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BFD Expert Voices - Climate Deals

BFD Expert Voices

NEW YORK — An unusual thing is happening at Climate Week NYC: little talk of climate.

The big picture: The race to decarbonize has been supplanted by the race to bring power online. 

"Climate Week should be rebranded to Get Energy Faster Week," Tesla co-founder and Redwood Materials CEO JB Straubel said Tuesday during an onstage conversation at Axios House.

State of play: Breakneck electricity demand from AI data centers has upended the global march to zero emissions.

Tech firms, project developers, financiers and utilities are trying to bring as much 24/7 electricity online as fast as possible — unleashing an enormous tide of new fossil fuel investment. 

By the numbers: Projected new natural gas-fired generation in the U.S. alone has doubled to 155 GW by 2035.

ExxonMobil, citing the buildout, increased its global emissions forecast by 10% on Friday.

What they're saying: That push for more power is distorting investment criteria, funders told Axios Pro on the sidelines of Climate Week. 

Founders and their backers, eager to lock down lucrative energy-supply contracts, are piling into virtually any company tied to electricity generation: technology developers, project builders and equipment suppliers.

The defining metric is "speed-to-power," or how quickly a new energy source can begin supplying a project or grid.

"I have never felt this much market pull for our energy companies," a sector-focused venture investor told Axios Pro on the sidelines of a Manhattan event yesterday evening. 

"Customers are so hungry for any kind of energy source."

Between the lines: Climate-focused venture firms are still backing zero-emissions technologies.

But emissions levels are largely irrelevant for private equity and infrastructure firms writing the biggest checks.

What we're watching: Inflating valuations have stoked investor wariness of a looming correction, even as they feel compelled to invest or be left behind.

"There's a lot of bullshit about what these companies are capable of," another investor says. "One of my concerns is it's turtles all the way down."

Searching for "climate" at Climate Week NYC

The race to decarbonize has been supplanted by the race to bring power online.

an illustration of a smokestack surrounded by colorful rectangles and cutouts of money

NEW YORK — An unusual thing is happening at Climate Week NYC: little talk of climate.The big picture: The race to decarbonize has been supplanted by the race to bring power online.

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