No doubt 2024 will feel like an eventful year to many people around the world, but as an investor in early-stage European climate hard tech companies, a few things stand out in particular: a resounding victory for Trump, trade wars with China, political convulsions in France and Germany, the decline of Northvolt, the failure of offshore wind auctions, and senior Eurocrats voicing remarkably pro-business policy frameworks. This is not to downplay the importance of e.g. war in Ukraine and Gaza, NATO expansion, the stockmarket dominance of the Magnificent Seven, or the emergence of AI, but it’s less clear what effects these will have on our immediate ecosystem. 

To understand why we highlight these things, consider the following simplified bull and bear cases for how things could develop for European climate hard tech in light of recent events.

Meet our newest Climentum Team Member Jørn Haanæs who is building up our Oslo presence.

Read in our interview why he is passionate about climate tech, what made him join and article 9 fund and what is most important to him when investing in companies.

By 2022, renewable energy accounted for approximately 23% of all energy consumption in the EU, up from 16.7% in 2013. However, to produce enough renewable energy to hit decarbonization targets and stay competitive in a growing market, important decision-makers in the space - developers, governments and investors - need more guidance. 

Using a combination of data science, industry experience and AI technology, the team at Aegir Insights has built a software & intelligence platform that provides offshore wind players with the insights they need to make smarter and faster decisions. From spatial data like the depth of a seabed and analysis of local grid infrastructure, all the way to cost forecasting for the latest renewable energy innovations, Aegir Insights delivers essential information to clients in less than one second. 

The main consequence of the SFDR is that all investment funds must disclose to what extent they consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in their investments. As a result, all European funds self-categorize as either an Article 6, 8 or 9 fund depending on their level of sustainability & impact orientation.

ecoLocked’s platform enables fast and cost-efficient development of high-performing biochar-based building materials. Powered by data on biochars, suppliers, and other materials & technologies, ecoLocked develops additives and admix materials that can partially replace conventional materials like sand and cement.

ZeroPoint’s technology for semiconductors delivers up to 50% more performance per watt by removing unnecessary information. Data center companies and smart device developers can integrate ZeroPoint’s hardware and memory management software into their systems to maximize performance and minimize energy consumption.

Entocycle has developed leading insect farming technology using AI automation, computer vision and robotics to farm insects at scale. The company provides this technology to insect farmers who use it to produce alternative sustainable protein for animal feed.

Using its AI software, one.five builds novel packaging that meets the individual needs of consumer brands to unlock greater packaging performance, affordability and sustainability.

The original spark for Climentum Capital can be traced back to Oxford University, where Morten was exploring dual carry models as part of an executive programme on impact investing. After studying these models in theory, Morten decided that he wanted to develop one in the real world. This is when he began assembling the rest of the team - Malin, Dörte and Stefan - to build our VC fund…

At Wayout, we solve two problems at once: the issue of a lack of clean drinking water and the large global carbon footprint caused by the plastics industry…

Launching our Article 9 fund is the culmination of my long-term interest in climate action and VC experience. I have been interested in fighting climate change long before it was mainstream and pursued my interests by earning a Bachelor and Master of Science in Energy and Environmental Engineering…

When we saw an opportunity to leverage our backgrounds in biotechnology and food science to build a platform that filled the gap in the fast-growing sustainable food market for quality animal-free cheese, we knew it was only a matter of time until we took the leap…

Our NOVATRON™ fusion reactor is inherently stable due to its concave magnetic field design, which ensures plasma stability and guarantees confinement in combination with other electrostatic, complementary systems. Achieving stable fusion plasma containment is a major technology challenge on the path to commercial viability…

Despite recent challenges, offshore wind continues to possess immense potential. The market is growing and auctions are booming with over 50 GW planned for kick-off, marking 2024 as the busiest year ever. Aegir will help realize that potential, facilitating faster and more robust transactions…

We’re a climate focused hard tech fund. This means that our portfolio companies follow a very different growth journey in comparison to software businesses, which is what most VCs have experience with. Our companies often need to start with building physical assets like production lines and factories, so they often experience challenges that are common to young infrastructure companies…

But ultimately my path to launching this Article 9 fund can be traced back to my childhood in West Africa, where I grew up in large houses while my neighbors were extremely poor. The injustice was impossible to ignore and it instilled a desire to create meaningful change. My whole family ended up working in different impact related areas as a result of this…

I have a natural understanding of the tech world, particularly the engineering side of things, and many years’ experience commercializing businesses. I wanted to apply this to climate change mitigation. For this, an Article 9 fund is an enabler. It’s the right format if you want to invest in what actually matters and your ambition is to reshape the very fabric of industry…

Nuclear is not just one of the cleanest but also the fastest way we’ve decarbonized large grids. Renewable energy is great. But there are some essential limitations. Among renewables, only wind and solar can be practically deployed almost anywhere. However, their intermittent nature means that it’s sensible for just around 20% of electricity production in a given market to rely on them. If we had super-cheap large-scale long-duration storage solutions, that number could come up quite a lot. But we don’t. Not even close.

Novatron reactor concept holds the promise of reaching commercially attractive fusion power as one of the first, if not the first, in the world.

“Electrodes serve as the beating heart of all electrolysers and fuel cells. The evolution of electrodes plays a pivotal role in determining the triumph of the green hydrogen industry, much like the revolutionary impact of microchip innovation in the personal computing era.”