How private capital is advancing the next wave of sustainable and climate tech

In today's episode of the All Things Sustainable podcast, we're exploring the landscape for private investment into sustainability and climate solutions.

We talk with Christina Leijonhufvud, CEO and Co-Founder of BlueMark, a company that tracks trends in the sustainable and impact investing market. Christina describes an increasing focus on climate solutions and climate tech investing in the market. She says that while investing in climate risk adaptation and resilience has increased, there is still greater need for private capital.

"It's an underfunded part of the market, which means there is a ton of opportunity," Christina says. S&P Global is an outside investor in BlueMark.

We also talk with Matthew Nordan, Co-Founder and General Partner at Azolla Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage climate technology companies in hard-to-decarbonize areas like industrial processes and agriculture.

Matthew explains the firm's focus on solving big problems: "We are just not going to make a difference if the things we fund are incremental," he tells us.

And we speak with Nelson Switzer, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Climate Innovation Capital, a mid-stage venture fund that invests in technology businesses across energy, agriculture and industry to build a low-carbon, resilient economy.

Nelson says the world has entered the "fifth economic revolution" that involves the decarbonization of everything. "We have to reimagine, reengineer and redeploy almost everything we do," he tells us.

We sat down with Matthew and Nelson during DC Climate Week in Washington, where All Things Sustainable was the official podcast. Listen to our podcast coverage of DC Climate Week here.

Further listening:

Here's what you missed at London Climate Action Week

Live in London: How sustainability is evolving into a broader conversation about resilience

What planetary health means for the private sector