SF Bay Climate Tech: February 20 - February 26, 2023
This is the week of climate meetups in the Bay. Plus some plant-based food on the side!
Hi friends,
Start the shortened holiday week on Tuesday with the SF Climate Tech Meetup at Studio 45, or join Energy Discuss SF for a talk on getting federal money into climate solutions at Banyan Infrastructure in SoMa. On Wednesday, head to Zeitgeist for the Bay Area Terra.do meetup, Lazy Dog in Fremont for the Cleantech Open Bay Area Meetup, or Mountain View for the sustainability-themed AtivateNow Technology Summit. On Thursday, nerd out about energy with the DER Task Force Happy Hour at the Page in SF, or swing by Burlingame for a talk on food and climate change. On Saturday, get a taste of the future in Mountain View with the Meatless Meat Up: Plant-based Tasting & Workshop.
Cheers,
Alec and Sonam
Hot Take: How do you ‘End Poverty’, really?
This is a photo from my iPhone camera roll circa 2013, when I used to work at the World Bank and walked into the headquarters of the world’s largest development finance institution everyday - with the stated goal to “End Poverty” stamped on its front door. Job descriptions don’t get more direct than this. But, like most things in life, the devil’s in the details.
How are we doing 10 years later, circa 2023? Maybe I’ll just let the headlines speak for themselves:
🇵🇰 Pakistan was immersed underwater last summer as monsoon floods pummeled the country and caused damage across one-third of the entire country
🇨🇳 China suffered its worst drought in history, drying out the Yangtze River, which supplies drinking water to more than 400 million people
🇮🇳 India's wheat crop had 35% less yield this in 2022, decimating the output of the world’s bread bowl and worsening a global food shortage
🇿🇦 South Africa suffered from its worst rainstorm in history, killing hundreds of people in the city of Durban
One simply cannot “End Poverty” as the natural systems that underpin human life on planet earth break down. And the reality is that our global financial system both caused this demise and needs to significantly reform to handle its consequences.
First, a look back: The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were born out of the Bretton Woodsconference in July 1944, as most countries across the world were reeling from the effects of World War II. The goal was to create a new economic order focused on international cooperation, one that would help countries recover from the war and foster long-term growth. Since then, the World Bank has been joined in these efforts alongside several new regional Multinational Development Banks (MDBs), lifting billions of people out of poverty over the past 79 years.
Now, a look forward: The same ethos of international cooperation that launched the World Bank couldn’t be more necessary to reform it to handle the challenges of the 21st century, with climate change topping the list. For the past 4 years, The World Bank was led by Trump appointee and climate denier, David Malpass. The good news is that he’s finally resigned, and President Biden now has a chance to put in new leadership, increase US commitments, and hold these institutions accountable to “End Poverty.”
About $2 trillion is needed each year by 2030 to help the world’s most vulnerable countries reduce their GHG emissions and cope with the impacts of climate change. About half of that will come from local sources, but the other half needs to come from the World Bank, other MDBs, and external investment from private sector partners. As of today, total climate finance for low and middle income countries is at a paltry $38 billion per year. There’s A LOT MORE to go.
Some of the world’s major economies, including the US, have called on the World Bank to institute fundamental reforms in how it operates, specifically with a plan to scale up climate finance for developing countries. Approximately 90% of the increase in emissions going forward are going to come from developing countries, so they need access to affordable financing options to invest in resilience and transition their economies towards a clean energy future. All this needs to be done without pushing the countries to unsustainable levels of debt, which would further hamper their development efforts. Already, more than 60% of low-income countries are in debt distress according to the International Monetary Fund.
So, what’s on the docket to change? Having had a chance to experience the inner workings of the World Bank, I’ve learned the good, the bad, and the ugly and I lay out a few of my favorite reforms here:
⛽️ Stop funding fossil fuels!!! The World Bank provided more than $14.8 billion in financing for fossil fuelssince the Paris Agreement was adopted. It’s way past high time for the Bank to put its money where its mouth is, period.
🏗 Fund resilience initiatives BEFORE a disaster strikes, not after the fact. For every $1 that we spend on pre-disaster mitigation, we save $6 in post-disaster losses. The math is simple, let’s act on it.
💰 Provide concessional financing to all climate-vulnerable countries, even if their income levels place them above the poverty lines for the lowest-cost instruments. This means grants and low-interest debt products for middle income countries like Turkey or Malaysia, in addition to the bread and butter of the World Bank in supporting low income states like Liberia or Nicaragua. It’s often the middle income countries that have significant energy needs as their economies grow, and end up putting more capacity online through their existing fossil fuel infrastructure rather than investing in renewable energy due to lack of funds.
📈 Take risk, that’s why the World Bank was created in the first place. The Bank needs to learn how to optimize its balance sheet while reducing minimum equity-to-loan ratios. This enhances capital utilization and provides means for financing climate transitions in a much larger range of countries.
🏛 Use public financing as a means of insurance for private investors, many of whom have regulatory and fiduciary responsibilities that don't allow them to take on the risk themselves. This means loan guarantees, first loss provisions, and a huge number of creative financial products that only the World Bank can provide given its stakeholders and access to capital markets.
I was lucky enough to work on some of the climate adaptation and mitigation projects the World Bank financed when it started the Sustainable Cities group 10 years ago. From launching the Open Data for Resilience Initiative as the first open-source database of urban risks and vulnerability in the world to doing early stage investments in water systems and clean transport as a part of the $8 billion Climate Investment Funds, it was an incredible place to learn and have an impact globally. The World Bank needs to double and triple down on these types of initiatives and incorporate a climate lens into ALL of its projects rather than siloed groups.
And last, but not least, millions of people have finally started to pay attention to climate change and innovators, entrepreneurs, policymakers, community groups, and business leaders are all signing up to do their part to “End Poverty.” It has never been a better time to mobilize large sums of public capital, combined with GFANZ commitments of $130 trillion of private sector dollars, to address the biggest challenge of the 21st century!
Community Shout Outs
🌎 Climate Tech Cities
We are expanding! We started as an 8-person dinner and now have over 4,000 members in our community. We’ve had people across the world reach out to us to start their own chapters - so we’re launching a new Climate Tech Cities organization to kick of 2023! If you have friends who are interested in becoming chapter leads, please share the word! Here’s to a global network of local communities making a positive impact!
Events This Week
⚡️ Getting New Federal $$$ into Climate Solutions: Tue, Feb 21
⚛️ SF Climate Tech Meetup: Fusion x AI Panel: Tue, Feb 21
🌿 Fujitsu ActivateNow Technology Summit, Silicon Valley: Wed, Feb 22
🌱 Cleantech Open Bay Area Meetup: Wed, Feb 22
🌎 Bay Area Terra.do meetup: Wed, Feb 22
⚡️ DER Task ForceBay Area Happy Hour: Thu, Feb 23
🍽 The Earth on Your Plate: Thu, Feb 23
🥙 Meatless Meat Up: Plant-based Tasting & Workshop: Sat, Feb 25
Read on for more details about this week’s happenings and upcoming events this month
Upcoming Events
🏥 Sustainable Healthcare Workshop: Mon, Feb 27
🌎 The Great Displacement with Jake Bittle: Mon, Feb 27
🍀 Charm Industrial Open House & HH with WCS: Tue, Feb 28
🔌 Building Electrification Happy Hour: Wed, Mar 1
⛏ Architectures of Extraction: A Just Transition Dialogue: Thu, Mar 2
🌎 Project: Planet: Mon, Mar 6
⚡️ BERC Energy Summit 2023 - Making the Energy Transition Work: Wed, Mar 8
🌱 Climate, Business & Innovation Summit 2023: Wed, Mar 8
👖 Future of Fashion Conference: Thu, Mar 9
💧 Hydrocolonialism Symposium: Fri, Mar 10
⚡️ Energy Innovation Forum: Low Carbon Innovation: Wed, Mar 15
🌳 Nature X Carbon Bay Area Monthly Meetup: Mon, Mar 20
Events This Week
⚛️ SF Climate Tech Meetup: Fusion x AI Panel
When: Tue, Feb 21st from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Where: Studio 45, 45 29th street, San Francisco, CA 94110
Join for our first panel event of the year discussing the intersection of nuclear fusion and applications of different machine learning models. We'll have guest speakers share their perspective, a chance for audience q+a, and mix + mingle portion.
⚡️ Getting New Federal $$$ into Climate Solutions
When: Tue, Feb 21st from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Where: Banyan Infrastructure, Fifth Floor, 303 2nd Street, Suite 500N, SF
We'll have climate policy gurus Frances Sawyer and Daisy Pistey-Lyhne dive deep into the politics, policies, and programs involved in the passage and roll-out of all the exciting new federal funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), as well as on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and CHIPS Act. Come prepared with questions about how to tap into these new giant piles of climate money, how to push politicians to deliver even more, and/or how we should ensure that government climate cash is equitably distributed.
🌿 Fujitsu ActivateNow Technology Summit, Silicon Valley
When: Wed, Feb 22nd from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Where: Address available upon registration
With a theme of “Turning Crisis into an Opportunity: Technologies Powering Sustainability Transformation,” our technology summit will focus on the dynamic role of advanced technologies in driving sustainability transformation through digital innovation via compelling keynotes, thought-provoking panel sessions, and insightful technology demonstrations. It’s an excellent opportunity for digital transformation corporation decision-makers, startups, venture investors, and graduate school students to interact with Fujitsu’s management team, researchers, and fellow technology thought leaders from Silicon Valley’s thriving innovation ecosystem.
🌱 Cleantech Open Bay Area Meetup
When: Wed, Feb 22nd from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Where: Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar, 3100 Newpark Mall, Newark, CA 94560
Interested in cleantech startups and entrepreneurship? Want to chat about the latest and greatest in the cleantech commercialization support ecosystem in California, and beyond? Us too! Join Cleantech Open West on for a session of networking with like-minded folks! Whether you're into growing your own startup, learning about evolving cleantech markets or environmental public policy, or just meeting new people, there's something here for you! We're excited to have familiar faces and new ones all come together at this event! Learn more about Cleantech Open, how you can be involved, or whether or not your startup should apply to the program!
🌎 Bay Area Terra.do meetup
When: Wed, Feb 22nd from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Where: Zeitgeist, 199 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Terra.do is a climate education, networking, and community platform. We are a group of alumni of their Learning for Action online course, serving as ambassadors in the Bay Area. For this event there's no set agenda—it's a casual drinks-and-bites kind of thing. Pay for yourself at the bar and mingle with the Bay Area ambassadors and the rest of the community.
⚡️ DER Task ForceBay Area Happy Hour
When: Thu, Feb 23rd from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Where: The Page, 298 Divisadero Street, San Francisco, CA 94117
DER Taskforce is where passionate DERs talent comes to learn, teach, and collaborate. Whether you develop projects, write software, market EVs, advocate policy, finance projects, analyze markets, fund companies, or just want to learn about how people and businesses interact with energy, this is where you want to be.
🍽 The Earth on Your Plate
When: Thu, Feb 23rd from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
Where: Burlingame Community Center, 850 Burlingame Avenue, Burlingame, CA 94010
Mohan Gurunathan will explore the connections between our daily food choices and climate change, deforestation, species extinction, water scarcity, air and water pollution, ocean dead zones, world hunger, and many other serious environmental and social problems. You’ll learn how simple dietary changes, adopted on a large scale, are essential for solving some of humanity's greatest challenges. Mohan is an engineer, entrepreneur and activist who has lived and worked in Silicon Valley for over 20 years. He is an expert on food systems sustainability, and a well-known public speaker on environmental, public health and animal welfare issues.
🥙 Meatless Meat Up: Plant-based Tasting & Workshop
When: Sat, Feb 25th from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM
Where: Mountain View Community Center, 201 South Rengstorff Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94040
This workshop is open to anyone, but is specifically geared for those who are unfamiliar with and do not follow, a plant-based or plant-forward diet. Feel free to email us at healthyplate@acterra.org for questions. Acterra, Clorofil, and the City of Mountain View are joining forces to offer this one of a kind plant-based tasting & workshop focused on tasty ""meats"" made from plants. If you've ever been curious about how to make easy meat substitutes using ingredients such as tofu, mushrooms, and tempeh, this event is for you.
Join the Fun!
Submit Events
We know all of you are cooking up great events that highlight the latest and greatest in our collective effort to save our city - and our planet! 🌍 We would love to spread the word. Please share any event details and we'll add them to the list.
Share Your Ideas
We're excited to grow the Climate Tech community in cities across the globe! What started as an 8-person mid-pandemic outdoor dinner has since morphed into a 4,000+ strong and ever-growing group of rockstars trying to change the world. We aim to be a community resource - built for and by our community. Share your thoughts!