SF Bay Climate Tech: January 30 - February 5, 2023
Environmental markets, smart grids, electric vehicles, and some casual networking in between!
Hi friends,
Start off the week with a conference at Stanford on environmental markets or head to Sunnyvale for an event on smart grid strategy. On Wednesday, head back to Stanford to learn about China’s EV subsidies and market. Then on Thursday head to California College of the Arts in SF for a talk by Liz Ogbu on Design/ing in the Apocalypse then head to the Mission for an evening of climate co-working. If you’re in the East Bay on Thursday, check out Climate Tech Cafe in Oakland for a casual networking event at First Edition.
Cheers,
Alec and Sonam
Hot Take: We’re at Trillion with a T!
If you had doubts about the energy transition, let’s just say that the massive increase in investment over the past year means that it’s here to stay.
As the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit gets underway today in San Francisco, I thought it would be great to dive into their new report on the latest and greatest trends in the energy industry.
First off: Global spending on clean energy technologies grew 31% YoY, primarily driven by a huge increase in investment in energy demand. The top of the list is electrified transport, but as an urban infrastructure aficionado at heart, big gains in electrified heat and sustainable materials have me riled up (case in point: heat pump startup Gradientis deploying its technology in the NYC Housing Authority public housing buildings as we speak and sustainable concrete producer Sublime Systems just closed its $40M Series A last week!). For the first time in history, investments in the clean energy transition have matched those in the fossil fuel ecosystem. Here’s to surpassing that number in 2023!
On the equity front, climate tech companies raised $119 billion through VC, PE, secondary offerings, SPACs, and the like. Given the huge downturn in public markets, it’s no surprise that deal activity for SPACs and IPOs decreased significantly. The good news: early stage VC is alive and well! Overall VC/PE was up 3% and as our friends at Climate Tech VC have reported, early stage deal activity defied the odds and gained 40% in 2022!
As I wrote last week for our Hot Take feature for Climate Career Week, this story is all about jobs! Over $79 billion has been invested in clean energy manufacturing facilities over the past year across the globe. China leads the pack with 91% of manufacturing investments, but the US is just starting to make its mark as companies large and small take advantage of IRA subsidies and tax credits. Everything from CarbonCapture’s new direct air capture facility in Wyoming to Qcell’s new solar manufacturing plant in Georgia, making it the largest such project in the Western Hemisphere. For a full list of all this, here’s my Parachute post on jobs, jobs, and more jobs.
All this is just the start. We’re at $1.1 trillion of investments today in the clean energy transition. McKinsey predicts that we need to be at $9.2 trillion annual average spend if we are to get to net zero by 2050. There’s a long way to go, but as someone who’s spent my entire career at the intersection of cities x climate x capital - I can’t wait to see the fruits of this investment coming to a street near you and me!
Community Shout Outs
🌎 Climate Tech Cities
We are expanding! We started as an 8-person dinner and now have almost 3,000 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
📈 Markets vs. Mandates: Promoting Environmental Quality and Economic Prosperity: Mon, Jan 30
⚡️ NEDO SV Foresight Seminars: Inventing the Future: Session 3: Mon, Jan 30
🚗 Attribute-based Subsidies and Market Power for Electric Vehicles: Wed, Feb 1
🖋 Liz Ogbu: Design/ing in the Apocalypse: Thu, Feb 2
☕️ Climate Tech Cafe: Thu, Feb 2
👩💻 Climate Co-Working Thursdays - Kickoff!: Thu, Feb 2
Read on for more details about this week’s happenings and upcoming events this month
Upcoming Events
🌳 Nature X Carbon Bay Area Monthly Meetup: Mon, Feb 6
🌱 Net-Zero is Not Enough: Innovative Solutions to Cool the Planet: Wed, Feb 8
🌇 Rising Leaders Committee Celebration: Thu, Feb 9
🍹 2023 HAPPY HOURS + STARTUP SHOWCASE KICKOFF!: Thu, Feb 9
🧘♀️ Bay Area Women in Climate Investing & Finance - Yoga: Sat, Feb 11
✅ Greenaction's 25th Anniversary!: Sat, Feb 11
🔋 1.5 C - Sustainable Batteries Panel Event: Wed, Feb 15
🔋 1.5 C - Sustainable Batteries Panel Event: Wed, Feb 15
🌿 Fujitsu ActivateNow Technology Summit, Silicon Valley: Wed, Feb 22
🥗 The Earth on Your Plate: Thu, Feb 23
🥙 Meatless Meat Up: Plant-based Tasting & Workshop: Sat, Feb 25
🏥 Sustainable Healthcare Workshop: Mon, Feb 27
🌎 The Great Displacement with Jake Bittle: Mon, Feb 27
Events This Week
📈 Markets vs. Mandates: Promoting Environmental Quality and Economic Prosperity
When: Mon, Jan 30th from 8:15 AM to 6:00 PM
Where: Traitel Building, Hauck Auditorium, 435 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA 94305
On January 30, 2023, the Hoover Institution will host a one-day conference on Markets vs. Mandates: Promoting Environmental Quality and Economic Prosperity. Building on Hoover’s founding principles of generating ideas that define healthy and free societies, the program will examine the differences between markets and mandates for improving environmental quality and energy efficiency while promoting individual liberty and prosperity.
⚡️ NEDO SV Foresight Seminars: Inventing the Future: Session 3
When: Mon, Jan 30th from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Where: Plug and Play Tech Center, 440 North Wolfe Road, Sunnyvale, CA 94085
You are cordially invited to an in-person seminar exploring Innovation in Smart Grid Strategy and Technology. This is the third session of NEDO Silicon Valley Foresight Four Seminar Series featuring solutions to advance the goal of a sustainable future with Net Zero emissions by 2050.
🚗 Attribute-based Subsidies and Market Power for Electric Vehicles
When: Wed, Feb 1st from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM
Where: Encina Hall, William J. Perry Conference Room, 616 Jane Stanford Way, Second Floor, Stanford, CA 94305
Attribute-based subsidies are commonly used to promote the diffusion of energy-efficient products in industries with significant market power. But what can they reveal about China's electric car marker? In a first-of-its-kind study, Shanjun Li and his team have developed a theoretical framework for optimal policy design that incorporates endogenous product attributes, environmental externalities, and market power in order to estimate an equilibrium model of China's vehicle market using comprehensive data to evaluate the welfare impacts of different subsidy designs.
🖋 Liz Ogbu: Design/ing in the Apocalypse
When: Thu, Feb 2nd from 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Where: California College of the Arts, 1111 Eighth Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
Apocalypse comes from the ancient Greek word that meant "revelation" or "unveiling." In recent years, from the pandemic to the racial justice uprising, we are experiencing a stark clarity of the state of our current reality. Now, despite attempts to “return to normal,” we continue to see evidence of ongoing harm, unprocessed individual and collective grief, and the need to focus on repair and healing. As designers, these concepts can feel unwieldy and disconnected from what we do. But as the ones who shape the environments in which we all live in, design/ers have too often been complicit in the harm. This talk and conversation will explore what it means to wrestle with that and discuss what it could mean to negotiate issues of race and space in service of repair and healing.
☕️ Climate Tech Cafe
When: Thu, Feb 2nd from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Where: First Edition, 1915 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612
Climate change is a present and disruptive force requiring innovative and equitable solutions. Technology, in all its forms, offers the critical science-based tools we need to transition to a low-carbon economy. We're hosting a casual gathering to share how we're using technology to address climate change and to strengthen our collective efforts. Whatever your skillset or experience, join us for happy hour to discuss the opportunities and challenges of technology in the climate crisis. Don't forget to bring a friend! New to climate tech? Climate tech encompasses all technologies that are explicitly focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, or addressing the impacts of global warming.
👩💻 Climate Co-Working Thursdays - Kickoff!
When: Thu, Feb 2nd from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Where: Hawker Fare, 680 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
This event is for people who want to work on climate but are looking for the best place to start. The event will feature a one hour social co-working mixer where participants can bring their laptop, ask questions regarding environmental advocacy, and network with others with similar interests. The second hour will feature educational speakers in Climate, with support from SoCal350 and Eco-Justice Radio. These speakers are experts in their field and bring a variety of experiences ranging from regenerative agriculture, carbon removal and accounting, circular economies, and emerging technologies.
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 3,000+ 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!