Facilitating climate mitigation through investment in ocean-based solutions

The sector requires transformative technologies and significant infrastructure to be developed to solve climate challenges. It also creates a distinct investment profile - longer time horizon, greater risks, presence of multiple structural impediments, and larger investment - but with the potential for very large environmental impact and investment returns. This sector is in its infancy but requires significant capital to accelerate its growth.  What can be done to attract meaningful funding to this critical sector?

Moderator

Akash Rastogi

Innovation and Commercialization Strategist, Ocean Frontier Institute

‍Panelists

Marc von Keitz

Director, Grantham Foundation

Julie Pullen

Partner and Chief Scientist, Propeller Ventures

Antonius Gagern

Program Director at Additional Ventures

Mitch Rubin

Director of Innovation, Elemental Excelerator

Catherine Martini

Senior Program Manager Carbon Removal Transactions, Microsoft

Panel Questions

1. Panelists to introduce themselves, briefly share the role their respective organizations are currently playing in the ocean-related solutions to combat climate risks. For e.g. ball-park funding being provided, funding philosophy, which specific area(s) across mCDR value-chain it is supporting, which stage of company’s lifecycle and how is it aligned with their funding objectives?
2. Stepping away from your respective organization, what are the key trends you have observed across funders similar to yourselves (such as philanthropies, VCs) – is the funding accelerating / decelerating / stagnating, which parts of the solution value-chain are current & projected focus areas (e.g., observations and baseline measurement infrastructure, MRV, Carbon Credit markets, standards)?
3. Pivoting to funding going forward, what are the key trends & developments funders would need to see to accelerate funding: from a) tech perspective, b) policy / regulatory perspective, c) science & research perspective?
4. For mCDR-based markets to ultimately develop and mature requires significant investment in key infrastructural assets (such as baseline measurement systems, voluntary carbon market infrastructure and standards) - what needs to be done to attract capital for infrastructure development? What could be the significant sources of funding, especially in absence of public funding?
5. If you had a magic wand, what one top thing would you wish for in the near-term to accelerate development of this sector?