The Drop: Where climate action falls into place

Looking back at the second edition of our climate conference.

On September 7th, nearly 1,000 of the best and brightest minds in climate tech came together in Malmö for The Drop. Join us below for a look back at some of the highlights of the day. 

For the second year in a row, we hosted The Drop in Malmö. The Drop is a decentralized climate conference designed to bring together climate investors and founders in the same room, to connect on the issues, and speed up action. We co-created The Drop with design studio Domino to be unlike any other conference out there and to be rich in the collaborative spirit that addressing climate change requires. 

From inspirational and mindblowing keynotes to roundtable discussions that reshaped the dialogue around climate action, finance, equity, and so much more, The Drop 2023 was a resounding success. Thank you to everyone who attended, and to our funding and organizing partners - EU European Regional Development Fund, almi, Region Skåne, and Skåne Startups - for helping make this vision a reality. 

The main stage

The focus of The Drop is on collaboration and learning, and we were thrilled to bring four experts to the main stage throughout the day to offer new perspectives and approaches to addressing climate change. 

Toby Kiers, Executive Director of SPUN, kicked the day off by talking about how underground fungal networks are responsible for transporting 13 billion tons of CO2 each year. That’s equivalent to one-third of global emissions, and researchers are only beginning to understand how these systems work and how we might be able to use them to improve the health of the planet.  

Next up was climate journalist Stella Levantesi, who showed the audience how the fossil fuel industry has used lies and deceit to delay climate action, even though they have known for decades that their activities were causing global warming. You can read more about Stella’s work to uncover the truth about big oil’s disinformation campaigns in her Gaslit column in DeSmog. 

The second half of the talks focused on using the legal system to combat climate change. Melinda Janki, the famed international environmental lawyer, spoke about her early work to create a robust environmental protection plan for Guyana and how that set the stage for being able to go head to head against the oil industry looking to turn her country into a “carbon bomb.”

Finally, Adam Weiss closed the day by presenting how ClientEarth is using the law to force governments to stand by their climate undertakings and companies to carry the costs of their unsustainable business practices. As Adam explained, law is a technology that enables new, green, and sustainable business models to flourish.

Highlights from the team

Of course, hosting The Drop in general was a privilege and a pleasure, but here are some specific highlights from the members of our team. 

Heidi (General Partner): I love the collaborative nature of the discussions overall, but also just seeing so many of our portfolio companies together under one roof. We even had ClimateAligned, one of our newest investments, come out of stealth mode during the drop, and being in person to witness the buzz build around this incredible team was amazing.

Hampus (General Partner): I loved the collaboration and decentralization. Last year, there was one incredible side event, and this year, it feels like we filled the city with dinners and drinks. It shows what kind of magic can happen when you bring so many passionate people together in one place. It feels as if The Drop is taking on a life of its own.

Joel (General Partner): You won’t find another event with so many climate funds in one place. It was a privilege to meet other investors who are as passionate about climate as we are.

Lindsey (Head of Climate Insights): At the “How to co-create with scientists” Ripple, we had a very engaging discussion around bridging the research and entrepreneurial worlds. One of the solutions that came up is to have more people in the middle who can bridge the two worlds, similar to the way that project managers have helped in the software industry.

Eirini (Data Management): I loved meeting many of the investors, entrepreneurs, and volunteers who joined us from around the globe, actively shaping a better future and the strong sense of community and collaboration across geographies, sectors, and technologies.

Ida (Head of People): We held a breakfast the morning of the drop to bring together our team, founders, and close friends of Pale blue dot. Organizing that event was a highlight for me because I got to see how passionate this group is up close. 

Johan (Head of Finance): Meeting our start-up founders for the first time was inspirational. It was great to hear about their innovative ideas and developing businesses.

Rickard (General Counsel): I loved the blend of granular knowledge sharing (like “should climate startups file for provisional patents in the US”) and high-level future gazing (like “the market opportunity for the green transition is $50 trillion, many times higher than the history of SaaS”) that went right through all the Ripple discussions.

We have something special planned to highlight the amazing Ripples that happened throughout the day, so stay tuned to our channels for that. In the meantime, we want to say thank you to everyone who sponsored The Drop, organized a side event, hosted a Ripple, and came to participate in what was a truly inspiring day for all who attended. We hope to see you all again next year!