Opportunities for climate and cleantech entrepreneurship in the Asia Pacific

As the dangers of climate change become increasingly apparent around the world, more and more people are asking what we can all do to be part of the solution. Should we raise awareness, join a campaign, or simply educate ourselves more to make better consumer decisions? Increasingly more of us are exploring whether technology and the private sector can also make a big impact. And thus has risen the explosion in cleantech entrepreneurship in recent years.

In the Asia-Pacific, we not only face a disproportionately higher impact from climate change, but also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build net-zero, climate-resilient economies and communities as we incorporate more technologies into our rapid pace of economic development over the coming years.

Listen to some of the voices here in the Asia-Pacific who are supporting the explosion of cleantech startups on the ground, who are leveraging innovation and technology to solve climate change problems through entrepreneurship.

Our Speakers:

Pratap Raju

Pratap is the co-founder of the Climate Seeds Fund and the Climate Collective Foundation, and Country Director (India) of New Energy Nexus. Since 2018, the Climate Collective has accelerated 487 cleantech startups in its accelerators, with 200+ expected in 2021. He is also a global trainer with the EU ClimateKIC's Climate Launchpad program. Previously, he joined PR Group to develop the Renewable Energy business, commissioning 84MW of solar and wind projects, and launched a solar crowdfunding business, My Mosambi. He started his career in Wall Street in the 90s, as a hedge fund trader at HBK Investments, M&A banker at JP Morgan, and economist at IDEA; and later after coming to India in 2000, set up entrepreneurial ventures in IT and advertising/film. Pratap has a BA in Math from Harvard, and an MSc in Economic Development from Oxford.

Piers Grove

Piers is the Chair and co-founder of EnergyLab, a cleantech and climate innovation hub working from Australia and Cambodia. Since its inception in 2017, EnergyLab has supported over 120 startup businesses making real impact through scalable commercial business models. He is also a co-founder of Boomerang Labs, an early stage business accelerator for circular economy businesses in Australia. Additionally Piers was a founding director of Climate KIC Australia and serves as a Governor of WWF-Australia. Originally his background is in content and communications.

Stephanie Arrowsmith

​Stephanie is a systems entrepreneur and facilitator, building networks & programs to catalyse collaborative action for social and environmental impact in Asia over the last 8 years. She is the co-founder of Impact Hub Jakarta - an innovation hub for purpose-driven individuals and startups in Indonesia’s capital city, and co-lead of Frontiers Lab Asia - an incubator for solutions to complex, persistent challenges in entrepreneurial ecosystems. She is passionate about cross-sector collaboration, systemic change and supporting local solutions and startups that address climate, gender equality and the circular economy in the Asia-Pacific.

The OxCAN Asia, Australia and New Zealand event series is led by our regional Climate Action Director, Tracy Jin Cui, focusing on in-depth climate conversations relevant to this region. We particularly encourage participation in the wider Asia, Australia and New Zealand region, as well as interested regional observers who would like to contribute your voices in these upcoming dialogues.