Good Morning
What we’re reading this week:
Nature Has Value. Could We Literally Invest in It? (NYT)
Guide to Federal tax credits and rebates for green home improvements and electric vehicle adoption (NYT)
The Greendicator
Top Deals of the Week
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Renewable energy developer rPlus Energies raised $460M in funding from Sandbrook Capital (BW)
Ascend Elements, a provider of sustainable closed loop battery materials solutions, raised $162M in funding led by Just Climate, Clearvision Ventures, and IRONGREY (FN)
Industrial heat and power startup Antora Energy raised a $150M Series B led by Decarbonization Partners (BW)
Kairos Aerospace, a startup building methane-detection tech for the energy industry, raised a $52M Series D led by BlackRock (FN)
Utility protection startup Neara raised $29.3M from investors including Square Peg Capital, Skip Capital, and Press Ventures (TC)
Niron Magnetics, a startup building high-performance, rare-earth free permanent magnets, raised a $25M round led by Samsung Ventures (BW)
AtmosZero, a startup looking to decarbonize steam, raised a $21M Series A led by Engine Ventures and 2150 (BW)
DNA-based soil intelligence startup Trace Genomics raised a $10.5M Series B led by S2G Ventures and Ajax Strategies (PRN)
End-to-end developer for carbon credits Varaha raised an $8.7M Series A led by RTP Global (TC)
Hohm Energy, a South African solar installer marketplace, raised an $8M seed round led by E3 Capital and 4DX Ventures (TC)
Acoustic water detection startup Conservation Labs raised a $7.5M Series A led by RET Ventures (TC)
Direct air capture startup Clairity raised a $6.8M seed round led by Initialized Capital and Lowercarbon Capital (TC)
Pacifico Biolabs, a startup using fermentation to create alternative seafood, raised a $3.3M pre-seed round led by Simon Capital and FoodLabs (TC)
Green Theory
A job for climate: a climate for jobs
Last week we looked at a suggestion to Democrats for the 2024 election: don’t talk about climate. If working class voters resent climate solutions, and climate-loving voters resent Republican candidates anyway, why campaign on climate? So the theory goes.
Despite this advice, Democrats still talk about the most pressing issue of our age. One reason they might keep mentioning climate: this platform difference with Republicans could have been a major contribution to Democrats’ 2020 win. Further, evidence of working class voters’ apathy to climate is rather shaky. One study did show relatively fewer working class voters willing to endorse flat climate taxes, but that’s hardly a slash-and-burn mentality toward climate.
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The fact is, when nearly 2 in 3 Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, you’d struggle to find any political cause for which families and households are excited to budget an extra $10-$100 per month—climate or otherwise. Voters may rate “the environment” low among election issues, but just as with voter hesitation to pay a flat climate tax, this finding distracts from the more election-relevant aspect of the energy transition.
Campaigning for climate
Statisticians, journalists, and gamblers number among the many types of forecasters who attempt to predict the outcome of each US presidential election. Regardless of which approach you favor, from the famously accurate “Keys to the White House,” to Yale’s 4-factor model, it’s hard to ignore the economy when making presidential predictions.
Indeed, unemployment, changes in income level, and job growth are all known to play heavily into not only election outcomes, but voter decision-making itself. Despite job loss typically favoring Democrats, high unemployment also casts a demonstrable shadow on the incumbent party. Contrary to this broader trend, Republicans actually gained 2020 vote share in counties hardest hit by job loss between 2016 and 2020.
As listed last week, the top issues for 2024 voters center on the economy. Will I be able to afford my bills and expenses amidst rising inflation? Can I count on my job? Who can strengthen the economy?
The answer is the energy transition, but no campaigner needs to mention climate, carbon, or any other jargon to say so. Simply put, building the clean energy future will create millions of American jobs, while bringing relief to inflation. Campaigning on (and delivering) good jobs, and steadily improving the economy, Democrats can advance climate goals and market their successes, without politicizing these programs.
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Securing the planet, and the win
Even if economic sentiments are the most essential to elections, they’re far from the only factors. Alongside the economy and jobs, another broad 2024 theme is security. Will our nation be safe from attacks? Are we building a safer world? In safety, there’s also much room to campaign on climate-friendly policies, while focusing on the underlying issues that voters care about more vocally.
Distributed renewable power sources help shore up vulnerabilities in our highly centralized, aging energy infrastructure, building more local resilience, in the face of cyberattacks and rising weather events.
In terms of foreign policy and immigration, some on the political right also find it essential to understand climate change to secure national defense. When none can deny the instability brought by global warming, tangible opportunities to protect ourselves and our communities ought to shine across polarized, politicized divides.
Dollars and sense
Even though it may be just to give voice to the wild species we’re driving to extinction, or campaign on a carbon tax innovation, these topics are far less popular, and far more complex than a clean job boom.
Building a presidential platform around specific atmospheric targets or energy mix goals might attract voters such as us at the Green Bite, but—as with nearly everyone who cares about climate—we don’t care about these measures for their own sakes.
Though climate solutions help answer a near-universal call to secure a more resilient society and economy, greenshushers and the namers of the Inflation Reduction Act are wise to know we don’t need to center climate when talking about building this future.
Regardless of the value as an electoral strategy, Democrats seem content to talk about climate. As admirable as this choice may be, when the economic argument for climate action is the clearest and loudest, and tangible clean jobs help combat rising alienation and inflation, climate leaders and campaigners can let planetary language take a back seat.
The Closer
A happy elephant seal, courtesy of Point Reyes National Park Service