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❓ Tuesday trivia: Who are two climate scientists Bill Gates credits with educating him on climate change?

Last week's answer: Henrik Fisker's first company, Fisker Automotive, declared bankruptcy in November 2013. 

On-demand around-the-clock power, the kind that an advanced nuclear reactor can provide, is the only way to decarbonize the world's electric grids.

Why it matters: The Microsoft co-founder has invested more than a billion dollars in reactor developer TerraPower to build a new type of American nuclear energy.

State of play: "We should build as much wind and solar as we can. But the theory that you're going to be moving power across the entire country — we'll never build a grid that is massive enough," Gates says.

He talked with Axios last week as he prepared to fly to London for a summit organized by Breakthrough Energy, an investment and policy group he founded to drive clean energy research and deployment.

This interview was lightly edited for length.

Why have you felt it's important to continue investing in technologies that have yet to be proven, when there's the opportunity to instead put that money toward existing technology?

"You need some energy near to where the demand is that's not weather-dependent.

Look at a place like Japan. There's not enough wind or solar there. So what are people saying Japan should do? Not be green? Depend on another country for their electricity? If we don't have fission or fusion, we won't achieve our climate goals."

Transmission is the other side of this equation. What do you see as your role in not only developing better transmission, but clearing backlogs that have hamstrung transmission projects?

"We have two companies in the portfolio that allow you to run twice as much electricity over an existing right-of-way. We fund a philanthropic team that looks at these grid issues and helps with policy. Streamlining regulation and better grid modeling — we've been acting on that for a long time."

Do you see yourself taking a more visible role in policy?

"I doubt I'm going to personally write the FERC regulations. But I've been highlighting the grid as a problem even before we started Breakthrough Energy.

I've met with utilities. I've met with EEI. We're getting models to predict reliability and working with anybody who's interested in speeding up connections and right-of-way approvals. So we're doing our best.

The U.S. is falling behind renewable installations quite substantially, and the grid bottlenecks are the No. 1 reason."

You've mentioned how nuclear energy is a rare area of bipartisan support. Is there a point where you see either you or Breakthrough Energy having to take harder political stances to clear policy or transmission logjams?

"I don't think the U.S. will ever lead on climate change if we're only making progress when one party's in power. It's important to be working with people from both parties.

When I was in D.C. last week, I saw an equal number of people. There are issues like innovation, or allowing more to get built, or bringing prices down, or energy security, that do pull people together. A lot of IRA-related projects are being built in red states.

We're not a partisan organization. We won't become a partisan organization, because I don't think that serves the goal of getting people to make 30-year investments."

Do you feel the U.S. has the tools it needs at this point to do the kind of nuclear buildout that you are seeking for TerraPower?

"The U.S. in terms of innovation of these technologies has always been the world leader. China is building way more reactors than in any other country. And when it comes to major projects, they're biased towards actually building.

I think the U.S. can stay ahead on this. We need our partner, the federal government, to do its part. They did create the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Project bill. TerraPower competed and was chosen for that, and we're full speed ahead.

I'm hopeful. In the same way that the U.S. went from being the most expensive space-launch country to the least expensive, likewise nuclear energy, we just commissioned the world's most expensive nuclear plant. I'm hoping that TerraPower unit 10 is the world's least expensive nuclear plant."

Bill Gates on the record

Photo illustration of Bill Gates with an image of a nuclear power plant and abstract shapes.

Photo illustration: Gabriella Turrisi. Photo: Thierry Monasse/Getty Images

Geothermal upstart Fervo Energy says it's struck a deal for the world's largest geothermal power purchase agreements with utility Southern California Edison. 

Why it's the BFD: Geothermal energy is slowly moving from a niche player to more mainstream, thanks to government support, corporate interest, and increased utility demand.

Zoom in: Fervo says the deals are for two 15-year PPAs totaling 320 MW, or the equivalent of 350,000 homes.

The deals are for the utility to buy power from the 400 MW Cape Station project under construction in southwest Utah.

The Houston-based startup uses drilling tech from oil and gas sectors to generate electricity from hot rock deep beneath the earth's surface.

Late last year Fervo started raising $221 million in new funding and recently closed on at least $138.5 million of the round. 

The big picture: Geothermal energy production accounted for just 0.4% of electricity generation in the U.S. in 2022.

But geothermal's piece of the pie is rapidly growing, especially as tech companies look to it as a source of around-the-clock clean energy for power-hungry data centers. Fervo has struck deals with Google. 

Government support is also moving the needle. California regulators have called on utilities in the state to add more clean baseload power to increase grid reliability. 

The Department of Energy says that next-gen geothermal could provide 90 GW of clean power by 2050.

The BFD: World's largest geothermal PPAs

an illustration of a lightning bolt made out of glowing magma rock

German climate risk startup LiveEO closed a €25 million Series B round to expand sales internationally of its software that can assess companies' deforestation and climate infrastructure risks.

Why it matters: Global regulations are beginning to push companies to prove that the commodities they import aren't causing deforestation.

Zoom in: LiveEO said the round was led by NordicNinja and the German state fund DeepTech and Climate Fonds (DTCF) and included tech super angel Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems.

LiveEO co-founders and co-CEOs Daniel Seidel and Sven Przywarra told Axios that the funds would go toward expanding the team around sales, market development, and marketing in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. It will also support development of the products.

The startup, based in Berlin and founded in 2018, has developed a series of software products that use satellite data and AI to track climate risks to supply chains and infrastructure.

Its newest product tracks deforestation risks in supply chains and helps companies prove to regulators that they're not using commodities that have increased deforestation.

The big picture: Artificial intelligence is helping bring needed transparency to the long murky parts of corporate accounting like supply chain tracking and greenhouse gas emissions footprints.

Global regulation is pushing companies toward collecting and managing these types of data, whether that's California's carbon disclosure requirements or the IRA's battery transparency rules.

The European Union has the EU Deforestation Regulation, which requires deforestation-related due diligence statements from any company importing commodities like timber, rubber and soy into Europe.

AI for deforestation and climate risks

Illustration of a satellite dish with the dish section made out of a tree stump showing the tree's rings. 

Greentown Labs, the long-running climate-tech incubator, is looking to donations from venture capital firms as it takes steps to shore up its finances.

Why it matters: The organization laid off 30% of staff this spring as it grappled with a funding deficit.

The big picture: Early-stage impact investment firm Prithvi Ventures today announced it plans to donate a portion of its returns every quarter to Greentown Labs.

Greentown Labs is now aiming to enter similar agreements with other firms, a spokesperson tells Alan.

Context: The nonprofit, based in Somerville, Mass., built a storied reputation as a go-to hub for climate innovation and early-stage investment.

Yes, but: After four years of rapid growth, including an expansion to Houston, it cut 18 positions in April citing "evolving demands on our services post-COVID, dramatic growth of the team, and significant change in senior leadership."

The latest: Greentown is now looking to additional revenue streams, including more direct relationships with venture firms like the arrangement with Prithvi Ventures.

It's typically sought funding through conventional corporate partnerships, as well as startup membership fees and some philanthropic grants and donations.

Alan's thought bubble: Investors often say founders in this chilly fundraising environment need to find creative forms of financing to stay afloat. The same can be said of nonprofits — including buzzy ones like Greentown.

Greentown's new funding partnership

Illustration for the immense challenge of tackling climate change

🏜️ LA's charging deserts: Los Angeles is pocketed with areas with insufficient charging infrastructure, according to a new digital mapping tool from CBRE, the giant real estate services company, reports Joann Muller in Axios What's Next.

It found that a slew of Los Angeles suburbs were lacking, including: Inglewood, Redondo, Sherman Oaks/Studio City, Lomita, southwest Torrance, UCLA, Cal State, Fullerton and Long Beach.

🚚 Hyzon looks to a sale: The hydrogen fuel cell maker announced yesterday that it's retained PJT Partners as it explores a possible sale or divestment of its European and Australian-New Zealand businesses.

The Rochester, N.Y., company plans to focus on North America and hone in on the trash-collection industry.

Hyzon went public via SPAC in 2021 at a $2.7 billion valuation. Two years later, it was charged by the SEC with allegedly misleading investors.

🏭 Air Liquide's hydrogen play: The industrial gases giant is planning an $850 million investment to support Exxon's planned low-carbon hydrogen project at its Baytown, Texas, petrochemical complex, Ben Geman writes in Generate.

Air Liquide will allow Exxon to transport hydrogen from the project through its existing pipeline network, and build four industrial units onsite to provide oxygen and nitrogen to the proposed plant.

✈️ SAF surcharges: Lufthansa is the latest European airline to add a surcharge for customers to cover its costs of using sustainable aviation fuel, reports Bloomberg.

The airline says it will introduce a surcharge of up to €72 ($77) per flight next year in the EU and U.K. The exact amount will depend on the route and fare.

Air France-KLM also uses SAF surcharges of up to €24 on flights from France and the Netherlands.

Temperature check

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

• SkyCell, a Swiss pharmatech developing a more sustainable temperature-controlled supply chain, raised a $116m Series D from Tybourne Capital Management, CCI and Catalyst. axios.link/3VTyvv8

• Swiss carbon removal developer Neustark raised $69m led by Decarbonization Partners, the BlackRock and Temasek JV, joined by Blume Equity and insiders Holcim, Siemens Financial Services, Verve Ventures, and ACE Ventures. UBS provided debt financing. axios.link/3xwsEmd

• Prewave, an Austrian supply-chain intelligence provider with a focus on sustainability, risk and compliance, raised a €63m Series B led by Hedosophia joined by insiders Creandum, Ventech, Kompas, Speedinvest, and Working Capital Fund. axios.link/4bdyfvD

• Castrol, the BP Group lubricants company, is investing up to $50m in Gogoro, the Taiwanese battery-swapping network. axios.link/3zi5Res

• Formic, a robot-as-a-service startup, says it's raised $27.4m led by Blackhorn Ventures, and including Mitsubishi HC Capital America, NEC, Translink Capital, Alumni Ventures, FJ Labs, Lux Capital, Initialized Capital and Lorimer Ventures. axios.link/3L3FyuU

• Travertine Technologies, a Boulder, Colo., green chemicals producer and carbon-removal developer, raised $8.5m led by Holcim MAQER Ventures, joined by the Grantham Foundation, Clean Energy Ventures and Bidra Innovation Ventures.

• Estuaire, a French flight data provider for reducing aviation emissions, raised a €2.2m seed round led by Satgana, joined by Safran Corporate Ventures, XAnge and AFI Ventures. axios.link/3zdvFZg

• Fortifai, a Norwegian ESG-compliance software developer, raised €502k led by RunwayFBU, Startuplab, and Impact Shakers Ventures. axios.link/4eDNe4F

• Brookfield Asset Management agreed to buy a majority stake in French renewables developer Neoen, valuing the company at €6.1b. axios.link/4cBxE84

• Resource Innovations, an SF efficiency and sustainability services provider, acquired Cadeo, a Portland, Ore., energy consulting firm. axios.link/4czPHvd

• SolarEdge Technologies, an Israeli solar inverter supplier, is aiming to raise $300m in a private offering of convertible senior notes. axios.link/3KXcbdJ

• RNG developer Clean Energy Fuels opened a fueling station in Carney's Point, N.J., for heavy-duty trucks and other fleet vehicles. axios.link/3xFtdtR

• The European Central Bank is planning to establish emissions reduction targets for companies in its bond holding portfolio and potentially penalize those that don't comply, per Reuters. axios.link/4ceRSER

• Rivian is simplifying production of its electric pickup, van and SUV as it aims for its first quarterly profit. axios.link/3RJdXTP

• Tesla is recalling its Cybertruck electric pickup due to windshield wiper failures. axios.link/3VH7WYK

• Canada's government is debating a tariff on Chinese EVs. axios.link/3xIGd1Q

• EarthGrid, the Richmond, Calif., startup developing tunneling tech for electric infrastructure, said that its tunnel-boring robot completed field tests. axios.link/4ccFm8P

• ENSO, a U.K. startup that makes EV tires, said it's building a $500m "carbon-neutral" U.S. factory that will be powered by renewable energy and make 5m carbon-neutral EV tires annually by 2027. The company says it has signed a letter of interest with the U.S. Export-Import Bank to build the plant. https://axios.link/3zsvTLS

Hot deals

• Eric Bussières is stepping down as CFO of Taiga Motors, the Canadian electric snowmobile maker, effective July 12. axios.link/45LV0pm

It's personnel

Your local country club may be using electric golf carts instead of gas — but one in North Carolina has ditched four wheels entirely for four legs. 

State of play: Sherwood Forest Golf Club in Brevard, N.C., allows golfers to walk the course with llama caddies, Jennifer A. Kingson reports in What's Next.

The llamas also go trekking with guests at nearby Earthshine Lodge — where the female llamas live.

Zoom out: Tourism and recreational activities involving llamas have seen an upswing.

Llama (and alpaca) lovers attend competitive llama shows and invite llamas to visit schools, libraries and nursing homes.

You can go hiking with your own llama — and the pack-bearing animal may even carry your gear and beer.

The animals are popular to rent as wedding guests — and they're selfie-magnets that never fail to halt traffic when they're out in public.

June 25, 2024

1 big thing: Bill Gates on the record