In the latest two episodes, the focus has been on the built world, which is responsible for a staggering 40% of carbon emissions.

🎙️E85: Cutting Down on Carbon in Concrete, with Alex Hall from Concrete.ai

🎙️E86: Revolutionizing Spaces: Gregory Dewerpe Aims To Change The Future of Construction and Real Estate with A/O

As investor Gregory Dewerpe put it: "40% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from real estate. So when you compare that to cars -- everyone's so excited about electric cars -- cars are high single-digit. So when you think about aviation, it's 2%. The order of magnitude is so staggering that it has to be a wake-up call for people," he said.

"By 2030, we'll need to be in a much better place than we are today. Where are we going to spend our time and our money?"

Dewerpe, the founder of 500-million-euros venture investment firm A/O, talks about his company's focus on "positively transforming" the built world, which includes real estate and construction.

Dewerpe's noa vc (which was called A/O at a time oif recording), launched in 2020, is the largest VC firm in Europe and globally in this sector. The company invests in a wide variety of solutions, including satellite companies and AI, to address the industry's challenges, such as its significant contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions.

Dewerpe emphasized the urgency of sustainable transformation in real estate and the current market conditions that create opportunities for innovation and change.

However, he noticed that the climate sector has become overheated lately, as many investors have raised climate funds over the last few years and startups have been unable to keep up with the investors.

"There's too much money for the amount of bankable opportunities right now," Dewerpe said.

The key part of the built world: concrete

Concrete is one of the most widely used and important materials in the world. It is essential for building infrastructure, improving human development, and providing shelter.

However, it also has a huge environmental impact, as it accounts for about 8% of the global CO2 emissions due to the use of cement, its main ingredient.

But what if there was a way to make concrete more sustainable and profitable at the same time? What if we could use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to optimize the design of concrete mixtures, reduce the amount of cement, and lower the cost and carbon footprint of concrete production?

That is exactly what Concrete.ai, a company founded by Alex Hall, is doing.

In the episode you get a deep-dive into the vision, the concrete manufacturing technologies, and the challenges of transforming the concrete industry with AI.