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BFD Expert Voices - Climate Deals

BFD Expert Voices

We asked climate investors which trends they're in love with — and which they'd love to dump.

Here are their valentines. Special shoutout to Andrew Beebe, who managed to work the word "slippery" into a question about climate tech.

❤️ Geothermal, nuclear, green chemistry, construction materials, water and air purification, and any technology that improves efficiency of data centers.

💔 Any products or services that depend on green premiums or corporate ESG commitments.

❤️ Proven technologies that don't use the atmosphere as an open sewer.

💔 Direct air capture is a fantasy; no amount of enthusiasm can overcome thermodynamics.

❤️ Nothing gets one warmed up quite like geothermal. It's always been the silent and strong type (24/7), but was overlooked (hiding underground while their solar cousin got all the exposure). People are finally respecting the deep love geothermal has to offer.

💔 The rest of the subsurface world: oil and gas. They were a great hot date for decades, but now they're just sort of tired, dirty, and slippery. A little too explosive.

❤️ Technologies that enable home electrification, from non-conventional heating sources to ways to avoid electric panel upgrades.

💔 Inflexible 'smart' metering. We need better data on residential energy use, and many smart metering initiatives have not been successful.

❤️ Climate + AI, specifically ways to speed discovery of new sustainable materials.

💔 Storing captured carbon in the ocean or mining the ocean floor for minerals.

❤️ Entrepreneurs working on adaptation of our physical and financial infrastructure to climate shocks.

💔 VC dollars funding companies surviving on government subsidies to build out EV supply chains.

❤️ Software that makes grids smarter, more robust and resilient; more focus on making the decarbonized grid cheaper and not just greener.

💔 Massive grid interconnection queue-stacking that's meant to gamify an already slow process; hydrogen as a transportation fuel for literally any application.

❤️ Climate companies are getting the capital and resources to scale at the pace required to address our most urgent problems.

💔 Big shifts require big ideas, with equally big risks. Time to exit our "haters era."

❤️ That economic growth is aligned with increased labor demand in the energy sector, resulting in new tools to train a new generation of talent.

💔 The narrative that EVs and solar are in a tailspin — both industries are still among the fastest growing in the world. Also generalist investors that briefly came to climate during the market peak of 2021-22.

Jonathan Winer, Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners

❤️ The increased focus on virtual power plants among investors and policymakers.

💔 Skyrocketing energy consumption by data centers.

❤️ Carbon-free nuclear power substituting coal and natural gas, combined with low-cost batteries for distributed mobile uses substituting gasoline.

💔 I am unsure if all the meat/seafood substitutes are making a significant dent in the climate fight.

❤️ Funding market for climate tech is opening up with lots of interest from general and specialized firms.

💔 The IRA roll-out is slower than what it needs to be.

Your climate tech valentines

The trends they love — and the ones they want to dump.

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Climate tech

<p><strong>We asked climate investors</strong> which trends they&#x27;re in love with — and which they&#x27;d love to dump.</p><ul><li>Here are their valentines. Special shoutout to Andrew Beebe, who managed to work the word &quot;slippery&quot; into a question about climate tech.</li></ul>

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Your climate tech valentines

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