The Partnership
Climate-driven natural disasters are anticipated to drive trillions of dollars of economic damage and put billions of lives at risk. Ecospheric tipping points triggered by climate change represent an existential threat to life on entire hemispheres of Earth. In between these two poles, of localised hazard and generalized threat to Earth’s habitability, are an additional set of systems interactions which threaten the collapse not of ecological systems but of human subsystems themselves: the systems that underpin human wellbeing, systems providing for material survival, our economic systems, our systems of governance.
Deep Science Ventures (DSV) today announced a new partnership with Renaissance Philanthropy, to create a new project as part of their recently launched Advanced Research for Climate Emergencies (ARC) Initiative: The Deep Science Ventures Climate Emergencies Resilience Lab. This strategic initiative will identify and develop scalable innovations designed to strengthen global resilience to escalating climate risks, particularly focusing on ecosphere-scale threats and cascading natural hazards.
Renaissance Philanthropy’s mission is to fuel a 21st-century renaissance by increasing the ambition of philanthropists, scientists, and innovators. In the last year alone they have partnered with groups like ARIA, XTX Markets, the Walton Family Foundation and Eric and Wendy Schmidt to launch novel and ambitious philanthropic programs and funds. Their extraordinary team have previously worked in the Clinton and Obama White House, DARPA and Schmidt Futures - as well as including alumni from Deep Science Ventures itself.
Target Outcome: Prevent 2bn DALYs lost due to climate-change mediated human systems collapse by 2050
The partnership addresses critical, planet-scale climate threats such as potential cessation of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and runaway Amazon rainforest dieback, as well as clusters of natural hazards which compound to create systemic risks. DSV will leverage its venture-creation model to develop commercially viable solutions specifically tailored for these complex climate scenarios.
Distinctively, DSV’s approach emphasizes commercially investable solutions. The collaboration aims to generate inventions that simultaneously align with both adaptation and emissions reduction—crucial to mitigating “derailment risk,” where adaptation efforts could inadvertently undermine necessary action on climate mitigation (Laybourn et al., 2023).
Reconciling the combination of severity with unpredictability and systemic interconnectivity is the core discipline of organized, sustainable adaptation. The extreme conditions of deployment also mean sustained multidisciplinary innovation is required, making this a perfect theme for the team at DSV, which spans climate, agriculture, health and computing.
Uniquely, the Lab is also structured to explore a plurality of impact pathways— aswell as commercially investable ventures, the work will consider mission-driven nonprofit platforms and focused research programs. Rather than prescribing a single outcome model, the Lab prioritises interventions based on potential for transformative impact and systemic neglect, and then iteratively determines the optimal vehicle for deployment—whether market-based, public-good, or hybrid.
By combining Renaissance’s catalytic philanthropy with DSV’s scientific entrepreneurship, the Lab aims to unlock scalable, ethically grounded solutions that accelerate climate adaptation while aligning with long-term mitigation goals.
DSV maintains its strong commitment to mitigation and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) already demonstrated through the creation of firms such as Mission Zero, Parallel Carbon, Aquarry and Kairos, with several brand new decarbonization-focused companies and partnerships scheduled for announcement later this year. DSV’s prior ventures underscore this dual strategy, including PES Technologies, a soil-health diagnostics firm, Rhizocore, specializing in mycorrhizal afforestation, and an additional company developing next-generation desalination technology, currently operating in stealth mode.
Under this collaboration, DSV will conduct rigorous analysis to map the intersection of disaster risks, system fragility, and potential for scalable innovation, aiming to uncover commercially attractive opportunities that deliver both mitigation and adaptation outcomes. The goal is to catalyze sustainable market-driven investment pathways, reducing reliance on public and philanthropic funding alone.