Resilens: New platform makes climate adaptation affordable
Zurich-based climate expert Dr. Oliver Marchand, founder of the climate fintech Carbon Delta, which was acquired by MSCI in 2019, is launching his new company Resilens on 6 May 2026. The platform helps municipalities, companies and institutions to assess climate risks at a precise location and derive financially viable investment plans.
In the first half of 2025 alone, climate disasters caused economic damage of over 162 billion US dollars worldwide. The European Commission estimates the annual investment requirement for climate adaptation in Europe at 70 billion euros - in reality, only 20 to 33 billion euros have been invested so far. The new Zurich-based start-up Resilens aims to close this gap.
The problem: data is available, solutions are missing
The lack of climate data is not the central problem. What is lacking is the ability to translate this data into feasible and economically viable measures. «There is a lack of a standardized and efficient procedure that makes comparisons, quantifies the benefits and verifies implementation. The traditional method of evaluating measures is too expensive and time-consuming,» says CEO Dr. Oliver Marchand.
Marchand has first-hand knowledge of the interface between climate science and the financial world: he founded Carbon Delta, a climate fintech that MSCI acquired in 2019. Subsequently, as Global Head of Climate Risk Research, he led the international team for climate risk models at MSCI and established the «Climate Value-at-Risk» as a global benchmark in the financial sector.
How Resilens works
Resilens combines geo and hazard data, location-based risk analysis and cost-benefit calculations at measure level in a continuously updated platform. At its core is the key figure «AdaptationReturn», which quantifies the benefit of each adaptation measure at each location before the investment. It records avoided damage, economic added value and social co-benefits such as health, labor productivity and educational continuity. At the same time, it identifies maladaptation risks - i.e. investments that would be ineffective or counterproductive.
Resilens thus goes beyond the provision of a risk model and offers reliable investment decisions through prioritization of measures, cost calculation, key figures, eligibility and implementation tracking.
First pilot projects in Europe
Resilens is currently conducting several pilot projects focusing on heat adaptation for social infrastructure such as retirement homes, schools and daycare centers. This is an acute problem, as summers are getting hotter and hotter and performance decreases noticeably from an indoor temperature of just 25 °C.
As part of the EU-funded Pathways2Resilience program, Resilens is supporting the city of Worms in setting up a digital dashboard for climate adaptation. The collaboration builds on a pilot for heat protection for 55 daycare centres and shows how municipalities can make climate resilience more transparent, data-based and easier to prioritize.
Experienced founding team
In addition to CEO Dr. Oliver Marchand, the core team includes two other co-founders: Christian Schmelter is responsible for market positioning and commercialization as CCO and has many years of experience in scaling digital business models, including at Zattoo and Comparis. CTO Dr. Stephan Heuel, who holds a doctorate in geoinformatics and has experience in management roles at MSCI and EBP, is responsible for the technological development of the platform with a focus on geoinformation, data-driven solutions and digital transformation.
James Grabert advises the team as Senior Advisor. Grabert has headed the Mitigation Division at the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC) for almost 30 years and was previously an analyst at the World Economic Forum in Geneva.
Strategic investor from the world of climate data
Resilens is financed by the founders« own funds and capital from strategic investor Dr. Karl Gutbrod. Gutbrod has built meteoblue into one of the most renowned providers of weather and climate data over almost two decades. »High-quality climate data is only effective if it is applied to real locations and translated into better decisions. This is precisely the path that Resilens is taking," says Gutbrod.
Launch at ETH Zurich as part of Zurich Climate Week
The public launch of Resilens will take place on May 6, 2026 as part of Zurich Climate Week. The launch event will take place on the premises of ETH Zurich in partnership with Climada Technologies, an ETH spin-off and provider of climate risk data. A study on the heat risk of hospitals in the canton of Zurich will also be published as part of the event, providing an example of what location-specific decision support looks like in practice. At the same time, the Resilens platform will go live - municipalities, companies and institutions can book a demo from this date and test the platform free of charge for 30 days.
Further information on Resilens
