UK climatetech investment surged in 2024
In the final weeks of 2024, PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Global State of Climate Tech report revealed a significant surge in investment in UK climate technology.
Investment into UK-based climatetech companies surged 24% in 2024 to reach a total of £4.5 billion. An even more impressive surge occurred in investment into UK-based AI climatetech firms, which saw a 128% increase in investment to hit a total of £1.01 billion, and PwC reported that 22% of all investment globally into AI-related climatetech startups went into UK-based companies.
This surge in climatetech investment in the UK took place against a broader decline in climatetech investment globally, which declined from 2023 levels in 2024 thanks to higher borrowing costs and the economic uncertainty posed by world events.
Changes in the US and the impact on the UK & Europe
In the US, while investment in climatetech held firm through 2024, the trepidation felt by climatetech investors around the incoming Trump administration in the US is growing. The negative impact this is likely to have on available funding for US climate-related industries has many investors watching, and waiting, before they continue to invest in this sector. Trump is expected to repeal Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) – which contributed to a significant increase in US clean energy and tech projects – and certainly played a part in the resilience of climatetech investment in the US through 2024.
While this is of course bad news for the US climatetech industry, and for the planet more broadly, there is some discussion of what the likely changes to the IRA will mean for climatetech investment in the UK and Europe. When the IRA was announced in 2022, many companies founded in other countries relocated to the US to take advantage of the incentives it offered. With the future of the IRA now uncertain, there is a chance climatetech companies, and investor interest, could begin to move back towards the UK and Europe.
“This can be an opportunity for Europe to keep the best tech — which has previously scaled in the US — at home,” says Daria Saharova, founding partner at World Fund. “But that's only possible if we mobilise enough private and public capital to support it." (cited in Sifted).
AI and climatetech in the UK
AI has been a major driving force in climatetech investment in the UK, as investors recognised AI’s power to drive productivity and efficiency improvements in new ventures, and enhance the appeal of developments in climate technology. With UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer’s January 2025 announcement of the AI Opportunities Action Plan, the focus on support for AI businesses in the UK is set to increase, building on £25 billion of investment in UK data centres.
While the impact of the new initiative remains to be seen, it’s promising for the future of AI-driven climatetech, as it aims to establish a healthy climate for new AI ventures in the UK. It certainly has the potential to enhance the viability of new AI-driven ventures, and to make the integration of AI in climatetech more effective.
What does 2025 have in store for UK climatetech?
2025 is looking very promising for the UK climatetech industry, with a surge in investment in 2024 and dedicated initiatives in the UK to make it more attractive to AI-driven businesses setting the stage for continued growth.
By value, the UK’s startup ecosystem is the largest in Europe, with its valuation surpassing $1 trillion in 2024, and a large portion of incoming investment going to the climate technology businesses. Leaders are emerging in nuclear fusion, green hydrogen, and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) in particular.
The UK government’s Green Industries Growth Accelerator (GIGA), which was announced in Autumn 2023, established a £960 million fund to support the expansion of strong and sustainable clean energy supply chains across the UK, and along with the more recent initiatives around AI, makes the UK a particularly attractive location for climatetech businesses to develop.
Why invest in UK climate tech?
Impact
The choice to invest in startups – a high risk investment – is certainly informed by the potential for returns and access to tax relief, but for many investors a key motivator is the difference their investment makes to the world at large. Investing in climate technology is really the best of both worlds where this is concerned.
It is an investment in technologies that are designed to address the degradation and damage done to Earth’s vital systems through excessive fossil fuel consumption, such as air quality, water quality; to slow down and alter the impact of rapid climate change on the environment and society, and to present an alternative means of sustainable living to safeguard the future of life on Earth.
Growth potential
The issues that climate technology works to address aren’t going away. Rather, the need for it is only going to grow, as climate change progresses further, and broader and more significant actions and technologies to manage it are required.
Across the many sectors it covers, from built environment to carbon technology, energy, food and agriculture, industry and manufacturing, intelligence, adaptation and transportation and more, this is an area of investment that is going to continue to develop and expand. The use of AI within climate tech, similarly, is only going to help the sector develop further, and faster, speeding up processes, automating operations and enabling businesses to make significant strides, and that’s just today.
As a result, the potential of this sector for growth is enormous. In regions going the extra distance to make conditions favourable to climate tech, and AI, like the UK, it represents a very attractive opportunity for investors.
Why invest in SEIS?
Investing in the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), while a high risk investment, offers investors a suite of attractive tax reliefs. See the image below for more information.
SyndicateRoom’s Carbon13 SEIS climatetech fund.
Our latest investment opportunity – in partnership with climatetech-focused fund and venture builder, Carbon13 – is an SEIS fund focused on returns with purpose, building and backing early-stage businesses that work to protect Earth’s vital life support systems.
This fund, Carbon13's 7th SEIS fund portfolio, will invest in pre-seed companies that are expected to be eligible for SEIS, and will enable investors to claim a suite of tax reliefs such as 50% income tax relief on up to £200,000 invested, and 50% exemption from capital gains that arise in the same year. Tax reliefs are subject to status and change.
For a minimum investment of £10,000, investors will receive a portfolio of six to ten companies. The fund aims to deploy in the 24/25 tax year, meaning that SEIS tax reliefs can be applied to tax for that year, or carried back to 23/24.
“At Carbon13 we believe in the forward-thinking of entrepreneurship, the power of innovation to re-invent the rules, and the art of the venture studio to accelerate startups.” – Dr Nicky Dee, Co-founder of Carbon13
To find out more or make an investment, click here to view the fund page. If you would prefer to speak to us on the phone, you can call us on 01223 478 558, or schedule an appointment to speak at a time that’s convenient to you.
What is Access EIS?
Read our fund brochure for everything you need to know about Access, from the specifics of our innovative co-investment model to our fees, and how to invest.
Register to learn
more about our data,
fund and venture capital