In a live interview on ARD’s tagesschau24 business programme “Update Wirtschaft” from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on 21 November 2025, Dr. Johannes Feist, CEO of Mikro Kapital, shared his assessment of the COP30 climate summit. His central message: climate finance only makes a difference when money actually reaches the real economy – the “glowworms”, as he calls the many small farmers and entrepreneurs on the ground.

While global negotiators in Belém debated new trillion-dollar climate finance goals, Dr. Feist used the interview to highlight a different angle. For any financing instrument, he stressed, the key metric is not how much is pledged, but how much ends up in concrete projects.

Mikro Kapital focuses on exactly this “undergrowth” of the economy. Instead of a few large lighthouse projects, the company supports many decentralised initiatives: energy-efficient greenhouses in Tajikistan, solar and bioenergy projects in Armenia and Italy, or climate-resilient irrigation systems in Romania.

Dr. Feist also explained what sets Mikro Kapital apart. The company is funded via the capital markets, issuing bonds to institutional and informed investors instead of relying on development banks. Despite operating in challenging markets, the portfolio has maintained a default rate of below 1% – thanks to strong payment discipline and solid collateral.

His conclusion in the ARD interview: large public funds are essential for major infrastructure. But to truly transform the broader economy, private intermediaries like Mikro Kapital must work hand in hand with them – turning global climate goals into local reality. For Mikro Kapital, this “glowworm” approach is at the heart of its mission: linking global investors with small, climate-resilient businesses that would otherwise remain underfinanced.