The Dalus Capital team organized the first edition of the Latam Climate Innovation Summit in Mexico City last week. We partnered with several sponsors including the U.S. State Department, Amazon for Startups, INCmty, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Grupo Habita, Buna Coffee, Cultura Colectiva, and Daikin. Special shoutout to Dalus team members Chris Down, Eugenia Rendon, and Jimena Buitron, who led the effort.

Climate change represents an existential challenge for humanity today. The future of civilization is at risk if collectively we do not achieve a net-zero world. At Dalus, we are strong believers that multiple solutions are required including many tech-based that already exist today or that will need to be developed.

Startups in Climate Innovation (also called Climate Tech) develop solutions that mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases, reduce the impact on the environment or generate adaptation to climate change.

We need a strong Climate Innovation ecosystem for these startups to thrive. The objective of the summit was to create a space for key actors in the emerging climate innovation ecosystem in Mexico and Latin America, including startups, investors, government officials, NGOs, and other institutions, to get together, discover, share knowledge, network, and build relationships. We expect these new connections would generate much more collaboration in the future. 

The summit was opened by U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar, who is a champion for stronger environmental policies to fight climate change. His words were inspirational to the audience.

During two days we had interesting conversations on the opportunities and the challenges of this space from a diverse and amazing group of speakers. Also, we had several startups currently fundraising pitching. On the second day, we visited the channels and chinampas (islands) of Xochimilco – a UNESCO heritage site – where we learned about the regenerative agricultural program of Arca Tierra. We will share the recordings of the sessions online once available.

Based on the positive feedback, we expect to host a second edition of the summit next year. If you are interested in the climate innovation ecosystem in Latin America and would like to participate, please sign up in this form. We also have created a wiki about the climate innovation ecosystem in Latin America that you can check out here.

The energy transition to net-zero and the sustainability focus requires a collective effort from everybody. We need governments setting up the right climate policies, private companies and NGOs from startups to large enterprises implementing solutions, investors providing the funding required, and citizens to get involved. We need citizens to exercise pressure through their choices, first voting for candidates that will give priority to the climate challenge and will create the right policies for change, and second buying and consuming products from companies that are taking the right steps in sustainability.