Good Morning
What we’re reading this week:
David Wallace-Well's on the compromise climate bill’s projected emissions cuts
Matt Eggers on why the clean energy bill is called the Inflation Reduction Act
Great power, great responsibility: Assessing power sector policy for the UK’s net zero target (by our friend Ari Ball-Burack and others)
The Greendicator
Top Deals of the Week
Sustainable energy firm Octopus Energy raised $550M in new funding: $325M from existing shareholders and $225M in commitments from asset manager Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (BW)
Terabase Energy, a startup seeking to improve utility-scale solar, raised a $44M Series B co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Prelude Ventures (PRN)
River, an India-based electric scooter startup, raised an $11M Series A led by Lowercarbon Capital (ET)
Aurora Hydrogen, a company developing emission-free, hydrogen production technology, raised a $10M Series A led by Energy Innovation Capital (PRN)
Proof of Impact, a next-generation platform for ESG and impact data intelligence, raised a $6M pre-Series A led by Rakuten Capital (PRN)
Concert Bio, a microbiome company focusing on hydroponic agriculture, raised a $1.7M pre-seed round led by The Venture Collective (TC)
Green Theory
Leave it to Beavers?
Having lost over 90% of its wetlands, California could elevate restoration around a nature-based solution that’s furry, bucktoothed, and excellent at building resilience in its habitat: the beaver. As a recent LA Times piece lays out, beavers play a cornerstone role in buttressing ecosystems and ensuring more effective water management. Putting a dollar value on beavers’ contributions, their services are credited at $179,000 per square mile. While the article touts wondrous compounding natural benefits of thriving beaver populations, it also admits to the destructive human behaviors that still threaten and outright kill beavers to this day. Attempting to build a broad, pragmatic consensus, the call for solidarity around a Californian beaver revival seems ostensibly reasonable, for people, at least.
The authors clearly explain that people exploit and exterminate beavers: from the long history of European beaver hunting to modern-day extermination of tens of thousands of US beavers per year. If beavers are so fantastic for the environment, why are we killing them? Unfortunately, the answer lies in the Times article’s plan for when new beaver populations get out of control—go back into pest management mode. In a response to the article, Advait Arun aptly explains the authors’ underlying message: “If beavers’ goals ever diverged from the interests of human policymakers, then human policymakers would forcibly coerce beaver labor into compliance with human policymakers’ goals.” Treating animal labor as a means to an end mimics the exploitation of nature and people that accelerates the climate crisis today. While economic arguments pencil well on paper, the lives and land in the hands of policymakers warrant a more holistic approach to worthiness.
Where did this beaver business bubble up from? Engaging beavers in intentional restoration falls under the umbrella of nature-based solutions. In order to better understand this field, we turn to Oxford Professor Nathalie Seddon, an expert in the benefits and pitfalls of these strategies. She calls out the key distinction that she “would keep [carbon offsets] well away from the definition of a nature-based solution.” The best programs prioritize Indigenous land rights, and center on goals that extend beyond narrow metrics such as theoretical carbon calculations or cost savings. She walks through successful and unsuccessful cases of nature-based interventions, including a tree-planting program that likely wound up emitting more carbon than it saved. We’ll need more than nature-based solutions to avoid the worst impacts of a warming world, but thoughtful protection and expansion of surviving ecosystems will go a long way.
As more people live in and up against animal habitats, the definition of “wild” begins to blur. In northern California, NPR reports on William Simpson, who recruits another four-legged friend in helping protect property and ecosystems alike. His stories of—yes—rescuing captured, wild horses and reintroducing them to the wild, while also employing them in fire-proofing, both inspire and confuse. Saving towns from devastating fires, Simpson and his horses are somewhere between fire brigade and wild band. That gray area opens questions as to how we ought to work with fragile ecosystems and animals we’ve often already overworked, and what we owe to the overlooked beings that may save us. For now, following Seddon’s guide to ensure Indigenous land rights and heed Indigenous knowledge seems a good place to start for nature-based solutions.
The Closer
“This graph, compiled by Citizens' Climate Lobby's Dana Nuccitelli, shows the range of expert predictions about the greenhouse gas emissions reductions that could be achieved by the "Inflation Reduction Act.” (Source)