Doerte Hirschberg: Investing in Climate Solutions and Transforming Industries (SPARK20 - 114)

What does it take to tackle the world's biggest challenge—climate change—while driving profit and innovation? Meet Doerte Hirschberg, a visionary investor reshaping industries with bold ideas and data-driven solutions.

In this episode, Doerte takes us on a journey of how her team at Climentum Capital uses measurable CO2 impact as their guiding star. She shares insights into why the future of sustainable industries lies in rethinking systems, embracing new technologies, and focusing on the bigger picture. From transforming dairy into vegan alternatives to unlocking the potential of the hydrogen economy, her lessons are as inspiring as they are actionable.

Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, an investor, or someone passionate about sustainability, this conversation will teach you:

• Why CO2 is the most powerful KPI to measure climate impact.
• How industries like food and transport are being revolutionized with technology like precision fermentation.
• The secret to avoiding overhyped trends while investing in solutions that truly make a difference.

At the heart of it all, Doerte’s optimism, strategic mindset, and passion for innovation make this episode a masterclass in balancing ambition with sustainability. As she says, “The world doesn’t need more overhyped investments. It needs smarter ones.”

Curious for more? Listen to the full episode here and dive deeper into Doerte’s remarkable journey. 

Quotes:

• (10:40) "We need to feed 7 billion people with less land, less animals, and less CO2—this isn't just a challenge, it's an opportunity to rethink the future of food."
• (17:26) "Imagine a world where climate change isn’t just a problem we talk about, but a challenge we’ve conquered—with measurable impact and real change."
• (14:01) "Biases are everywhere—even in venture capital. The industry claims it wants women, yet the system subtly works against them. It's time for that to change."

Timestamps

• (0:00) Can We Balance Profit with Saving the Planet?
• (1:08) Why CO2 is the Key Metric for Climate Impact
• (3:07) The Challenges and Opportunities of Climate Tech
• (8:10) Why LPs Should Invest in Elemental Capital
• (11:12) The Future of Vegan Cheese with Fermify
• (14:01) Breaking Biases in Venture Capital
• (18:46) Vision for a Sustainable Future

 Don't miss this chance to learn from Doerte Hirschberg's journey, her inspiring vision, and her sharp strategies to reshape the future. Press play, and let’s spark some change together!

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:37:03

Christian Soschner

Can we balance profit with saving the planet? Let's find out. 20 minutes of high value insights for Time Smart listeners. Today's guest is the co-founder of Elemental Capital, a fund laser focused on tackling climate change while delivering strong returns. In this spark 20 episode. You will discover why CO2 is the key climate metric. How do I avoid overhyped investments?

00:00:37:05 - 00:00:52:24

Christian Soschner

And the secret sauce to thriving in carrot stick. If these ideas spark your curiosity, dive into the full episode for deeper insights. Happy listening and let's spark some change together.

00:00:52:24 - 00:00:54:23

Christian Soschner

How did your vision evolve?

00:00:54:23 - 00:01:08:17

Christian Soschner

What, how did you find it to focus solely on CO2 investing to get rid of this problem? Was the first emission or did you, find the emission while you were working on something else?

00:01:08:21 - 00:01:33:03

Doerte Hirschberg

Yeah. So we we met as a team, during 2020. It was virtually because we are from Berlin and Copenhagen and Stockholm, and this was big Covid time. So we couldn't even meet physically the first month. And we came from different angles and had different perspectives. And, I'm definitely not the impact and impact measurement expert. And the team we have others.

00:01:33:05 - 00:01:54:16

Doerte Hirschberg

But what's what they convinced me about and what makes a lot of sense is that, climate change and CO2 emissions is the one impact topic that you can measure with, with figures that are very solid and where you have a scientific base on, on the assumptions and the European taxonomy and stuff that you can base this on.

00:01:54:18 - 00:02:16:06

Doerte Hirschberg

And this allows us to, make our impact targeted for the fund as credible as our financial target. So we have a we have a financial target and a hurdle rate for our Kerry. And we have the same on the impact side. And this is at the moment in this year, this is only possible for for CO2 or CO2 equivalents.

00:02:16:08 - 00:02:41:02

Doerte Hirschberg

You can have other impact categories. Yeah. Education, social stuff. Biodiversity, very very, very important topics. But there you need to do it more qualitative because you cannot compare, I don't know, millions of cancer patients who live longer with kids who receive better education. And more insects in a certain area. Yeah. You cannot compare that.

00:02:41:07 - 00:03:04:01

Doerte Hirschberg

This needs to stay, qualitative. And we like this, yeah. This this opportunity to to really measure what we do and to also talk to the financial community and, and finance driven investors in a language that they speak. And we say, hey, we deliver this IRR and this much climate impact. Yeah.

00:03:04:01 - 00:03:06:13

Christian Soschner

But this your view on the capitalist system.

00:03:07:12 - 00:03:38:07

Doerte Hirschberg

So fundamentally, I am with you. Yeah. I also love this entrepreneurial stories and and the technologies that move something to the better. That's that's also my core belief. But it's also fair. For example, in the, in the Tesla case, a Tesla, if you have now a five year old diesel and he replaced with a new Tesla, this is this will depend a lot on your driving pattern, but it's not necessarily super green because it has also a lot of Nexium, which has many problems.

00:03:38:07 - 00:03:41:12

Doerte Hirschberg

And the whole production process and aluminum, which is a light

00:03:41:12 - 00:03:47:22

Doerte Hirschberg

material, is also super problematic. So this it's good that you have a Tesla, but

00:03:47:22 - 00:04:05:06

Doerte Hirschberg

of course it would be even better if you would move to, public transport and, and reduce your travel overall. And, and, and this is also a fair point. Yeah. So, so this is, this is a fine balance.

00:04:05:06 - 00:04:34:05

Doerte Hirschberg

And I think, reduction of certain, consumption, will also be part of the equation now. So, but we are all humans and we, I think humans are collaborative, as you mentioned, your grandparents, who told you don't throw away stuff. I mean, in Germany, almost everybody is sorting the trash every day. It's a lot of extra effort.

00:04:34:05 - 00:04:58:08

Doerte Hirschberg

We all do it. So, I also know so many people will take the bike also when it's raining and really try to do an effort to not throw away food. And, and I think we can also do more there. Yeah. But this is a process. And if you would ban, I don't know, vacation flights that. Yeah this would you wouldn't get a majority for that.

00:04:58:08 - 00:05:34:13

Doerte Hirschberg

And and I'm also I'm, I'm convinced on on capitalism at least if it has some boundaries. But I'm also convinced on the democracy and for democracy you need the majority. And this is what makes me so angry about these, guys who blew themselves on the street because they risk, actually, that the majority of the, the normal people, are supportive and are, willing to to go their way and now install the heat pumps, safe energy where they can exchange the light bulbs and all the stuff that we actually do.

00:05:34:13 - 00:05:35:13

Doerte Hirschberg

Yeah.

00:05:36:04 - 00:06:03:24

Christian Soschner

I couldn't agree more from coming from the finance side. Having one KPI hate it to can clearly measure makes a huge difference. But on the other hand when you open the newspaper, I think it also opens up, a lot of critics, criticism who say, why say CO2? Why not something else? What's your opinion? Why CO2 is the best KPI that we currently have to measure when we want to measure any impact on, on on the environment?

00:06:03:24 - 00:06:09:21

Christian Soschner

It's a complex system. Yes. You have a lot of variables to travel with by CO2. In your opinion, the best one.

00:06:10:09 - 00:06:35:18

Doerte Hirschberg

It's not the it's not the best, but it's the only one that is standardized so far in the, in the impact community so that you can really compare a recycling technology with vegan cheese and you can say, this can save so much and this so much. And, I, I would definitely not say that this is the most important KPI or whatsoever biodiversity, for example.

00:06:35:18 - 00:06:39:09

Doerte Hirschberg

This is also something that's that's definitely very, very.

00:06:39:11 - 00:06:43:00

Christian Soschner

But but can can you measure the impact on biodiversity of.

00:06:43:00 - 00:07:08:19

Doerte Hirschberg

A more qualitative. Yeah. So you can of course if you have a certain technology you can in a certain area measure something. Yeah. So but it's, it's not on a global scale and you cannot compare it to CO2 or to, to something else. Yeah. So it's not a, it's not a. Yeah. And the one figure. But that doesn't mean that it's not important.

00:07:08:19 - 00:07:14:14

Doerte Hirschberg

I'm we we need also funds to invest on that. And this can also make financial sense.

00:07:14:14 - 00:07:18:01

Doerte Hirschberg

But it's just our focus. We decided

00:07:18:01 - 00:07:38:07

Doerte Hirschberg

okay, let's let's, take this battle and, and quite frankly, a lot has also a positive impact on climate change. And for example, we we have done investments in the in the space where we avoid plastic and their CO2 is only one of several impact sectors.

00:07:38:07 - 00:07:58:24

Doerte Hirschberg

Yeah. The, the whole ocean plastic and which then comes to biodiversity to other problems is not directly related to CO2. And of course, we also account that in our impact due diligence. So we calculate the CO2 and but then we also say and in addition there are other things that we really like and find important. And this is of course something that we that we don't ignore.

00:07:58:24 - 00:08:10:12

Doerte Hirschberg

And we have the freedom to also do investments which are not super great climate cases, but very good, and that have additional great impact. Dimensions. Yeah.

00:08:10:12 - 00:08:13:17

Christian Soschner

Why should NPS invest in you?

00:08:13:19 - 00:08:20:03

Christian Soschner

What's your USP? What is something that, others cannot do? What do you do better?

00:08:20:05 - 00:08:21:05

Doerte Hirschberg

Yeah, yeah.

00:08:21:05 - 00:08:46:20

Doerte Hirschberg

So one thing is definitely that we are more technical than others. We also have engineers in our team. We also know the investor landscape that is not VC, but that is more, infrastructure debt, private equity related that can also invest in hardware. So we know more about this stuff. I want. Other thing is that our geographic footprint is a is a big advantage.

00:08:46:22 - 00:09:11:18

Doerte Hirschberg

Scandinavia is in many green technologies a bit ahead, but it's small. So companies who do something great in Denmark, Sweden, they are very happy that we have the access to to Germany, which is big. And on the other hand, many German startups, like our connections to the Nordics, where it's maybe easier to convince some some B2B customers and, and, to have some discussions.

00:09:11:18 - 00:09:40:17

Doerte Hirschberg

Yeah. So, this is also definitely unique. And when you spoke about these hype and bubble topics, I think this is our job as an investor to have strong thesis and to view these, look at, at these topics that where, where valuations increase and where the hype increase and position yourself smartly to that. So for example, we looked at the hydrogen space.

00:09:40:19 - 00:09:44:14

Doerte Hirschberg

And we are very convinced that hydrogen will be an important part to decarbonize

00:09:44:14 - 00:09:50:17

Doerte Hirschberg

big industry. And there are many and electrolyzer companies have seen

00:09:50:17 - 00:10:11:18

Doerte Hirschberg

super high valuations and high rounds without much revenue or anything like that. So we said, no, this is not for us. We won't go into Electrolyzers. And we invested now into a company that does the electrodes for Electrolyzers, which is a critical component, around 25% of the cost and still was not good efficiency and durability.

00:10:11:20 - 00:10:37:10

Doerte Hirschberg

So we did an investment there. Other segments, for example, in the, in the, in transportation, we said this whole electric vehicle and the cars that's that's over. That's not for early stage anymore. We look at other segments within transportation. So more goods transportation and shipping and stuff like that, which will learn from cars and trucks, but which will still be different.

00:10:37:10 - 00:10:38:04

Doerte Hirschberg

Yeah.

00:10:38:04 - 00:10:40:15

Christian Soschner

what's it that you're looking for in companies?

00:10:40:19 - 00:11:06:07

Doerte Hirschberg

Yeah, absolutely. So I can select Fermi five, which is the Vienna based, biotech company that produces, in the fermentation process. Chalcedon, which is the base for vegan cheese. So, the whole protein market is one that where we believe we need to feed 7 billion people, and we need to do that in a with less land because we need more labs for trees.

00:11:06:09 - 00:11:34:17

Doerte Hirschberg

Was less animals. And, that so this this goes more to plant based and to, to, to fermentation processes and and stuff like that. So, we have studied this fundamentally, we also defined some areas where we think we as of control strong. So for example, we would in the food space, we would not invest in B2C brands because we don't have this consumer branding expertise.

00:11:34:19 - 00:12:01:02

Doerte Hirschberg

So we prefer B2B models. And we also fundamentally believe that the food giants will win. Yeah. So as you see, it was with, alternative meats or plant based meat. Now all the Nestlé's and all have the large products in the supermarkets at competitive cost. And this is what wins. So and then we got introduced to to farmers by, by a, by a friend from Switzerland called Uber Morton.

00:12:01:04 - 00:12:23:13

Doerte Hirschberg

And what, what I liked immediately was their B2B model. So they work with cheese companies who currently produce cheese and who know everything about milk and, and the cheese making process. But we are no bio technicians at all, and they don't have any fermenters there. And, firmly enables these companies to set up a vegan cheese line.

00:12:23:16 - 00:12:52:22

Doerte Hirschberg

Yeah. And to produce cheese that really tastes like cheese and has the relatability and all the stuff that we, we like about cheese because cheese, plant based cheese does currently not work. So we only have, 2% of the cheese market. Is vegan viable? For example, 20% of the European milk market is vegan plant based. Because the milk alternative is there is tasty now and several people have switched and for cheese it's just not good enough.

00:12:52:24 - 00:13:23:01

Doerte Hirschberg

And so then we started the due diligence. We talked to customers, we went into the technology. So we have some biotech expertise. And now some. So we looked very deep in what IFA and Christophe, the founders can and, and found that very convincing. And then we ultimately decided to invest. Yeah. So we, we look for companies that are at the stage where they have the first revenues or will have them soon, where we see a reason why this can grow very quickly.

00:13:23:01 - 00:13:47:03

Doerte Hirschberg

In this case, we see that because they have so good connections to these cheese companies, and there are several that they sign quickly. And then these cheese companies actually have easier access to CapEx than a small startup startups. And really look for distinctive technologies and, and from afar is actually one of the first ones who can actually make cheese viscosity that tastes like something that you would also call cheese.

00:13:47:03 - 00:13:47:10

Doerte Hirschberg

Yeah.

00:13:47:10 - 00:13:48:02

Christian Soschner

So

00:13:48:02 - 00:13:58:23

Christian Soschner

there are not so many women in the VC landscape? Is it because women just don't like it? Is it because, there are, evil men who prohibit women from entering the space?

00:13:58:23 - 00:14:01:16

Christian Soschner

What's the root cause, in your opinion? How can we fix that?

00:14:02:01 - 00:14:27:04

Doerte Hirschberg

So there are several. Yes, of course there are many biases. In the, in the industry. I was surprised when I entered it how big they were. But there was, for only now there was last week and Financial Times, there was they were quoting a scientific study where they found that male investors invested more in, in female founders when the female founder was good looking.

00:14:27:04 - 00:14:52:06

Doerte Hirschberg

Yeah. So if if there are these biases towards founders, then obviously there are also biases towards investment managers whom they hire. And this is proven by science. But also anecdotally, I know so many women who start somewhere in a fund and who after 2 or 3 years, just feel I can't get there. I don't get the same mentoring, coaching I don't get.

00:14:52:08 - 00:15:24:11

Doerte Hirschberg

I don't get the same chances there. But they all want to hire women. They all say it. But fundamentally then, yeah. So it doesn't work. Yeah. So it's it's really difficult. And I mean, I, I'm here to change that and I think it can be and it's also in you have to since decades you have these debates in engineering and then yes, women maybe prefer less science and math topics and have other strings.

00:15:24:13 - 00:15:47:17

Doerte Hirschberg

But for an investor, especially a VC investor, this actually perfectly fits the strings of women. Yeah. So this is a lot. Early stage investing is a lot about investing in the founding team. So psychology which is the female topic then. Yes it is. It is about finance. Yeah. But we have in management and all we have 50% women.

00:15:47:19 - 00:16:07:16

Doerte Hirschberg

And then it's about networking. Networking. This is again a woman topic per se. Yeah. So and then also I have to say I think investing is one of the most, flexible job in times of, of work hours. Yeah. So it's actually very family friendly. I can decide when I speak to founders and the and I can set my schedule.

00:16:07:16 - 00:16:23:22

Doerte Hirschberg

Yes, I'm working a lot, but it's very rarely that I need to do the call at 6 p.m. when I maybe want to have, dinner with my family. So, there are no, no real big reasons. So I think it comes back to, to biases

00:16:23:22 - 00:16:27:24

Doerte Hirschberg

also maybe to a bit less, risk appetite at many women.

00:16:28:01 - 00:16:34:08

Doerte Hirschberg

And, an investment career is, where the base salary is

00:16:34:08 - 00:16:44:11

Christian Soschner

How do you find your deal flow where you are convinced that in this deal, flow are the winners of tomorrow?

00:16:44:13 - 00:16:45:16

Doerte Hirschberg

So it's a smart

00:16:45:16 - 00:17:12:06

Doerte Hirschberg

combination of, of smart people who have networks, who have, knowledge and hypotheses on, on, on, on the thesis and what will happen. And then it's, it's combining that with data. Yeah. Unfortunately, there are many, many data sources out there that you can, can look at and aggregate, which makes it also easier for, for smaller firms to, to just do that.

00:17:12:08 - 00:17:15:01

Doerte Hirschberg

And it's always this combination.

00:17:15:01 - 00:17:24:13

Christian Soschner

When we look into the future and let's say 20 years and you achieved your biggest dreams, how does the look like then?

00:17:26:03 - 00:18:09:11

Doerte Hirschberg

So I would hope that we have made a transition towards, more sustainable industry, and society, without losing too many people both here in, in central Europe. Yeah. I mean, but also on the southern side of the planet. Yeah. And that's, we can stay. Yeah. 7 billion people. Hopefully continue to decrease the share of the super poor and, and somehow manage to keep this earth a place where you can live and where so many people can live.

00:18:09:11 - 00:18:33:16

Doerte Hirschberg

Yeah, I think, and I just hope that this does that, that we can do that without any big tragedies. I mean, what we see in Ukraine currently that the country is destroyed, this is already so massive. And there are so many other wars that we don't talk that much about. But there is a severe risk that's also all this.

00:18:33:18 - 00:18:46:10

Doerte Hirschberg

Yeah. The stuff that the that are triggered more by climate change, can lead to, to more and more catastrophes. And I just hope that we have as few as possible of these.

00:18:46:10 - 00:18:49:13

Christian Soschner

What gets you up in the morning?

00:18:49:13 - 00:19:10:03

Doerte Hirschberg

So I think, to be honest, this is a big privilege that I have yet to have a job where I can talk with great founders on exciting technologies and, and, and I still I still feel that this is, this is really an absolute dream job. I also think we are still in the honeymoon phase of our fund.

00:19:10:03 - 00:19:10:10

Doerte Hirschberg

We

00:19:10:10 - 00:19:14:01

Doerte Hirschberg

did our first investments. All these companies still have money.

00:19:14:01 - 00:19:40:08

Doerte Hirschberg

We don't yet have any that is struggling. And and we have to make potentially tough decisions. Also not to give money to some anymore. So I know that also these times will come. But it's for me. It's also I'm a person. I had my own software company, and what I realized then was I'm not good in optimizing every day the same thing.

00:19:40:13 - 00:20:04:04

Doerte Hirschberg

Yeah. So the sales of a software make the pitch 2% better. I'm someone who's good at managing many different topics and jumping from from one to the other. And I think this is also my trick when I'm, when I don't feel like, Yeah. So so I can just prioritize my time and do different things and look at different companies.

00:20:04:04 - 00:20:28:16

Doerte Hirschberg

And there are weeks where I focus a lot on fundraising. There are other weeks where big conferences are, and it's a lot about networking. And then there are weeks when I go down, look into companies is due diligence, and I look at data. And and this is something that gives me a lot of energy. Yeah, that I can also have and I have a lot of degrees of freedom to, to decide when exactly I do what

00:20:28:16 - 00:20:35:11

Christian Soschner

when someone is listening right now who wants to either join your ecosystem as a startup or as an LP,

00:20:35:11 - 00:20:39:21

Christian Soschner

and want to reach out to you, how should they do it?

00:20:39:23 - 00:21:04:12

Doerte Hirschberg

Yeah. So for companies, so we like companies that are in late seed or serious a so that ideally already have revenues or will have them soon and that have a really big climate impact. B2B this is what we like. Please apply on our website. You can also email me, but it's just it's just way more efficient because then we give it directly to the one who takes care and we have all the information that we need.

00:21:04:16 - 00:21:28:16

Doerte Hirschberg

So please fill in the form in the website and we will definitely look at it. For people who are interested to invest in our fund, this is possible for large investors, but also for for people who only have 100 or €200,000. So this is an always set up. Also possible you can write to hello@clemento.com. Very simple. Hello.

00:21:28:18 - 00:21:48:10

Doerte Hirschberg

And and we will reach that. And of course also feel free to reach out to me personally LinkedIn. Yeah I'm, I'm aware also for. Yeah co-investors who like to invest with us industry experts on on certain sectors always interested to be in contact.