Investors looking to address accelerating greenhouse gas emissions and the subsequent rise in global temperatures face a dilemma: As climate tech solutions multiply, what is the best use of their limited capital?
The complex data required to answer such a question lacks uniformity, is subject to differing assumptions or is downright unavailable. That makes rigorous assessment a notoriously difficult task.
New software from Prime Coalition, a nonprofit in Cambridge, Mass. with an investment arm for early-stage climate companies and startups, aims to make those projections easier to lock down on.
The group recently rolled out updated version for investors who want to make investment decisions based upon a company’s potential emissions reductions. The free, open-source tool, known as CRANE, for Carbon Reduction Assessment of New Enterprises, also allows entrepreneurs to demonstrate the emissions reduction reality and potential of their new technologies and services.
A prior version of the software “was really complex and complicated for people to understand,” Keri Browder, the director of impact accountability at Prime, told ImpactAlpha. The new version, introduced in April, is “much easier to use, and it’s a better tool in general.”
Aimed mainly at venture capital investors, CRANE is used by investment firms including Eclipse Ventures, Elemental Excelerator, Roda Group, and Grantham Environmental Trust. Other customers include research institutes and universities.