Nicolas Nouvel

Nicolas holds a PhD in Chemistry from Cambridge University as well as business certifications from London School of Economics and Harvard Business School.

Making industrial decarbonization happen sooner

After an extensive career in corporations in the chemical and mobility sectors — from R&D roles and patenting to transitioning to commercial roles — I decided to be part of the change I wanted to see happen sooner: industrial decarbonization. But where to start? For me, it was always clear that start-ups were the critical disruptors that corporates needed to embrace to accelerate the change they were seeking. One only had to look closely at how they excel in their ability to imagine new business models and design new value architectures to understand why.

Yet, startups genuinely rely on the right industrial partners to survive and thrive. With this in mind, in 2019, I founded my own consulting firm to help CleanTech start-ups across the energy, mobility and the chemistry/materials industries become more vocal and successful: from defining their value proposition to facilitating funding and industrial partnerships. It was an incredibly rewarding journey, which eventually led to joining Aster Fab as Head of Business Development in 2022!

Startups also fall into the greenwashing trap

Energy storage, carbon neutral chemicals and materials, CCUS and hydrogen value chains are just a few of the emerging technologies I’ve become familiar with during my numerous engagements with CleanTech startups across the UK, EU and US. But when it comes to their environmental commitment, some fall into the greenwashing trap. While some are obsessed with full life cycle analysis of all aspects of the business, others can exhibit shallow thinking that treats sustainability as a buzzword to sell more, without any idea of what scopes 1, 2 and 3 are. Unfortunately, greenwashing is not limited to the world of large corporations, which is why it is important to carefully select the start-ups you engage with to ensure consistency.

Scaling our impact

Climate change must trigger an acute sense of urgency in all of us. The global carbon budget for a 1.5°C increase will be exceeded by 2031 based on the current annual anthropogenic emission rate of >37,5Gt CO₂. The goal of Net Zero by 2050 is critical to show future generations that we care about their well-being too. Luckily, I believe we have a unique opportunity right now to build a technologically advanced and environmentally sustainable world… so let’s get at it and make it happen!