Carbon Equity Review 2026: What the Access Fee Buys, What Performance Can Be Evaluated, and What Protections Come With a Twelve-Year Commitment

Carbon Equity B.V. is an Amsterdam fund manager, licensed by the Dutch AFM since December 11, 2023 under article 2:65 of the Dutch Financial Supervision Act, that pools commitments from individuals into closed-end funds of funds investing in climate venture capital, private equity, infrastructure and private debt funds run by other managers, plus one direct co-investment fund. You own a limited partnership interest in a Dutch vehicle (recent funds are limited partnerships with a Carbon Equity general partner company and a separate foundation holding title; older ones are funds for joint account), not an interest in any underlying fund. Each vehicle has a depositary named in the AFM register. Thirteen vehicles have been launched since July 2021, five were open in October 2026, and the audited 2025 report puts commitments at approximately EUR 364 million from 1,657 subscriptions, with EUR 128.9 million deployed into 29 funds and 8 co-investments.

Three layers of its own plus the underlying funds'. An annual management fee on the commitment, tiered by size: on Climate Tech Portfolio Fund IV 1.00% below EUR 100,000, 0.95% from EUR 100,000, down to 0.40% above EUR 20 million; 1.1% on the retail fund reducible to 0.85% by referrals; 0.85% at EUR 100,000 on the infrastructure fund; 0.75% on the debt fund; 1.25% or 1.00% on the co-investment fund. A one-off setup fee of 1% invoiced on top of the commitment, with a 25% discount for repeat investors, none on the co-investment fund. Fund expenses capped below 0.3% a year (0.5% on the retail fund, 0.2% estimated on the co-investment fund). Then the underlying managers' fees, which the firm puts at about 2% a year and 20% carried interest for venture and private equity and 1.5% and 20% for infrastructure. The co-investment fund adds a 10% performance fee on realized returns above a 1.25x hurdle. If the fee and expense cap run on the full commitment for twelve years, Carbon Equity's own layer on a EUR 100,000 commitment to the fourth portfolio fund is up to EUR 16,000 before any underlying fee; whether the fee steps down is not stated publicly. The only all-in figure in public is the January 2023 key information document for the second portfolio fund: EUR 60,761 of total costs on EUR 100,000 over twelve years, a reduction in yield of 8.5 percentage points a year, for that fund under its 2023 terms.

Yes, by the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets, as a fully licensed alternative investment fund manager. The AFM's register of licensed AIFMs lists Carbon Equity B.V. under license 15005329 dated December 11, 2023, with seventeen fund rows each naming a depositary (Apex Depositary Services for most, CACEIS for the retail fund, Belfius for the Belgian vehicles), and the ESMA register shows the same. The license was amended in 2025 to permit a direct co-investment fund. Access to Climate Tech Fund II is authorized as a European long-term investment fund and can be offered to retail investors across the EU. Before December 2023 the firm was a light-regime registrant, and its own 2022 and 2023 pages said the investment fell outside AFM supervision; the earlier funds were brought under the license and were not marketed afterward. The firm is a member of Kifid for complaints. There is no US registration; one fund filed a Form D in July 2025 for two US investors.

Nothing is published. No TVPI, DPI, IRR, NAV per unit, called percentage or distribution figure for any fund appears on the site, in the press releases, on the event pages or in the four annual reports. The only value statement is one sentence in the 2023 annual report: EUR 37 million of invested capital had a total value of EUR 34 million at December 31, 2023. The fund pages carry targets, 12% to 15% net IRR for the fourth portfolio fund, 8% to 12% for the retail fund, 10% to 12% for infrastructure, 25% for co-investments and 7% to 8% for debt, each with the sentence that expected future performance is not guaranteed. An event page mentions a first exit in the first portfolio fund without a number. Investors receive quarterly capital account statements and performance updates, so the figures exist; the oldest vehicles are five years old and the first portfolio fund closed nearly four years ago. Prospective investors should ask for dated, vehicle-level statements before committing.

Not in any practical sense before the fund ends. The firm's FAQ states that most funds do not offer liquidity, that you may be able to sell to a third party but the firm cannot help find a buyer, and that there is no guarantee of selling at full value; its webinar pages say the funds are illiquid so you cannot exit early. Fund lives are twelve years for the portfolio, infrastructure and retail funds, ten for the co-investment fund and eight for the debt fund, with up to two two-year extensions stated for the second portfolio fund. A transfer to a qualifying buyer you find yourself costs the lower of 1% of the commitment or EUR 500 in administration; the 2023 key information document puts exit costs for early departure at 0% to 20% and describes a buy-back window five years after final close with restrictions. The retail fund alone has a two-week withdrawal right after signing and a limited redemption option whose timelines, restrictions and discounts are not published. Defaulting on a later capital call carries penalty interest, a penalty of up to 50% of your total obligations or forfeiture.

Residents of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany for all funds, with France to follow for the co-investment fund; the firm says investors elsewhere may be able to invest on their own initiative under reverse solicitation, subject to local rules that may require accredited or qualified investor status, and the join form asks you to confirm you found Carbon Equity yourself. Minimums are EUR 100,000 on the portfolio, infrastructure and debt funds, $250,000 on the co-investment fund and EUR 20,000 on the retail fund, Access to Climate Tech Fund II. EU and UK residents who meet two of three tests (a portfolio above EUR 500,000, a year in a financial-sector role, or ten significant private-market transactions a quarter for a year) can opt up to professional status and commit EUR 50,000, with the firm's own page stating they then receive less investor protection than retail investors. Everyone takes a suitability questionnaire or interview. On the EUR 100,000 funds the first capital call equals the minimum, so a minimum investor pays the whole commitment plus the 1% setup fee at once.

It is audited, transparent about it, and not yet profitable. The 2025 annual report, with an unqualified opinion from KLMN Audit B.V., shows revenue of EUR 2.38 million (management fees EUR 1.95 million, setup fees EUR 0.43 million), a loss of EUR 3.53 million, cash of EUR 6.6 million at December 31, 2025, share premium of EUR 15.75 million and cumulative other reserves of about minus EUR 9.6 million. The firm reported a loss in each year of its filed record, raised EUR 1.2 million and EUR 1.8 million in 2022, EUR 6 million in September 2023 led by BlackFin Capital Partners and EUR 6.4 million in September 2025, and its going-concern note records management's expectation that profitability will be realized in early 2028; the 2022 and 2024 reports carried going-concern notes too. Investor money sits in separate partnerships with a foundation holding title and a depositary, and the fund agreements provide for a replacement manager, so a manager failure is not a fund loss, but it would mean a change of the party monitoring the underlying funds and running capital calls in the middle of a twelve-year commitment.

Both are European platforms pooling individuals into institutional private funds through feeder or fund-of-funds vehicles with minimums in the EUR 50,000 to EUR 100,000 range, and Carbon Equity adds a EUR 20,000 retail ELTIF. On what is published, Carbon Equity does more: a full AIFM license with a depositary per fund in the public register, tier-by-tier fee tables on every fund page including the setup fee and the underlying 2% and 20%, and four years of its own audited accounts; Moonfare, which AltStreet scored 4.1 (C), directs readers to each fund page for fees and publishes no accounts. On fund results both publish nothing. Carbon Equity is climate-only and smaller, at about EUR 364 million of commitments audited against Moonfare's stated several billion, and is not yet profitable by its own account.

Both are questions for the firm. The FAQ limits active marketing to the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany and says investors elsewhere may be able to invest on their own initiative, subject to local rules that may require accredited or qualified investor status. One US filing exists: Climate Tech Portfolio Fund III C.V. filed a Form D on July 3, 2025 under Rule 506(b) and section 3(c)(7), covering two US investors for $216,368 at a $108,184 minimum. That shows one fund admitted US investors who qualified; it does not show that any US applicant can. Nothing on the public site addresses US persons, the funds' US tax classification or US reporting, and the Dutch description of the funds as opaque fiscal investment institutions does not determine their US treatment. A US person should ask whether they can invest, how the fund is classified for US tax purposes and what election it supports, and what annual US reporting it provides. AltStreet is not a tax adviser.