NKI Project: Making climate protection investable at start-ups

As part of the “NKI Project: Making Climate Protection at Startups Investable”, the Borderstep Institute, ImpactNexus and SDG INVESTMENTS presented an efficient and highly automated assessment of climate protection and sustainability potential of startups at a hybrid launch event.

The NKI project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection as part of the National Climate Protection Initiative.

Three modules were presented: an assessment of ESG performance, climate impact forecasting, and the identification of impact goals. The goal of the project is to make startups and their climate protection and sustainability potential visible quickly, reliably and cost-effectively, as well as to increase the number and effectiveness of sustainable startups.

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The event started with a foreword by Michael Kellner, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection, which discussed the importance and impact of greentech startups and startups in general on the current transformation in the field of climate protection.

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In the following, Verena Hubertz, deputy chair of the SPD parliamentary group, presented parts of the new startup strategy of the traffic light coalition. She addressed the topics of employee participation and better financing of startups both in early phases and in the Series B,C,D phases. Furthermore, Ms. Hubertz underpinned the project goal of creating visibility for sustainability criteria, so that when investing in startups, “climate does not have to be played off against returns”, but rather innovation potentials are released.

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Afterwards, the project team presented the evaluation solutions using concrete examples and discussed the calculation of CO2 savings and sustainability potentials of startups with experts.

The following 3 modules were presented:
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ESG Assessment Module:‍

The ESG Assessment Module was developed to provide startups and SMEs with a low-threshold introduction to sustainability management. The ESG assessment is designed to help companies access sustainability issues, help them integrate sustainability practices into daily operations, and accelerate the transition to more sustainable business models.

Impact Goal Module:‍

The Impact Goal Module enables identification of a company’s key sustainability impacts. It includes a comprehensive analysis and assessment of the company’s performance against internationally recognized frameworks, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the EU Taxonomy, and the IRIS Standard.

Climate Impact Module:‍

Unlike traditional methodologies that analyze past emissions, the Climate Impact Module takes a proactive stance by focusing on future planned greenhouse gas reductions. It provides a clear understanding of potential impacts and facilitates the identification of solutions with high mitigation potential for the climate. This user-friendly software tool adapts to different business models, simplifying the calculation process and enabling efficient assessment.

At the end, there was a panel discussion moderated by Prof. Dr. Klaus Fichter, Borderstep Institute with:

Frank Ackermann, Managing Partner, SDG INVESTMENTS;
Oliver Hunke, Head of Department VII C3, BMWK;
Markus Grünewald, Head of Research, imug rating;
Martin Haagen, CEO, eeaser

A recording of the launch event is available at this LINK.
Access to the software tools is available at this LINK.

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