Unified Climate & Sustainability Framework
The original long-form investment framework behind the collective.
Research · foundations_
We map the constraint before we price it.
foundations_ is Cool Climate Collective's research initiative, pairing collaborative scientific and market experts with AI-enhanced tools. We run thesis exploration, market research, and deep-research work on the systemic risks and opportunities the climate transition presents — feeding every fund in the ecosystem.
Reports
Selected deep-research work.
When the Data Disappears
On the fragility of the public climate-data infrastructure — including NOAA — and what its erosion means for markets, insurers, and adaptation.
The Coming Climate Financial Crisis
How physical climate risk propagates into the financial system through insurance, mortgages, and asset repricing.
Gridlock Is the New Normal
The risks embedded in catastrophe bonds and the grid constraints that increasingly gate the energy transition. Paired with an interactive GPT model.
Climate Landscaping Analysis
A market landscape mapping where climate capital is flowing — and where the white space and binding constraints remain.
Dubai Future Foundation — Carbon Economy Report
Mehrad's research contribution to the DFF report on the emerging carbon economy.
Field Guide
Reference explainers for the climate capital stack.
A working series on how early-stage climate capital is actually structured — syndicates, SPVs, emerging managers, and the investor-operator model. Written as reference material, not promotion.
Climate SPVs, Explained
How special purpose vehicles work in climate venture — structure, fees, carry, and what an LP is actually buying into. Includes an interactive structure-finder.
The Investor-Operator Syndicate Model
Why operator-led syndicates behave differently from passive capital, traced through the full deal lifecycle from sourcing to post-investment support.
Climate VC Syndicates
Ten syndicates writing early checks into climate technology — check sizes, domains, and access model. Presented in no particular order.
Emerging Climate Fund Managers
Ten emerging managers building specialist climate vehicles, mapped by domain focus and deployment stage.
How to Join a Climate Syndicate
Accreditation, minimum checks, diligence expectations, and what year one actually looks like — including when the honest answer is "not yet."
Ongoing
Thesis work publishes continuously.
The essays that develop these frameworks in public — causal AI, the circulation doctrine, energy sovereignty, Anderson localization applied to markets — live on Substack.
Cool Climate on Substack
Aphoristic dispatches on where climate, capital, and systems meet.
Bottlenecks Institute
Constraint-first research: backcasting from outcomes to what gates them.