1 big thing:  Figuring out the solar fallout

Illustration of a worker installing a solar panel in the shape of a question mark on a roof. 

2. The BFD:  Pollination nation 

Illustration of a bee sweating and overheating. 

3. 🌡️ Temperature check

Illustration of an earth in space covered in red and blue meteorological color lines.

4. Hot deals

5. It's personnel

☃️ Happy Monday! Welcome back to Climate Deals. Let's get to it.

🎁 Megan is just about done with holiday shopping, just in time to head to her in-laws later this week.

🛞 Alan spent the weekend driving around Boston in a Hummer EV. It's as enormous and ridiculous as you think — and a ton of fun. He has the truck until Friday; send him your questions!

Thanks to Michael Flaherty and Phoebe Neidl for today's edits.

And thank you for reading Climate Deals! Please share with your friends, family and sledding enthusiasts.

Climate Deals

1 big thing: A hedge fund's renewables impact 

Illustration of a briefcase made out of solar panels.

2. The BFD: D. E. Shaw signs solar deal with Meta

Illustration of a stack of solar panels with a currency band 

3. Expert voices: Winning hearts and minds 

Photo illustration of Adam Grosser, chairman and managing partners of Up Partners, with abstract shapes.

4. 🌡️ Temperature check

Illustration of the sand from a sand timer filling the temperature scale on a thermometer.

5. Hot deals

6. It's personnel

❄️ Happy Thursday, December 1! Just three more weeks until the days start getting longer again.

🥘 Megan is ready to cook again after last week's marathon. Tonight's menu is an old cold-weather favorite: chicken cacciatore. 

And thank you for reading Climate Deals! Please share with your friends, family and folks that were able to hold off on holiday decorating until today.

1 big thing: United taps Natron to jolt ground ops

Illustration of pilot wings emblem with a symbol of a charging battery.

2. The BFD: FigBytes nets $14.5M deal

Illustration of a keyboard key with a globe on top.

3. IRS lays out labor rules for energy tax credits

Illustration of a US Treasury refund check in an envelope

Illustration of a pattern of repeating thermometers with different temperature levels.

7. Picture o' the day

An electrified truck from Hyliion delivers a Christmas tree to the New York Stock Exchange.

🐪 Happy Wednesday. It's the last day of November and there is a deluge of post-Thanksgiving deals. Let's dive in.

👀 Megan and her partner just started planning their two-year delayed honeymoon. Watch this space! 

📺 With "Andor" on hiatus for the next couple years, Alan's looking for a new prestige drama to watch. 

Thanks to George Moriarty and Phoebe Neidl for today's edits.

And thank you for reading Climate Deals! Please share with your friends, family and anyone still enjoying Thanksgiving leftovers.

1. Range Energy's haul 

2. TPG’s $1B carbon credits push

3. United taps Natron for ground ops

4. FigBytes nets $14.5M deal

5. D. E. Shaw's power play

6. D. E. Shaw's Meta solar deal 

Good morning and Happy Friday! We've got this week's digest for you so buckle up, pull up a seat, tuck in, here we go. 

👓 Thank you for reading this week's digest! 

1 big thing: European private investment soars

2. The BFD: Shell captures a DAC funding round

Illustration of a mason jar with carbon dioxide molecules captured inside.

3. Blackstone-backed Legence buys rival ESG firm

Illustration of a rubber stamp with a leaf shape

Illustration of an ice cream cone with a melted puddle of ice cream that looks like the earth.

🚨 Situational awareness: Footprint, a plant-based biodegradable products maker, and Gore Holdings mutually agreed to terminate their deal for Footprint to go public via a SPAC merger.

📺 Megan is very excited about the return of "His Dark Materials" on HBO.

😴 Alan's daughter came down with croup last night. Trying to sleep in a rocker so that she could sleep upright was...marginally successful. Also Alan's back would like a word.

And thank you for reading Climate Deals! Please share with your friends, family and cookie decorators.

The solar industry has only started digesting the Commerce Department's finding Friday that four of the world's biggest solar module suppliers are illegally evading U.S. tariffs. 

Why it matters: There's already a shortage of modules in the U.S., which has driven up prices and left some projects in limbo. The preliminary finding threatens to further constrain the U.S. solar supply chain. 

What's happening: Four companies — BYD Hong Kong, Canadian Solar, Trina and Vina Solar — are illegally circumventing U.S. tariffs on Chinese solar manufacturers, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Catch up fast: China heavily subsidizes its solar supply chain, controlling about 80% of global modules.

The flood of cheap modules helped make solar energy competitive. It also knocked out rival manufacturers, including those in the U.S.

The U.S. for decades has had "anti-dumping" and "anti-circumvention" tariffs aimed at rooting out such practices. 

Earlier this year, a small solar module manufacturer in California filed a petition with the Commerce Department, alleging that China-based solar module manufacturers were illegally skirting these tariffs.

Zoom in: The investigation included the threat of retroactive tariffs. That brought the U.S. solar industry to a near standstill virtually overnight. 

President Biden, under intense pressure from the solar industry, issued a two-year reprieve in June from potential penalties.

The manufacturers, meanwhile, claim that the modules are being made in countries in Southeast Asia, not China. 

What they found: Commerce concluded the bulk of the manufacturing process is still occurring in China.

Only minor processing occurs at the companies' factories in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

What's next: Commerce's investigation brings tariff penalties that range from 16% — a fee that most U.S. developers can absorb — to as high as 254%.

Those penalties, if assessed, won't take effect until June 2024, thanks to the reprieve from Biden. 

"That's going to be here before we know it," Marlene Motyka, U.S. renewable energy leader for Deloitte, tells Axios.

What we're watching: It's a busy holiday season for general counsels. 

"Developers were already starting to incorporate language in their agreements that there could be the need to increase the price of off-take agreements to compensate for an additional tariff," Motyka says.

Domestic solar manufacturers and Democratic allies in Congress are also pushing the Biden administration to extend the reprieve. Policy-watchers like the Cowen Washington Research Group predict that such an extension is likely.

U.S. companies have been racing to build a domestic solar supply chain to reduce reliance on Chinese manufacturers. But this will take a decade or more to bring to scale. 

Figuring out the solar fallout from the Commerce probe

Solar developer general counsels are having a busy December.

Solar power

The solar industry has only started digesting the Commerce Department&#x27;s <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="finding Friday" data-vars-click-url="https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2022/12/department-commerce-issues-preliminary-determination-circumvention" data-vars-content-id="1e2d1b9f-540f-4a2f-a5d5-50f4545fa8a0" data-vars-headline="Figuring out the solar fallout from the Commerce probe" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2022/12/department-commerce-issues-preliminary-determination-circumvention" target="_blank">finding Friday</a> that four of the world&#x27;s biggest solar module suppliers are illegally evading U.S. tariffs. Why it matters: There&#x27;s already a shortage of modules in the U.S., which has driven up prices and left some projects in limbo. The preliminary finding threatens to further constrain the U.S. solar supply chain.

BeeHero has raised $42 million to provide farmers with more precise pollination from bees.

Why it matters: Bees are vanishing from the country's most important farming regions. BeeHero says its data can help restore bee populations and provide better pollination, a move that would boost segments of the agriculture economy. 

Details: Convent Capital led the round, which closed Dec. 1, per Pitchbook.

General Mills, Cibus Capital (formerly ADM Capital), Rabobank, MS&AD, Firstime, J-Ventures, Plug&Play, iAngels, Gaingels, and UpWest participated. 

BeeHero says it's raised $64 million to date.

How it works: BeeHero has built what it says is "the world's largest bee and pollination dataset."

The intrigue: The bee business is not immune to corporate speak and marketing panache. 

The company says the data undergirds the — wait for it — "pollination-as-a-service" that BeeHero offers to farmers. It's deployed the PaaS model across nearly 100,000 acres.

In addition, BeeHero says it’s delivering “pollination accountability” for commercial farmers.

What's next: The company says it has begun expanding to Australia, Europe, South Africa and South America.

It plans to ramp up spending on its R&D operations, which are based in Israel.

BeeHero raises $42M for "pollination-as-a-service"

The company provides more precise pollination for farmers.

Agriculture

BeeHero has <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="raised $42 million" data-vars-click-url="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221202005478/en" data-vars-content-id="2762671c-bd81-46a1-9958-acc6b9e68120" data-vars-headline="BeeHero raises $42M for &quot;pollination-as-a-service&quot;" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221202005478/en" target="_blank">raised $42 million</a> to provide farmers with more precise pollination from bees.Why it matters: Bees are vanishing from the country&#x27;s most important farming regions. BeeHero says its data can help restore bee populations and provide better pollination, a move that would boost segments of the agriculture economy.

Legence, an ESG consulting firm backed by Blackstone, has acquired its rival, Lord Green. Legence says the deal makes it one of the largest sustainability firms in the U.S.

Why it matters: In beefing up its staff and client roster, Legence says it'll now be competing directly on ESG consulting with the Big Four —  Deloitte, KPMG, PwC and EY.

What they're saying: "We're acquiring what I would consider to be my No. 1 competitor in the marketplace," Deb Cloutier, Legence's chief sustainability officer, said in an interview.

Cloutier's prior company, RE Tech Advisors, was itself acquired by Legence in 2020. 

Details: Legence is made up of 11 companies, such as RE Tech Advisors, each with a rough specialty in the built environment. It's a portfolio company of Blackstone, the private equity and asset management giant.

Lord Green will add real estate sustainability consulting to the combined company, which will be around 125 people. 

Of note: Lord Green's clients include UBS, Invesco, Carlyle, Bain Capital and Starwood.

RE Tech's client roster includes the EPA, Energy Department and MetLife Investment Management.

Blackstone-backed Legence buys rival ESG firm Lord Green

The Blackstone-backed firm will add real estate clients from the deal

Consulting

Legence, an ESG consulting firm backed by Blackstone, has acquired its rival, Lord Green. Legence says the deal makes it one of the largest sustainability firms in the U.S.Why it matters: In beefing up its staff and client roster, Legence says it&#x27;ll now be competing directly on ESG consulting with the Big Four — Deloitte, KPMG, PwC and EY.

"Impact  investing is not for the faint of heart," Adam Grosser tells Axios. After 22 years in the sector, he would know.

Why he matters: Grosser is chairman and managing partners of Up.Partners, an early-stage VC based in Santa Monica Airport. It closed a $230 million fund last year.

The firm was a lead investor in Range Energy, the company Axios profiled this week that's building electric-powered trailers. 

"The time constant in climate tech is long, and often inconsistent with traditional fund imperatives," Grosser says. "Success requires innovation on both new products and services, but also financial instruments.

This interview was lightly edited for length.

What was the big news in clean energy/climate-tech investing this week? 

The continued disparity between reality, the scientific community, and action: Coming out of COP27, "spending on clean energy must outpace fossil fuels 3-to-1 to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050," per Bloomberg NEF. "Carbon capture capacity needs to grow 1,700% and hydrogen use five-fold." 

It is still brutally hard to get projects implemented at scale. The incumbent energy providers remain powerful gatekeepers. We need to radically shift hearts and minds. 

As Gen Z matures into the workforce, their continued advocacy is essential. Success needs to be celebrated and publicized. ESG cannot remain a footnote in annual reports. 

Modular nuclear is coming and at this point must be considered as part of  baseload expectations. 

Small-scale hydropower can play an interesting role, and watershed management will become more important as climate shifts.

In three-ish words, what change would you make to clean energy/climate-tech investing? 

Price carbon emissions, partner earlier to get real data, and dream huge.

💼 First job: Sweeping the floor of a lead-acid battery factory on the weekends.

👑 Proudest investment decision: Funding Silver Spring Networks with Bunny Weiss when it was two people and an idea. It's one of the few climate companies that made it from Silicon Valley to global adoption.

🤦‍♂️ The one you regret: Not backing Redwood Materials early.

Expert voices: Adam Grosser on winning hearts and minds

We talk this week with Adam Grosser of Up Partners.

Photo illustration: Allie Carl/Axios. Photo: Courtesy of Up.Partners

Expert voices

&quot;Impact investing is not for the faint of heart,&quot; Adam Grosser tells Axios. After 22 years in the sector, he would know.Why he matters: Grosser is chairman and managing partners of Up.Partners, an early-stage VC based in Santa Monica Airport. It closed a <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="$230 million fund" data-vars-click-url="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/uppartners-launches-230m-venture-fund-to-transform-the-moving-world-301402621.html" data-vars-content-id="84bf08be-f1fd-463b-b9b0-02a6310bb7cf" data-vars-headline="Expert voices: Adam Grosser on winning hearts and minds" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/uppartners-launches-230m-venture-fund-to-transform-the-moving-world-301402621.html" target="_blank">$230 million fund</a> last year.<ul><li>The firm was a lead investor in Range Energy, the company Axios<a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text=" profiled this week" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/pro/climate-deals/2022/11/28/range-energy-electric-truck-trailers-tesla-javadi" data-vars-content-id="84bf08be-f1fd-463b-b9b0-02a6310bb7cf" data-vars-headline="Expert voices: Adam Grosser on winning hearts and minds" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/pro/climate-deals/2022/11/28/range-energy-electric-truck-trailers-tesla-javadi" target="_self"> profiled this week</a> that&#x27;s building electric-powered trailers. </li><li>&quot;The time constant in climate tech is long, and often inconsistent with traditional fund imperatives,&quot; Grosser says. &quot;Success requires innovation on both new products and services, but also financial instruments.</li></ul>

National

Pro Rata

Axios Pro Rata

NRG Energy on Tuesday said it's agreed to buy Vivint Smart Home, a Provo, Utah-based home security and automation company, for $2.8 billion.

Why it matters: This is a big boomerang for the SPAC market, which on Monday was stung by a pair of large deal terminations (Circle and Footprint). 

Vivint was a Blackstone-backed business taken public by a Fortress Investment Group SPAC in 2020, and its exit comes on the same morning as three new SPAC merger announcements at a combined pre-money equity value of $2.7 billion.

Details: NRG will pay $12 per share in cash, representing a 33.5% premium to yesterday's closing price for Vivint shares and a bump to the baseline $10 SPAC price. NRG also will assume $2.4 billion in debt. 

The bottom line: The Vivint Smart Home acquisition fits within NRG's years-long effort to reduce its reliance on power generation for revenue, and to expand into the retail energy and consumer markets. But even as the company seeks to burnish its sustainability cred, it still owns sizable stakes in fossil fuel-fired generation, including coal.

NRG Energy to buy Vivint Smart Home for $2.8 billion

This is a big boomerang for the SPAC market.

Illustration of “Home Smart Home” on a computer screen.

SPAC

NRG Energy on Tuesday said it&#x27;s agreed to buy Vivint Smart Home, a Provo, Utah-based home security and automation company, for $2.8 billion.Why it matters: This is a big boomerang for the SPAC market, which on Monday was stung by a pair of large deal terminations (Circle and Footprint).

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

Ominous forecasts about the impact of climate change serve as the backdrop for the world — led by U.S. lawmakers and companies — to debate big action on the problem, which could upend energy systems and our way of life.

Alan Neuhauser

Stories

NRG Energy to buy Vivint Smart Home for $2.8 billion

Blackstone-backed Legence buys rival ESG firm Lord Green

Figuring out the solar fallout from the Commerce probe

BeeHero raises $42M for "pollination-as-a-service"

Expert voices: Adam Grosser on winning hearts and minds

Newsletter editions

Climate: 📈 Europe sees green

Climate: Solar snafu

Climate: 🗞 Catch up quick

Climate: ⚡️ D. E. Shaw power

Climate: ⚡ United jolts ground ops