Bill Gates climate adaptation ⚡️, Ikea autonomous trucking 🚙, EU solar and wind records 💨

Welcome to Climate Brief - this week’s links and TLDRs on the most interesting stories in climate change and decarbonization.

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Big Business 👩🏼‍💼

Wind and solar smashed records in the EU this year

Roughly a quarter of the European Union’s electricity has came from wind and solar this year. 19 of 27 countries broke their records for solar and wind electricity generation. Poland saw the biggest bump with a 48.5% increase in solar and wind generation. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine made the EU’s reliance on Russian gas even more painfully clear. Prior to this year’s conflict, around 45% of the EU’s gas supply came from Russia.

Ikea tests autonomous trucking deliveries with Kodiak Robotics

Ikea and Kodiak Robotics are testing the autonomous delivery of Ikea products in Texas. The pilot is helping Ikea evaluate possibly scaling automated trucks with its carrier partners. Kodiak has signed partnerships with companies such as 10 Roads Express and Werner Enterprises. If the tests succeed, AV and trucking companies say it could lead to significant workforce shifts, such as shifting drivers to more local routes over long-haul ones. The trials come at a time when carriers face continued challenges with hiring drivers.

Startups & Tech 🚀

Bill Gates’s energy venture fund is expanding into climate adaptation and later-stage investments

Breakthrough Energy will focus on ways to help farmers and communities grapple with droughts and climate change. The firm will also look for ways to strengthen the infrastructure of global ports, which face growing threats from sea-level rise and increasingly powerful storms. New investment areas will come into effect under the firm’s upcoming fund, which the firm is in the process of raising. To date, Breakthrough has been focused on “five grand challenges,” backing companies that promise to drive down climate pollution in electricity, transportation, manufacturing, buildings, and agriculture.

These climate tech entrepreneurs are teaming up to scale equity-based solutions

Four climate tech startups have joined forces to represent their solutions and services collectively. The Upside Tech Alliance was founded by individuals who all identify as people of color. The group was organized to tap into federal and local-level programs that can help cities find funding for solutions focused on communities disproportionately affected by climate change. All four startups hail from the portfolio of Kapor Capital, the Oakland, California-based venture capital firm founded by personal computer software pioneers Mitch Kapor and Freada Kapor Klein.

Society & Policy 📄

EPA to speed review of new chemicals for electric vehicles

The Environmental Protection Agency is launching an effort to streamline its review of new chemicals that have applications in batteries, electric vehicles, semiconductors and renewable energy. The effort follows a February announcement from the White House of a $35 million investment to boost domestic production of rare earth metals. The Biden administration is focusing on boosting domestic output of lithium and rare earth minerals to meet demand for future technology and ease the country’s reliance on China. The initiative covers mixed metal oxides, or MMOs, including new and modified cathode active materials.

Mississippi River Basin adapts as climate change brings extreme rain and flooding

Climate change is intensifying hurricanes and triggering sea-level rise along the coast, but it's also bringing more rainfall and frequent flooding to inland river communities. The eastern half of the U.S. is getting far wetter on average, with some areas receiving up to 8 more inches of rain each year than 50 years ago. It's causing economic strain, impacting quality of life, and forcing people to make hard decisions about whether to stay or leave. The city of Freeport, Illinois, launched a program to buy and remove homes along the river and return the land to floodplains.

Adventure & Life 🏔

Who Wants to Name Some Ski Trails?

A new 153-acre area called Pandora will be home to skiers and snowboarders in the 2023-2024 season. The Aspen Ski Company recently did something it has never done before: ask for public input to help name the trails on Aspen Mountain (aka Ajax) What might the next faces be named? Submit one or more suggestions that fall in the category of local people, local history, mining history, notable terrain, or Greek mythology. In Aspen, Colorado, the draws include cascading white snow above a jewel-like town; the early ski history.