Off the Record: Climate Edition – AI Surprise + VC Panic at The Drop

In this episode of Off the Record, Skander Garroum reports back on what surprised him the most at The Drop - Europe's leading climate tech conference. In the lead up to the event, all anyone seemed to talk about was AI, and yet, upon arrival the discussions went in a totally different direction. The China discussion dominated the Climate Tech space with competing factions trying to figure out how best to engage. Finally, given the Climate Tech funding ice age, various VC’s are beginning to panic leading to all kinds of unexpected decisions. Jordy Gold and Skander connected on September 25, 2025 to talk about how everything went down this year at The Drop.We discuss:How to engage with China on Climate Tech - compete, collaborate or give up altogether.AI is huge, and yet, so far, it’s missing in action when it comes to Climate Tech.Limited Partners - those who provide capital for funds - are pulling back causing VC’s, venture capitalists, to panic.VC doesn’t work for Climate Tech, full stop. Are new blended financing models the way to go?Where to find Jordy:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordygold/Where to find Skander:Climate Drift Substack:https://climatedrift.substack.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skandergarroum/  Get full access to Climate Drift at climatedrift.substack.com/subscribe