What commitments?

Hey there,

At the top of the newsletter today, data from Bloomberg Green unveils that even big companies without a massive emissions footprint are already struggling to keep up with their climate commitments. From there, as always, we round up the week in climate tech and energy, ranging from the plenty on the legislative front to severe storms, zombie fires, the return of the hybrids, and lots more.

In today’s email:

• One story in a chart and a sentence

• Climate tech and energy headlines from the week

• Climate tech fundraising announcements

THIS WEEK IN CLIMATE TECH & ENERGY

One story in a sentence (and a chart)

• While corporate commitments to meet certain climate targets are always welcome, what would be more welcome would be if companies were meeting said targets, (many are not so far). Link.

14 headlines

• Honda noted this week that it plans to double its spending on electrification and digital transformation for the energy transition to ~$65b through 2030. The company has also seen strong sales of late, buoyed especially by its hybrid business. Link. Link.

• As we introduced last week, The Biden Administration raised tariffs on critical energy and climate tech imports from China, including EVs, solar cells, batteries, commodities and metals, and more. Here’s the best thinking on the matter (from my perspective). Link. Link. Link. Link.

• FERC released new federal rules to accelerate transmission deployment. Some estimates suggest transmission infrastructure in the U.S. could need to grow as much as 5x to enable a carbon-free electricity grid by 2035. Spoiler alert, though: the grid won’t be carbon-free by then (see next bullet). Link. Link. Link.

• Natural gas as a percentage of U.S. power generation is at an all-time high, despite strong renewable energy additions in recent years. Link.

• Plug Power received $1.66B in a conditional loan commitment from the DOE’s Loan Programs Office to build up to six hydrogen projects across the U.S. in coming years. This is the most significant commitment from LPO for hydrogen so far. Link.

• Back and forth: Tesla rehired some of its supercharger team after sacking the entire division recently. Musk has also expressed continued commitment to fast-charging deployment. Link.

• On the VPP front, Sunrun claims to have more than 16,000 homes in its network of decentralized assets now in California, while Duke Energy is offering up to $9,000 in rebates for customers to add solar + storage. Link. Link.

• Quilt, a startup aiming to deploy more residential heat pumps and to catch customers’ eyes with an attractive, product-first design, launched its heat pump for sale for homeowners this week. Link.

• Oklo, a company developing small modular nuclear reactors, went public via SPAC last week. Shares traded down more than 50% in their debut; while they recovered some this week, investors seem wary about the viability of nuclear fission given incredibly onerous regulatory controls on bringing new reactors to market. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is a key investor in the company. Link.

• Trump made an election vow to effectively end all offshore wind development in the U.S. ASAP if he wins the presidency in November and takes office in 2025. Link.

• Elsewhere in Washington, politicians like Senate Majority Leader Schumer indicated that any hope of permitting reform in Washington is functionally dead in the short term. Link.

• Zombie fires, i.e., fires that are holdovers from last year’s fire season, have reignited and spread across Canada again. Link. Link.

• In Houston, a severe windstorm and ensuant flooding killed four and damaged a significant amount of energy infrastructure. Link. Link.

• A new report found methane emissions from U.S. landfills regularly exceed EPA limits. Link.

CURATED DEALS

Larger funding rounds

⚡⛽ HIF Global, based out of Houston, raised $164M from Idemitsu Kosan alongside existing investors for its e-fuels business. More here. (U.S., Transportation)

⚛️ Newcleo, based out of London, raised an additional ~$95M in equity funding from undisclosed investors for its advanced nuclear energy business. More here. (U.K., Energy)

🔋 Cylib, based out of Aachen, Germany, raised ~$60M in Series A funding for its lithium-ion battery recycling business. World Fund and Porsche Ventures led. More here. (Germany, Energy / Transportation)

Medium-sized funding rounds

🔎 AssetWatch, based out of Westerville, OH, raised $38M in Series B funding for its asset monitoring and predictive maintenance business. Wellington Management led. More here. (U.S., Infrastructure / Energy)

📊 Enspired, based out of Vienna, raised ~$27.7M in Series B funding for its energy trading platform targeted at businesses with renewable energy and storage assets. Zouk Capital led. More here. (Austria, Energy)

⚡ Ndustrial, based out of Raleigh, NC, raised $18.5M in Series B funding to help industrial companies increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions. ABB and GS Energy led. More here. (U.S., Industry)

🧪 Allozymes, based out of Singapore, raised $15M in Series A funding to make more sustainable enzymes for food and chemical production. Seventure Partners and Xora Innovation led. More here. (Singapore, Chemicals)

💨 Caeli Wind, based out of Berlin, raised ~$12M for its wind energy analytics and marketplace. Notion Capital led. More here. (Germany, Energy)

⚡ Trawa, based out of Berlin, raised ~$10.9M in seed funding to make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to procure renewable energy. Balderton Capital led. More here. (Germany, Energy)

🔋 Princeton NuEnergy, based out of Bordentown, NJ, raised an additional $10.3M in Series A funding for its lithium-ion battery recycling startup from SCGC and Tech Council Ventures. More here. (U.S., Energy / Transportation)

Smaller funding rounds

🔋 Bedrock Materials, based out of Chicago, raised $9M in seed funding to develop sodium-ion battery materials. Trucks Venture Capital led. More here. (U.S., Energy / Transportation)

🐄 AgriWebb, based out of Surry Hills, Australia, raised $7.2M in equity funding for its beef cattle management platform which is targeted at unlocking data for operators to reduce emissions in their supply chain. The platform is already used to manage more than 23 million livestock across 18 countries. Germin8 Ventures invested. More here. (Australia, Food & Agriculture)

💦 Lumo, based out of Napa, CA, raised $7M in equity investment from Active Impact Investments and Fall Line Capital for its ‘smart’ irrigation technologies. More here. (U.S., Water)

🔌 Orange Charger, based out of Redwood City, CA, raised $6.5M in seed funding to provide affordable, 240-volt EV chargers for multi-unit buildings. Munich Re Ventures and Climactic led. More here. (U.S., Transportation)

♻️ Nfinite Nanotech, based out of Waterloo, U.K., raised ~$6.5M in seed funding for its sustainable coatings that preserve product shelf-life while reducing plastic waste. Collateral Good led. More here. (U.K., Materials)

🚚 Ulemco, based out of Liverpool, U.K., raised ~$6.3M in equity funding to convert commercial vehicles to run on hydrogen. Mercia Ventures and Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund led. More here. (U.K., Transportation)

🌞 Active Surfaces, based out of Woburn, MA, raised $5.6M in pre-seed funding to make ultra-light and thin solar modules. Safar Partners led. More here. (U.S., Energy)

🔋 8inks, based out of Schlieren, Switzerland, raised ~$3.3M in pre-seed funding to make coatings for lithium-ion batteries to reduce battery production costs. Founderful and others invested. More here. (Switzerland, Energy / Transportation)

🐄 Volta Greentech, based out of Stockholm, Sweden, raised ~$3M in equity funding for its feed additives that are designed to reduce methane emissions from cows. Novax invested. More here. (Sweden, Food & Agriculture)

📊 Jejakin, based out of South Tangerang, Indonesia, raised $2.7M in equity funding for its Indonesian carbon accounting and monitoring service. East Ventures and others invested. More here. (Indonesia, Data Applications)

📊 ekko, based out of London, raised $2.5M in equity funding to help businesses enable environmental impact monitoring on behalf of their customers with fintech products like a debit card. Fuel Ventures led. More here. (U.K., Data Applications)

🌱 Hexafarms, based out of Berlin, raised ~$1.4M in pre-seed funding to use AI to optimize crop production in indoor farms. Speedinvest led. More here. (Germany, Food & Agriculture)

🔋 Mitra Future Technologies, based out of Mountain View, CA, received an undisclosed investment from Alpha Wave Ventures to make iron-based cathodes for lithium-ion batteries. More here. (U.S., Energy / Transportation)

Other funding rounds

💵 ReNew, based out of New Delhi, India, raised $1B in debt financing from Societe Generale to develop renewable projects in India as well as globally. More here. (India, Energy)

🥩 Simple Planet, based out of South Korea, received ~$8.1M in grant funding to make cultivated meat ingredients. More here. (South Korea, Food & Agriculture)

New funds

💵 TPG Rise Climate, based out of San Francisco, received a $1.5B funding commitment from Saudi Arabia's national pension and social insurance fund, primarily for its 'Rise Climate Infrastructure' fund. More here. (U.S., Infrastructure)

💰 FSN Capital, based out of Oslo, Norway, raised ~$434M for its 'Compass Fund' to back "purpose-driven" companies in Europe. More here. (Norway, Funds)

💰 Norrsken VC, based out of Stockholm, raised ~$342M in the final close of its second fund, with which it will invest in impact-focused startups. More here. (Sweden, Funds)

🌊 Ocean 14 Capital, based out of Luxembourg, raised its first fund with more than $220M in committed capital to invest in startups working on sustainable solutions to ocean-based environmental challenges. More here. (Luxembourg, Funds)

💰 PeakBridge, also based out of Luxembourg, raised $187M for its PeakBridge Growth Fund II, out of which it will invest in food and agriculture-tech-focused companies. More here. (Luxembourg, Food & Agriculture)

💸 Pitchdrive, based out of Antwerp, Belgium, raised ~$42.8M for its third fund targeting European early-stage startups. One of the fund's focus areas is sustainability. More here. (Belgium, Funds)

💸 Starshot Capital, based out of LA, raised $35M for its first early-stage climate tech fund. More here. (U.S., Funds)

OTHER ~COOL~ STUFF

Join ClimateHack NYC for a purpose-*built* event

Assembling the best and brightest for the built environment! ClimateHack NYC is returning for its first event of 2024 and is starting off with a banger - a panel hosted with Streetlife Ventures, It’s Electric, and other experts in the built environment to chat about recent progress in built environment decarbonization and what it means for all ‘builders’ in the space. 

Join us on May 28th! Apply here.

Eager for more climate tech content? Check out Reinventing Tomorrow, by Pique Action

This series focuses on how some of the world's most vulnerable communities are innovating novel solutions to the climate challenges facing them? The series spotlights stories around the world from entrepreneurs, engineers, and everyday citizens working to develop solutions to challenges across food, water, and energy. Checkout the trailer.

Talk soon,

– Nick