The revolution in agri-tech is finally happening – but it’s still too slow

Agriculture is facing a huge problem with climate change. It’s also facing opportunities for growth and leadership. So what’s the hold up, asks Rohan MacMahon. As I write these words Cyclone Gabrielle’s hefty impact on New Zealand is fully evident. Houses have been wrecked and businesses destroyed. Lives have been lost, and many are still […]

Why we’re backing Zincovery for zinc recycling without coal

We’ve just made our fourth investment – in Christchurch-based Zincovery. The Climate VC Fund has joined Icehouse Ventures and Outset in a NZ$3m seed round to rapidly accelerate Zincovery’s coal-busting tech. Zincovery is building an alternative to the carbon-intensive zinc recycling process. It has been on our radar since it spun out of the University […]

Climate VC Fund invests in Liquium’s green ammonia for fuel and fertiliser

Ammonia – the acrid-smelling chemical in cleaning products – is most widely used as an ingredient in fertiliser. It’s also being picked as a clean-burning alternative to diesel.  Clean floors, food and fuel – what’s not to love about ammonia? Emissions. Making ammonia is a costly affair. Global emissions from its manufacture are around 2% […]

Climate Fund backs Cleanery to tidy up emissions

Cleanery - Eco friendly cleaning products

Climate VC Fund is proud to announce its second investment. CVCF is the largest investor in a seed round of $2.34 million for Cleanery, the innovative Kiwi eco-cleaning and personal care products company. The raise attracted significant interest from the New Zealand business community, including Peter Cullinane, Nicola O’Rourke, and Michael Stiassny (via their company […]

Last year set the objectives. Now we must deliver. I’ll start.

Last year was a momentous and uneven year for New Zealand’s climate risk and our response to it. In some ways it was a reset for the country, embedding climate change into government policy and setting international goals. In other ways it was a disappointing business-as-usual year as Covid dominated the headlines and the actions. […]

Tricksy accounting is not the outrage. Offsetting is.

As the tables are folded on COP26 one debate continues to rumble in climate circles: the accounting trick played by New Zealand to claim a 50% reduction in GHGs emissions by 2030. This so-called ‘net versus gross emissions’ slight-of-hand angers many people and rightly so. But hold my beer. There’s a much bigger problem to […]

<strong>It’s time for churches to join the climate fight</strong>

By Rohan MacMahon and Vincent Heeringa Among the many dignitaries attending COP26 in Glasgow this month is Pope Francis, representing the principality of Vatican City. As a jurisdiction, the Vatican has nothing much to report – its greenhouse commitments are subsumed within Italy’s, and its emissions include the occasional puff of white smoke. As the […]