Climate Venture Lab: Pilot testing cutting-edge technology for ... - Medium
Climate Venture Lab: Pilot testing cutting-edge technology for climate resilience in emerging markets | by Mercy Corps Ventures | Sep, 2023 | Medium
Climate Venture Lab: Pilot testing cutting-edge technology for climate resilience in emerging markets
In this blog, we present our ‘Climate Venture Lab,’ which is dedicated to catalyzing cutting-edge solutions for climate resilience in emerging markets. We also introduce their first call for proposals, which focuses on Climate Tech.
Alongside our equity investment vehicle, where we’ve invested in 44 early-stage companies driving solutions in adaptive agriculture and food systems, inclusive fintech, and climate-smart technologies, we also operate a Venture Lab, where we responsibly pilot nascent technologies with emerging markets users. For these pilots, we work with companies and partners to responsibly test, de-risk, and build the evidence base for promising, cutting-edge innovation.
Over the past three years, we have run 12 pilots focused on real world use cases for web3 and crypto technology. These pilots are crucial for building the evidence base for how blockchain, digital assets, and cryptocurrencies can serve underserved populations. Examples of previous web3 pilots include parametric crop insurance policies built on smart contracts, climate smart housing with on-chain payments, and a decentralized peer-to-peer water network in India and more.
In addition to our web3 work, we are proud to announce our Climate Venture Lab, which is focused on catalyzing cutting-edge solutions for climate resilience in emerging markets. We will be piloting new technologies to help the 3.3 billion people whose daily lives are at risk and highly vulnerable to climate change.
Our first call for proposals is focused on Climate Tech and is now live. For more information, please see here.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”