Impact VCs to startups: Don’t bet your business on green premiums
9 okt. 2025
06:00
The mood in impact investing is shifting. As capital gets cautious and politics turn unpredictable, Europe’s VCs say founders need to prove their startups can build around cost, resilience, and real market demand – free from green premiums.
“Build a value proposition that would succeed even if no one cared about climate change,” Charlie Macdonald, investment manager at Rubio Impact Ventures, tells Impact Loop.
“Build a value proposition that would succeed even if no one cared about climate change,” Charlie Macdonald, investment manager at Rubio Impact Ventures, tells Impact Loop.
Europe’s impact startups are being pushed to prove their economic edge.
As investors grow wary of fragile policy incentives and uncertain carbon markets, the focus is shifting toward solutions that are both profitable and indispensable – technologies that bolster energy security, improve efficiency, and can thrive even if the politics of climate falter.