Highlighting Startup Founder Giorgio Mottironi

Push forward to create a community of people that are emotionally and intellectually close to your mission. Always listen to everyone’s ideas and be inclusive. And have compassion for those who aren’t there yet.

Giorgio Mottironi is the co-founder of two fintech startups, Ener2Crowd, the first Italian crowdfunding lending platform for the green economy, and CREOPAY, an inclusive digital payment and credit solution. He also provides advisory services in the energy efficiency and circular economy sectors. He is based in Milan, Italy.

What has motivated you to proactively take climate action at the place you work?

I started my career working for an energy efficiency company, and from my role there I was able to see the difficulties companies had in getting financing for green projects that were outside of the usual mental and operative models of the banking system. I also noticed businesses’ reluctance to embrace sustainable solutions that would help them not only be more productive, but also become socially and environmentally sound.

I was also aware of the need to put pressure on decision makers in everyday business life through a critical mass of people ready to support responsible businesses and call out polluters.

When I was contacted by my co-founders in Ener2Crowd, I realized it was the opportunity to fix something broken: to fight climate change with the same sword that caused it, money. And that started us on the path to create a marketplace for ethical investors to finance the green energy transition quickly and productively.

The idea of creating an enclave, an alternative world of people interested in making their money work for their present and for the future of the planet was absolutely exciting.

How did you start? What things did you do in your effort?

At the beginning we had to raise capital and it was hard. But we crafted a clear vision of what we wanted to become, wrote a very precise operating plan to reach business goals, and kept up our motivation. We were just in time with the overall change that has swept over the market like a huge wave.

What was the market/industry reaction?

I can testify to a great market reaction, both from companies and people. The carbon zero race has started and for the next few decades it will represent a great driver for consumer choice as well as business strategies. We’ve gotten great messages from both CEOs and investors who say that they appreciate being able to proactively support the energy transition.

What were the outcomes? Were there any changes?

I monitor changes everyday. For instance in one medium-sized company that deals with inert waste management, we just started a plan to balance all the carbon emissions of the overall production and transportation processes to reach zero-emission recycled products.

Every week, Ener2Crowd is receiving at least 2 or 3 new requests for green project financing and we have about 300 new users every month. Our goal is to push on the accelerator and target 10,000 users for the end of 2021.

Illustration by Zhi Wang

What has worked best in your efforts?

I think that the answer to this incredibly important question is something that can work for everyone: authenticity in our proposition, accessibility in the tools we develop, a strong strong call for accountability, and both giving back and giving the opportunity to give back.

But this formula is no secret: and it is exactly what Alexis De Tocqueville thought capitalism should have been. And his idea was so influential that it was used as an example by B.C. Forbes when he stated that “business was originated to produce happiness, not to pimp up millions”. Kind of a prequel to the latter “Be Good” philosophy of Paul Graham.

What has not worked so well?

Fundraising was the hardest part. Ener2Crowd is a very typical startup: we had a low budget and we started in the silence and obscurity of the so-called “innovation ecosystem”. We were dropped by many important digital investors and hubs, but now after just 11 months of market operations and 23 months of development we are worth 5 million €.

I would have liked to see more courage from those that have control of the wealth in my country. But there is still a long way to go for independent-minded people to get across their ideas in my country and in many others.

What is your advice to someone starting out?

Don’t worry if someone does not understand the core of the message of making different choices for a more sustainable future. The only reason they don’t listen is because they are distracted by other interests that will slowly disappear.

Push forward to create a community of people that are emotionally and intellectually close to your mission. Always listen to everyone’s ideas and be inclusive. And have compassion for those who aren’t there yet.

What would you like to see happen in the coming years- what is your wish list for climate action?

We have to be aware that post-corona we can’t go back to previous way of life, which was the worst case scenario listed by the IPCC for the future of our species and planet. A bounce back in the emissions to support the economic recovery would be catastrophic.

I would like to see sustainable micromobility spread in a wider way and I would like to see public transportation go fully green. I would also like to see people consume and waste less resources, prefer and seek out recycled products and be more aware of the social and environmental costs of their everyday choices.

I would like to see the introduction of a tax on carbon emissions and polluters, and the adoption of Border Carbon Adjustment (BCA) policies (a tax scheme that will close the gap between the European domestic carbon tax and the countries that have lower fees or none) which was announced by Ursula Von Der Leyen.

In my business life, I’d like to see my companies substantially contribute to reduce the CO2 emissions in Italy. To be very precise, we would like to reach an offset of 20kt of CO2 emissions by the end of 2021.

. . .

Giorgio Mottironi is the author of numerous articles on sustainability which can be found on his page on Medium. He is also found at Linkedin.

. . .

This article was first published on the Hive Initiative Medium account.