NY Climate Tech: January 9 - January 15, 2023
Deep tech, exposing the meat industry, distributed energy, climate and the economy, sequencing mushroom DNA, and more events this month - with a side of our hot themes for 2023!
Hi friends! Happy New Year!
We’re easing into the year with a few events this week, but much more on the horizon. On Tuesday, swing by SOSV’s new IndieBio space for their Deep Tech Happy Hour, then on Wednesday head to Bushwick for a book launch and talk on the meat industry at Farm to People or Williamsburg for the DER Taskforce Happy Hour. On Thursday, check out a new series at Rise NY on Climate and the Economy, and round out the week with a workshop at Genspace on mushroom identification through DNA. Looking for ideas on where to spend your dollars and your time tackling climate change in 2023 — we’re starting off the year sharing some of ours!
Cheers,
Alec and Sonam
Hot Take: Hot Themes for 2023
January is often about going out with the old and in with the new. In climate tech, however, I think it’s more about building on the old and supercharging the new!
2022 closed off with a bang - investors plowed in a record $70.1 billion into climate tech solutions, an 89% increase from the previous year. Over 30% of all VC deals are in climate tech these days – we’re finally the hot kids on the block (no pun intended!). The largest share of funding went to energy storage and distribution, mobility, and ag/food companies - with megadeals for everything from Northvolt’s battery manufacturing innovations to TeraWatt’s charging centers for EV fleets. As our friends at ClimateTech VC reported recently, we’ve got nearly $37.4 billion of dry powder in the banks just in dedicated climate tech funds, as well as $300 billion across the VC industry – all of this is ready to be deployed!
Climate tech is on fire – in a good way! Source: HolonIQ Global Climate Tech Report 2022
So, where should all this money go in 2023? We’ve got some ideas.
Invest in Climate Adaptation - Today, Not in All the Way in 2049: First and foremost, climate change has two sides of the same coin - but as a society we’ve only focused on one. Over 93% of all climate finance goes into mitigation - or attempts to reduce the amount of GHG emissions we collectively spew into the atmosphere. Less than 7% of funds go to adaptation - also known as dealing with the impacts of climate change today and saving lives while we’re at it. Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better - so let’s do something about that now, and not all the way in 2049.
Adaptation and mitigation work together to save lives over the short and long term – if you’re interested in learning more, check out Parachute - our creative storytelling platform focused on climate solutions in cities across the globe! Art skillz by the fabulous Lyn Stoler!
Build Back Better - And Redefine Better While You’re At It: Climate change is here and now - you don’t need us to tell you that it was 66 degrees on January 4 in New York and Atmospheric Rivers are literally drowning the California coast as we speak. We should be using these freak weather events as an opportunity to rebuild for resilience. We now have data from tools like FloodMapp and CloudToStreet helping us predict the impacts of severe weather; we have innovative materials like porous concrete from Aquipor to absorb water on our streets and in our neighborhoods; and we even have financial instruments like disaster risk insurance to protect against public sector balance sheets. For every $1 that we spend on pre-disaster mitigation, we save $6 in post-disaster losses. That’s VC level returns right there!
Arverne by the Sea is the only community on the oceanfront Rockaway Peninsula in New York City that survived Hurricane Sandy. The 120-acre development was raised 5 ft, and includes underground utilities, submersible transformers, underground drainage chambers, and concrete slab foundations. The beach grass near the boardwalk is meticulously maintained and serves as a beautiful, natural buffer to oncoming storm surges.
Put your Money Where your Mouth Is, Literally: As stated above, climate tech vc is on fire (in a good way!). 65+ new climate focused VC funds have launched over the past year, all making great claims that they are out to decarbonize the planet. Yet, there’s a severe mismatch between capital needs and capital deployed. Industries with the greatest capacity to reduce GHG emissions receive the smallest share of venture dollars. One of the greatest discrepancies: 17% of emissions come from the built environment, yet only 4% of all VC dollars are invested in this sector. Perhaps here’s something that will convince you to do better: 140 million homes across America need new furnaces, gas burners, induction cooktops, and more - a total of a billion machines that need to be switched out. That’s a lot of alpha!
My hope for 2023: matching blocks on the left and right. Source: PwC State of Climate Tech Report 2022
Meeting our climate challenges means we must embark on a full transformation of the economy. With the wins of 2022 - from the record VC funding to the passage of the IRA to the rollout of the infrastructure bill - we’ve got the taps flowing and we’re primed for success! In 2023, we will see the full impact of Climate Industrialism in action - the trifecta of talent, innovation, and industrial policy that will enable communities across the globe to develop + deploy climate solutions in partnership with entrepreneurs, foster local economic development, and keep our planet nice and cool 😎
By Sonam Velani
✨ Get Involved in Building the Climate Tech Community ✨
We have big plans for 2023 and are looking for help! Interested in volunteering? Apply for one of our six volunteer roles:
Check the listings and reply to this email with a short cover letter + your resume / LinkedIn to apply! You’ve got until Friday, January 20!
Events This Week
🤖 Deep Tech NYC Happy Hour by SOSV's IndieBio and HAX: Tue, Jan 10
🍖 Raw Deal: Exposing the Meat Industry: Wed, Jan 11
🔌 DER Taskforce Happy Hour: Wed, Jan 11
💵 Climate is the new Economy: Thu, Jan 12
🍄 Mushroom Identification Workshop: DNA Barcoding: Sat, Jan 14
Read on for more details about this week’s happenings and upcoming events this month
Upcoming Events
🏙 NYC Decarbonization: Fundamentals: Wed, Jan 18
🧪 How Low-Carbon Ammonia Can Help Fight Climate Change: Wed, Jan 18
📄 Climate Mobilization Act Primer: Wed, Jan 18
🍻 Green Drinks Brooklyn: Wed, Jan 18
⬇️ 2023 NYCDR Happy Hour: Wed, Jan 18
🌱 Green City Force Graduation: Fri, Jan 20
🌊 How to Prepare for Climate Change w/David Pogue: Sat, Jan 21
🎨 Ben Davis: Art in the After-Culture: Mon, Jan 23
🌇 Climate Mobilization Act Series: The IRA Meets New York: Tue, Jan 24
🍀 Green For Blue 1: Wed, Jan 25
🗑 Exploring "Throw-Away" Culture w/ Robin Nagle & Maggie Lee: Wed, Jan 25
♻️ Sanitation Foundation's ZERO WASTE WORKSHOP: Wed, Jan 25
👩🎨 Dreaming a Regenerative Future: An Eco-Art Workshop: Wed, Jan 25
💃 Dance Symposium: Dance and Ecology: Fri, Jan 27
🚽 Jessica Leigh Hester presents Sewer, with Angela Chen: Fri, Jan 27
🍄 Sculpting With Mycelium: Sun, Jan 29
🪴 PLANT-O-RAMA 2023: Mon, Jan 30
Events This Week
🤖 Deep Tech NYC Happy Hour by SOSV's IndieBio and HAX
When: Tue, Jan 10th from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Where: IndieBio NY, 7 Penn Plaza, Floor 9, New York, NY 10001
Hosted by SOSV's deep-tech programs IndieBio and HAX; Join us for our first happy hour at IndieBio NY's new lab space, grab some drinks and snacks and meet some incredible folks!
🍖 Raw Deal: Exposing the Meat Industry with Chloe Sorvino & Farm to People
When: Wed, Jan 11th from 6:30 PM to 10:00 PM
Where: Farm To People, 1100 Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11237
Join Chloe Sorvino and Farm to People for an enlightening chat discussing the devastating failures of the country’s food system and the growing discontent of alternative meat producers claiming to revolutionize the future of food. This event is celebrating Chloe Sorvino’s new book, Raw Deal, which offers an expansive view of the meat industry and its future as its fundamental weaknesses are laid bare for all to see. Enjoy a seasonal spread of sustainable food from the chef at Farm to People’s Kitchen & Bar. Natural wine, local craft beer, kombucha, and other non-alcoholic drinks will be available for purchase.
🔌 DER Taskforce Happy Hour
When: Wed, Jan 11th from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Where: Urban Energy, 116 Ainslie Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Hey DER TF! Join us at Urban Energy's office for our monthly hang on the second Wednesday of each month. There isn't a reoccurring agenda, but we may have guests or topics to discuss for a particular events.
💵 Climate is the new Economy
When: Thu, Jan 12th from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Where: Rise New York, 43 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010
The way we are currently doing things isn’t working for the environment around us or for those people in underserved communities feeling the effects of climate change. A ‘New Climate Economy’ needs to be imagined if we are to combat this challenge in a systemic way. This is the first meeting of a larger event series, intended to provide a structured and collaborative platform to re-imagine this New Climate Economy, inviting new voices into the fight and connecting dots between existing players. Under this scope, this Series will focus on setting the stage for the challenge we face, the systemic approach we hope to employ, and centering areas of thematic focus to help us drill down on how we go about tackling the issue from different parts of this new economy.
🍄 Mushroom Identification Workshop: DNA Barcoding
When: Sat, Jan 14th at 2:00 PM to Sat, Jan 21st at 5:00 PM
Where: Genspace, 132 32nd Street #108, Brooklyn, NY 11232
Mushrooms are all around us, decomposing, recycling, and regenerating our ecosystems. But how do you know which mushroom is which? And how can we as community scientists accurately document the mushrooms in our communities to better understand how mushrooms are thriving or disappearing as our climate changes? In this workshop we’ll explore and practice two key methods to identify and describe mushrooms — DNA barcoding and morphology. DNA Barcoding is the process by which organisms are phylogenetically identified by comparing short sequences in their genome to similar specimens that have been previously sequenced. When paired with morphological identification, phylogenetic ID offers an improved understanding of evolutionary lineage and the potential to discover novel organisms that have not yet been described. Using mushrooms gathered from previous foraging, your neighborhood, or even from the grocery store, we’ll practice morphological descriptions, and explore the basics of how DNA barcoding works.
New Year, New Newsletters
Our 2023 resolution is to expand the global climate tech community under the new Climate Tech Cities umbrella! If you’re interested in starting a new chapter in your city, please fill in this short form and we’ll get you on board!
We’re starting with San Francisco: sign up & share with your Bay Area friends!
If you’re in New England, don’t sleep on Steven Zhang’s Boston edition!