August News You Can Use
Wildfires are raging in Eastern Oregon. Dry and hot conditions set the stage. Near Baker City, the Durkee fire merged with the Cow Valley fire. It is so large and extreme that it has generated its own weather, a pyrocumulus cloud (thunderstorm) created by the fire’s heat with lightning strikes that can spark new fires. The air quality in Baker City is usually pristine at around 25 ppm. On July 21, 2024 it was a hazardous 155 ppm.
July saw record heat across the country. Heat is continuing in August. I’m watering the trees around my house, hoping to help them withstand the soaring temperatures and low humidity; feeling like the Dutch child with their hand in the dike, hoping to hold back the raging sea.
Is it resilience or denial or delusion to adjust to changing conditions? Our goal is to provide inspiration and actionable information about technological solutions, policies, and groups addressing the root causes of climate change and other consequences of our extractive society. We want to illuminate avenues to pursue that can make a difference through individual and collective action.
We have felt reluctant to advocate for partisan politics in Minerva’s newsletter. But we are in a break glass in case of emergency moment. Right now, the most urgent task is to ensure that Americans elect pro-science, pro-web-of-life leaders. Policy, government investment, and regulation are powerful levers to make systemic change. Whom we elect, from school boards to statehouses to Congress and the Whitehouse, matters more than ever.
Please make sure that you are registered to vote. Many states have been purging inactive voters from their roles. Encourage your family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues to vote. We offer some organizations that you could volunteer with or support that are mobilizing voters across the country.
Action is an antidote to anxiety. Acting together generates joy. Let’s create our own pyrocumulus weather system to ignite beneficial change.
Send us new technologies, resources, stories and insights.
Events
Wednesday, September 4, 2024, 5:30 to 7:30 in-person in Silicon Valley
~Innovation in Sustainable Aviation Fuel~
Hosted by Japan’s NEDO Silicon Valley Representative Office
Climate Leaders Monthly Meeting
Thursday, August 15, 4:00 - 5:00 PM PT
Join the Climate Leaders Meeting to exchange resources and inspiration with others who are also taking action to create a vibrant and healthy future.
All leaders are welcome.
This is a monthly on-line event hosted by Minerva Ventures.
TED Talks From the Bloomberg Green Festival Last Month
In case you missed the Festival, but would love to catch the talks:
Johan Rockström, the scientist behind the 9 boundaries framework, starts off the talks with a deep dive into where we are, how we have only 5 years of carbon budget left, and how we are in grave danger of exceeding the earth’s capacity to continue to absorb CO2 in the ways it has been to date. And yet he ends his talk with reasons he remains hopeful. Not that things won’t get difficult, it’s too late for that, but that the earth systems can be supported to remain healthy enough to recover. When asked how he stays sane, his reply featured connecting with others in community, and focusing on the growing solutions. We couldn’t agree more!
And that was just the first talk. Others in the mix include Gaya Herrington on focusing our economy on “enough” rather than always on “more,” the Environmental Voter Project's Nathaniel Stinnett on the untapped resource of environmental voters, and Deb Chachra with an enlightening perspective on “infrastructure.”
Room Heat Pumps Online Seminar
Wednesday, August 14 · 12 - 12:30pm PDT
Put on by Electrify Now, this brief webinar promises to be chock full of information about new, cost-effective heat pump solutions.
From Theory to Action
Implementing Smart Climate Moves in Your Organization
August 28, 2024
1:15 pm to 2:00 pm EDT
Register and Get Recording Link
Opportunites for Action
Help Turn Out The Environmental Vote
The Environmental Voter Project estimates that over 8 million environmentalists did not vote in the 2020 presidential election and over 13 million skipped the 2022 midterms. Just getting these people to the polls could be a powerful boost to the climate agenda. And they have proven approaches to do just that. If you’d like to help, check them out!
For Information and To Volunteer
Opportunities to Learn About Mobilizing Voters:
Speakers include Jane Fonda, Bette Midler, Bill McKibben and writers: Robin Wall Kimmerer, Rebecca Solnit, Terry Tempest Williams. Incredibly inspiring! Check out the video replay.
Aug 15, 5:30pm–6:45pm PDT
In this first meeting in a series, Stacey Abrams will discuss foundational strategy on how to build and wield power for positive change, and understand why this year is pivotal for climate action.
And Other Groups To Consider Supporting Or Volunteering With:
Call for Proposals for the Living Future Conference 2025 (LF25)
Due date Sept 15
Domains for Climate Action
Food and Agriculture
“What To Eat On a Burning Planet”
This powerful series from The New York Times, aims to “push lawmakers, scientists, farmers and consumers to confront the growing strain on our global food supply and the natural systems it depends on and to advance a range of solutions.” The series will examine how where, how and what we grow and eat will need to change in response to the changing climate. The first piece, from David Wallace-Wells, presents stark facts about threatened crops and threatened growing regions, how some of the solutions we thought would save us aren’t panning out, and some of the directions to look for hope. The second installment, “Fine Dining Can’t Go On Like This,” points to the need to shift to less water-intensive crops, particularly in the increasingly water-stressed agricultural regions of California. The article points out how Australia, similarly drought-stressed, has started popularizing more drought-resistant crops.
Best Practices to Prevent Deforestation Gain Acceptance
In light of weather-driven supply disruptions to US beef, companies are turning to Brazil, which means they are increasingly sourcing from a region with high risk of deforestation. Fortunately regulations and market forces are driving attention to implementing best practices to ensure no new deforestation. With 2025 as the target, corporate buyers from the likes of Walmart and MacDonalds, among others, are implementing sophisticated tracking and monitoring systems and requirements.
More here.
Energy
Batteries + Rooftop Solar = Huge Savings for the Grid
A new report from University of Texas at Austin researchers shows that implementing a range of “non-wires alternatives” like rooftop solar and batteries has the potential to reduce energy costs by about 40 percent while reducing wear and tear on grid infrastructure that is nearing it’s end of life. Their research compared the theoretical cost of providing electricity without customer-owned resources, vs. the costs if there were optimal incentives to get households and businesses to invest in demand-reduction. The optimal incentives they postulated would involve paying customers for using equipment that reduces electricity demand. The price would vary based on how valuable that reduction is. Unfortunately, the profit incentive for utilities doesn’t encourage that, but perhaps there are ways to change those structures, and achieve the benefits. Read more here.
Finance
$3 Trillion/yr Investment Required to Secure The Future
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, speaking after attending a G20 finance leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro, declared that the global transition to a low-carbon economy will require $3 trillion in new capital each year through 2050, and positioned the investment, which will require government, private sector and development bank participation, as the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century. She called on the development banks to “catalyze new business models to mobilize investments that support nature and biodiversity while strengthening economies and advancing climate transitions.”
Net Zero and the Energy Transition is Great for the Economy
A new report, Forecasting Green Jobs in Africa, predicts that investing in the green economy there could bring as many as 3.3 million new jobs across the continent by 2030, according to reporting in The Guardian. An article in London’s Sunday Timespoints out that in the UK, Yet the most striking thing about Keir Starmer, the new Prime Minister’s speech at the “launch of Great British Energy was how many times he mentioned the climate — which is to say, not once. Instead, he said net zero was really about energy security and not having to rely on the Middle East or Russia for oil and gas. It was about trying to rebuild our industries along the way.” The article goes on to point out that China is also making the transition more about the economy than the climate.
Circular Economy/Materials
Gene-Edited Trees May Be the Future of Paper
Jack Wang and his colleagues North Carolina State University are using gene editing to create trees that are better for making paper and other products, requiring less land and producing less pollution than natural varieties. By reducing the lignin and increasing the cellulose in the wood, they hope to reduce the effort required to create the softer, more pliable products, like paper and diapers.
Water/Natural Resources/Biodiversity
Reforestation is Better for Climate And More Cost Effective Than We Thought
Reforestation – the restoration of tree cover to areas that have been deforested – is a NaturalClimate Solution that has been identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a mitigation option with high potential. A first-of-its-kind study, published in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change. “We found that natural regeneration is more cost-effective at reducing emissions in almost half of forests, meaning that this more biodiverse method of reforestation is vastly underutilized,” said Jonah Busch, the lead author of the study who conducted the research during his Climate Economics Fellowship at Conservation International. “If everyone only reforested across the world with one method, we’d miss out on the climate benefits of a more varied approach.” Researchers found that using a mix of the two reforestation methods would remove about 40% more carbon (44% more than natural regeneration, 39% more than tree-planting) than either one alone. More here.
Trees Play A Major Role In Methane Uptake
Methane is a major and highly potent greenhouse gas, contributing about a third of the warming effect to date. Fortunately, it only remains in the atmosphere for about 10 years, as compared to the long life of CO2, so any changes to the system of methane release or removal can have a profound near term influence. And new research has shown a powerful way to influence methane removal with the help of tree bark.
“In total, our cautious first estimate is that trees take up between about 25 and 50 million tonnes of atmospheric methane each year, with most taken up by tropical forests. This is similar to the only other land-based methane sink – soils – and it makes temperate and tropical trees 7%-12% better for climate than they are currently credited for,” writes one of the studies’ principle researchers, Vincent Gauci. Their research points to the value of urgent work to plant trees, with “new ways to improve methane uptake in plantation forestry, by selecting trees that are particularly good at atmospheric methane removal or modifying tree bark microbial communities.”
Built Environment
Cooling Cities by Deliberately Channeling Wind
Weatherpark is a research firm focused on urban climatology, that advises cities on planning to achieve climate goals, like cooling the city by directing wind with carefully placed new skyscrapers. Matthias Ratheiser, the firm’s co-chief executive officer, uses a 3D model of Frankfurt Germany’s downtown area on his computer screen, where he can make new buildings appear and show how they change air-flow patterns, to make recommendations to the city. As one of Germany’s hottest cities, Frankfurt has a number of cooling initiatives, including making roof gardens and green facade compulsory for new dwellings, local rules mandating well-insulated, low-energy passive housing designs that are among Europe’s strictest, porous pavements, street fountains and more than 200,000 trees. Check out this video.
Funds to Green Federal Buildings And Promote Green Building
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), has $3.4 billion from the I.R.A. to reduce emissions from federal buildings, testing and deploy new carbon-cutting technologies that will eventually find their way into buildings across the country, derisking the new approaches for broader adoption. They are now racing to decarbonize both their construction and operations in what amounts to one of the largest commercial real estate portfolios in the country. $2 billion will fund the purchase of common construction materials with low embodied carbon, with another almost $1 billion going toward evaluating and deploying emerging technologies that can slash carbon emissions from building operations. Read more details here.
Transportation
How Big A Problem Is Mining For EV Batteries, Anyway?
Turns out it’s not nearly as big a problem as some have made it out to be. In fact, a new report from RMI points out that, since the minerals in batteries can be reused, unlike oil. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that battery chemistry innovations, energy density improvements, and recycling have already begun to limit demand for battery minerals, and that trend will continue. in addition, the report finds that the world has more than enough minerals to meet projected EV needs, as recycling replaces the need for new mining for battery materials. With a circular system in place, batteries will require a total of 125 million tons of minerals. And while that is a lot, it is actually 17 times less than the oil currently extracted annually for transportation fuel.
Solid State EV Batteries From Samsung
For the last 6 months EV manufacturers have been testing the first of Samsung’s solid state batteries that are smaller, lighter, and much safer than the current crop of EV batteries.they are also about twice as energy dense, with a range of up to 600 miles, Initially these will be used in “super premium” cars. Other manufacturers are also working on solid state batteries, so to stand out Samsung is working to achieve a 9 minute charging time. Pretty exciting to look forward to!
Reducing EV Tire Pollution
Tires have always been a major source of particulate pollution. When your tires wear out, that material is going somewhere after all. With EVs the issue is compounded, since EVs are heavier and more powerful, which means more wear on tires. And while advances in EV specific tires has made some progress, mostly these tires aren’t available for replacements, just the tires that ship on the car. Enter Enso, with their more durable EV tires focused primarily on the aftermarket, and their newly announced US factory with a goal of producing 5 million new tires by 2027. Enso’s new tires will reduce pollution through a 10 percent lower rolling resistance and a 35 percent increase in tire life.
Health
Climate Interventions:
Regeneration, Methane, Geoengineering, CCUS
New Discoveries: Cyanobacteria That Gobble CO2
Braden Tierney, a data scientist and executive director of the Two Frontiers Project, lead a multi-institution team that discovered a cyanobacteria off the coast of a volcanic island near Sicily that eats carbon dioxide (CO2) "astonishingly quickly".Cyanobacteria are gaining attention for their ability to absorb large amounts of CO2 and convert it into useful resources, such as fuels or biodegradable plastics. "Early data showed [this new strain] generated 22% more biomass than the other fastest growing strains out there," says Tierney. As it grows denser and heavier, the microbe sinks in the water, which helps it sequester the CO2 it absorbs. This finding lead Tierney’s team to search out other CO2 gobblers, including new strains found in carbonated springs in Colorado. While not yet deployed, these microbes show promise as powerful tools for sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere, something sorely needed to address climate change.
Carbon Capture and Storage By The Fossil Fuel Industry is a Fantasy — and Taxpayers are Footing the Bill
The oil and gas industry has claimed for years that they can capture and sequester carbon, and even convinced the U.S. government (well, Joe Manchin anyway) that this is a climate solution. However, after three years spent investigating, Democrats in the House and Senate concluded that carbon capture and storage (CCS) is not what they claim. Most of the captured carbon to date would never have been produced at all if the oil and gas extraction hadn’t happened, and most of what was captured initially was in fact vented, not stored. So, instead of investing the funds in true climate solutions, taxpayer dollars have gone to subsidizing the oil and gas industry to continue to extract and burn fossil fuels. Vox lays it all out here.
Adaptation and Resilience
China Takes on Climate Adaptation
Increasing frequency and impact of climate-fueled disasters across China are getting the attention of local and national governments, and spurring new efforts to adapt to hopefully prevent the worst outcomes, according to an article in the Washington Post. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment recently released a report on adaptation to the threat of climate change highlighting the need to improve early-warning systems and collaboration among departments in charge of construction, water management, transportation and public health. “When these departments are siloed off, it impedes a systematic response to climate,” said Liu Junyan, a Beijing-based campaigner for the environmental advocacy group Greenpeace. “We can’t miss the big picture because we’re all tucked away in different corners putting out our own crises.” This kind of systemic response to climate impacts is needed, and not yet adequately implemented, across the globe, not just in China.
E.P.A. Funds 25 New Climate Projects Across the Country
Funding from the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program, a $5 billion fund included in the Inflation Reduction Act, will go to 25 projects proposed by states, tribes, local governments and territories across the U.S..
Policy
Indigenous Climate Justice Policy Tool
Addressing climate justice calls for a “fundamental, decolonial constitutional change”, according to a new study published in Climate Policy. While the test isn’t foolproof, it can help point to whether policy changes are indeed just to indigenous communities. The goal is to shift climate action from simply a technical effort, to an approach focused on human rights and social equity, which have particular relevance for indigenous populations who are often bearing the largest burdens, and have a different set of values that must be addressed for solutions to truly meet their needs.
Can People Influence Government Climate Policy?
That’s the question the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication asked. Their analysis used data from the Climate Change in the American Mind survey to explore perceptions of collective political efficacy. They found that this sense of efficacy overall has increased moderately since 2018, though the trend differed by political affiliation, with democrats and independents experiencing an increase, and republicans overall feeling less efficacy. Their research showed that cues from one’s social environment (e.g., hearing others discuss global warming) are positively associated with efficacy beliefs. So let’s get talking people!
Climate News
Hard-to-Abate Industries to Become Largest Carbon Polluters
A new report out from the Rhodium Group indicates the industrial sector will overtake transportation as the largest contributor of greenhouse gases in the US by 2033. Decarbonization solutions have yet to take hold across the industrial sector, and emissions are projected to remain relatively flat into the future from oil and gas, chemical production, mining, cement manufacturing, iron and steel production and food production, according to reporting in Cipher.
Record Breaking Temperatures, Extreme Heat
After recording the 4 hottest days ever, and with Earth’s average temperature at least 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels over the past year, concerns about exceeding tipping points and increases in climate impacts are mounting. Heat-related health issues, deaths from heat, devastation from extreme weather events like hurricanes and typhoons, wildfires and droughts are all on the rise. Even researchers who spent their whole careers studying climate change are stunned, reports The Washington Post. And while the extreme heat may subside, it may prove difficult for some regions to recover from the damage. And this is just a taste of what is to come, even if we do drastically curtail emissions at the speed and scale appropriate to the problem. Carbon Brief has an excellent summary of the data and trends.
The Earth’s Ability to Absorb CO2 is Declining
According to a recent study, the ability of the land across the globe to absorb CO2 and thus dampen the impact of our ongoing emissions, is declining. Though the results are yet preliminary, the study, which focused on 2023, indicates that the extreme heat and accompanying droughts and wildfires have compromised the system, Comparing the atmospheric concentration of CO2, which spiked in 2023, with global fossil fuel emissions which increased only modestly, suggested “unprecedented weakening” in the Earth’s ability to absorb carbon, the researchers wrote. Turning to satellite data and models for vegetative growth the team identified the drought-stricken Amazon and Southeast Asia as well as record-breaking wildfiresin the boreal forests of Canada as potential sources of the reduction in CO2 uptake. Read more here.
Climate in the US Presidential Race
As the presidential race enters this final stretch, what role climate change will play remains unclear. As a past candidate, and as a senator, Kamala Harris took bold positions on the Green New Deal. Now, in the current political climate, “She has to walk a fine line,” David Victor, a professor of innovation and public policy at the University of California San Diego told The New York Times. He said the phrase Green New Deal has become toxic, even among many moderate and independents, but that “You can talk inspirationally about climate change.” Green groups are finding that inspiration and lining up behind V.P. Harris, including the more progressive members of the Green New Deal Network that withheld support from President Biden.
$10bn Climate Bond on the November Ballot in California
The bond would fund state climate initiatives, cut from the budget earlier in the year. Supporters say the bond would provide much-needed funds to accomplish California’s ambitious environmental goals, like its commitment to conserving 6 million acres of land by 2030. Without it, the states climate goals are very much in jeopardy.
Climate and Conflict Driving Hunger Crisis
More than 2.3 billion people, 29% of the world’s population, are currently suffering moderate or severe food insecurity, meaning they do not have access to or cannot afford enough calories to sustain their bodies. And while there was a target to end global hunger by 2030, achieving that target in the face of current conditions appears daunting, if not completely unachievable. “It’s not even that we are just not on track, we are also moving in the wrong direction,” David Laborde, director of Agri Food Economics Division at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) told The Telegraph. Inequality and lack of access, in addition to climate and unrest, were identified as key reasons that current agrifood systems are failing the world’s poorest countries.
Book Recommendations
The Language of Climate Politics: Fossil-Fuel Propaganda and How to Fight It by Genevieve Guenther is a deep dive into how we need to change the language we use if we are going to create the future we want. Grist provides a summary of her points and some book excerpts to get you started.
What's Possible: Investing Now for Prosperous, Sustainable Neighborhoods a new release from a collaboration between Enterprise Community Partners, LISC, and the New York Fed, gathers the voices of leading climate and community development experts to offer practical solutions for clean energy, resilience, and equity. It’s intended as a playbook for taking collective action to build a stronger, more inclusive future. AND, it’s available free online and as a download.
About Minerva Ventures:
Are you concerned about climate change and seeking ways to take action? Business survival depends on addressing competitive challenges every day. Leaders attend to urgent business matters while counting on tomorrow’s weather and operating conditions to be similar to yesterday’s. What happens when underlying conditions change as climate consequences become more severe? It is hard to adjust to a disruptive future while you are focused on competing today.
Minerva advises clean tech companies on strategic and business development. We help you find customers, new markets, and new investors to build your momentum and success. Minerva helps established companies create strategies to identify and contend with climate risks to your business. Discover how you can protect your operations, assets, products, and services. Understand how climate risk will affect your suppliers, customers, and partners. Determine how you can strengthen your company to navigate change and seize opportunities as markets reconfigure in the face of the coming changes. Find innovative ways to change your operations, products, and services to help address climate change. Consider policy measures that your industry can pursue that will help address shared risks.
Minerva can help you find new solutions that will make your business more resilient and adaptable to change. Your company will be advancing climate solutions rather than just reacting to disruptions to your industry and markets.
Visit Minerva Ventures’ website at MinervaVentures.com!
Newsletter Editor: Dinyah Rein, Consultant, Minerva Ventures, LLC
Copyright (C) 2024 Minerva Ventures. All rights reserved.