As always, a mixed bag

Hi there,

Thanks again for the patience on the send time for this one. I prioritized going to a lovely dinner party (you’re the best, Gabe and Jade) last night rather than getting this out then versus this a.m. I also went for a lovely late-night walk in the Brooklyn snowfall. I hope, wherever you are in the world, you’re as well as possible.

Before we dive in, I want to issue an important correction to my newsletter from Thursday. I referenced the tragic Grenfell building fire in the U.K., and made a critical error, citing that two people perished. Thanks to swift and helpful responses from two readers (you know who you are, thank you), I corrected the web version, as (unfortunately) the actual death toll was seventy-two.

Speaking of that article, I was humbled by all your thoughtful and supportive responses to it. If I haven’t gotten back to you, trust that I will :)

Here’s my curated update on news and fundraising from this week in climate tech and energy:

In today’s newsletter:

• A must-attend conference to plan for

• One story in a sentence (and a chart)

• Climate tech and energy headlines from the week

• Climate tech fundraising announcements

• An opportunity to support those in need in LA

♡ If you find this work valuable, you can support it here. I put a lot of time into it. ♡

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ADAPT UNBOUND

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THIS WEEK IN CLIMATE TECH & ENERGY

One story in a sentence (and a chart)

• Per the IEA, here’s a visualization of which countries are building the most nuclear reactors (and which country’s technology they’re using). Link.

[#s = GW of capacity, dark blue = Chinese tech, light blue = Russian tech, green = other]

15+ headlines

The good

• The DOE’s Loan Program Office (LPO) announced eight conditional commitments via its Title 17 Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment program, amounting to a whopping $22.92 billion for utilities across 12 states. Projects funded include transmission, cleaner power generation, energy storage, grid modernization, and gas pipeline investments. Link. Link.

• The LPO also finalized a ~$6.6 billion loan guarantee to Rivian to build a factory in Georgia, a ~$1.7 billion loan guarantee for Plug Power, a cleaner hydrogen startup, a conditional commitment of up to $1.36 billion for Project ATLiS to extract lithium from geothermal brine and process it into lithium hydroxide in Imperial County, California, a $289.7 million loan guarantee for Sunwealth, a commercial solar company, and a $996 million loan guarantee for Ioneer​’s Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project to mine lithium and boron and build a processing facility in Nevada. Link. Link. Link. Link. Link.

• The USDA allocated $6 billion to rural clean energy initiatives. The funding will support rural electric co-ops in developing solar, wind, and battery projects. Link.

• Masdar, based out of the UAE, plans to build a $6 billion solar and battery storage project to provide 5.2 GW of solar and 19 GWh of storage capacity in the Abu Dhabi desert. It would be the world’s largest such project if completed, though it won’t be commissioned until 2027. Link.

• 2024 saw a 25% increase in EV sales globally to 17.1M vehicles sold (Rho Motion). Link.

• Chinese researchers claim to have developed an ironmaking method called flash ironmaking that completes the process in just three to six seconds. If scalable, it could reduce emissions from steelmaking significantly. The method is allegedly already in commercial production. The ‘vortex lance’ is purportedly capable of producing 7.11 million tonnes of iron annually. Link.

• The Federal Highway Administration announced $635 million in grants for EV charging and other cleaner transportation infrastructure across 27 states, four tribal areas, and Washington, D.C. Link.

• The number of public EV chargers in the U.S. doubled over the course of Biden’s term, though EV charging deployment is still off track with national targets. U.S. high-speed EV charging stations also hit a new installment record in the fourth quarter of 2024, driven by fuel retailers. Link. Link.

• Gigablue, an ocean-based carbon removal company, signed a 200,000-ton carbon removal agreement with SkiesFifty, a sustainable aviation investor. The tonnage is supposed to be delivered over 4 years. This is the largest deal for ocean-based carbon removal so far. Link.

• Google bought 100,000 tons of CO2 removal through 2030 from Charm Industrial, which typically focuses on bio-oil but will make biochar in this case. We podcasted with Charm a while back if you’re curious (listen here). Google also purchases 100,000 tons of carbon removal credits from Varaha, an Indian biochar developer. Details on both deals here.

• Congestion pricing in Manhattan still seems to be working; the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) released data showing an average of 43,000 fewer drivers entering the congestion pricing zone, a ~7.5% reduction. Link.

The inbetweens

• The U.S. plans to ban Russian and Chinese software in vehicles, according to the Department of Commerce, citing national security concerns. That’s particularly germane to EVs, which are much more “software-led” than traditional gas-fueled cars. Link. Link.

The bad

• As I often emphasize, greenhouse gas emissions and the warming they drive continue to rise–they’re not falling yet globally, even if some regions are making significant strides. The Mauna Loa observatory projects atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, which grew more between 2023 and 2024 than ever before (at least since Mauna Loa began tracking in 1958), will also set a new record between 2024 and 2025 after final tabulations are complete and that 2025 increases will remain accelerated as well. Suffice it to say the world is not on track to hold warming to 1.5*C. Link. Link. 

• Last year, climate tech VC funding in the U.S. and Europe fell to $24.2 billion across 1,314 deals (down from $29.1 billion across 1,867 deals, per Pitchbook, marking the third year in a row of declining total climate tech VC investment. Sightline has the 2024 tally across venture capital and growth equity around $30 billion for 2024, down 14% from 2023. Will conditions improve in 2025? Sightline / CTVC surveyed industry insiders, most of whom think funding numbers will remain flat (within +/- 5%). Link. Link. Link.

• Given I dedicated my last newsletter to the ongoing fires in Los Angeles, I won’t add too many more updates here. That said, I think this piece from Casey Handmer, the CEO of Terraform, is excellent (albeit also upsetting) and, frankly, better than what I put out! A few more articles I read of late are linked after the first link, which is to Handmer’s post. Link. Link. Link. Link. Link.

• Chinese natural gas imports— including both LNG and piped gas—rose 9.9% on the year, per the General Administration of Customs, adding another line in the long ledger of evidence that the energy transition is, in some ways and especially when viewed globally, moving far too slowly (granted, you could argue coal to gas switching is a transition in its own right). In other data, the IEA now sees global coal demand continuing to rise through 2027, especially as Chinese output continues to climb (China alone uses more than half the world’s coal every year). Link. Link. Link.

• A new large-scale nuclear power plant being built near Suffolk in the U.K. may experience significant cost overruns (estimates of total costs grew to £40 billion, a 100% increase over original estimates), which is a pernicious problem in nuclear energy development. That said, there’s debate as to whether and to what extent the new estimates are accurate, though. TBD! Link. Link.

• One of the world’s largest battery energy storage system (BESS) facilities near Moss Landing, California, caught fire over the weekend. The fire forced 1,500 people to evacuate their homes and will indubitably damage costly and supply chain-constrained infrastructure, reduce available BESS capacity for California’s grid, and the plant’s ability to provide ancillary services for some time. The plant has also faced fire issues previously. Link. Link.

• As electricity demand in the U.S. rises meaningfully for the first time in decades, a GW scale coal plant in Indiana, once slated for retirement by 2023 and the ninth largest single greenhouse gas emissions source in the state may extend a long-term agreement to sell electricity to an as-of-yet unnamed data center developer. Definitely not the ideal outcome for climate and energy tech as far as load growth from the AI demand boom is concerned. Link.

• After Blackrock’s recent departure, which we noted last week, the Net Zero Asset Managers Alliance, a group of some of the largest financial sector players that combined to make net zero commitments, announced a suspension of activities. We can probably read this as a symptom of backlash against ESG and anticipation of far less environmental concern from the new U.S. federal administration (as well as many other new national government coalitions and leaders), both of which give private sector players more license to soften on climate goals and proceed with business as usual. Four of Canada’s biggest banks are also leaving the comparable Net-Zero Banking Alliance. Link. Link. Link.

• SSAB, a Swedish steelmaker, withdrew from federal award negotiations for a proposed hydrogen-fueled steel facility in Mississippi that could have expanded domestic lower-emission steel manufacturing capacity. SSAB was in the running for $500 million from the DOE to help fund the project. I guess the likelihood of that funding hitting the bank or the level of funding in general wasn’t sufficient to sweeten the deal. Link.

• The board of Hyzon, a hydrogen fuel cell developer based out of Rochester, NY, voted to dissolve the company a mere three months after it launched its first North American order for hydrogen-powered garbage trucks. Hyzon went public via SPAC in 2021 with backing from the likes of Blackrock and Fidelity Management. Link.

• President Trump will be inaugurated today, and in recent days and weeks, he and his team have been busy making noise about plans to retard various energy transition efforts, including developing an executive order to ban offshore wind development along the East Coast. Hard to parse bluster from bonafide intention and commitment to execution, but not a great signal. The U.S. has had a hard enough time building any semblance of an offshore wind industry, though several large projects are underway, predominantly on the coast (East), which President Trump and his administration want to make off limits. Link. Link. Link. Link.

• The finalization of post-mortems on the methane leaks from the Nord Stream pipelines in 2022 revealed they were one of the largest methane leaks in history (from human activities, at least). Updated estimates of methane leaks came out to 450,000+ tons. Still, that’s only 10 basis (0.1%) points of annual human-caused methane emissions. Link.

• Ecuador is struggling with a GW energy shortfall as some of its hydroelectric dams, which produce more than 78% of the country’s electricity, are underproducing due to maintenance issues and the country’s worst drought in 61 years. For instance, one of the largest plants on the Coca River (1,500 MW capacity), has structural issues. Link.

CURATED DEALS

Larger funding rounds

• Green Flexibility, based out of Kempten, Germany, raised ~$412 million in equity funding to make large-scale battery storage systems. Partners Group led the round. It also raised debt financing in sufficient volume to raise its total financing over ~$1 billion. Link.

• Colossal Biosciences, based out of Dallas, raised $200 million in Series C funding at a $10.2 billion valuation to use genetic engineering to revive extinct species such as the woolly mammoth, Tasmanian tiger, and dodo bird. It aims to ‘produce’ a woolly mammoth calf by 2028 by splicing mammoth DNA with DNA from its closest living relative, the Asian elephant, using CRISPR gene-editing tech. The climate angle is that reintroducing mammoths in the Artic tundra could help reduce thawing permafrost, which releases methane emissions and may be accelerating as the Earth warms. TWG Global led. Link.

• Missed this one a couple weeks back: Electra, based out of Boulder, CO, raised $180.4 million as part of an ongoing $257 million fundraising round to advance its novel electrowinning process, which uses electricity to extract pure iron from low-grade ores to reduce emissions from steelmaking. No info on who the leads are at this time, as this was scooped from SEC filings. Link.

• Harbinger, based out of Los Angeles, raised $100 million in Series B funding to make medium-duty EV chassis and powertrains for commercial vehicles (think trucks). Capricorn's Technology Impact Fund and Leitmotif invested. Link.

• Amogy, based out of Brooklyn, raised $56 million in equity funding to make ammonia-cracking engines (using ammonia as a hydrogen carrier) to decarbonize heavy-duty transportation sectors and power generation. Aramco Ventures and SV Investment co-led. Link.

Medium-sized funding rounds

• Hycamite, based out of Kokkola, Finland, raised ~$44.9 million in Series A funding to split methane to make lower-carbon hydrogen for industrial decarbonization as well as to help produce other carbon-based products. Sojitz Group led. Link.

• H2SITE, based out of Bilbao, Spain, raised ~$37 million in Series B funding to enable on-site hydrogen production and purification via advanced membrane reactors that convert feedstock like methane or ammonia into hydrogen. Hy24 and Suma Capital led. Link.

• Cyngn, based out of Menlo Park, CA, raised $33 million in equity funding to make autonomous and electric industrial vehicles, like forklifts, to accelerate industrial efficiency and decarbonization. Link.

• BeZero Carbon, based out of London, raised $32 million in Series C funding for its carbon ratings agency. Temasek's GenZero led. Link.

• ElectraLith, based out of Melbourne, Australia, raised $27.5 million in Series A funding for its waterless, chemical-free lithium extraction electro-membrane technology. Main Sequence led. Link.

• Gridware, based out of San Francisco, raised $26.4 million in Series A funding for its continuous power grid monitoring solution (which, timely, has benefits like helping prevent wildfires and monitor other risks inherent to electrical infrastructure). Sequoia Capital, a venture capital titan, led the round. Link.

• NatureMetrics, based out of Surrey, U.K., raised $25 million in Series B funding for its biodiversity monitoring technology. Just Climate, EDF Pulse Ventures, and ReOcean Fund led. Link.

• Moment Energy, based out of Coquitlam, Canada, raised $15 million in Series A funding to repurpose retired EV batteries in commercial and industrial settings. Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund and Voyager Ventures co-led. The company is the only North American company certified by UL Solutions (a household name in safety science) for a key safety standard on the repurposing of used batteries in new environments (see standard UL 1974). Link.

• Origen, based out of Bristol, U.K., raised $13 million in Series A funding for its direct air capture technology that breaks down limestone into lime and CO₂. Barclays Climate Ventures led. Link.

• Capra Robotics, based out of Viby J, Denmark, raised ~$11.6 million in seed funding to make autonomous mobile robots for various industries. Supernova Invest and Promus Ventures led. Link.

• BforeAI, based out of New York, raised $10 million in Series B funding to use AI to predict and block cyberattacks before they occur. Titanium Ventures led. Cyber threats are especially germane to utilities, the power grid, EVs and EV charging, and more. Link.

• Sarla Aviation, based out of Bengaluru, India, raised $10 million in Series A1 funding to make electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOLs) to serve as electric air taxis for urban e-mobility. Accel led. Link.

Smaller funding rounds

• Metafuels, based out of Zürich, raised $9 million in equity funding for its “high-selectivity catalyst for the conversion of methanol into sustainable aviation fuel." Celsius Industries led. Link.

• Beams, based out of London, raised $9 million in Series A funding for its home renovation platform. ETF Partners led. Link.

• Alta Resource Technologies, based out of Boulder, CO, emerged from stealth with $5.1 million in seed funding to extract rare earth elements from low-grade supplies and electronic waste without toxic chemicals. DCVC and Voyager Ventures co-led. Link.

• Arborea, based out of London, raised ~$5.1 million in equity funding for its ‘Biosolar Leaf’ platform, which augments photosynthesis to produce sustainable, high-value microalgae proteins while removing more carbon dioxide. Indico Capital Partners led. Link.

• Altilium, based out of Plymouth, U.K., raised $5 million in equity funding investment from Marubeni to extract critical minerals from used EV batteries for recycling and repurposing. Link.

• Lyteflo, based out of Toronto, raised $3 million in seed funding to provide a consumer-facing SaaS EV sales platform to help car dealerships sell EVs more effectively, including identifying available subsidies and incentives at state and federal levels. Diagram led. Link.

• Odd.Bot, based out of Lelystad, Netherlands, raised ~$2.1 million in pre-Series A funding to make an autonomous weeding robot. Iconic Ventures led. Link.

• Naco Technologies, based out of Riga, raised ~$1.5 million in pre-Series A funding to make nano-coatings and materials for hydrogen system producers. Radix Ventures, Impact Ventures, and Untitled Ventures led the round. Link.

• FuelFWD, based out of Rotterdam, Netherlands, raised ~$1 million in seed funding for its AI-powered platform that streamlines compliance processes for renewable fuel developers. Value Factory Ventures led. Link.

Other funding rounds

• Origis Energy, based out of Miami, raised over $1 billion from Brookfield Asset Management and Antin Infrastructure Partners for its clean energy development business. Link.

• Exus Renewables North America, based out of Pittsburgh, PA, raised $312 million in construction and term debt financing to build a 140 MW solar and 50 MW / 200-MWh battery storage project in New Mexico. Crédit Agricole Corporate and ING Americas led. Link.

• Pacific Steel Group, based out of San Diego, CA, raised $200 million in a secured loan from Generate Capital to build an electric arc furnace micro mill in California. Link.

•  Fluence Energy, based out of Virginia, received a ~$142 million contract from DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, to build grid-scale batteries for Ukraine’s battered grid. Link.

• Formo, based out of Berlin, raised ~$36 million in venture debt funding to develop fermentation processes for dairy-free cheese alternatives. The European Investment Bank led the round. Link.

• Monalee, based out of Boston, MA, raised $10 million in venture debt from Applied Real Intelligence for its solar and battery sales software. Link.

• Envana, a methane monitoring company based in Houston, raised $5.2 million, including an award of a $4.2 million grant from the Department of Energy. Link.

• Northvolt, the Stockholm-based bankrupt battery manufacturer, sold its remaining stake in a recycling joint venture, Hydrovolt, to its project partner, Norsk Hydro. Link.

New funds

• Ridgewood Infrastructure, based out of New York, raised $1.2 billion for its second fund, Ridgewood Water & Strategic Infrastructure Fund II. Link.

• Fifth Wall, based out of Los Angeles and New York, launched a new Flagship Fund to continue investing at the intersection of real estate and technology, including climate tech. Link.

• StepStone Group, based out of New York, raised $1.4 billion for a new infrastructure co-investment fund, out of which it will invest in energy transition, digital connectivity, and AI infrastructure. Link.

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Bye,

– Nick