Climate Tech: Geopolitics, AI, and the Future of Carbon

The climate crisis isn’t pausing, but global attention is shifting. Wars, political instability, and defense spending are pulling resources away from long-term climate goals, while the urgency of the problem only grows. Against this backdrop, the climate tech sector stands at a crossroads to avoid fall ing prey to hype and greenwashing. 
 
This keynote explores some of the toughest questions facing climate innovation today: 

• Profit with Purpose. How can private companies build climate tech ventures that are both profitable and genuinely impactful, avoiding the trap of solutions that look good on paper but fail to actually move the needle? 
• AI’s Double-Edged Sword. While AI optimizes grids, agriculture, or carbon capture, its energy-hungry scaling risks worsening the very crisis it promises to solve. How do we build AI for climate without fueling the problem? 
• Carbon as Currency. Carbon markets are booming, but how much of it is meaningful reduction versus accounting tricks? What role should startups play in ensuring carbon offsetting and storage are credible, not a loophole? 
• Extreme Tech Bets. Fusion, geoengineering, or direct air capture — are these moonshots reckless gambles, or essential risks we must take to bend the curve?