Good Morning
What weāre reading this week:
Axios Generateās take on the West Virginia v. EPA Supreme Court rulingĀ
NYC is expanding its e-scooter pilot with Bird, Lime and Veo in the Bronx.
Intersect Powerās massive raise (congrats to our friend and GB reader, Rainer Wasinger!)
The GreendicatorĀ
Top Deals of the Week
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Intersect Power, a remote-first renewable energy company that that brings low-carbon solutions to its customers in retail and wholesale energy markets, raised a $750M growth equity round led by TPG Rise Climate (IP)
Electrify America, a five-year-old, Reston, Va.-based subsidiary of Volkswagen Group that was formed to build North America's largest ultra-fast EV charging network, said today it has raised $450 million in a deal that includes $100 million from Siemens. TechCrunch has more here.
Electric Hydrogen, a one-year-old startup based in Natick, Ma., that claims to reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions through a patented hydrolysis process, raised $198 million in Series B equity and debt. The deal lead was Fifth Wall. Crunchbase News has more here
Mojia Biotech, a Shanghai-based bio-manufacturing company dedicated to sustainable development and carbon neutrality, raised an $80M Series B led by Temasek (PRN)
Amogy, a two-year-old Brooklyn startup that has developed a carbon-neutral method to power heavy-duty and long-distance vehicles such as ocean cargo ships and 18-wheel tractor trailers with ammonia, raised a $46 million round. The lead was SK Innovation. (TC)
Atomo Coffee, a three-year-old startup based in Seattle that has created an all-natural imitation coffee product that uses (it says) 94% less water and emits 93% less carbon than real coffee, raised a $40 million Series A from S2G Ventures, AgFunder, and Horizons Ventures. FoodDive has more here.
HappyVore, a three-year-old, France-based vegan meat production facility, has raised $36.8 million in funding led by Invus, with participation from Artal, Adrien de SchomprƩ, BPI France and Philippe Cantet. Green Queen has more here.
ESG Book, a provider of sustainability data and technology, closed a $35M Series B led by Energy Impact Partners (PRN)Ā
Eclipse Foods, a producer of sustainable and plant-based dairy products, closed a $40M Series B led by Sozo Ventures (PRN)
Circulor, a five-year-old startup based in London that uses blockchain technology to map supply chains for companies pursuing greener, more sustainable production, raised a $25 million Series B round led by Westly Group (R)
Tenet, a New York startup that is offering loans to consumers interested in purchasing electric vehicles, raised an $18 million seed round co-led by Human Capital and Giant Ventures (TC)
Vibrant Planet, a forest management software platform used to combat wildfires, raised a $17M seed round led by Ecosystem Integrity Fund and The Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust (TC)
AlgiKnit , a five-year-old, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based outfit that says it's developing durable yet rapidly degradable yarns from kelp, has raised $13 million in Series A funding led by Collaborative Fund (TC)
Industrial Next, an EV manufacturing startup led by two former Tesla employees, raised a $12M pre-Series A led by Lenovo Capital (TC)
Bykea, a six-year-old Karachi, Pakistan, startup whose app offers bike-sharing and on-demand delivery services, raised a $10 million round from previous investors Prosus Ventures, MEVP, Sarmayacar, Tharros, and Ithaca Capital. (F).
Symbrosia, a four-year-old startup based in Kailua Kona, HI, that aims to reduce livestock methane emissions through its seaweed feed additive, raised a $7 million Series A round led by Danone Manifesto Ventures. Reuters has more here.
Magical Mushroom Company, a three-year-old London sustainable packaging startup that's hoping to replace polystyrene, has raised Ā£3 million led by Ecovative Design. TechCrunch has more here.
Laka, a five-year-old startup based in London that provides bicycle insurance policies, raised a $1.5 million Series A extension from Porsche Ventures, increasing the total size of the round to $13.5 million. Coverager has more here.
Epoch Biodesign, a three-year-old startup based in London that uses an enzymatic process to transform plastic waste into everyday chemicals, raised an $11 million seed round led by Lowercarbon Capital Packaging Insights has more here.
E-Mission Control, a three-year-old startup based in Sacramento, Ca., that designs, builds, and manages electricity consumption data platforms and services for electric vehicle fleet operators, raised a $3 million Series A. Skyview Ventures was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $3.8 million. More here.
Green Theory
Rematriating the Earth
As hibernations end, and warm weather welcomes visitors to Californiaās more remote reaches, bear encounters are on the rise. These mammalsā majestic mothers emerge from their dens with fresh cubs: passing on life to a new generation of threatened apex predators. Today, poachers kill around 500 black bears in California each year, as land management, fires, and vehicle incidents cull them further. California residents pushed the bear symbol of the state flagāthe California grizzlyāto extinction, almost 100 years ago.Ā
The California grizzly population once stood 10,000 strong, but experts estimate the state could sustain a mere 500 now. Through introducing their closest relatives, protecting more space, or employing advanced breeding or genetic engineering, we could try to repopulate the land with the once-mighty marvels. Why should we be on the lookout for those at the margin, or trying to revive those who have vanished?Ā
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Biodiversity: Strength in Numbers
Scientists measure the varied shapes and colors of earthās life in biodiversity. In the interconnected web of life, the estimated 8.7 million species that occupy the planet depend on one another, including we humans. Some areas, such as the rainforests of South America, teem with the highest levels of biodiversity, or species per unit of area. And for all life forms that have been identified as living today (roughly 1 in 7 ), an equal number are threatened with extinction. In the same year the California grizzly disappeared, scientists identified the Bramble Cay melomys, an Australian rodent that has now vanished from the wilds, reported extinct in 2016. Now losing life forms more rapidly than at any other time in human history, our own species threatens life itself, in what some term The Sixth Extinction. To slow the grind of man-made destruction, rewilding presents a powerful potential play.Ā
Crises on Crises
Rewilding suggests that large cores of land must be set aside to let wildlife return, and bring harmonic ecosystems back toward their former glories. This advocacy for biodiversity, or the survival of non-human species, helps refocus the climate crisis by looking beyond carbon emissions. This recent episode of the Rewilding organizationās podcast serves as a critical reminder of the pitfalls of tree plantations: rows of young saplings may hold the seeds of a carbon sink far off in the future, but Bethanie Walder, Executive Director of the Society for Ecological Restoration, explains the gaps between short-term, monocrop plantations, and restorative habitat expansion.Ā
Who gets to Decide?
With more and more people on the planet, and control over land concentrating in fewer hands (in the US, South America, and Europe, at least), the question of how to protect and restore disappearing wildlands looms large.Ā As UN Sustainable Development explains, Indigenous Peoples control only about a quarter of global land area. Though ā[n]ature managed by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities is under increasing pressure,ā the so-called āIPCC for biodiversityā outlines: itās critical to understand that the nature they oversee is āgenerally declining less rapidly than in other lands.ā Further, women oversee less than one fifth of the worldās land, while advocating for more equitable (and more overall) climate action than men.
In Californiaās East Bay, the women- and Indigenous-led Sogorea Teā Land Trust shines as a beacon for revitalization of community, restoration of land, and resistance against patriarchal colonialism. When wildlands, wildlife, and human rights fall under tremendous threat from male-dominated governing bodies in the worldās largest economy (the USA), the need to uplift women and Indigenous Peoples is more pressing than ever. From lessons in more sustainable land management for preventing catastrophic fires, to enabling more thoughtful political autonomy and initiative, combatting the climate crises canāt succeed without empowerment of Indigenous Peoples and women, worldwide.Ā
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To see the inequity on the global stage of climate solutions, look no further than COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland. Both women and Indigenous Peoples were underrepresented, despite bearing disproportionate risks from a warming planet. Centering the marginalized, we can each extend the impact of our striving for a cleaner planet.
Rematriating, Rewilding
Putting land under the control of those most likely to safeguard biodiversity will help slow the alarming rate of species extinction. Wild animals inspire with their cunning, beauty, and diversity, and their vanishingly limited space grows smaller by the day. Even more, we depend on the web of life to keep natural systems in motion and sustain humanity. Take Orcas: toothed sea mammals descended from land-dwelling protowolves, who play a key role in their oceanic ecosystems. They mostly follow a matrilineal pod model, just as their canine counterparts today, carrying on millions of years of custom. At the top of the global food chain, perhaps humans can learn from these other apex predators and promote rematriation with each generation.Ā
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The Closer
Check out slide 5: sharks > trees?