China's complex progress

Hey there,

How’s it going? I’m enjoying the glowing embers of summer and put in a good shift at the beach yesterday. Hope you’re finding nice ways to do the same. Here’s what happened globally across the climate & energy landscape this week.

In today’s email:

• One story in a chart and a sentence

• Climate and energy headlines from the week

• Climate tech fundraising announcements

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THIS WEEK IN CLIMATE TECH & ENERGY

One story in a sentence (and a chart)

• In July, S&P released a report breaking down unpriced environmental externalities globally—across greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and more—revealing the lion's share are increasingly concentrated in Asia, where coal consumption continues to grow.

13 headlines

Quick correction from last week’s newsletter: SpaceX helped launch the Tanager-1 methane and other greenhouse gas-observing spacecraft on behalf of Planet Labs and the Carbon Mapper Coalition. SpaceX will not be in the business of methane tracking itself. h/t to Daniel Limonadi for the correction. Link.

The good

• Emissions in China dropped markedly in the first half of the year as the country continues to add massive amounts of renewable energy. Some of the emissions reductions may have more to do with an overall economic slowdown, however. That said, Chinese coal consumption remains on the rise, especially for industrial applications, though there is also growing evidence that it’s dependence on coal is waning. Link. Link. Link. Link. Link.

• China also approved 11 more nuclear reactors across five sites this week. They’ve approved more than 30 reactors since 2022. The majority of the 2022 vintage approvals are under construction, and some 2023 approvals have progressed to construction as well. If the current pace holds and construction projects are successful, China could surpass the U.S. in terms of nuclear fleet size in a few decades. Link. Link. Link.

• Dubbed the world’s largest solar project, Australia has approved the on-again, off-again, $19 billion solar and transmission project to export solar electricity from northern Australia to Singapore via undersea cables. This project has collapsed and resurfaced multiple times, and honestly, I’d be surprised if it ever gets built. Link.

• Form Energy, which is already scaling up a factory for its long-term energy storage solutions based on an iron-air chemistry in West Virginia, received nearly $150 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to open a factory in Maine as well. Link.

• SEG Solar opened a new 2 GW facility to manufacture PV modules in Houston. Link.

The inbetweens

• Mexico is evaluating bans on open-pit mining and fracking, as well as restricting the use of genetically modified corn. Link.

The bad

• China has imposed new export limits on antimony exports. China is the dominant global supplier of antimony, a critical mineral used in batteries, solder, bearings, castings, and more. Link.

• Northvolt, the Swedish battery manufacturer, announced it will shutter Cuberg, its California subsidiary, which it acquired in 2021. This comes two months after BMW canceled a multi-billion dollar contract with Northvolt, citing delays. Link.

• Ford took a close to $2 billion write-down and canceled plans to make an all-electric large SUV in the U.S. Instead, it will make more hybrids. Link.

• A Tesla Semi truck caught fire near Nyack, California, this week, sparking a significant fire that also released a lot of toxic chemicals from the truck’s batteries. These types of accidents will come under more and more scrutiny as heavy-duty battery-electric vehicles become more common. Link.

• Tens of thousands of U.S. citizens went without power for more than a week. And they’re not in Texas; they’re in Puerto Rico, which has struggled to get its grid back online after a recent hurricane. Link.

• Add this one to your list of climate feedback loops: Coastal erosion may be reducing the Arctic Ocean’s ability to continue absorbing carbon dioxide. Link.

• With the Aral Sea almost gone, concerns are rising about the Caspian Sea shrinking as well. Link.

CURATED DEALS

Larger funding rounds

⬇️ Svante Technologies, based out of Vancouver, raised $100 million in equity funding from Canada Growth Fund for its carbon removal business. More here. (Canada, Carbon Removal)

🧱 Fortera, based out of San Jose, CA, raised $85 million in Series C funding for its low-carbon cement technology. Khosla Ventures, Temasek, and others invested. More here. (U.S., Built Environment)

Medium-sized funding rounds

⛏️ AstroForge, based out of Huntington Beach, CA, raised $40 million in Series A funding to mine resources in space and transport them back to Earth to reduce cost and environmental footprint. Threshold led. More here. (U.S., Materials)

🌙 Starpath Robotics, based out of San Francisco, raised $12 million in seed funding to make robots that can 'mine' water from the Moon's surface for space economy applications and to make rocket fuel. 8VC and Fusion Fund co-led. More here. (U.S., Transportation)

⚛️ LIS Technologies, based out of Oak Ridge, TN, raised $11.9 million in seed funding for its Tenn. laser technologies used in uranium enrichment. 28 Ventures Fund invested. More here. (U.S., Energy)

⚡💦 Power to Hydrogen, based out of Columbus, OH, raised $10 million in equity funding and $8 million in grants for its advanced electrolysis tech. Rev1 Ventures and Worthington Enterprises led. More here. (U.S., Industry)

Smaller funding rounds

📊 Root, based out of Berlin, Germany, raised ~$8.8 million in seed funding to make software to help food and beverage companies track emissions throughout their supply chains. Point Nine's Christoph Janz led. More here. (Germany, Food & Agriculture)

♨️ Cache Energy, based out of Champaign, IL, raised $8.5 million in seed funding to make pellets of calcium hydroxide that could offer an alternative to fossil fuel-based home heating and industrial heating processes. Climate Capital, Evergreen Climate Innovations, Grantham Foundation, and others invested. More here. (U.S., Energy / Built Environment) 

📊 Grid Status, based out of Chicago, raised $8 million for its grid data and analytics platform. Energize Capital led. More here. (U.S., Energy / Data Applications)

🔌 Enteligent, based out of Morgan Hill, CA, raised $6 million in equity funding to make solar DC-to-DC EV chargers. Taronga Ventures led. More here. (U.S., Energy / Transportation)

🔬 De Novo Foodlabs, based out of Raleigh, NC, raised $4 million in equity funding for its precision fermentation tech. Joyful Ventures led. More here. (U.S., Food & Agriculture)

⚛️ Deep Fission, based out of Berkeley, CA, raised $4 million in pre-seed funding to install small modular reactors underground. 8VC led. More here. (U.S., Energy)

🏢 Optiml, based out of Zürich, Switzerland, raised ~$3.85 million in extended pre-seed funding for its real estate decarbonization software. BitStone Capital led. More here. (Switzerland, Built Environment)

🔋 Up Catalyst, based out of Tallinn, Estonia, raised ~$2.6 million in extended seed funding to turn CO2 into graphite and carbon nanomaterials for use in batteries and more. Warsaw Equity Group and SmartCap led. More here. (Estonia, Materials)

🧊 Apheros, based out of Zurich, Switzerland, raised $1.85 million in equity funding for its data center cooling technology. Founderful led. More here. (Switzerland, Industry)

🛰️ Space Intelligence, based out of Edinburgh, Scotland, raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding for its satellite-based nature mapping platform. AzurX Space Ventures and Intercontinental Exchange led. More here. (Scotland, Data Applications)

⚡ VulcanX Energy, based out of Vancouver, Canada, raised an undisclosed amount of equity funding from FortisBC Energy to develop pyrolysis technology to make hydrogen and solid carbon from natural gas. More here. (Canada, Industry)

🔌 ChargeEuropa, based out of Warsaw, Poland, raised an undisclosed amount of equity funding to develop EV charging infrastructure. Shift4Good led. More here. (Poland, Transportation)

⚡ Piclo, based out of London, raised an undisclosed amount in equity funding from EDP Ventures for its electricity trading software. More here. (U.K., Energy)

📦 Gatik, based out of Mountain View, CA, raised an undisclosed amount of funding for its autonomous middle-mile shipping technologies. Nippon Express led. More here. (U.S., Transportation)

Other financing rounds

🔋 Electra Battery Materials, based out of Toronto, received $20 million from the U.S. Department of Defense under the Defense Production Act to build a cobalt plant for batteries. More here. (Canada, Energy / Transportation)

✈️ Wright Electric, based out of Malta, NY, received $3.34 million from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to make ultra-light batteries for passenger planes. More here. (U.S., Transportation)

New funds

💰 MKB, based out of Montreal, raised ~$107 million from the Canada Growth Fund, CDPQ, Investissement Québec, and BDC Capital to invest in energy transition growth-stage companies. More here. (Canada, Funds)

JOBS

Materials Scientist, Calectra

Calectra is working to electrify and decarbonize industrial process heat with its novel thermal storage technology. They are now hiring their third employee, a Materials Scientist, to lead the development of their thermal storage material. If you’re looking to join a mission-driven and action-biased team in their effort to fight climate change, reply to this email and I’ll put you in touch with the Calectra team.

Have a good one,

– Nick