All Access

Climate Deals

Standard

Climate Deals Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

Climate Deals Alerts

Alert

mustard

BFD Expert Voices - Climate Deals

BFD Expert Voices

topics

politics-policy

epstein-files

donald-trump

2026-midterm-elections

immigration

behind-the-curtain

race-and-equity

technology

privacy-tech-regulation

automation-and-ai

tiktok-news

big-tech

social-media

cybersecurity

economy

social-security

inflation

tariffs

federal-reserve

jobs

transportation

business

stock-market-news

retail-news

crypto

media

elon-musk

dealmaking

health

rfk-jr

drug-prices

axios-explains-abortion

public-health

world

israel

axios-explains-ukraine

iran

russia

china

energy-climate

nuclear-energy

climate-energy-policy

climate-change

extreme-weather

alternative-energy

electric-vehicles

science

emerging-tech

biomedicine

newsletters

pittsburgh

atlanta

san-diego

charlotte

boulder

washington-dc

kansas-city

dallas

denver

detroit

des-moines

austin

boston

chicago

cleveland

columbus

houston

indianapolis

miami

nashville

new-orleans

nw-arkansas

philadelphia

phoenix

portland

richmond

salt-lake-city

san-antonio

san-francisco

seattle

tampa-bay

twin-cities

raleigh

huntsville

colorado-springs

axios-local

axios-pro

axios-live

the-axios-show

There's growing investor, startup and regulatory momentum backing circular systems for plastics, but challenges remain, writes Katie.

Why it matters: The amount of global plastic waste, made largely from fossil fuels, is growing, despite regulatory efforts and innovations to make bio-based and recycled plastics.

Driving the news: Circulate Capital, a firm that backs tech for combating ocean plastic waste, has closed a $76 million second fund to finance climate tech and recycling infrastructure in Southeast Asia, the company tells Axios.

The fund has already backed four startups including textile recycling startup Circ, biomaterials companies Algenesis and Phase Change Solutions, and biotech startup Arzeda.

State of play: There's a growing number of startups working on new materials that can eliminate virgin fossil fuel-based plastics.

Sustainable packaging startup Cove closed on $6.6 million in funding earlier this year to supply its biodegradable packing materials to consumer packaged goods brands.

Cove's round was led by Valor Siren Ventures, a fund with anchor investors Starbucks and Nestlé, and part of Valor Equity Partners, a private equity group created by Antonio Gracias, an early Tesla investor and close compatriot of Elon Musk.

Israeli startup UBQ, which converts landfill waste into a recyclable bioplastic, recently raised $70 million to grow in the US and Europe. Its plastics have been used for car parts for Mercedes Benz and McDonald's serving trays.

Zoom in: Innovative materials is just one piece of the plastics problem.

Recycling and waste management is another and that's an infrastructure issue. Some big brands are committing to use 20 to 30% recycled content in plastic-packaging applications.

To produce that recycled plastic, there needs to be $100 billion in recycling infrastructure investment globally by 2030 to support the scale-up of plastic recycling, according to a report from McKinsey.

Using regulation to restrict single-use plastics is another strategy and some cities and states, like California, have led on that effort.

Big picture: However, plastic waste continues to be an intractable problem.

That's partly because, as the Financial Times put it recently: "Plastic's cheapness, lightness and versatility make it economically irresistible."

Oil and gas and chemical companies continue to earn major revenue from plastics, which are expected to make up nearly half of oil demand growth by midcentury, according to the International Energy Agency.

Unified policy will be key. UN member states are trying to establish a legally binding agreement by the end of 2024 to prevent plastic pollution.

1 big thing: Circular plastics grow despite challenges

Illustration of a line of plastic bottles 

Carbon removal market Pachama has added $9 million to its Series B from the venture arm of Deutsche Telekom, the startup tells Alan exclusively.

Driving the news: The investment from the telecom giant's VC arm, known as T.Capital, brings Pachama's Series B to $64 million.

CEO Diego Saez Gil tells Alan that he hopes Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of T-Mobile U.S., will also become a customer and a distribution partner after the investment.

How it works: Pachama, based in San Francisco, connects carbon credits buyers with conservation and reforestation projects.

The company uses satellite imaging to verify that trees and plants are being cultivated and, in turn, absorbing carbon.

Amazon, Salesforce and Shopify are among the corporate clients that use Pachama to buy carbon removal credits.

Catch up fast: Pachama closed its initial $55 million Series B in May 2022, led by Future Positive.

Lowercarbon Capital, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund, Plus Capital, ReGen Ventures and 20VC are among the company's investors, as well as tennis star Serena Williams, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, actors Portia De Rossi and Laura Dern, and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.

The intrigue: Pachama's large Series B raise will help pay for costly computing power and machine-learning engineers. But it will also support an expansion into project financing.

Infrastructure investor Perenfra, for example, invested $12 million via Pachama to finance a carbon removal project in the Lower Mississippi River Valley.

What's next: Pachama is exploring additional revenue streams from selling carbon removal monitoring subscriptions and other data services.

2. The BFD: Dialing up carbon removal 

Illustration of a credit card reader with the word CO2 on it

It's energy bill-palooza on Capitol Hill this week, with particular implications for nuclear energy startups.

State of play: Here's just some of what our Axios Pro Energy Policy colleagues Jael Holzman and Nick Sobczyk are watching:

What's happening: House Energy and Commerce will hold a monster markup of dozens of bills beginning this afternoon.

The agenda includes the Atomic Energy Advancement Act, a suite of bipartisan bills that would reduce fees and seek to modernize the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing process.

Meanwhile, lawmakers will also mark up the Nuclear Fuel Security Act.

Senators have been trying to use the National Defense Authorization Act to pass both the fuel security bill and their own overhaul of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, known as the ADVANCE Act. They've run  into resistance from the House.

Head over to Energy Policy for the full rundown.

3. 👀 What we're watching: C-SPAN

Animated illustration of the Washington Monument morphing into the Axios logo.

🏛️ Making sense of new EV credit rules: U.S. automakers win — and China and American consumers both lose — from the new foreign sourcing proposal for the IRA's electric vehicle tax credit, Jael Holzman writes in Axios Pro Energy Policy.

The Biden administration's proposal Friday on how it will determine whether an EV's battery is made with components or minerals unduly controlled by a "foreign entity of concern" would set strict restrictions on how much Chinese material can be used while still qualifying for lucrative tax credits.

One "red alert," per mining industry veteran Simon Moores, will be nickel. More than 80% of nickel output in Indonesia, the world's largest producer, would be barred from qualifying cars.

📣 Manchin sounds off: Sen. Joe Manchin is threatening to "take every avenue and opportunity to reverse this unlawful, shameful proposed rule," Jael also writes.

That includes a potential Congressional Review Act resolution and "supporting any lawsuit."

🇨🇳 Digging into the U.S.-China dilemma: Two-thirds of the world's EVs are made in China, and that's exposing a tension between U.S. climate policy and industrial policy goals, Axios' Felix Salmon reports.

The best way to boost EV sales is making them affordable to many more people. Cheaper EVs are relatively easy to find elsewhere in the world, but those models are Chinese — and the U.S. is determined to block imports of them.

⚛️ Fusion frenzy: U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry unveiled a multinational plan to collaborate on fusion energy development.

The plan includes 35 countries that have pledged to focus on R&D, supply chain development, regulation and safety, per Reuters.

4. Temperature check

Illustration of a thermometer shaped like a smoke stack with smoke spewing out.

• NYC nonprofit Rethink Food has raised $27m toward a targeted $100m to invest in tech-focused food companies, per Impact Alpha. https://axios.link/3uOIG9u

• Ripple Foods, the Berkeley plant-based milk producer, raised $49m from undisclosed investors, per AgFunder News and Forbes, citing an SEC filing. https://axios.link/3tbZlmC

• Munich-based Vanagon Ventures raised €30m for the firm's first fund, focused on early-stage B2B startups in the sustainability space. https://axios.link/482JNAt

• AgroSpheres, a Charlottesville, Va.-based sustainable crop protection developer, closed a $25m Series B from FMC Ventures, Lewis and Clark AgriFood, Ospraie Ag Science, Bidra Ventures, and Cavallo Ventures. https://axios.link/3NbRtIE

• Blue World Technologies, a Danish fuel cell developer for the maritime industry, raised €11m from Maersk Growth, the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark and Cycle Group. https://axios.link/3uGZ9wd

• PlantSwitch, a Sanford, N.C. maker of plant-based plastics, raised $7.7m, including $2m from Dallas-based alternative investment firm NexPoint Capital. https://axios.link/4a3XMb8

• Carbon Robotics, a Seattle-based manufacturer of laser-weeding robots for farming, closed a $7m extension to the $35m Series C it raised this spring, the company's CEO tells Axios. https://axios.link/46Ie5HJ

• UK solar subscription service Sunsave raised a €6.3m seed round led by Norrsken VC, joined by IPGL, Plug and Play, and angels Stuart Rose, Michael Spencer, Roland Rudd and Bill Nussey. https://axios.link/3uMJBXV

• Farmless, a Dutch alt-proteins developer, raised €4.8m in seed funding co-led by World Fund and Vorwerk Ventures. https://axios.link/41aoECi

• Strong by Form, a Madrid-based sustainable construction materials developer, raised a €4.8m seed round led by CMPC Ventures, joined by Climate Insiders, Ciri Ventures, MAIF Avenir, Teampact Ventures, Core Angels, Savia Ventures, Symbia VC, Finsa, and VX Ventures. https://axios.link/3RtT27l

• Up Catalyst, an Estonia-based CO2-to-carbon materials developer, closed a €4m seed round led by Berlin-based Extantia, joined by Estonia state fund SmartCap, Sunly, Little Green Fund, Scottish Baltic Invest and UniTartu Ventures. https://axios.link/3uGuvTz

• Carbon Maps, a Paris-based climate tech startup focused on food supply chain analytics, raised €3m from Back Market and Daphni. https://axios.link/3Gurdpi

• Unergy, a Colombia-based financing provider for renewables, raised €500k from undisclosed investors.

• Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners is raising $3b for a second Growth Markets Fund to finance about 10 GW of renewables projects in Asia, Latin America and the EMEA region. https://axios.link/48432cO

• Blackstone Energy Transition Partners acquired Power Grid Components, a Bessemer, Ala.-based components supplier for electrical substations, from Shorehill Capital. https://axios.link/485hWj1

• eLong Power, a Chinese developer of battery tech for commercial and specialty vehicles, agreed to go public via a merger with TMT Acquisition, a SPAC led by Dajiang Guo. https://axios.link/3t51W1Q

• The Australian Clean Energy Finance Corporation received A$20.5b from the country's government to triple energy transition investments, including A$500m for early-stage venture investments through a new Power Australia Technology Fund. https://axios.link/49Ynw8K

• Spanish energy giant Iberdrola and UAE clean energy firm Masdar unveiled a $16.3b partnership to "evaluate the joint development of offshore wind and green hydrogen projects" in markets including the U.S., Germany and the UK, Ben Geman writes in Generate.

• Canadian fusion energy developer General Fusion received C$5m from Canada's Strategic Innovation Fund for R&D related to the company's demonstration machine. https://axios.link/3NaXF3y

• Eatron Technologies, a UK-based battery software developer, and About:Energy, a UK battery technology developer, received funding from the UK Research and Innovation's Faraday Battery Challenge to develop an AI decision engine to improve battery performance. https://axios.link/4a8Z4l2

• U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory will deploy long-duration batteries from German company CMBlu to test their cold-weather performance outside Chicago and Idaho Falls. https://axios.link/3R7gupx

• GM has started opening the first 17 of 2,000 planned EV fast-charging stations at Pilot and Flying J travel centers in the U.S., per Automotive News. https://axios.link/3uLJFqQ

• GM plans to reintroduce its popular Bolt budget EV in 2025. The vehicle is being discontinued this year as the automaker retools its assembly plant to make more profitable electric pickups. https://axios.link/47Jvgd9

• Stellantis plans to reintroduce its rollerskate-shaped Fiat 500e EV in the U.S. by Q1 next year. https://axios.link/3sVEMen

• Terra CO2, a Golden, Colo.-based developer of low-carbon cement alternative, signed an agreement with Dallas-based construction materials manufacturer Eagle Materials to build commercial-scale in three U.S. regions, including greater Denver. https://axios.link/46My482

• Westinghouse Electric signed an MOU with Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation to potentially deploy a Westinghouse eVinci microreactor in the UAE. https://axios.link/46P2Zke

5. Hot deals

• Minesh Shah was named president of Omnidan, a Seattle-based asset manager for commercial and large residential renewables assets. Shah was previously COO of RenoRun and, before that, COO of Stitch Fix. https://axios.link/4a9aKnS

• Ross Faransso was named CEO of Nexus Project Development Services. Faransso was previously Americas head of business development for EPCM at KBR. https://axios.link/3t2BZjm

• Craig Aaron was named EVP and CFO of BorgWarner, the Auburn Hills, Mich.-based auto parts supplier, effective March 1. Aaron is the company's VP and controller. He will succeed Kevin Nowlan, who is retiring. https://axios.link/3t66oxq

• Lauren Busby Ahsler joined Origami Solar, a Bend, Ore.-based developer of sustainable steel solar module frames, as VP of engineering. Busby Ahsler was previously director of structural engineering at Valmont Solar. https://axios.link/3GO0B2R

• General Atlantic promoted seven pros to managing director: Karim Boueiz, Oscar Fan, Roger Gao, Susan Murphy, Lee Vanderpool, Caroline Woodworth, and Leo Wouters.

6. It's personnel

❓ Trivia Tuesday: Where was the first COP climate summit held?

Last week's answer: GM is recognized as building the first DC charging station for EVs in 1914, which it called the Electrant.

🐝 Katie is learning all about Pokemon characters, like Beedrill, which is literally a bee with drills

🧹 Alan used the Shop Vac this morning to clean up an entire box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch that went tumbling down the basement stairs. 

Thank you to Michael Flaherty and Chris Speckhard for today's edits.

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

December 05, 2023

1 big thing: Circular plastics grow despite challenges