Stefan, welcome. Help us, if you would,
understand how innovation and green tech are key to reaching net zero.
Well,
we know from a study we did a couple years ago that in order to get to net zero,
about a third of what needs to be achieved can be done with existing technology.
Think wind, solar...
another third needs to be achieved by scaling technologies,
which exist but are not at scale.
And then a full third requires Zero to One innovation.
So really coming up with stuff which doesn't exist yet.
So clearly innovation in all its aspects is key to getting to net zero.
Talk to me about the growth, if you would,
of climate tech over the past few years.
Climate tech has been one of the fastest growing
segments of the overall venture capital industry over the last few years,
really globally. So that's encouraging to see.
We had an earlier phase,
a green tech investment phase about 10-15 years ago,
which was not super successful at the time because many technologies
weren't mature yet. But the more recent technologies,
technology investments in this climate tech space are very, very hopeful.
And it's interesting,
we've seen a correction of asset prices in the technology sector,
obviously the last couple of months and quarters in many sectors - not so much
in climate tech. So people continue to be quite bullish about that space.
What do you put that growth down to over recent years?
I think what's special about this whole climate tech
space is that there's not a million ways to get to net zero.
We pretty much know what needs to happen. So for example,
we need obviously tons of renewable energies.
We need a hydrogen economy.
We need technologies that enable us to capture carbon.
So many of the ways to get to zero are directionally clear.
And so it's obviously interesting for investors to invest in certain segments of
these technologies at least.
What about the climate tech startup environment in Europe?
What's the potential there? What impact do you think that that could have?
The European startup community in climate tech is particularly strong and
growing, obviously benefiting from some of the regulation,
which is very pro-climate transformation across Europe.
And we see some incredible growth there over the last couple of years as well.
There are lots of examples,
including companies that develop carbon markets,
circularity models, and many others.
What do you see as the biggest opportunities in this space
for corporations with green tech?
So corporations, when they invest in new businesses,
we always tell them to look for what we call the unfair advantage.
So they need to bring something to the table from their existing business,
which helps them build a new business. And so of course,
that unfair advantage depends on the industry you are in,
but in particular in Europe,
with many of the more traditional industries like steel,
cement and others,
there are tremendous opportunities there to invest in ways to produce these
materials in a more sustainable way.
Stefan, thank you so much.
Thank you.