"I want to emphasize that climate is not a trend. Climate change is here. You're not going to pause and it's only going to get worse. In my view, there's no way it’s going to disappear and therefore investments in climate are going to disappear. It is only going to get increasingly more important. It's not like a bubble and it’s not going to burst. We need more investments, more entrepreneurs, and more VCs in this space. We see climate not as climate tech. It's not just renewables and solar. We see it as a broader complexity of subsectors. $32B went into the US climate investments. Southeast Asia saw $1.1B and we're celebrating because that's a 10X increase in the last five years. We're not even on the map. So we need to change our perception of what climate is and what climate isn't, and back entrepreneurs and support them in different ways." - Alina Truhina
"Addressing climate change is incredibly elitist. It's not inclusive. We need to do more to change perceptions of what that is. To this day, the common man and woman will not care to change their behavior or consumption habits. That's from middle-income or high-income earners. The mass population in the region that we work in is focused on survival, but that is why I think we need to think about it differently. We look for founders who are solving problems that are very user-centric and that allow people to make decisions, not necessarily by being convinced and completely going cold turkey and, stopping plastic consumption. It is how we still invest in agriculture and waste management and creating new building materials. It is not about telling them to stop doing something but how to make slight changes to your habits. It doesn't have to be incredibly abrupt." - Alina Truhina
"We need disruptive solutions in the world and we need more entrepreneurs solving for those. And yes, the private sector is doing work in that area. The public sector and the governments are focused on changing policies and initiating agreements globally, but I think it's the early-stage entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs in general that are going to come up with and leverage technologies that will scale climate solutions specifically in this region. Being local and having local entrepreneurs solving local problems is going to be critical to finding those solutions." - Alina Truhina
In this episode, Jeremy Au speaks on climate change reality, her political refugee journey, and navigating ESG.
Keywords: Alina Truhina, Climate Change Reality, Political Refugee Journey, Navigating ESG, Environment, Founder Story
