My Top 10 Climate Sectors to Watch in 2025
Where I'll be investing in 2025 in a post-green hype, hard money world
Read time: 4 min
This one’s been brewing in my head for a while.
Feels like we’re entering a new climate era.
Less idealistic.
More realpolitik.
2025 isn’t 2021.
Post-Trump re-election. VCs tired of burning cash on moonshots with zero path to profit. The ESG hype cycle is cooked. Regulatory tailwinds? Gone or reversed in the US.
But the need? The math? The physics?
Still there.
Even bigger now.
We’re heading into a new phase of climate tech.
One where the winners have:
Hard unit economics
Shorter time to revenue
Capital-light where possible
Critical infrastructure vibes
Less "save the planet" narrative.
More "this is the only way to keep running the damn economy" narrative.
Here's where I'm watching closely.
My top 10 climate sectors for 2025.
1. Energy Efficiency Tech
The easiest decarbonization lever = using less.
Data centers. Manufacturing. Buildings.
Sensors, automation, HVAC optimization, grid software, new insulation materials.
Efficiency is the new growth hack.
2. AI-Powered Energy Management
AI is a power hog.
But it’s also the key to managing complexity.
Smart grids. Smart factories. Smart energy buying.
Real-time optimization is moving from nice-to-have → must-have.
3. Nuclear’s Revenge (SMR + Fusion)
AI + Electrification + Onshoring = brutal demand for new sources of power.
Solar & wind can’t scale alone fast enough.
SMRs (Small Modular Reactors) feel inevitable for baseload.
Fusion is moving faster than anyone expected.
Watch this space.
4. Critical Minerals & New Mining
AI and energy transition needs stuff.
Copper. Lithium. Nickel. Graphite.
But here’s the catch. No one wants new extraction next door.
Enter:
Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE)
Biomining
Lab-grown materials
Circular mining / recycling
Biggest bottleneck in the energy transition? Supply chains.
5. Regionalized Manufacturing Tech
De-globalization is here.
Everyone wants to build at home again:
Batteries
Semiconductors
EV parts
Renewables components
But building factories is slow and expensive.
What are the winners?
Tech that helps decentralize + automate manufacturing in the US, Europe, Middle East.
6. Food Security for Petro-States
UAE, Saudi, Qatar are sitting on piles of cash.
But they import 80-90% of their food.
They’re not playing around anymore.
Expect crazy checks for:
Controlled environment agriculture
Algae and alt-protein
Novel irrigation
Food preservation tech
7. Water Tech is Having a Moment
Water scarcity + climate volatility = brewing crisis.
Middle East, Africa, even US Southwest.
Desalination, treatment, monitoring, leakage prevention, wastewater reuse.
Feels like what climate energy tech was in 2015.
8. Carbon Markets...but Real
The carbon offset bubble popped.
Good.
Now we get serious:
MRV tech (Measure, Report, Verify)
Biochar
Direct Air Capture (DAC) with real customers
Only quality will survive.
9. Climate-Ready Infrastructure
Not sexy. But insanely needed.
Fireproofing
Flood protection
Heat-resilient materials
Storm-resistant grids
Think insurance-tech meets construction-tech.
10. The New Agro-Industrial Tech
Everyone’s been sleeping on this.
Fertilizer innovation.
Precision ag tools.
Alternative proteins for livestock feed.
Methane reduction in cows.
Soil health platforms.
Farming is entering its data moment.
And the drivers are money, not greenwashing.
Final thought?
Climate tech is growing up.
It's moving from mission to critical infrastructure.
And the next wave of breakout companies?
They’ll look less like climate startups.
And more like industrial tech, manufacturing, energy platforms, agtech giants.
Hard tech. Real customers. Clear ROI.
This is not the end of climate investing.
This is the beginning of a much more serious chapter.
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See you next Saturday,
Yoann
Interesting take - especially food security for Petro states!