Mehrad Yaghmai: Driving Systemic Change Through Climate Tech Investments
Mehrad Yaghmai's holistic approach to climate tech investments
This week, the TTI Interview Series covers our member Mehrad Yaghmai. Mehrad Yaghmai is the founding partner of Cool Climate Collective, where he drives systemic change by investing in early-stage climate tech startups. With over a decade of experience in global startup ecosystems, including co-founding Qureos, extensive work in Dubai, and travels to over 40 countries, Mehrad integrates holistic, systems-driven approaches to foster sustainable innovations. He served as Program Director for Terra.do's Climate Change for VCs program, was an active contributor to Dubai Future Foundation programs & research, and developed programming for MENA-based incubators and accelerators.
Viewing climate technologies through a systems lens allows us to understand not just their immediate benefits, but how they interact with existing economic, social, and environmental systems. For example, a 5% efficiency gain in a small, isolated system might be negligible, but in a critical part of a larger system, it can drive significant positive change.
This approach helps us find leverage points where innovation can create cascading benefits across the system.
What is your own definition of impact?
Impact is creating sustainable, measurable change that addresses critical challenges and drives long-term benefits for the environment, society, and the economy.
What do you believe is one of the most important issues that need to be solved over the next 10 years?
One of the most important issues for us as humans that we need to solve is our manufacturing processes, particularly our usage of petrochemical derived products such as plastics in what we wear and use. We are reaching a point where microplastics (and PFAS) are permeating into our water and food supplies; we currently don't have much in terms of healthcare solutions to deal with them, and we're only starting to see the tip of the iceberg of what the longer term effect of exposure and microplastics are. Study after study is identifying microplastics that are now detected in children's products/food, newborn babies, and even male testes. If anyone recalls the movie Children of Men, it wasn't supposed to be a 'potential future' we face. So even though I care about the planet and various greenhouse gas emissions causing shifts in our climate and weather risk, some of those problems are solvable, or at least resilience work can reduce the harm associated (to some degree), but with microplastics and PFAS penetrating our bodies and our food & water supplies, we will reach a tipping point. So whether you care about your own health a decade from now or your children's, this is an issue we absolutely can't ignore any longer.
Mehrad, tell us a little about your work and how it intersects with the impact space.
My work is deeply rooted in addressing the multifaceted challenges of climate change through innovative, systems-driven approaches. When I started Cool Climate Collective, it was under the premise that many talented people and ambitious solutions are looking for the opportunity to scale and make a real impact. However, these solutions often falter not because of their potential, but due to a lack of holistic integration within the larger systems they aim to change.
We leverage a network of founders, tech operators, and family offices to refine the process of capital deployment. By integrating collective networks, knowledge, and capital, we ensure that climate solutions are not only innovative but also effectively embedded within social, economic, and resource frameworks. Our sectors range from advanced materials and new manufacturing to AI-driven efficiency, new energy generation and storage, and food and water security.
What do you think are some of the biggest challenges in the impact space, standing in the way of providing solutions faster?
The biggest challenges in the impact space stem from access to capital, driven by market demand and our failure to price in negative externalities. It's not a lack of solutions, but about mobilizing people and finance to implement them.
Access to capital is a major barrier. Many innovative climate solutions struggle to secure funding due to market demand favoring short-term returns over long-term sustainability. Investors need to be convinced of the financial viability and potential returns of climate tech.
Market demand is influenced by societal values and misconceptions that impact investments yield lower returns. To change this, we must educate investors and the public about the profitability and necessity of impact investments for addressing climate change.
Mobilizing people is as crucial as mobilizing finance. This involves fostering a culture that values sustainability and supports new technologies. Collaboration across businesses, governments, and communities is essential to create supportive environments for these solutions.
Additionally, we often fail to price in the negative externalities of unsustainable practices. Properly accounting for these costs would make sustainable solutions more competitive and attractive.
Tell us more about the long-term vision you have for your work and how you measure & quantify your impact.
My long-term vision is to create a world where sustainable practices and innovative climate solutions are the norm across all industries by building a cohesive ecosystem of early-stage climate tech startups that support each other, driving systemic change through holistic investments measured by environmental impact, resource efficiency, and financial viability.
What are some of the misconceptions you’ve noticed regarding what impact is all about?
Through my work, I have noticed several misconceptions regarding what “impact” truly means. One major misconception is that impact work is primarily the domain of philanthropic or charitable investors. In reality, achieving lasting change requires integrating impact into the core of our capitalist market systems. I view climate as a systems problem that fundamentally relates to how we source, produce, and consume to meet Maslow’s physiological needs: food, energy, water, shelter, and clothing. Addressing these systemic issues presents significant financial opportunities as markets increasingly demand better and more affordable products.
Another misconception is that impact investments sacrifice financial returns for social or environmental benefits. However, solving these systematic problems often offers the largest financial opportunities. We are driven by a profit motive to deliver impact, recognizing that for these efforts to scale and be sustainable in the longer term, they need to attract mainstream financial institutions. To effectively address climate-related risks and problems, we need to mobilize trillions of dollars. This shift will not only drive sustainable solutions but also ensure that impactful innovations become the norm in our economy, demonstrating that profit and purpose can go hand in hand.
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