July News You Can Use
It’s a wild ride right now. Undoubtedy you are feeling it, too. The Budget Reconciliation Bill will have significant negative impacts on efforts to curb climate change, among other devastating consequences. The last few weeks have seen catastrophic weather events around the world made worse by a warming climate. We lean into what gives us hope, what gives us joy, as an act of resistance: creating and strengthening community, supporting others, spending time in nature, seeking opportunities to contribute. And remembering, that while this moment may be difficult, working together we can create something better. As James Hansen says in his forthcoming book, “There’s no good reason that it can’t be … spectacular….”
Events
Climate Leaders Monthly Meeting
Thursday, July 17, 4:00 - 5:00 PM PT
Join the Climate Leaders Meeting to exchange resources and inspiration with others who are working to create a vibrant and healthy future.
All leaders are welcome.
This is a monthly on-line event hosted by Minerva Ventures.
Opportunities for Action
Take Advantage of the IRA’s Provisions Now, Before They Are Gone
Bill McKibben’s latest newsletter does an excellent job of enumerating the opportunities that remain to take advantage of the subsidies and tax rebates in the Inflation Reduction Act and the new timeline for when you need to do it by. There are still opportunities for individuals, non-profits and corporations. Let’s do what we can to maximize those benefits before they go away.
Speak Up About Corporations Funding Climate Policy Obstruction
Climate Voice has updated it’s Climate Policy Obstruction Scorecard to include five major consumer brands, all of whom claim to be working to reduce climate change, while at the same time funding the obstruction of those efforts. The five are: Nike, Procter & Gamble, Starbucks, Uber, and Walmart. Climate Voice provides information and action recommendations here. And for detailed insights you can read a guest article by Auden Schendler, author of Terrible Beauty: Reckoning with Climate Complicity and Rediscovering Our Soul.
Get Involved in Local Planning
Join one of the 90-minute virtual project launch workshops, July 15th at 10am and July 17th at 1pm.
Domains for Climate Action
Food and Agriculture
Energy
Reviving Spent Lithium Ion Batteries
A team of researchers in China has found a way to bring dead lithium-ion batteries back to life, a potential solution for the 20.5 million metric tons of spent batteries projected by 2040. Using an AI model, they identified a chemical agent and tested a process that could be likened to giving the battery an “IV”. In testing, the treatment was able to be used multiple times and each time the battery performed similarly to a new battery. By the end of the experiment, the treated cell regained 96 percent capacity after nearly 12,000 charge-discharge cycles. Read more.
New Startup Proposes to Turn Data Centers Into Grid Assets
AI giant Nvidia, along with other leading companies in tech and finance are backing a new startup, Emerald AI, that uses AI to flexibly adjust data center’s power consumption from the electricity grid on demand. They believe this flexibility could unlock more than 100 GW worth of energy without enormous new investment, all while ensuring power affordability and grid reliability. To get a sense of the credibility of the approach, backers include ex-climate envoy John Kerry; Kleiner Perkins chair John Doerr; Google chief scientist Jeff Dean, and pioneering AI scientist Fei-Fei Li. Read more.
Finance
California’s Cap-and-Trade Makes Polluters Pay, And Delivers Results
The cap-and-trade program’s ultimate goal is to drive down emissions by selling industry allowances to emit carbon. The revenue from the allowances is reinvested into projects that boost resilience, support clean energy and promote environmental justice. To date, the program has brought in more than $28 billion, $11.6 billion of which has already been translated into on-the-ground projects. The program expires in 2030, but environmental groups are working to have it extended. Read more.
Circular Economy/Materials
Bacteria Can Turn Plastic Waste into Acetaminophen
Chemists have discovered a way to use E. coli to create acetaminophen from plastic bottles, rather than the traditional method using petroleum. The researchers say the results suggest that plastic waste can be converted into other types of biological material as well. “It is a way to just completely hoover up plastic waste,” said said Prof Stephen Wallace, the lead author of the research. Read more.
Bacteria Can, In Fact, Do Lots of Things, Including Suck Up CO2
A team of scientists is has been searching for microbes that might help solve some of our biggest environmental problems. "Microbes are nature's alchemists," says Braden Tierney, a microbiologist at Harvard Medical School. "They are capable of taking just about any compound or chemical anywhere in the world and turning it into something else to survive." One example is a microorganism that is remarkably efficient at consuming carbon dioxide. They affectionately call it Chonkus. He has co-founded The Two Frontiers Project to search for other microbes that can sequester CO2, grow crops in hostile environments, help dying corals, capture rare earth metals and clean up hazardous waste sites.
Water/Natural Resources/Biodiversity
Eliminating PFAS From the Water Supply - Yes We Can
The Yorba Linda, Calif., water district has been using ion exchange to remove PFAS from its water supply since 2021. It's been extremely effective — there is no trace of these “forever chemicals” in the water going out to the plant’s 80,000 customers. Read more.
Built Environment
Mayors Take the Lead in Greening Their CIties
Cities across the US are becoming leaders in climate adaptation and mitigation - switching to electric transit fleets, adopting the “15 minute city” concept of urban design, forcing builders to make structures more energy efficient, and encouraging rooftop solar. Read about what city leaders are doing across the US.
Transportation
Maritime Shipping Agrees to Add A Climate Fee
The member nations of the U.N.’s International Maritime Organization have agreed to implement a fee on shipping beginning in 2028 to make the true climate cost of shipping more visible to companies. “We’re at a pivotal moment,” Environmental Defense Fund’s Natacha Stamatiou, an expert on global shipping.says. “If the shipping industry can successfully confront its climate impact and adopt cleaner fuels and technologies, it will set an example for other global industries.”
Health
Climate Interventions:
Regeneration, Methane, Geoengineering, CCUS
Adaptation and Resilience
Policy
Impacts of the Budget Reconciliation Bill
The New York Times has published a comprehensive list of the elements of the bill and what they will each cost or save here. They also took a look at the impacts on energy in particular here.
They’ve Slashed the IRA, Now What?
While some Republicans may have wanted to slash the IRA completely, there were enough holdouts to keep some pieces in place, such as the few years worth of tax credits for wind and solar project already underway, and another year to qualify for them by starting construction, and tax credits for nuclear, geothermal, and batteries into the 2030s. The fact that some pieces remain is indicative that perhaps credits and subsidies can be revived in the future. In the meanwhile, bubnational, non-regulatory forces and market forces will need to step in. States can play a big role with a mix of tax credits, legislative action, executive action, regulatory reform, and utility ratemaking, according to Harry Godfrey, managing director for Advanced Energy United’s federal priorities team. Read more.
EPA Proposes to Stop Regulating Climate Pollution
The EPA is moving to reverse the carbon standards for power plants finalized in April of 2024 that require carbon pollution reductions from the coal- and gas-fired power plants, as well as the updated Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) of 2024, which set safer limits on hazardous air pollutants like mercury, fine particulate matter, and other heavy metals. According to the EPA’s 2024 analysis, the carbon pollution standards are predicted to deliver $390 billion in total climate and health benefits, more than 20 times the costs to industry. In addition, they would reduce soot, smog, and mercury pollution that cause asthma, heart attacks, lung disease, and premature death. Read more.
Trump Signed A Pro-Environment Executive Order
The "Make America Beautiful Again” order, signed on July 3rd, establishes a council tasked with preserving public lands, wildlife and drinking water supplies. The order was the brainchild of Benji Backer, a 27-year-old self-described conservative environmentalist who heads the group Nature Is Nonpartisan, which he founded after leading another organization, the American Conservation Coalition, for 8 years. And while this executive order doesn’t include all the priorities we’d like to see, or even all of the ones Becker originally proposed, it’s at least a start. And Becker and his coalition have ambitious plans. Read more.
Geothermal Energy May Hold The Key In this New Policy Environment
Geothermal energy appears to be the one renewable source supported by the GOP, perhaps thanks to close ties to the fossil fuel industry and new technological breakthroughs. Using a a new approach that borrows heavily from the oil industry’s experience fracking for natural gas in shale deposits “next-generation” geothermal technologies, led by the Department of Energy (DOE)’s FORGE program and companies including Fervo Energy, Sage Geosystems, XGS Energy, and Eavor, are unlocking geothermal reserves deep underground that are far more abundant than those accessible with older geothermal technologies. Read more.
Climate Science and Data Collection, Are Vital, and Under Threat
“President Trump’s attempt to close climate laboratories and halt collection of climate data is a new threat that warrants special attention,” says James Hansen in the latest edition of his newsletter. “Especially important are satellite data[10] for Earth’s radiation balance and ocean measurements by deep-diving Argo floats,[11] with continuous measurements of both data sources required for absolute calibration of Earth’s energy imbalance.[12]” Monitoring the energy imbalance is critical to understanding the pace and impacts of a changing climate.
Meanwhile recipients of the U.S. Climate Science Fellowship are put on unpaid leave due to lack of funds. Read more.
Despite White House Efforts, Nation's Top Climate Report Still Online
The National Climate Assessment has been a valued resource for answers to common questions such as how quickly sea levels are rising near American cities and how to deal with wildfire smoke exposure. The most recent edition had a searchable atlas that allowed anyone to learn about the current and future effects of global warming in their specific town or state. And while the federal website has gone dark, you can still find the interactive version here, and archived versions through NOAA, as well as NASA, and through the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.
FEMA Raises Discount Rate on Projects
FEMA is raising the discount rate for projects from 3.1% to 7%, which has the impact of making future benefits appear smaller. As a result fewer projects will be approved, especially those with long-term or gradual benefits like climate adaptation, resilience, and disaster preparedness.
Climate News
New Projections Show Only A 3% Drop in US Emissions
Growing Investments In Clean Energy Across the Globe
According to a new report from the International Energy Agency, global clean energy investments in 2025 are projected to be $2.2 trillion, more than double those forecast for oil, gas and coal. The report points to concerns about energy security and the environment as the main drivers. Read more.
US Spending on Climate Damage Nears $1 Trillion Per Year
The U.S spent nearly $1 trillion dollars on disaster recovery and other climate-related needs over the 12 months ending May 1, 2025, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. The report, “The Climate Economy: 2025 Outlook,” looks at publicly available data, and concludes that the main components of the expense include insurance premiums, post-disaster recovery spending and federal aid. Read more.
Impact of Climate Risks To the Global Economy Accelerating
According to the Bank of England’s Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden, who oversees financial stability for the UK central bank, asset prices are already starting to reflect growing climate risks, and extreme shocks could speed up that process. Staff analysis suggested a portfolio of long-duration bonds issued by Group of Seven countries could lose as much as 20% in the event of rapid repricing of climate risks, Breeden said. Her understanding of the economic risks have lead her to call for collective pressure on governments to take action on carbon emissions. Read more.
Book Recommendation:
In his new book, Michael Grunwald explores 3 approaches to addressing the gloabl food system and reducing predicted food shortages without worsening climate change. They are: regenerative agriculture, primarily using alternative grazing practices to sequester carbon on land used to produce livestock; indoor agriculture; and producing meat without raising animals, whether through plant-based meat substitutes, or meat grown from animal cells in labs instead of animal bodies. And while the ideas seem to hold promise, so far the results are just not there. His take on what will be required to feed the growing poplulation in a warming world includes abandoning practices like organic farming, that don’t increase yields. Read the book for more, or check out this article in the New Yorker.
Sophie’s Planet, An Upcoming Book from James Hansen
In this early release draft of his upcoming book, Dr. Hansen tells us, Sophie’s Planet is the world today’s young people and their children will live in. There’s no good reason that it can’t be a spectacular place. Nature is remarkable; it can adapt and heal from wounds humans delivered, if we limit further stress on our planet’s life.” You can read the draft’s Preface and first 10 chapters here.
Minerva Ventures LLC believes:
MV and our team believe in the US Constitution and the importance of upholding the rule of law, including the rights of freedom of speech and assembly to ensure a vibrant democracy. We believe in the necessity for sound scientific research to guide policy and risk assessment. We believe that a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives makes our society more creative and resilient. Our culture, economy, and well-being depend on collaboration with people, nations, and institutions around the world. We will do all we can to defeat fascism and to build an inclusive society that works to restore healthy ecosystems, welcoming communities, and a safe and stable climate. Humanity faces challenges that we humans set into motion. It will take all of us working together to overcome those perils to build a better future.
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
Managing Partner: Marianna Grossman, Minerva Ventures, LLC
Copyright (C) 2024 Minerva Ventures. All rights reserved.
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