An interview with Laura Rooseboom, board member at Climate Cleanup
From “boring finance” to meaningful impact
“I used to work in traditional asset management,” Laura Rooseboom says with a smile. “Investing in everything and anything. But honestly? I found it quite boring.”
What she was missing was purpose, and innovation. Not just new ideas, but ideas that actually improve the world. That search led her, over 25 years ago, into sustainable investing, long before it became a trend.
At Stichting DOEN, she helped build DOEN Participaties, one of the first investment funds for sustainable companies. “At the time, that market didn’t really exist yet. But we believed it was needed to build businesses that could stand on their own feet and would not be solely dependent on grants”
Twenty years ago, she co-founded StartGreen Capital, continuing that same mission: backing companies that push the world forward.
Saying yes to Climate Cleanup
When she was asked to join the board of Climate Cleanup, the decision came naturally. “It wasn’t a fully mapped-out organization yet,” she recalls. “But I really believed in the goal.”
That goal? Not just reducing emissions, but actively removing CO₂ from the atmosphere. “You don’t solve climate change by only going to zero emissions. There’s already so much CO₂ out there. You have to clean it up too.”
As a board member, Laura helps think through strategy, investments, and big decisions. “It’s a group of people with different backgrounds, all looking at the same challenge from different angles.”
The moment it felt real
For Laura, one of the most exciting things is seeing carbon removal grow into a real industry.
“Every year, the Climate Cleanup summit (next one is June 16th 2026) gets more professional. But what really struck me was when rating agencies for carbon credits started appearing. That’s when I thought: this is becoming a real sector.”
What excites her most, though, are the tangible projects. “Farmers measuring carbon in their soil. Ocean-based solutions using seaweed. Those are the moments where it becomes real. Not just ideas, but action.”
“It’s not that we can’t, it’s that we don’t”
So what’s holding us back? “The frustrating part,” she says, “is that many of the solutions already exist.”
The problem is adoption. “People say: it’s too expensive. And that is often the case for new technologies. You need scale to bring the costs down, so it is a chicken and egg problem. And that slows everything down.”
She points to renewable energy as proof that change is possible. “That only scaled because governments supported it with special energy-subsidies or the”salderingsregeling” . I think we’ll need that again in other sectors, like circular materials or food.”
Between realism and hope
Laura is realistic about the global situation. “There will be shortages. There will be tension. That’s realistic.”
And yet, she remains hopeful. “Through the companies I work with, I see every day that it can be done. We have the technology. We have the ideas.”
What’s still missing? A shift in priorities. “The real question is: when do we decide that a livable world is more important than keeping everything cheap and convenient?”
Looking forward
Compared to when she started over 25 years ago, the difference is striking.
“There’s more awareness, more investment, more momentum. And younger generations are much more willing to make sustainable choices. That gives me hope.”
For Climate Cleanup, she hopes to see that momentum translate into real scale: more projects, more partners, and more impact. “The solutions are already there. Now it’s about making it a priority to implement them.”
A message to the reader
“Cleaning up, whether it’s your house or CO₂, always feels overwhelming at first,” Laura says. “But once you start and keep going, you begin to see progress. You start to see the impact.”
“That’s why I believe every step counts. If you don’t do anything, nothing changes.”