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Heard at Climate Week

Deals of the week

Temperature check

The climate sports pages 

NEW YORK — This year's Climate Week exposed the growing divide between two groups of founders and investors: those focused on energy for data centers and everyone else.

Why it matters: The AI boom drowned out virtually everything else this week, including any sense of climate optimism.

Here are our takeaways from dozens of panels, receptions and conversations at the annual gathering.

💰 Size is dominating venture dealmaking.

❓ "Climate" keeps American Dynamism away.

⚡️ Fervo's first power milestone at its Cape Station project in Utah kicks off a years-long push to bring down the cost of advanced geothermal energy. Go deeper

⛏️ Exclusive: Solcoa Industries raised $75 million in seed equity and debt as it develops a new rare earth metal-making plant. Go deeper

😶 An unusual thing is happening at Climate Week NYC: little talk of climate. Go deeper

🏭 Exclusive: Mojave Energy Systems, a startup that makes efficient HVAC systems, has raised a $19 million Series B. Go deeper

💰 Exclusive: Climate Capital has launched a $4 million early-stage spinoff, Resilient Systems Capital. Go deeper

1 big thing: Heard at Climate Week

Panel discussion on a stage at Axios House: two speakers sit in chairs under blue lighting, tall backdrops with Axios House logos, an audience watches as cameras record, a large window left.

Delta Airlines chief sustainability officer Amelia DeLuca spoke this week at Axios House. Photo: Sam Popp for Axios

👉 GO HERE TO CATCH UP on deals this week.

• Rainmaker, an El Segundo, Calif.-based cloud seeding startup, raised $100m in Series B funding from NOA VC, Upfront Ventures, DCVC, Lowercarbon Capital and Dream Ventures. Go deeper

• First American Nuclear Company, an Indianapolis-based nuclear reactor developer, is raising $25m and closed $1m of it, according to a filing. Go deeper

• Generate Capital is selling off its anaerobic digester business, Upcycle, to Pinta Energy in the U.K. and Vanguard Renewables in North America. Go deeper

2. Deals of the week

Illustration of an electric plug in the shape of a lasso around the words "Energy and climate deals roundup"

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images

🪧 Chicago joins the backlash: Chicago could halt new data center development within city limits for a year, reports Axios' Justin Kaufmann.

Mayor Brandon Johnson, along with a group of alders, is pushing for a 12-month moratorium while the city develops a "comprehensive regulatory framework" for data centers.

The proposal would give Johnson's Data Centers Task Force time to study the industry's impacts on clean air, clean water and energy use.

🤖 Slowing AI = slowing climate tech: Slowing the pace of AI development to even out supply and demand would delay innovation, Nvidia head of sustainability Josh Parker said at Axios House at Climate Week.

⚡️ Gas giant: Amazon's chief sustainability officer said the tech giant is still committed to its climate goals despite moving ahead with what would be one of the country's biggest natural gas plants, reports Axios Amy Harder. 

The comments lay bare the tension between tech giants' race to build the vast energy infrastructure needed for AI and climate goals they set years before the AI boom.

🚫 Diesel ban: President Trump said he has called for a ban on U.S. diesel exports, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that the administration is examining whether a full or partial ban is feasible, reports Axios' Josephine Walker.

Trump's endorsement marks a shift for an administration that has resisted calls to restrict fuel exports, as record diesel prices squeeze farmers and truckers and fuel Republican concerns ahead of the midterms.

3. Temperature check

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

Driving the news: We've got recaps from Climate Week NY's first hockey game and fourth basketball tournament. 

Blue Bear Capital partner Vaughn Blake led his team to a 5-2 win over MassMutual managing partner Tim Krysiek's squad at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan.

The intrigue: Krysiek had a ringer: retired Boston Bruins Stanley Cup winner Andrew Ference, who now leads the NHL's sustainability effort, NHL Green.

"General consensus in the locker room was that he was playing at maybe 5%-7% of his actual ability," Mahoney Communications Group founder Colin Mahoney tells Axios Pro. 

Keyframe Capital investor Patrick Norris and team took home the champions' golden basketballs at the five-on-five tournament at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

What they're saying: "The best climate tech basketball player since Rick Fox," Keyframe partner Ben Birnbaum says of Norris.

🧐 Fox, CEO of decarbonized cement company Partanna, is a three-time NBA champion.

The squad beat CREO senior investment associate Lucas Fioretti's team, 12-9.

4. The climate sports pages

Split image: left shows ice hockey players in white and blue jerseys skating after the puck on an indoor rink; right shows men playing basketball on an indoor court with a hoop and bystanders.

Green investors and executives took to the rink and the court at Climate Week NY. Photos: Elliot Braun for Keyframe Capital; courtesy of Mahoney Communications

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September 26, 2026

1 big thing: Heard at Climate Week