Sophie Flak
Member of the Executive Board
Managing Partner - Sustainability & Impact
A plea for thoughtful action in the face of the climate tsunami
“Heat is coming.”
On April 30, 2026, James Hansen, the climatologist who warned the US Senate in 1988 about the risks of global warming, wrote1 that the current year could become the hottest ever experienced by humankind, exacerbated by an earlier-thanusual Super El Niño.
The heat and the drought it causes are a defining feature of our era, the one that is changing everything: social practices, the resilience of humans, animals, plants, materials, infrastructure, buildings and economic models.
Having heard warnings for several years now, our minds have gradually become accustomed to them. This emergency signal has not yet disrupted our daily lives, particularly in towns and cities, or if it has, only sporadically, during natural disasters, massive wildfires or heatwaves, such as those Europe experienced in the summer of 2026. We file this information away alongside the other news we receive every day.
‘We’ll see when the time comes,’ we tell ourselves. Some even think the alerts are exaggerated, if they do not simply dispute their very basis. Between habit and the unsettling unfamiliar, the former prevails.
When, in 2004, an earthquake struck the Indian Ocean, triggering one of the most devastating tsunamis ever recorded on Earth, we saw those terrifying images: some people stood motionless on the beach, paralyzed by the approaching wave; others fled in panic. Instead of paralysis or flight, we propose thoughtful, preventative action.
It is in this spirit that we have produced this White Paper, to anticipate the scale of the wave that has already begun to make itself felt, and, whilst it remains possible, to limit its consequences, mitigate its intensity and prepare to face what will inexorably come.
We have also written it to challenge the notion that there is a retreat from environmental issues. Whilst political signals may give this impression, this is not the case in the investment arena: institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and private sector players are staying the course and continue to view the environmental transition as a structural driver of value creation and resilience.
“We are not in a cycle of disillusionment; we are going through a period of uncertainty.”
Furthermore, we have written it to highlight the reality of the market for environmental solutions: one of the most promising areas of opportunity of our time. The investment theses have never been stronger, and the opportunities more numerous. We speak here as practitioners in the private markets, with €2.3 billion of assets under management dedicated to environmental solutions2, notably through four environmental impact strategies.
Lastly, we have written it because, against a backdrop of shrinking public funding and in the face of the urgency and severity of the environmental crisis, we cannot afford to allow investment strategies that ignore the situation to take hold. Time is running out. The two supercycles of artificial intelligence (AI) and defense will tie up a massive proportion of capital for the next five to seven years.
We are not in a cycle of disillusionment; we are going through a period of uncertainty. Europe has considerable assets that could make it a leading hub for environmental solutions: a world-class scientific base, a recognized capacity for innovation, as well as a deep, diverse and dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem. It has the means to turn this transition into a driver of competitiveness as well as a source of resilience and sovereignty.
This requires a shift in approach, moving away from siloed thinking, increasing transparency, and directing more funding towards projects capable of demonstrating a real, measurable and sustainable impact.
This is the aim of the three proposals set out in this White Paper, designed to turn our analysis into a concrete course of action.
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(1) James Hansen, “2026 On Track for Warmest Year”, Substack, April 30, 2026.
(2) Companies identified by Eurazeo, within its generalist and thematic impact strategies across all its business segments (Private Equity, Private Debt
and Real Assets), as having products, services or technologies that provide solutions to the most pressing environmental challenges, based on their valuations as at June 30, 2026.
