🤮 Greenwashing week

Earth Day week makes for lots of greenwashing, Energy Department commits $3 billion to expand rooftop solar, Canopy Planet has secured $60 million in funding to scale circular fibers for paper and textiles.

Author

Acclimate Editor
April 24, 2023

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🗓 Every Monday morning, we distill what matters in renewable energy and electrification across business, tech, and policy — all in a 5-minute read.

This week’s newsletter includes:

  • US bets billions on direct air capture.

  • Energy Department commits $3 billion to expand rooftop solar.

  • Canopy Planet secures $60 million to scale circular fibers for paper and textiles.

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🤮 Greenwashing week

Every year, as Earth Day approaches, companies once again dole out sustainability pledges like candy. But not all are genuine.

Here’s a few tips on how to evaluate climate pledges:

  1. Look for transparency: Companies should be transparent about their climate commitments and provide clear information about what their pledges entail. Check if the company shares its environmental data and participates in initiatives like the CDP (Climate Disclosure Project) or the Net Zero Tracker.

  2. Understand the terms: Pay attention to the terms used by the company, such as "net zero" or "carbon neutral," and understand their meanings. Net zero means that a company will not emit more greenhouse gases than it can offset or remove from the atmosphere, while carbon neutral usually refers to only zeroing out carbon dioxide emissions. Be aware of the differences and consider broader long-term goals beyond just net zero.

  3. Consider the scope: Look at the scope of the company's pledge. Companies should not only focus on their own operations (Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions), but also consider emissions from their supply chains and the use of their products and services (Scope 3 emissions), which often make up the majority of their carbon footprint. Check if the company's pledge covers all scopes of emissions or if it excludes certain areas.

  4. Evaluate the actions: Consider the actions the company is taking to achieve its pledge. Look for concrete and tangible targets rather than just long-term ambitions. Check if the company has a plan in place to reduce emissions, partner with suppliers and customers, invest in renewable energy, or take other meaningful actions to address climate change.

  5. Look for consistency: Check if the company's pledge aligns with its overall business practices and operations. Look for consistency in its actions and commitments across different areas of its operations, such as its supply chain, product design, energy use, and waste management.

Determining the authenticity of corporate climate pledges can be challenging, as many companies lack transparency in explaining the details of their commitments. Even when there is fine print available, it can be laborious to sift through and understand.

Read more:

📊 CHART OF THE WEEK

Source: Reuters

The brutal climate math is forcing the US to spend billions in direct air capture (DAC). Nine or more applications have been observed for a goal of establishing four hubs in a few years, with all bidding for a share of $3.5 billion in government grants.

Climeworks has submitted bids for three sites and plans to hire 100 employees by 2025. However, unproven technology, talent shortages, and costs are all challenges in this endeavor. Read more here.

🌎 NEWS THAT MATTERS

📈 BUSINESS & MARKETS

  • US car brands stand to benefit the most from new rules limit the $7,500 credits to electric cars made domestically with minerals from the U.S. or trade allies.

  • Sunrun and other solar companies adapt to California’s new net metering rules with booming interest in energy storage. The attachment rates of storage systems to distributed solar in California are projected to increase from around 11% today to over 80% by 2027, according to Wood Mackenzie.

  • Toyota’s first electric sedan earns 5,000 orders on first sales day as the company plays catch up in the EV market.

  • Companies are laying low on ESG as backlash intensifies.

  • Gen Z and millenials find it hard to shop sustainably due to rising cost of living.

  • America’s $800b climate splurge is feeding a new lobbying ecosystem.

  • Private equity is expected to play a growing role in renewable energy, storage and other cleantech as first major industrial boom occurring primarily in private markets.

  • EV trucks and buses need costly grid updates. But who should pay? A new study says utilities.

🏛 POLICY & POLITICS

  • The Energy Department commits $3 billion to expand rooftop solar access, targeting those with lower credit scores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, in a commitment to Sunnova.

  • A federal court has overturned Berkeley, California's precedent-setting measure for new buildings by shooting down the first natural gas ban in the U.S, putting in jeopardy scores of similar rules.

  • Solar and wind companies are coming to rural Texas, but a a group of locals concerned about potential environmental harm are trying to keep them out.

  • Biden plans to create a White House Office of Environmental Justice. A new executive order will require every federal agency to address the disproportionate impact of pollution and climate change on minority communities.

  • The EPA proposes the first controls on greenhouse gases from power plants. If the regulation is implemented, it will mark the first time the federal government has limited carbon emissions from existing power plants, which are responsible for generating 25 percent of U.S. greenhouse gases.

  • Utah, Georgia, and Tennessee passed laws designed to counter demonstrations, citing neo-Nazi plots against the grid, similar to those that occurred during protests against the Dakota Access pipeline.

  • A new paper urged the Treasury to tighten the definition of 'green' hydrogen, stating that clean hydrogen tax credits were "lucrative enough" to withstand restrictions on emissions. However, energy groups argued that strict rules could have hindered the industry's growth.

🚀 STARTUPS & TECH

  • Climate tech startups in the U.S. are partnering with oil and gas companies to capture CO2. Climeworks, unlike some other companies, has previously avoided working with oil and gas, but now they are changing their approach as they try to enter the U.S. market.

  • Is regenerative agriculture a potential solution to California's almond problem? KIND is currently conducting pilots with almond producers to determine ways to prevent the cash crop from further burdening California's water supply.

  • Canopy Planet has secured $60 million in funding to scale circular fibers for paper and textiles. The forest conservation nonprofit intends to utilize the funds to establish connections between brands and material innovators, as well as to set up material production hubs.

  • This NASA technology has the potential to trigger a significant breakthrough in grid batteries. EnerVenue, with a pipeline of orders and over $100 million in funding, is still in the process of proving its capabilities, and a factory in Kentucky is being established.

  • Visualizing the scale of the carbon removal problem shows the significant lift required to deploy direct air capture technologies.

🌎 SOCIETY & IMPACT

  • In order to transition away from fossil fuels, we will need to mobilize a large workforce of electricians. However, labor shortages could pose challenges to the effort of "electrifying everything."

  • Elon Musk is causing disruptions on Twitter with his disaster-response tweets, turning the social media platform's crisis into a real-world crisis.

  • The latest data on food waste has been released. What implications do the numbers hold for our food system?

🎙 CONVERSATIONS

😎 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

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