The majority of start-ups avoided using words related to climate in pitching to investors at the progressive annual South by Southwest tech, film, music and arts event, as even green-related company founders have adjusted to the political backdrop. The pitch competition at the SXSW event held in Austin, Texas, has collectively raised more than $22bn since 2009, and this year featured 45 companies in nine categories presented to industry experts, venture capital and angel investors.

The pitches were reframed as performance, resilience and risk management, rather than addressing climate action, with 70 per cent of sustainability-related start-ups avoiding activist or “values forward” framing, said Chris Valentine, the SXSW pitch event producer.

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Bryan Stubbs, chief executive of Cleveland Water Alliance and a judge at the SXSW event, said the pitches this year were more professional and the technologies more mature. He noticed the change in language for founders of companies that were related to the climate and welcomed the shift. “If you walk in saying I’m going to save the world, you’ve just lost 90 per cent of your potential investors,” Stubbs said. “The investor wants to know if they’re going to get a [return on their investment].”

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