Catalysing Climate Capital: Unlocking Investment for Australia’s Climate Tech Future

We have everything we need to lead: world-class research, abundant natural resources, and strong institutions.

We don’t have a climate innovation problem, nor do we have a climate capital problem, we have a climate capital deployment problem. And we risk squandering our comparative advantage if we don’t act fast.

The Catalysing Climate Capital report, produced by Greenhouse with the support of the City of Sydney, offers the first in-depth playbook for accelerating climate innovation and investment across Australia and often-overlooked Southeast Asia region.

Drawing on insights gained from hosting Australia’s leading climate innovation and investment summits, desktop research and over 20 interviews with leading investors, founders, policymakers and ecosystem builders, the report maps out how we can bridge critical funding gaps, unlock private and institutional investment, and scale world-class climate solutions.

Our research indicates that the primary challenge is not a scarcity of funds or solutions, but rather a fragmented ecosystem, risk aversion, and misalignment of incentives across various capital providers.

Key Gaps in the Climate Capital System

1.       Public investment vehicles are cautious, not catalytic.

2.       Blended finance is rare and underdeveloped.

3.       Cultural risk aversion dominates private markets.

4.       Corporate procurement fails to send demand signals.

5.       SE Asia regional opportunity is overlooked.

6.       Fragmentation + financial illiteracy stall progress.

“We need to rethink how we finance climate solutions and how we approach risk. I urge those with capital and those committed to the space to set aside traditional playbooks and return to first principles: what are we trying to achieve, and how can we structure deals to get there? We’re facing fundamentally different challenges, and that demands a fundamentally different approach.”
– Amanda Goodman, Partner at Ecotone Partners.

How it can be done! A new innovative approach to funding climate

As well as recommendations for a mire coordinated and cohesive ecosystem approach the report features Australian case studies of innovative funding models and pathways for climate and nature, including:

• NRN Securing $67.2M to scale climate tech hardware with a blended approach including debt, equity and institutional infrastructure investors.
• Investible and TRaCE sharing early-stage risk through a blended funding models that recycles returns.
• PlasmaLeap scaling Green ammonia through a mixture of non-dilutive grants and equity.
• Wedgetail Ventures and Wedgetail Foundation combining concessional grants alongside equity investments to fund regenerative nature and climate projects.

“I think it ultimately comes down to risk versus reward. In Australian early-stage climate tech, we’re seeing a lot of former infrastructure and investment banking professionals leading the charge in venture capital. Their intentions are good, but you can see in how they frame questions, structure deals, and assess risk that their mindset is still shaped by those prior roles.The challenge is they’re applying a conservative, project-finance risk lens while expecting venture-scale returns, and that’s where the mismatch lies.Venture investing is a different game entirely, uses different decision-making muscles, and prior track records in other asset classes don’t always translate into the kind of judgment early-stage VC demands.”
– Ben Lindsay, Investment Principal at Investible