Nysno Climate Investments
Nysno Climate Investments is Norway's state-owned climate investment fund, based in Stavanger, that backs emission-cutting technology companies and funds across renewables, batteries, and industrial hard tech. Water is a small corner of that mandate: as of 2026, (don't) Waste Water tracks one water company, the subsea desalination startup Flocean, across two deals.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Nysno Climate Investments is the Norwegian government's own climate-tech investor, set up in Stavanger in 2017 and originally christened the Renewables Fund before it took the name Nysno, a dialect word for new snow. It runs on several billion Norwegian kroner of state money with one job: to be catalytic capital, putting public cash into emission-cutting technology where private funding is thin and a state cheque can pull others in. It is a climate fund first, not a water fund, and it only backs companies with a clear link to Norway.
Nysno Climate Investments barely touches water, which is exactly what makes its single water bet interesting. Nysno's one water holding is Flocean, a Norwegian startup building subsea desalination plants that sit on the seabed at around 500 metres and use the ocean's own pressure to push seawater through reverse-osmosis membranes. Flocean is Norwegian offshore engineering pointed at drinking water, the same seabed know-how that built the country's oil and gas industry, repurposed to make fresh water with far less energy.
Nysno Climate Investments invests the way a public fund is supposed to, in both companies and other funds, and it leans deliberately toward hard tech over software. As Investment Director Joe Eliston put it, you cannot solve the climate crisis by investing in software alone, and a seabed desalination rig is about as hard-tech as water gets. On Flocean, Nysno sits alongside specialist water backer Burnt Island Ventures, with the pump-and-treatment giant Xylem later joining the company as a strategic investor.
What I watch with Nysno Climate Investments is whether water stays a one-company footnote or grows into a real line in the portfolio. The fund's reach across renewables, batteries, and industrial decarbonisation keeps spilling toward water-adjacent problems, and Norway's subsea heritage gives it an edge few climate funds have. For now Nysno is a broad climate investor that happens to own one of the more unusual water-tech bets in Europe, and Flocean is the name to follow.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 1 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Nysno Climate Investments invest in?
- Nysno Climate Investments backs technology companies and funds that cut greenhouse-gas emissions, spanning renewables, battery technology, offshore wind, green industry, and other hard tech with a clear link to Norway. It makes both direct investments and fund commitments. In water, (don't) Waste Water tracks one holding, the subsea desalination company Flocean.
- Is Nysno Climate Investments a water fund?
- Nysno Climate Investments is not a water fund. It is Norway's state-owned climate investment fund, and water is a small sliver of a broad emission-cutting mandate. Across its portfolio, (don't) Waste Water counts a single water company, the subsea desalination startup Flocean, rather than a dedicated water strategy.
- Who owns and runs Nysno Climate Investments?
- Nysno Climate Investments is owned by the Norwegian state, through the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries, and was established in 2017. It is led by Chief Executive Officer Siri Kalvig, a former meteorologist and climate researcher, and run by an investment team based in Stavanger.
- Where is Nysno Climate Investments based?
- Nysno Climate Investments is headquartered in Stavanger, on Norway's west coast. By mandate it invests in companies and funds with a clear link to Norway, whether through their headquarters, their staff, or a fund's presence in the country, while backing technology that can scale globally.
- What water companies has Nysno Climate Investments backed?
- Nysno Climate Investments has one water company in its portfolio: Flocean, a Norwegian startup developing subsea desalination plants that produce fresh water on the seabed. (don't) Waste Water tracks Nysno across two deals in Flocean, co-investing with specialist water backer Burnt Island Ventures, among others.