This co-founder of Investors for Climate is building the future of capital — one deliberate connection at a time

Business as usual has never been Christine Amour-Levar’s thing. In April, the Investors for Climate (I4C) co-founder trekked through the Banaue Rice Terraces in the Philippines with an all-female team under the banner of HER Planet Earth, a non-profit she founded. The expedition supported conservation and agricultural programmes for women.

Two months later, she’ll join oceanographer Dr Sylvia Earle on her NetZero boat to explore the Arctic and film documentaries on polar protection. And come November, Amour-Levar will lead a 100km expedition across South Africa’s Drakensberg mountains to support the Black Mambas — the world’s first all-female ranger unit — through the charity Helping Rhinos.

At the time of this interview, she was fresh from the ChangeNOW 2025 summit in Paris, a week she calls energising and perspective-shifting, where capital, policy, and purpose collide. No matter the setting, her work connects people, sectors, and possibilities.

That same instinct led her to co-found I4C, a platform built not to raise awareness, but to deploy capital. “We saw a gap between capital and innovation, particularly in emerging markets,” says Amour-Levar, a French-Swiss-Filipina based in Singapore. “We wanted to close that gap — not just with money, but with conviction, community, and systems thinking.”

She aimed to build a trusted space where capital could intentionally move into climate and nature-based solutions. In just 18 months, I4C has grown to over 400 members across 32 cities. Its startup pitch events and convenings, held from Zurich to Jakarta, are meticulously curated for one purpose: getting money to where it matters most.

The architecture of impact capital

Unlike broad-based sustainability platforms, I4C serves a clearly defined group: active investors ready to deploy capital into scalable climate solutions. That clarity, she says, is what builds trust and sparks action. Today, the deal flow includes next-gen carbon removal startups, tech-enabled biodiversity platforms, and climate-fintech tools driving financial inclusion — sectors barely registered on investor radars five years ago.

At its heart, I4C is not about funding the next climate unicorn. It’s about unlocking what Amour-Levar calls “impact alpha” — where capital earns a return by solving real problems. “When investors back businesses with clear mission alignment, strong teams, and measurable outcomes,” she says, “the financial and societal returns can be extraordinary.”

That premise has drawn in a spectrum of stakeholders, from development finance institutions to sovereign wealth funds, family offices to venture firms. Aligning this mix is no small task. “They speak different financial languages (and) have different risk appetites, but they share a common urgency,” she says.

To get them in sync, I4C leans on intentional design: curated themes, transparency, and spaces that foster trust. These convenings aren’t just matchmaking forums. They’re signals of where capital is shifting.

With policy pivots in the US redirecting flows toward Europe and Asia, I4C’s events tap into a new climate finance geography — from a pitch night with the Singapore Exchange and Temasek’s Nurasa to a major gathering at Climate House during ChangeNOW 2025, co-hosted with the Singapore Global Network.

“When you bring public and private capital into the same room with a systems mindset, magic happens,” she says. That “magic” has taken the form of catalytic capital and co-investment syndicates. I4C’s first Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) investment went into Coast 4C, an Earthshot Prize finalist that regenerates marine ecosystems through seaweed farming in Southeast Asia.

The deal didn’t close on a stage. It began with a conversation, deepened with a WhatsApp message, and took shape through diligence and trust. “Impact doesn’t always come with big fanfare,” Amour-Levar notes. “Sometimes it’s a quiet term sheet that moves the needle.”

She says climate change demands cross-border collaboration and blended strategies. In Asia, she sees greater focus on nature-based solutions and resilience. In the West, there’s more traction around deep tech and policy levers. “We need both adaptation and mitigation, innovation and inclusion,” she says. Our role at I4C is to weave these perspectives together.”

The look of progress

The platform’s growth has been rapid. But Amour-Levar is the first to admit it hasn’t been perfect. “We’ve made mistakes. We’ve evolved. But what mattered was that we kept showing up,” she says.

One early misstep was launching the membership offering before the engagement structure had been properly validated. The lukewarm response made it clear that I4C needed to sharpen its value proposition and streamline access to events, syndicates, and connections.

Event pricing was another lesson: Free access didn’t always lead to meaningful engagement. Introducing modest ticket fees brought more commitment, helped cover costs, and elevated the overall experience.

Supporting I4C Ambassadors also required more structure than anticipated. The team introduced a hands-on onboarding process, shared resources, and regular communication to help each chapter stay active and aligned.

And as I4C begins launching SPV investments for its community, it is still refining how to balance accessibility with rigour, ensuring value for both founders and investors. Each adjustment, Amour-Levar says, comes back to listening closely, staying agile, and adapting with purpose. Progress over perfection is a leadership principle she returns to often, compounded by the belief that “hope isn’t passive. It’s a strategy.”

For her, hope looks like a founder working on carbon removal tech. Or a 12-year-old ocean activist in Bali. Or an investor shifting 10 per cent of their portfolio into regenerative agriculture. These moments, she says, are proof that the model works. “Whether it’s trekking through remote mountains or convening sovereign funds, my mission is the same: to connect people with purpose, and purpose with power.

It’s the same thinking that shapes her approach to capital. In Amour-Levar’s world, returns are only as meaningful as the problems they solve. And as regions like Europe double down on aligning regulation with purpose, through mechanisms like the European Green Deal or Article 9 funds, the case for values-led capital grows stronger. As she puts it: “You’re not just a cheque — you’re a catalyst.”