Beyond the 2/20 Model: Disrupting VC & 25% IRR from Climate Adaptation in Southeast Asia

Episode notes

Most climate investment still flows toward mitigation, technologies designed to reduce future emissions. Far less capital is directed toward climate adaptation, despite the fact that many regions are already living with the physical, economic, and social consequences of climate change. This imbalance is especially visible in emerging markets, where climate risk, rapid economic growth, and limited institutional infrastructure collide. In this episode of SRI360, I’m joined by Alina Truhina, Founder and Managing Partner of Radical Fund and Utopia Capital Management. Alina has spent her career building and backing early-stage companies across Southeast Asia and Africa, with a focus on climate adaptation, venture capital, and how businesses actually get built in emerging markets. We discuss why traditional venture capital models often fail in emerging markets, why climate adaptation is harder to measure (but no less urgent) than mitigation, and why supporting founders in these environments requires far more than simply writing a check.

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