For the first time, Web Summit came to Vancouver—and the city showed up. But if you were looking for real conversations on climate, ocean innovation, or impact tech, you had to look hard. Most of them happened outside the spotlight.

This Web Summit stayed focused on mainstream tech but left some of the most urgent conversations behind. Despite the staggering urgency of our climate crisis and the billions being invested in climate-aligned innovation—the main stages pretty much ignored the sector. No deep dives into decarbonization. No systems view of sustainability in this political climate.

AI was the darling of the summit—as expected—but there was almost no conversation about what it actually takes to bring AI to life in a climate-constrained world. There was no discussion on the energy intensity of AI models, the emissions tied to scaling AI infrastructure, or how AI could be harnessed to serve climate goals rather than deepen extractive systems. In a place like Vancouver where climate, ocean and clean tech innovation is thriving, the disconnect was glaring.

Lite-1, a Vancouver-based women run biotech startup turning bacteria into sustainable colourants, won the big Web Summit pitch competition—evidence that serious, science-driven climate solutions are perceived as not just nice to haves but investable in a tech world (we were cheering her on!). It should’ve been a signal that this is where tech is headed but instead, it felt a bit like a standalone highlight quite disconnected from the mainstage activities that largely sidestepped climate conversations. Which is quite curious since Web Sumnit dedicated entire stages to climate in years past.

Meanwhile, some of the most relevant and most consistently comprehensive conversations about climate were happening off the mainstage, inside the Climate Innovation Zone, an exhibition space led by a coalition of partners from British Columbia. It didn’t have the main stage spotlight, but it had so much momentum. The space was always surrounded with founders, funders, and ecosystem partners cheering on all the amazing work happening in the region.

What stood out was a region with a deep, values-driven commitment to impact, sustainability, and systems change.

Which brings me back to the question: why was climate pushed to the sidelines?

Beyond a programming miss, this reflects a deeper gap in the global tech landscape. For all the talk of “changing the world,” too much of the industry still celebrates lightning speed over depth. Tech conferences like Web Summit don’t just mirror the sector—they shape it. They set the tone for what gets funded, what gets media coverage, and what earns credibility. When climate is obviously missing from the agenda, we reinforce the idea that it doesn’t matter. That’s a dangerous narrative in today’s context and I don’t believe that it reflects the reality on the ground in B.C.

Climate tech isn’t a niche. It is where all industries are heading. We’re long past needing to justify its place in tech especially when so many of the most critical climate solutions are in fact tech.

Last year, over $1.8 trillion was invested globally into clean energy alone. Entire industries from resources to agriculture to logistics are being restructured to meet the demands of a carbon-constrained future. But building in this space is hard. These ventures wrestle with long timelines, capital-intensive R&D, regulatory complexity, and slow-moving supply chains. They don’t always make for stage-friendly narratives. But it is exactly the stories we need to be highlighting.

The future of technology is so deeply entangled with the future of the planet.

If Web Summit wants to reflect the kind of future we actually want to build through tech, climate and impact can not be left out. And to be clear this isn’t a takedown. Web Summit is an amazing opportunity for the West Coast to shine, and it matters to our evolving ecosystem. It’s still one of the most powerful global conveners in tech. But with that platform comes responsibility. There’s an enormous opportunity not just to reflect where tech is, but to lead where it needs to go.

Next year, imagine what’s possible if climate, ocean innovation, Indigenous excellence, and regenerative tech weren’t relegated to the side but brought to the center of the tech conversation with stages of their own.

Web Summit has the reach and influence to elevate these stories not as peripheral content, but as core to the future of technology. That’s the future worth putting front and center.

Joanna Buczkowska-McCumber is a founder and corporate impact strategist.