The climate crisis is not a distant threat—it’s a present problem. Its impacts are measured in agricultural productivity, water stress, increased energy costs, infrastructure destruction, and global economic slowdowns. Data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Swiss Re Institute estimate that extreme weather events could cause a reduction of up to 14% in global GDP by 2100, equivalent to a loss of $23 trillion per year.
Facing these complex challenges, incremental innovations are not enough. They demand a radical transformation: technologies capable of exponentially increasing the efficiency of resource use and the effectiveness of productive systems, ensuring a good quality of life for the global population without continuing to degrade the planet’s resources.
This is the frontier occupied by deeptechs: ventures that possess science- and technology-based innovations with the potential to reconfigure entire sectors and provide concrete answers to the climate crisis. Brazil, with its unique biodiversity, strong scientific foundation, and vast natural capital, is strategically positioned to lead this movement.
Brazil’s bet on climate deeptechs
DeepClimate is an initiative launched by Quintessa, a national leader in innovation and impact, in partnership with Cietec, manager of Latin America’s largest scientific incubator linked to University of São Paulo – integrating the impact and science and technology ecosystems.
The focus is to mature Brazil’s most promising scientific startups aimed at combating climate change, so that they can be adopted by the market.
DeepClimate is a structural ecosystem initiative that connects academia, businesses, philanthropists, government, and capital around a common goal: to scale science-based solutions relevant to overcoming urgent climate challenges.
Connection to the market
According to “Deep Tech: The New Wave“ from the Inter-American Development Bank, Brazil accounts for 77% of researchers and 58% of deeptech patents in Latin America. However, only 30% of the deeptech startups mapped in the region are in the country. In other words, Brazil’s capacity to produce high-level science exists—the bottleneck lies in transferring part of this research to the market through entrepreneurship.
Most mapped deeptechs are in the early and intermediate stages of maturity (between technological readiness 3 and 6). This affects the potential for market adoption of their solutions, given barriers in this relationship such as lack of knowledge (ability to assess scientific and management risk), lack of technical support, absence of researcher-market connections, the challenge of finding co-investors, and patient investment.
In this context, DeepClimate operates with three support tracks:
- Building upon: Focus on technological development with specialized guidance, for early-stage ventures.
- Growth: Strengthening management and market entry, for advanced-stage ventures.
- Customized track: Including pilot tests, connections with investors, and financial advisory.
The three tracks combine mapping and curation of ventures, technical and technological assistance (training, mentoring, customized management support), and qualified connection with the market (companies, investors, philanthropists, and development institutions).
Strategic pipeline
Recent mappings (Emerge, 2023) indicate that 40% of Brazilian deeptechs already operate in climate themes, totaling over 470 startups. They operate in critical sectors such as agro and bioeconomy (over 30%); low-carbon materials and energy; water purification, sanitation, and blue economy; predictive systems and environmental monitoring via AI.
Brazil has unique advantages for leading nature-based solutions, regenerative agriculture, and biodiversity biotechnologies. DeepClimate aims to boost the innovation infrastructure needed to scale these solutions.
The initiative has four thematic focuses:
- Land use, agricultural decarbonization, and nature-based solutions (e.g., biofertilizers, biopesticides, bio-food, precision agriculture).
- Industrial decarbonization (e.g., carbon sequestration technologies, biofuels, low-carbon innovations for cement, concrete, logistics, and packaging).
- Water, sanitation, and blue economy (e.g., pre-consumption purification, watershed and river treatment, oceanic carbon capture solutions).
- Climate disasters and justice (e.g., predictive models and early warning systems, innovations for natural resource diagnosis after disasters).
Policy alignment
DeepClimate is part of the ClimAccelerator network, from Climate-KIC, Europe’s largest public-private initiative in climate innovation, and is aligned with Brazilian public policies such as the Ecological Transformation Plan and the New Brazil Industry.
Especially in 2025, with COP 30 hosted in the country, Brazil’s potential strategic positioning as a global supplier of climate technologies gains even more relevance.
The initiative is supported by a qualified network of institutional partners, including the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and the Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation of the State of São Paulo.
DeepClimate is also driven by organizations specialized in entrepreneurship and applied science, such as CAOS Focado, Wylinka, Climate Ventures, AptaHub, and EMERGE Brasil, and by institutions with strong involvement in research and innovation, such as the Technological Incubator of the University of São Paulo. In the investment field, Fundepar – Fundep Participações S.A. and the KPTL – Venture Capital fund participate.
The first edition of the program is currently in the fundraising phase and will focus on ecosystem development and the creation of strategic alliances; generation of data and market intelligence; development of +30 deeptechs; market connections for solution implementation and positive impact generation; and connections with co-investors.
The initiative proposes to generate a pipeline of ready-to-scale technologies—whether to be adopted in company operations, implemented in philanthropic projects, or invested in by funds and CVCs.
The vision is that, from catalytic capital, more commercial capital can be mobilized for the agenda, with high-potential startups having their risk mitigated and management robustness to meet the technical and scale demands of the industry.
Future we want
The most ambitious climate solutions require an understanding of the high-risk/high-reward logic, a long-term vision, and collaboration between science, market, and capital. DeepClimate can be Brazil’s answer to this challenge, proving that climate innovation doesn’t have to come from Silicon Valley—it can be born in the Global South, where scientific excellence, biodiversity, and social impact meet.
Academia, investors, philanthropists, companies, and governments are fundamental allies for existing solutions to realize their potential, mature, and be implemented. The DeepClimate program bridges this gap between intersectoral actors and, if successful, can redefine Brazil’s role in the climate transition economy.
Anna de Souza Aranha is co-CEO of Quintessa. Carol Gibim is Quintessa’s project manager.
