Climate intelligence (2024)

1. Richer data opens new niches

   • Photos taken from space — which are becoming less expensive and more plentiful — are helping us to make smarter decisions about weather- and climate-related risks back on earth.
   • Satellites are providing insights into the unfolding risks of droughts, floods, wildfires, extreme heat and rising seas.
   • London-based startup Ocean Ledger, for example, offers satellite and remote sensing data for marine restoration and conservation.
   • Another UK startup, Previsico, a spinout from Loughborough University, models weather data to make street-level flood forecasts, helping local authorities better plan their disaster response.

2. Rise of the carbon detectives

   • An airline buys a carbon offset based on a project that plants trees to absorb CO2, and counts it against its own footprint. What this airline needs to know is: did this project actually deliver what it set out to do?
   • This is the moment you send for companies like London-based Sylvera, which calls itself a carbon data specialist. Sylvera, which last year bagged a $57m Series B round led by Balderton Capital, uses drones, machine learning, lasers and satellite images to assess whether projects are delivering the climate impact they promise.
   • Sylvera and similar companies are looking to assess the carbon impact and how accurately this is reported. Equally important is a project’s “additionality”, that is, whether the carbon removal would have happened anyway, without the sale of the credits. Finally, the project needs to be scored on “permanence” — whether the emissions savings from the project will last over the period claimed, typically 100 years.

3. Eyeing the US

   • We’re seeing platforms adopting a “build cheaply in Europe” and “sell high in America” approach.
   • The majority of Europe’s climate intelligence startups will be considering US expansion within a few years of starting out.
   • For example, London’s Climate X, which in June raised an $18m Series A from Google Ventures, has announced its plans to open a US office.

Who early stage startups are up against