This project
The Adaptation Foundry is where I think this through in public. It is a publication: essays and shorter notes on what adapting to climate change will take, and who pays for it. Three questions run through much of it: where private capital can go today, how to create more opportunities for it, and who has to pay where it won't go.
It is an independent project, not a company. It has no clients and nothing to sell. I started it, I write it, and I run it alongside my other work. It also informs my own investing. I expect to feed it for the foreseeable future.
Background
I have spent about two decades working where business meets society and the environment. I started in standards and think-tank work at AccountAbility, advised companies at PwC, Accenture and Deloitte, and then led the ESG software business at EQS Group. I have also done independent advisory work for businesses, investors and foundations. Most of that work helped organisations understand how their own interests depend on society and the environment, and act on it. It was largely prompted by what others expected of them: customers, investors, regulators and communities.
My work on adaptation is driven by something else. I am convinced that climate change is coming at us fast and hard, and that no part of society will be spared. Heat, water and drought do not negotiate. My concern has also widened, from the single organisation to how well society as a whole comes through.
What else I do
The Adaptation Foundry is one part of my work. The other parts shape what I write, so I name them here.
Corporate advisory. I am an equity partner at DSR & Partners, a firm that advises companies on climate adaptation. If your company needs support on adaptation, that is where I work on it.
Adaptation Exchange. I lead the Adaptation Stack working group at the Adaptation Exchange. More on this under Activities.
Venture building. I advise on setting up a programme that turns research from European laboratories into companies. It is not limited to adaptation. It does deal with a question that matters here: how something that works finds someone who will pay for it.
Investing in adaptation. I invest in early-stage companies that contribute to adaptation. I primarily do this with two angel syndicates, Resist VC and UpRoot Capital. You can see my current investments under Activities.
Disclosure
I earn my living from advisory and venture building work, some of it with organisations named on this site. The adaptation-related investments I hold are listed under Activities. This project sells nothing. It does serve my own interests: I want it to bring invitations to collaborate, advisory or board roles and co-investment.
Contact
I am glad to hear from people who work on these questions: researchers and founders building solutions, investors who want to compare notes or co-invest, organisations looking for an adviser or board member, and anyone who sees a way to work together. If you have written or built something that belongs in this conversation, send it to me as well.
contact@adaptationfoundry.com