Climate Solutions Framework

Overview

The Climate Solutions Framework is the VCA's second major framework, designed as a companion to the Portfolio Alignment Framework. While the PAF focuses on managing venture portfolios in alignment with net zero, the CSF is specifically for climate solutions companies — startups whose products or services directly deliver or contribute to positive climate outcomes. It was developed over 6+ months by the VCA Climate Solutions Methodology Working Group, with input from B Capital, Clean Energy Ventures, Eka VC, Energy Impact Partners, Future Energy Ventures, Galvanize, Just Climate, PRIME, Princeville Capital, S2G, World Fund, and 2150, and draws on guidance from from GIIN, Impact Frontiers, Mission Innovation, Project Frame, IIGCC, Project Drawdown, and WBCSD. Version 1.0, May 2025.

The framework is a roadmap of impact practices — it is not an avoided emissions methodology, a reporting framework, or a definition of climate solutions. Instead, it is designed to help climate solutions companies embed impact practices that are commercially valuable in their own right, including: improving product–market fit to support revenue growth, managing reputational and impact-related risks, and strengthening positioning for capital from both impact-focused and generalist investors.

GPs can use the framework as a portfolio engagement guide to enhance both impact and commercial performance, reduce internal time spent on impact functions, foster alignment among co-investors, and demonstrate engagement and additionality to LPs.

How it works

The framework organizes impact practices across four dimensions — Define (understand your impact), Integrate (build impact into governance and strategy), Measure (quantify impact), and Mitigate (minimize risks to impact) — and phases them across four stages of commercialization.

Ideation stage companies have a business idea or early prototype and are typically seeking pre-seed or seed funding. At this stage, the framework asks companies to articulate their contribution to climate outcomes, identify metrics to measure impact, estimate the scale of the problem they're addressing, and identify potential unintended negative consequences like environmental damage, biodiversity loss, or embodied carbon in production.

Validation stage companies are developing pilot products and refining product–market fit, typically at Series A–B. At this stage, the framework adds practices such as: assessing stakeholder priorities, evaluating additional environmental and social co-benefits, integrating impact into the business plan, establishing an initial impact governance structure, estimating unit-level impact relative to a baseline (e.g. using Project Frame), developing mitigation plans for unintended consequences, and identifying impact risks, including rebound effects, lock-in, and durability risks post-exit.

Traction stage companies have launched a product, are generating revenue, and are typically at Series B–C. The framework focuses on establishing robust data collection systems, calculating impact annually based on actual production and sales, and actively managing identified impact risks.

Scaling stage companies are growing revenue, demonstrating long-term viability, and typically seeking growth equity or preparing for acquisition. At this stage, the framework asks companies to formalize impact reporting to the board, communicate impact externally in a targeted and decision-useful way, and align measurement methodologies with widely accepted standards such as GHG Protocol or ISO standards.

Design principles

The framework is built on five principles:

• Support commercial value: Impact practices should be valuable independent of investor mandates.

• Encompass multiple impact pathways: Companies should explore a range of impact outcomes — including mitigation, adaptation, resilience, and biodiversity — as sources of value creation.

• Mature practices alongside growth: Practices are introduced as they become both valuable and feasible.

• Harmonize investor engagement: The framework provides a shared reference point for GPs and LPs, reducing the burden of conflicting requirements.

• Ensure interoperability with existing guidance: Core practices align with existing frameworks used by VCA members, consolidated into a single, practical structure.

Additional practices

Beyond the core stage-based practices, the framework identifies optional “best-in-class” practices that may not be commercially necessary for all companies but support greater consistency and standardization across the ecosystem. These include publishing an impact white paper, incorporating impact into the company’s mission, setting explicit impact goals, and linking impact performance to internal decision-making and incentives.