Our motivation
: the climate crisis needs a more holistic strategy.
The climate crisis has outpaced our response. While the world has rightly focused on rapid decarbonization in trying to limit warming to 1.5°C, we are already crossing that threshold. Earlier versions of our climate strategy are no longer sufficient in scope. We need dramatically expanded efforts on near-term warming mitigation, large-scale durable carbon removal for climate restoration, and measures to avoid triggering irreversible tipping points.
Previously neglected approaches—from natural system climate interventions to super pollutant mitigation and more—must now be seriously pursued alongside urgent decarbonization. Many promising solutions remain sidelined not because they lack potential, but because they haven't gotten the push needed to overcome adoption bottlenecks. We founded Cascade to provide that push, accelerating high-potential solutions and catalyzing a full-spectrum response that matches the scale and urgency of the climate crisis.
Our work
: orchestrating ambitious initiatives across markets, policy, and science.
Cascade tackles the systemic bottlenecks that aren’t the “job” of any existing actor—challenges that markets, policy, and science can't solve in isolation. We coordinate across these spheres to overcome collective action problems, build novel tools and platforms that speed the pace of learning, and direct substantially more resources toward these critical emerging climate solutions.
Over the past two years, we've demonstrated this approach in enhanced rock weathering (ERW)—accelerating high-priority R&D, creating deployment-driven learning cycles through early voluntary markets, and building policy momentum for the field. Learn more about our work in ERW here.
We're now expanding this model to address the immediate challenge of near-term warming. Rapid temperature rise risks crossing planetary boundaries and cascading impacts across societies and ecosystems. Averting the worst of this demands coordinated preparation and response that spans industry, governments, and scientists.
Super pollutants like methane and HFCs offer the fastest path to slowing this warming, given their outsized climate impact and shorter atmospheric lifespans. Cascade is contributing to early market development and policy foundations for super pollutant mitigation, applying some of the strategies that have advanced ERW and durable carbon removal in recent years.
Our approach
: building deep, trust-based relationships across the ecosystem.
The “how” in our approach is every bit as important as the “what.” We orchestrate ambitious cross-sector initiatives that shape markets and policies. But first we have to earn the invitation to do this by building broad and deep relationships across any ecosystem we work in—establishing trust through humility, an independent voice, and always keeping climate impact as our north star. Philosophically, we put learning at the heart of our work, tackling complexity through learning-by-doing cycles rather than wishing it away.