SF Bay Climate Tech: March 27 - April 2, 2023
Fusion, Techonomy's climate summit, volunteering, energy, food, and more!
Hi friends,
Start the week off tonight at with Kim Budil, Director of Lawrence Livermore speaking on Fusion at SF’s Commonwealth club. On Tuesday, head to Mountain View for Techonomy’s Climate Summit. Wednesday, get your hands dirty in Alameda at REAP Climate Center’s Volunteer Day. On Thursday, talk DERs and carbon accounting at Energy Discuss SF. Friday, head to Stanford for the Stanford Food Summit. Finally on Saturday, wrap up the week (and month) with a tree planting in Oakland during the day and the Regenerative Gala in Piedmont in the evening.
With Earth Day / Month around the corner, there’s a lot happening in April! We’ve gathered a number of events below so you can start planning, but we’ll have even more in next week’s newsletter. Planning something yourself? Submit your event!
Cheers,
Alec and Sonam
Hot Take: Turning water investments from a trickle to a flood
By Tamar Honig and Sonam Velani
Last week thousands of people gathered in New York for the first UN Water Conference in almost 50 years, concluding with over 700 commitments to make the world “water secure.” A sampling of the commitments include $49 billion by the United States to invest in resilient water and sanitation infrastructure and services, a pledge by Vietnam to better manage its major river basins, and a $20 million fund from the EU to better track wastewater for diseases like Covid-19. All in all, governments and businesses are finally aiming to invest in “water security” in a relatively insecure world.
If “water” doesn’t quite shout “investable sector” to you, you’re not alone. For years, the water sector, though large and growing, has remained underinvested, in part due to a belief that it’s solely the responsibility of the public sector. Granted, water financing has historically been driven by government entities, public water services providers, donors, grants, and concessionary debt. But leakage rates, contamination, and dramatic decreases in government spending on water infrastructure since the 1970s point to the severe shortcomings of public funding.
In private investment, on the other hand, water has too often been an afterthought or absent altogether, despite the risks its scarcity poses to every business, whether through raw materials, supply chains, operations, product use, or a combination thereof. Even among climate-focused fund managers, water has remained an unpopular cousin. But climate change is water change, as evidenced by droughts, floods, groundwater overdraft, extreme temperatures, erosion, and other impacts that have exposed weaknesses in the global water infrastructure. Thus, adapting to climate change requires improving our ability to manage both the quality and the quantity of the world’s water, from Flint, Michigan to Cape Town, South Africa and everywhere in between.
The water investment world flows across sectors, spanning diverse categories from ocean health to smart water technologies to water entitlements and beyond. Investments can occur at any stage in water’s lifecycle – from raindrop to river, faucet to farm – where the quantity, quality, accessibility, or efficiency of water use stands to be improved. This breadth of the investable universe – a function of the ubiquity of water itself – ensures suitable opportunities for diverse investor impact preferences and risk appetites.
Still not sure where private sector investors come in? Below are a few examples of investable opportunities within the water world, along with fund managers working within them:
Ecosystem conservation and restoration through real assets investments: In most places, owning land entitles the property-holder to the water rights on that land. Impact investors can invest for water impact by acquiring timberland, grassland, and ranchland where sustainable land management practices restore and preserve the natural state of the land for long-term use.
Example financers: Renewable Resource Group, Beartooth Capital
Conservation finance through ecosystem service markets: These markets are designed to internalize the economic costs of environmental degradation by requiring individual actors to pay a financial price for the damage they cause. Some U.S. states require that property developers who wish to build in a particular watershed pay the cost of environmental degradation they cause by purchasing credits from a wetland mitigation bank. Other ecosystem services include the flow of water through rivers and the supply of fresh groundwater. Water rights markets set prices on the right to withdraw a certain amount of water from a stream or the ground, and enable landowners to sell or lease that right to others.
Example financers: Kilter Rural; The Nature Conservancy (via Water Sharing Investment Partnerships)
Conservation finance through pay-for-success: Also known as environmental impact bonds, pay-for-success programs use private capital to fund a particular intervention, usually carried out by a nonprofit or industry expert. If the program succeeds, the government pays the investors using the cost savings that resulted from the intervention. If it fails, the government does not pay investors back.
Example financers: Blue Forest Conservation forest fire prevention and water improvement program
Private investments in municipal water technology companies: Old, degraded, inefficient water systems cause cities to lose water, money, and public trust. Hardware and software innovations are emerging to enable cities to better measure and manage their water systems, some of which are being financed by early stage catalytic capital as well as more traditional venture capital investments.
Example financers: XPV Water Partners, Burnt Island Ventures, Emerald Technology Ventures, Streetlife Ventures
Impact-first investments to expand clean water access: Several leading impact investors are using PRIs and other tools to fund market-based enterprises tackling access to clean water for the 663 million people worldwide who lack it.
Example financers: WaterEquity, Incofin
Venture investments in water-saving agriculture technology: Farmers need new technology to reduce their water use and pollution. One promising field within agricultural technology is “precision farming,” or management systems in which farmers use data to precisely and efficiently apply water, fertilizer, and other production inputs to their crops.
Example financers: PureTerra Ventures
Events This Week
⚛️ Our Fusion Future—Lawrence Livermore Director Kim Budil: Mon, Mar 27
🌎 Techonomy Climate: Tue, Mar 28
🙋 REAP Climate Center Volunteer Day: Wed, Mar 29
⚡️ Energy Discuss SF: Thu, Mar 30
🌯 Stanford Food Summit: Fri, Mar 31
🌳 Tree Planting Event - Oakland, CA: Sat, Apr 1
🤵♂️ Regenerative Gala 2023: Sat, Apr 1
Read on for more details about this week’s happenings and upcoming events this month
Events This Month
⚛️ Our Fusion Future—Lawrence Livermore Director Kim Budil: Mon, Mar 27
🌎 Techonomy Climate: Tue, Mar 28
🙋 REAP Climate Center Volunteer Day: Wed, Mar 29
⚡️ Energy Discuss SF: Thu, Mar 30
🌯 Stanford Food Summit: Fri, Mar 31
🌳 Tree Planting Event - Oakland, CA: Sat, Apr 1
🤵♂️ Regenerative Gala 2023: Sat, Apr 1
🗺 David Friedberg: The Business of Reimagining Earth: Mon, Apr 3
🌾 Urban Foodscape Tour: Innovators Nourishing the East Bay: Wed, Apr 5
👩💻 Women and Climate San Francisco Get Together!: Wed, Apr 5
🍀 Sustainability: How Messaging Impacts Adoption: Wed, Apr 5
🌎 Putting Contemporary Climate Migration in Context: Thu, Apr 6
🍹 Climate Tech Cocktails @UC Berkeley Haas Part Deux: Thu, Apr 6
👩🌾 AgTech & FoodTech against Climate Change: Fri, Apr 7
🐄 Regenerative Agriculture Salon: Tue, Apr 11
🐙 Changing Planet: Rob Verchick: Wed, Apr 12
♻️ The Climate Crisis: The Causes, The Solutions, &What You Can: Thu, Apr 13
🏗 Climate as Praxis: Sat, Apr 15
🌎 San Francisco Climate Week: Mon, Apr 17
Events This Week
⚛️ Our Fusion Future—Lawrence Livermore Director Kim Budil
When: Mon, Mar 27th from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Where: The Commonwealth Club, 110 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94105
In late 2022, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory made a long-sought breakthrough, achieving self-sustaining “fusion ignition” for the first time, generating more fusion energy than the laser energy used to start the reaction. Supporters see fusion as a game changer for production of unlimited clean energy that can help to address climate change globally. Please join us for a conversation with Dr. Kimberly Budil, director of Lawrence Livermore, about the significance of this achievement. Dr. Budil is the 13th director of Lawrence Livermore.
🌎 Techonomy Climate
When: Tue, Mar 28th from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Where: Ameswell Hotel, 800 Moffett Boulevard, Mountain View, CA 94043
The climate crisis affects every corner of the world and presents unprecedented challenges. It also presents unprecedented opportunities for innovation and investment. Techonomy Climate will survey the booming climate tech sector and highlight companies making the most significant impact. This is where change happens.
🙋 REAP Climate Center Volunteer Day
When: Wed, Mar 29th from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Where: REAP Center, 2133 Tynan Avenue, Alameda, CA 94501
Please come for as long or as little as you like. Even a quick hello is okay with no need to RSVP. About a week before, we ‘try’ to update this post with the list of projects that may be featured that day. However, there are always all sorts of fun things to do. Alone or in a group. From gardening & watering to building & crafting, and much more.
⚡️ Energy Discuss SF
When: Thu, Mar 30th from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Where: SOMA Grand, 1160 Mission Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco
Energy Discuss SF's monthly meetup featuring McGee Young from WattCarbon speaking on DERs and Carbon Accounting.
🌯 Stanford Food Summit
When: Fri, Mar 31st from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Where: Arillaga Alumni Center, 326 Galvez St, Stanford, CA
Welcome to the 2023 Stanford Food Summit! Hosted by the Stanford Medicine’s Plant-Based Diet Initiative, this day-long conference brings together Stanford researchers to collaborate in creating a more healthful and sustainable world. Topics: microbiome, food as medicine, teaching kitchens, seed grant funding opportunities, menus for health and sustainability, healthy school lunches, food and nutrition security, nutrition science, food systems, entrepreneurship, public policy, Stanford research, and more.
🌳 Tree Planting Event - Oakland, CA
When: Sat, Apr 1st from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Where: 9838 Bancroft Ave, Oakland, CA 94605
Join us for a fun day of volunteering to celebrate Earth Month! Volunteers will plant 45 trees, ensure lasting improvements in canopy cover, and provide adequate water for 70 recently planted trees during the spring growing season. Additionally, volunteers will participate in a large trash pickup along a 2-mile city street, Bancroft Ave.
🤵♂️ Regenerative Gala 2023
When: Sat, Apr 1st from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Where: 801 Magnolia Avenue Piedmont, CA 94611
The Regenerative Gala is an all-inclusive event to celebrate people who care for the earth. Our Conscious Runway is the Focal Point of Our Event to Inspire Climate Action through Aesthetics and Beauty. This is a space where great minds cross-fertilize ideas for a climate positive future, using mindful consumerism to lead us back to soil. Our Main event is our ethical runway Our Art Auction features BIPOC artists coming together for the planet; a portion of all auction proceeds go back to organizations committed to land and animal conservation.
Join the Fun!
Submit Events
We know all of you are cooking up great events across 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!
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 this year! 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!