Some 76% of the top 500 VC-backed UK startups have done nothing to either measure or offset their carbon emissions, according to new research shared exclusively with TechCrunch. In total, these companies have raised $40 billion in VC funding. Furthermore, of the VCs looked at, the highest only scored 37 out of a possible 100 in the ranking, with the lowest on 3.<\/p>\n
Fintech businesses turned out to be doing the most on climate: Monzo (raised $1.2bn), Oaknorth Bank (raised $861m) and Tide (raised $294m). These were followed by Faculty (an AI developer, raised $52m) and insurtech company Yulife (raised $207m). Worst performing out of the top 100 in the 500-strong index were Doccla (raised $23), Multiverse (raised $414m), Cera (raised $303m) and Motorway (raised $272m).<\/p>\n
Investors such as Latitude, Molten Ventures and Tencent achieved high average climate scores, while Samos Accel and Passion Capital had amongst the lowest. <\/p>\n
The VC leaderboard<\/a> ranked firms by their portfolio\u2019s climate actions. Each VC\u2019s average climate score was calculated by the sum of climate scores across all of their investments in the top 500 divided by the number of companies they\u2019ve invested in from the top 500.<\/p>\n Some \u2018household names\u2019 in Uk VC ranked outside the top ten including Notion Capital (11), GV, Index Ventures (13), Balderton Capital (18), and Seedcamp (27). <\/p>\n UK VCs and climate<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The report, published by climate measuring and offsetting startup Supercritical<\/a>, looked at a possible range of actions covering emissions measurement, carbon reduction, purchasing offsets and hiring for a climate role. Supercritical aims its services largely at tech companies. <\/p>\n The research analysed 500 VC-backed companies which are headquartered in the UK, with over $20 million in funding and a headcount above 30.<\/p>\n In the index, Edtech companies scored the highest on average, folled by climate tech, food, transport and real estate. <\/p>\n The index also estimated the cost of being climate conscious, using data from Supercritical\u2019s customers. The report found that the average cost of carbon measurement and high quality offsets was \u00a361,635 per year, equating to a mere \u00a34.98 per employee per week.<\/p>\n Dr. Steve Smith, University of Oxford (co-lead of the Net Zero Tracker and co-author of the Oxford Principles for Net Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting) said in a statement: \u201cEnding climate change should be everyone\u2019s business. Companies around the world are realising this, with a third of the world\u2019s largest PLCs now pledging to go to net zero emissions. It is getting harder to excuse those without a climate target, and easier for companies to measure their own carbon footprint.\u201d<\/p>\n Fifty-two of the top 100 companies in the index were founded since 2016, suggesting that younger companies are quicker to measure their footprint than incumbents. <\/p>\n Michelle You, Supercritical Co-founder, told me: \u201cOur research shows that measuring emissions and offsetting with high quality removals would cost an average of \u00a35 per employee per week\u2026 We think our community has a responsibility\u00a0to act and show the world what climate leadership looks like. We solve problems, we innovate, we move fast, we\u2019re data driven, and we\u2019re first principles thinkers \u2014 there is no bigger challenge today than the climate crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Mid-stage-companies-lack-climate-policies.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/EdTEch-and-Foodtech-companies-lead-on-climate-policies.png\")
<\/p>\n