Jacqueline van den Ende: What if everyone invested in climate tech as an investment in their future?

In this episode, we sit down with Jacqueline van den Ende, co-founder of Carbon Equity and a leader in democratizing climate investment. With experience on both sides of the investment table, Jacqueline shares her insights on how capital can be a powerful driver of change in the fight against climate change. She explores the potential of climate technologies, the importance of equitable ownership, and the need for urgent action to build a sustainable future. From her experiences as an entrepreneur and investor to her vision for a greener world, this conversation delves into the challenges and opportunities of tackling the climate crisis through innovation and collaboration.

Transcript

Ronny Eriksson: Jacqueline van den Ende, your career path has taken you to both sides of the investment table. You've worked as a private equity investor, a general partner at a VC fund, and you've also been building and leading very successful companies yourself. You are the co-founder of Carbon Equity, an Amsterdam-based climate fintech company on a mission to unlock investment opportunities for everyday people, essentially allowing individuals to invest in groundbreaking climate technologies.

Your passion for equitable ownership fuels this approach, helping to broaden participation in tackling climate change. Lastly, you're on the board of Trunkrs, a Dutch last-mile delivery company focused on sustainability.

Welcome to the podcast.

Jacqueline van den Ende: Thank you for having me.

Ronny Eriksson: You have a pretty impressive, multifaceted background. You're working with some really important topics, and I think Katapult Future Fest is exactly the right place for you. How has it been so far?

Jacqueline van den Ende: Yeah, it's awesome. Very special—really a one-of-a-kind type of conference. Very cool, diverse, colorful people, and the conversations are not your usual ones you’d find at other conferences. I love it.

Ronny Eriksson: I can't agree more. I came for the first time last year, and now I feel like I'll always be back.

Jacqueline van den Ende: Yeah, definitely special.

Ronny Eriksson: Each of these episodes starts with a "what if" question to throw our guests into the deep end, but also to get the conversation flowing around a subject that’s usually relevant to you. So, let’s begin with that, and then we'll dive deeper.

Jacqueline van den Ende: Cool!

Ronny Eriksson: So, what if everyone invested in climate technologies as an investment in their future?

Jacqueline van den Ende: That would be amazing. First of all, we would raise the capital we need—around $9 trillion annually for innovation, technology, and climate infrastructure. Right now, we're only at about $3 trillion, so there's still a huge gap. But secondly, and maybe this is what I'm most passionate about, if everyone were to invest, they would also be co-owners of that better future.

When you invest, you become invested in, and people would take ownership of that future. We could create a lot more excitement about what that future could look like. Right now, when we talk about climate change or biodiversity loss, we tend to focus on the problem and the scary future.

But imagine a future with renewable energy at near-zero marginal cost, stored in massive batteries, electrified cars, and clean industrial processes. We’d have cleaner air, healthier environments, and more nature around us as we move away from meat-based to plant-based agriculture. There are so many upsides to investing in climate technologies that can lead to a better, greener, and healthier world. I think that if people invested, we could create excitement and a broad, democratized sense of ownership over that future.

Ronny Eriksson: That’s really well said. Everyone wants these good things to happen. The more you talk with people, that’s what they dream of. I love your take that if everyone were a part-owner, they would care more. We had a guest talk about DAOs and tokenizing ownership so people can have control over their financials or data. I think it's the same concept needed for the green transition.

People would invest in solving the world's biggest challenges, and they would feel ownership over the results. It’s a different feeling when you’re in the supermarket as a shareholder of the plant-based burger you’re buying.

Jacqueline van den Ende: Exactly! And more people would benefit from the financial upside of these technologies, which are actually great investment opportunities. Those three elements—solving major challenges, feeling ownership, and benefiting financially—could help the world progress a little faster.

Ronny Eriksson: Are we already at the point where climate tech is as lucrative and secure as traditional investments?

Jacqueline van den Ende: Well, it’s a spectrum. Climate tech covers a huge range of things. We focus on six big themes: the energy system—how we generate clean energy and store it, like hydrogen as a clean fuel; the built environment, where we’ll need a billion air conditioners by 2050, and other forms of green infrastructure; and the food system—alternative meats and vertical farming.

There’s also carbon capture and storage, industrial cleaning, and many other technologies. Some are still very early-stage, and might not be fully realized until 2040 or 2050, like nuclear fusion or direct air capture. Those are high-risk. On the other hand, we have technologies that are nearly de-risked and at the rollout stage, like grid-scale batteries. These are already growing in multi-billion-dollar markets.

Companies like Form Energy, which is one of our indirect portfolio companies, are making iron-air grid-scale batteries that can store electricity for up to 100 hours at just 10% of the cost of lithium-ion batteries. The potential is massive for these companies.

So, yes, investing in climate technology can be risky, as with any investment, but the direction of travel could not be clearer. There's no future where we continue to double down on fossil fuels—that path is unsustainable.

Ronny Eriksson: Exactly, I totally see that. But here’s a problem: many green transition projects are mega-projects that run over budget and over time. How can we reduce that risk for smaller players?

Jacqueline van den Ende: That’s a fair point. Climate investing spans everything from seed-stage startups to billion-dollar infrastructure projects. One new aspect of the energy transition is that we’re moving from an OPEX economy (operational expenditures) to a CAPEX economy (capital expenditures). So, while there’s a high upfront cost to building renewable infrastructure, the ongoing cost is much lower—wind is free, for example.

Governments and infrastructure funds are stepping in with billions to support these projects. At Carbon Equity, we pool capital from both big and small investors, anywhere from €100,000 to €25 million, so that more people can participate in these funds.

Ronny Eriksson: That makes sense. You mentioned innovation in business models earlier, like leasing or cooperatives, to make green solutions more accessible.

Jacqueline van den Ende: Exactly. It’s all about democratizing access, creating more ways for people to participate.

Ronny Eriksson: So, with all of this background, how did you come to start Carbon Equity? What motivated you?

Jacqueline van den Ende: I’ve spent half my career as an entrepreneur and half as an investor. I started in private equity, where I learned how money moves the world. After a few years, I wanted to be a builder again, so I joined Rocket Internet and led some major projects in Southeast Asia. Then I moved back to investment as a partner at Peak, a VC fund.

In 2019, I read The Sixth Extinction, which explains how rapid temperature changes have caused mass extinctions in the past. I realized we’re in the middle of another extinction, with changes happening much faster than ever before. That’s when I knew I had to spend the next 30 years of my life working to solve climate change. Capital became my weapon of choice because money ultimately decides the outcomes.

Ronny Eriksson: That’s incredibly powerful. Money does move mountains. And your realization is something we need to amplify.