- A Biden presidency doesn’t need a Green New Deal to make progress on climate changeEven without a Green New Deal, the sweeping set of climate-related initiatives many Democrats are pushing for, President-elect Joe Biden will have plenty of opportunities to move ahead with much of the ambitious energy transformation plan as part of any infrastructure or stimulus package. Should Republicans manage to maintain control ... read more
- Biden’s infrastructure plans could boost startupsAs President-elect Joe Biden readies his transition team and sets the agenda for his first 100 days in office, startups can expect to see some movement on long-stalled infrastructure initiatives that could mean big boosts to their business. Infrastructure is high on the list of priorities of the incoming Biden ... read more
- John Legend and Natalie Portman want you to try wearing fungus instead of leatherNatalie Portman and John Legend are joining a group of venture capitalists and unnamed fashion brands backing MycoWorks, a company that just raised $45 million to commercialize its technology that makes a fungal-based biomaterial that can replace leather. The goal is to get consumers to trade in their leather ... read more
- Renewable power represents almost 90% of total global power capacity added in 2020Bucking the slowdown in most of the power sector caused by responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, renewable energy actually grew in 2020, and will represent about 90% of the total power capacity added for the year, according to the International Energy Agency. A surge in new projects from China ... read more
- Startups making meat alternatives are gaining traction worldwideStartups that produce lab-grown meat and meat substitutes are gaining traction and raising cash in global markets, mirroring a surge of support food tech companies are seeing in the United States. New partnerships with global chains like McDonald’s in Hong Kong, the launch of test kitchens in Israel and new ... read more
- Stripe Climate is a new tool to let Stripe customers purchase credits towards carbon removal effortsLast year, payments giant Stripe announced that it would donate $1 million of its own funds annually into companies that are building technology to remove carbon from our environment, with the recipients of that investment announced in May of this year. Now, it’s expanding that commitment with a new product ... read more
- Thanks to COVID-19, emissions and coal use may have peaked in 2019If analysts from BloombergNEF are right, then all of the world’s most greenhouse gas polluting days are behind it, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. A sharp drop in energy demand caused by the global response to the coronavirus pandemic will remove 2.5 years of energy sector emissions between now and ... read more
- Deep tech VC fund The Engine raises $230M for its second fund from MIT and new backer HarvardDeep tech. Hard tech. Or, as The Engine dubs it, Tough Tech. Venture investing today is essentially identical to what happens on Wall Street, focused on data rooms, spreadsheets, SaaS churn models and cohort analysis. Yet, the history of venture capital firms is heavily interwoven with universities and their research. ... read more
- Leading Edge Equipment has a technology to improve solar manufacturing and $7.6 million to go to marketOnly a few weeks after the successful public offering of Array Technologies proved that there’s a market for technologies aimed at improving efficiencies across the solar manufacturing and installation chain, Leading Edge Equipment has raised capital for its novel silicon wafer manufacturing equipment. The $7.6 million financing came from Prime Impact ... read more
- Feast your eyes on the all-new, all-electric GMC Hummer EVGMC has a new all-electric version of its classic Hummer oversized SUV. This thing is a beast, as you might expect, with an advertised 350-mile range and a 3-second zero to 60 mph time. It’s a bit ridiculous to be honest, which is kind of what the Hummer has ... read more
- GMC reveals the Hummer EV: 1,000 HP, 350-mile range and 0-60 in ‘around 3 seconds’
- Alphabet’s latest moonshot is a field-roving, plant-inspecting robo-buggy
- Porsche is researching synthetic fuels to make gas-powered cars sustainableThe road to sustainable vehicles likely ends at electric cars, yet the route to this goal isn’t clear. There are multiple ways to get there, and Porsche is looking at synthetic fuels as a potential path. These so-called eFuels are produced from CO2 and hydrogen. If produced using renewable ... read more
- Amazon debuts its first fully electric delivery vehicle, created in partnership with RivianAmazon has received delivery of its very first, custom-built EV delivery van – a vehicle built through its partnership with electric transportation startup Rivian. The van doesn’t look too different from existing, traditional fuel and hybrid commercial delivery vans (though there are a lot more rounded edges) but most of ... read more
- 4 sustainable industries where founders and VCs can see green by going greenNow’s the time for sustainable investments to shine. There are billions of dollars in funding in both public and private markets dedicated to new sustainable investing and demand for consumers for a more conscious capitalism has never been stronger. As founders and investors reawaken to a sustainable morning in America ... read more