weather motion at scale. Earlier than launching Inclimo, I spent years working for sustainability with the United Nations, Growth Banks, multinational firms and foundations, forging partnerships for affect and growth, and discovered that to boost and promote systemic change, you want well-funded entrepreneurship that generates high-impact startups. We noticed an important alternative to create a founder-first, impact-driven funding agency targeted on scalable options throughout the European local weather ecosystem.
The European local weather tech sector has advanced considerably lately. Out of your perspective, what shifts have you ever noticed in how founders strategy local weather challenges—whether or not in enterprise fashions, know-how, or partnerships?
There’s been a paradigm shift in how founders take into consideration local weather tech. Up to now, climate-focused startups had been typically seen as mission-driven, impact-first ventures that struggled to draw mainstream buyers. Right now, that narrative is altering:
- Enterprise fashions are evolving – Startups are shifting past subsidies and ESG narratives to construct financially compelling fashions. Carbon accounting, vitality flexibility, and round financial system improvements are integrating deeply into enterprise operations.
- {Hardware} meets software program – There’s a rising push for digitally enabled local weather options, from AI-powered vitality grids to predictive analytics for useful resource optimization. The intersection of IoT, automation, and knowledge intelligence is the place we see huge potential.
- Strategic collaborations – Founders are partaking in additional cross-industry partnerships, working with companies, metropolis governments, and utility suppliers to drive adoption. Local weather tech doesn’t scale in isolation—it thrives on ecosystem-wide collaboration.
Is there a selected vertical inside local weather tech that you simply imagine has transformative potential however is likely to be neglected by the broader funding group? What makes this space particularly compelling from each an affect and funding perspective?
One of the vital neglected but transformative sectors in local weather tech is the intersection of water and agrotech, significantly in Spain, the place agriculture performs a vital function within the financial system and meals safety relies upon closely on water availability. With 80% of the nation’s water utilization tied to agriculture, intensifying droughts and desertification are placing monumental strain on meals manufacturing. The agri-food {industry} is each a serious contributor to emissions and extremely weak to local weather change, but technological innovation in water effectivity, precision irrigation, and climate-resilient farming stays underfunded. Sensible water administration, AI-driven yield optimization, and regenerative agriculture can considerably cut back environmental affect whereas rising productiveness.
From an funding perspective, the agricultural worth chain in Spain and throughout Europe is very fragmented, creating huge inefficiencies in water utilization, soil well being, and meals distribution. Rising options reminiscent of AI-powered irrigation, water desalination, regenerative farming practices, and organic fertilizers are poised to optimize useful resource use whereas lowering emissions. Moreover, blockchain-enabled traceability, cold-chain logistics, and predictive meals demand fashions can lower meals waste and drive effectivity throughout provide chains.
When evaluating potential investments, how do you steadiness the urgency of rapid local weather affect and a medium-term monetary return in opposition to the potential of longer-term transformative applied sciences?
At Inclimo, we strategy every funding on a case-by-case foundation, recognizing that systemic change in local weather tech is a long-term purpose. Nevertheless, we stay extremely pragmatic in our funding technique, specializing in firms which have already demonstrated traction—that means we don’t put money into pre-market ventures. Our function is to speed up startups which are at a pivotal development stage, the place further capital and strategic assist can exponentially scale their affect and monetary returns. This ensures that our portfolio firms should not simply promising concepts, however confirmed options able to broaden their market presence and local weather contribution.
Balancing rapid local weather affect, medium-term returns, and long-term transformation requires precision. We put money into firms which have clear business viability, scalable know-how, and a direct affect on decarbonization, useful resource effectivity, or round financial system fashions. Whereas breakthrough deep-tech options could take years to mature, our focus is on these already proving their enterprise mannequin in the actual financial system. With a rigorous choice course of, we will make sure that we again solely these firms with the proper timing, the proper crew, and the proper market match to scale efficiently.
You’ve been actively concerned in constructing Barcelona’s local weather tech group by means of numerous occasions and meetups. What distinctive benefits does Barcelona supply as a hub for local weather innovation startups, and what gaps nonetheless should be crammed to make Barcelona a real chief in local weather tech?
Barcelona is at a turning level in its evolution as a local weather tech hub. The town has all the proper substances: a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem, the place a rising variety of startups are tackling challenges in vitality, mobility, round financial system, and concrete resilience; a progressive coverage atmosphere, with native authorities initiatives supporting inexperienced infrastructure and sustainability-focused tasks; and world-class analysis establishments, fostering deep-tech developments in supplies science, clear vitality, and water administration. These elements have positioned Barcelona as certainly one of Europe’s most fun local weather innovation ecosystems, attracting expertise and capital from throughout the continent.
But, regardless of this momentum, vital gaps stay. The transition from early-stage innovation to large-scale implementation continues to be a problem, as growth-stage funding—particularly for hardware-heavy local weather tech—is scarce. Many promising startups wrestle to safe Collection A/B rounds, limiting their capability to scale past pilot tasks. On the identical time, stronger {industry} collaboration is required to bridge the hole between startups, corporates, and municipal authorities, making certain that improvements transition from take a look at environments into real-world infrastructure and provide chains. Lastly, whereas Barcelona is a lovely vacation spot for early-stage founders, the problem lies in retaining top-tier technical expertise—particularly in areas like AI, vitality techniques, and industrial decarbonization—to assist the scale-up part.
Latest shifts in US local weather coverage and the EU Omnibus initiative are inflicting some uncertainty. How do you see these adjustments shaping the local weather tech ecosystem in Europe?
Regulatory shifts, particularly these pushed by the Trump administration’s return, are sure to create short-term turmoil in international local weather coverage. Nevertheless, historical past has proven that the sustainability motion is extremely resilient—it has grown and advanced over a long time, typically within the face of political pushback and financial downturns. In some ways, these disruptions can strengthen the local weather tech ecosystem, forcing startups and buyers to deal with innovation, market-driven adoption, and cost-effectiveness, somewhat than counting on coverage incentives or beneficial governments to make sure success. The businesses that thrive in unsure environments are those that shall be really scalable and impactful in the long term.
What’s clear is that Europe should lead the worldwide local weather tech agenda. With the EU doubling down on its Inexperienced Deal Industrial Plan, carbon pricing, and sustainability-driven rules, the area is in a novel place to set the usual for local weather innovation. Whereas US insurance policies could shift relying on political cycles, Europe is shifting towards a structural transformation of its financial system, with vitality transition, circularity, and local weather resilience embedded in long-term methods. For startups, which means whereas regulatory landscapes could change, the basic drivers of demand—effectivity, worth competitiveness, and affect—will stay fixed.
For this reason we imagine the present uncertainty will in the end produce stronger, extra resilient local weather startups. The most effective firms will emerge not as a result of they’re backed by coverage, however as a result of they’re commercially viable, scalable, and important for the longer term financial system.
The speedy development of AI applied sciences is disrupting each {industry}. Do you see AI as primarily an accelerator for local weather options, or are there dangers that the {industry} is underestimating?
AI is a large enabler for local weather tech—however with challenges. On the optimistic facet, it enhances grid optimization, predictive local weather modelling, and useful resource effectivity. Nevertheless, AI’s vitality consumption and potential biases in decision-making require cautious oversight. The secret’s making certain that AI options maximize sustainability affect with out unintended trade-offs.
Looking forward to the subsequent 5 years, what main transitions do you anticipate within the local weather tech sector, and the way is Inclimo positioning itself to assist founders by means of these adjustments?
The following 5 years will convey profound transformations within the local weather tech sector, reshaping industries, provide chains, and the way in which we work together with the planet. One of the vital thrilling shifts shall be in regenerative agriculture, the place the connection between people and land is present process a basic redefinition. On the identical time, we’re getting into a brand new period of convergence between vitality, mobility, and good infrastructure, largely pushed by AI and digitalization. The transition to distributed vitality grids, vehicle-to-grid options, and hyper-efficient city techniques shall be accelerated by real-time knowledge, predictive analytics, and automation.
Maybe essentially the most pivotal change, nonetheless, is the mainstreaming of local weather tech. Whatever the political local weather, we’re witnessing a structural shift in funding priorities—institutional buyers, enterprise capitalists, and company funds are more and more embedding climate-aligned methods into their portfolios. Local weather tech is not a distinct segment class; it’s changing into a basic pillar of world finance and financial technique.
