Denmark and Ireland promote foreign climate tech investment at NY Tech Week

Where the Trump administration is declining to invest in green tech, Ireland and Denmark want to pick up the slack.

During a NY Tech Week panel this week, trade representatives from Denmark, Ireland, and Andalusia, the southernmost region of Spain, discussed potential investment—and relocation—opportunities in each country for US startups. Both representatives for Denmark and Ireland shouted out their countries’ decarbonization goals and said they’re looking for US companies to bring climate tech to Europe.

“Maybe you’re working on a project that’s not so familiar [to] the current administration, especially if you’re working on climate. That project will be very well received [in Denmark],” Lisa Mallner, commercial policy advisor for Denmark’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the audience at NYC’s Impact Hub. “Denmark has had very aggressive energy goals to be carbon neutral. So there’s been a very open and willing market to purchase these types of products.”

In 2020, Denmark passed its Climate Act, which sets targets to reduce the country’s emissions by 70% by 2030 and reach “climate neutrality” by 2050. Because of these goals, Mallner said Denmark is a hub for emerging green companies, some of which are aided by the country’s startup visa and tech incubator programs. Mallner also advised startups to look into investment and guidance from the country’s public sector.

“Don’t discount it,” Mallner said. “There are people who will help that are not expensive lawyers and accelerator programs that are going to take a huge amount of equity—or predatory investors that are taking advantage of your naivete.”

David Jones, the Ireland Foreign Direct Investment Agency’s technology portfolio VP, said his office provides similar services to startups looking for Irish investors or to set up shop in the country.

“We’ll give you a ready-made network so that you can just plug and play and start hiring straight away,” Jones told the audience.

And Ireland is specifically looking for offshore wind technology, per Jones, due to its goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, and hopes to commercialize its large coastal area.

“We’re trying to grow [offshore wind capacity] from six gigawatts to 37 gigawatts by 2050 so that Ireland becomes a powerhouse when it comes to wind energy,” Jones said. “It’s do or die. We can’t dig it out of the ground. We don’t have the sun. We have to make it happen.”