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Welcome to Zeroing In by Speed & Scale, where we cut through the noise to deliver a data-driven update on progress toward net zero.

REFLECTING ON CLIMATE WEEK: New York Climate Week is now a wrap, marking one of the world’s largest annual gatherings of business leaders, policymakers, investors, innovators, and activists, all working to drive climate solutions and accelerate progress toward a sustainable economy. The Speed & Scale team was on hand to learn, share insights, collaborate with partners new and old, and discuss the latest advances in the global campaign against climate change.

In their climate week recap, Ryan and Anjali discuss the need for more robust corporate net-zero commitments and the pivotal role of venture capital in scaling breakthrough technologies. They also share their takeaways on the intersection of national security and climate change and on the investment that’s needed to spur real change. Tune in to get the scoop:

We joined climate leaders in ringing the opening bell at the Nasdaq last week to celebrate the work of cleantech entrepreneurs and innovators. 

OKRs in the News

🚗 1.0 – Electrify Transportation

• Electrifying Performance: General Motors achieved a record quarter for EV sales in Q3 2024, delivering 32,195 units, a 60% increase year-over-year and a 46% rise compared to the previous quarter. GM attributes this growth to its expanding EV portfolio, offering a wide range of all-electric vehicles to suit various customer preferences (General Motors).

• China’s EV Power Play: China is directing automakers to export EV “knock-down” kits, where key vehicle parts are made in China and shipped abroad for final assembly while keeping core technology locked inside the country. This approach complicates efforts to expand global EV manufacturing and avoid tariffs, potentially hindering other countries’ plans for local EV production through Chinese partnerships (Bloomberg).

• Heart’s Electric Lift-off: Heart Aerospace unveiled its full-scale demonstrator, a 30-seat hybrid-electric aircraft that can fly 125 miles on electric power with zero emissions and up to 250 miles in hybrid mode. Supported by a $4 million FAA grant, the aircraft is set for electric flight testing in 2025 and aims for certification by the end of the decade (Heart Aerospace).

• Cybertruck Surge: Over five thousand Tesla Cybertrucks were registered in July, nearly as many as all other electric truck models combined. But with a pre-order backlog of two million vehicles, many customers will face long waits for delivery (The Verge).

💡 2.0 – Decarbonize the Grid

• Coal Out, Renewables In: Britain’s coal-generated electricity has dropped from 80% in 1990 to just 1% in 2023, and on Monday, the country became the first G7 nation to fully phase out coal with the closure of its last coal-fired power plant, Ratcliffe-on-Soar. This marks a significant step toward the U.K.’s goal of generating all energy from renewable sources by 2030 (Associated Press).

• Burning Out: The global energy system is shifting from using heat-based energy sources, mostly fossil fuels, to more efficient options such as solar and wind, which better meet the needs of modern technology. This transition could reduce energy waste, currently 60 percent of all energy produced (RMI).

• Batteries To The Rescue!: Since 2010, the deployment of utility-scale battery energy storage in the U.S. has grown more than five thousand-fold, from 4 megawatts to 20.7 gigawatts. For perspective, just 1 gigawatt of power is enough to light 100 million LED bulbs. This development is helping to balance supply and demand for power from the grid and to store electricity from wind and solar until it is needed (U.S. Energy Information Administration).

OKR Highlight

In a significant Climate Week development, fourteen major financial institutions, including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, pledged their support for the Declaration to Triple Global Nuclear Energy Capacity. Launched at COP28 last year, this initiative seeks to accelerate expansion of nuclear power to combat climate change.

The announcement underscores the crucial role that capital markets and financial institutions play in advancing nuclear energy projects. It points to potential progress in achieving Speed & Scale’s Key Result 2.1, which calls for the use of emissions-free sources to generate 100 percent of electricity worldwide by 2040 (Business Insider).

🐄 3.0 – Fix Food

• Food Waste Ban Breakthrough: A new study found that state food waste bans have been largely ineffective, except in one place. In its first five years of implementation, a 2014 Massachusetts ban led to a 7 percent annual reduction in landfilled and incinerated waste. The state’s success is attributed to its high density of food waste processing facilities, low overhead costs, and rigorous enforcement of straightforward regulation (UC San Diego Today and Science).

• The True Cost of Dinner: New research defines the enormous climate impact of beef, which has an average retail price of $5.34 per pound but an estimated environmental cost of $22.02. The growing shift toward “true cost accounting” seeks to quantify hidden environmental impacts, including species loss, groundwater depletion, and greenhouse gas emissions, and then translate them into dollar amounts. The goal is to prompt a consumer shift to more climate-friendly foods (New York Times).

• Grate Expectations: Americans consume an average of 42 pounds of cheese per year, according to government data. That’s more than double what we ate in 1975, and the dairy industry is investing billions of dollars in new facilities to meet the growing demand. Plant-based cheeses have yet to gain widespread popularity due to texture and meltability issues. The dairy cheese boom could increase greenhouse gas emissions from livestock, underscoring the urgent need for more appealing alternatives and for methane-reducing technologies (Bloomberg and Fair Planet).

🌳 4.0 – Protect Nature

• Brown-Ocean Effect: Hurricane Helene caused severe inland damage because soaked ground from earlier rains gave the storm extra energy. This phenomenon, known as the brown-ocean effect, kept Helene stronger as it moved far from the coast. Scientists are now studying this effect to better understand potential destruction from future storms (New York Times).

• Bridging the Climate Gap: By 2050, one in four steel bridges in the U.S. could collapse from rising temperatures caused by climate change. Widespread repairs and closures may be required as early as 2040, a recent study found. Climate change is accelerating the rate of infrastructure aging and exposing gaps in planning and government funding for needed improvements (New York Times).

• Crisis in California Insurance Market: Citing rising wildfire risks, higher home values, and increasing repair costs, Allstate is raising California home insurance rates by an average of 34 percent. The price hike reflects a broader crisis, with such major insurers as State Farm and Farmers pulling back due to escalating climate-linked risks and regulations that limit rate hikes. As a result, many homeowners are turning to the state’s last-resort FAIR plan for coverage. Efforts are underway to reform the market by allowing insurers to factor in climate costs while requiring them to offer more coverage in wildfire-prone areas (Bloomberg).

🧱 5.0 – Clean Up Industry

• EV Battery Recycling Boom: Driven by growth in the electric vehicle market, global demand for lithium-ion batteries surged by 40 percent last year. The world’s demand for lithium is now expected to exceed 2.6 million tons by 2030. The good news is that breakthroughs in recycling technology may soon meet much of this surging demand. By 2040, according to PwC, up to 60 percent of Europe’s battery materials could come from recycling, reducing its reliance on raw mineral extraction (The Economist).

• Recycling in Vain: Only 5 percent of plastic waste in the U.S. is actually recycled, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta. His office has sued Exxon Mobil for a “decades-long campaign of deception” on the effectiveness of recycling. Based on a two-year investigation, the suit claims that Exxon Mobil misled the public and worsened the plastic pollution crisis (New York Times).

• Concrete Health Solutions: Stanford epidemiologists are leading research to replace dirt floors in rural homes with eco-friendly concrete, reducing residents’ exposure to harmful pathogens. The team’s low-carbon concrete mixtures, now being tested in Bangladesh, show promise in improving health and well-being (Stanford Daily).

🧹 6.0 – Remove Carbon

• Turning Rivers Into Carbon Sponges: CarbonRun’s limestone machine, set to launch this year, is part of a broader effort to help oceans and rivers absorb more carbon dioxide. Frontier, a $1 billion investment fund, paid CarbonRun $25 million to remove more than 50,000 tons of CO2, equivalent to emissions from 13,000 cars. The company estimates that two tons of limestone are needed for every ton of carbon to be removed, making the process costly and requiring substantial limestone mining. With hundreds of acidified rivers globally, the method could capture hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 annually at scale (New York Times).

• Power Struggle: CarbonCapture’s Wyoming-based Project Bison, which aimed to remove 5 million tons of CO2 annually by 2030, has been scrapped. Despite more than $12 million in federal funding, the direct air capture project struggled to secure emissions-free power because of competition for clean energy from cryptocurrency miners and data centers that power generative AI (E&E News).

🏛️ 7.0 – Win Politics and Policy

• Climate Crisis Crossroads: The New York Times explains how volatile geopolitics have eroded the global climate cooperation that made the 2015 Paris climate accord possible. What’s happened since? The biggest factors include China’s dominance of clean energy supply chains, unmet financial promises from rich countries to help developing countries transition from fossil fuels, and the war in Ukraine and other global conflicts. The upcoming U.S. presidential election only adds to climate’s cloudy picture (New York Times).

• Racing Green, Stuck in Traffic: Although renewable energy accounted for over 40 percent of global electricity in 2023, surging electricity demand—projected to rise up to 29 percent in the U.S. by 2035—is offsetting this gain. Large investments in clean technologies offer hope for accelerated progress, but rising costs, regulatory pushback, and slow technology rollout remain obstacles to achieving climate goals (Wall Street Journal).

• China’s Leaky Problem: As the globe’s largest emitter of methane, China is starting to address emissions from coal mining and agriculture, which account for 14 percent of the world’s total emissions. New Chinese regulations, however, would reduce methane from the coal mining sector by only 7 percent. With its continued reliance on coal and plans to expand its cattle industry, the country appears unlikely to meet global methane reduction targets (The Economist).

• Winds of Change: Climate Insights 2024 asked Americans their opinions on a range of climate policies, including consumer incentives, carbon pricing policies, regulations, and taxes. The most popular policy (84 percent support) was taxing imported goods based on their emissions, while the least popular policy (15 percent) was increasing taxes on electricity (Resources for the Future).

🏃 8.0 – Turn Movements into Action

• Now Hiring: Clean Energy: With boosts from the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, clean energy jobs grew by 142,000 last year in the U.S., accounting for more than half of new energy sector jobs overall. The clean energy growth rate more than doubled that of the rest of the energy sector (CNBC).

• Mission Green: Sherri Goodman, secretary general of the International Military Council on Climate & Security, refers to climate change as a “threat multiplier” because it’s forcing the military to adopt climate and energy resilience measures in overseas operations and bases worldwide. The U.S. military is working to integrate microgrids at critical installations and aiming for net-zero emissions by 2050 (Project Syndicate).

⚡ 9.0 – Innovate!

• What’s Next in Geothermal Power: The world’s largest next-generation geothermal project is in development in Utah. It’s set to generate 90 megawatts of renewable energy by 2026 and provide 400 MW of carbon-free power by 2028. An affiliate of X-Caliber Rural Capital has closed a $100 million bridge loan to support Phase I of Fervo Energy’s Cape Station (Fervo Energy).

• Bathing in Bitcoin: Bathhouse in Manhattan uses heat generated from Bitcoin mining to warm its pools while saving energy. While the initiative shows that data centers can repurpose heat waste, environmentalists argue that such small-scale solutions obscure the larger problem of the massive energy consumption from cryptocurrency mining and AI (Time).

• Battery Boom Powers Up: To meet net-zero emissions goals, the global installed capacity of battery storage needs to rise by around 500 percent–from under 200 gigawatts in 2022 to over a terawatt by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. The good news is that prices for lithium batteries have fallen by 40 percent since 2019. The grid-scale storage market is estimated to expand from $15 billion in 2024 to over $1 trillion by 2040 (The Economist).

💰 10.0 – Invest!

• Powering AI with Atoms: Thanks to a $1.6 billion infusion from Constellation Energy, the once-shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear plant will be back online and is set to generate 837 megawatts of clean energy by 2028. All of this power will be sold to Microsoft to support its carbon-free data centers. The tech giant aims to run all of its data centers on clean energy by 2025 (Bloomberg).

• Nuclear’s Green Comeback: A number of fund managers are adding larger positions in nuclear energy to their portfolios as a key part of their net-zero strategies. Stocks related to nuclear, such as uranium miners and equipment suppliers, have seen significant gains, with Cameco Corp. rising 80 percent since early 2022. The International Energy Agency estimates that global nuclear capacity must double by 2050 to meet net-zero climate goals (Bloomberg).

• A “Material” World: A recent Morningstar survey of asset managers overseeing $18 trillion in AUM found that while two-thirds of respondents believe ESG has become “more material” over the past five years, actual changes in behavior have been modest (Morningstar).

• Make Your Climate Bets: At Climate Week NYC, clean tech veterans noted that overall climate tech equity funding was down by half in early 2024 as compared to the previous year. Many startups face a funding gap as they enter the challenging “Valley of Death” phase. With falling interest rates, an uncertain U.S. election, and cautious investors, founders and venture capitalists are carefully navigating this critical period. They’re focusing on cleaner fuels, energy storage, and food tech to make strategic bets for the future (Bloomberg).

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