April in Review: Key Highlights and Takeaways for Sustainable Investing 🌳
"Humanity is on thin ice – and that ice is melting fast.
As today’s report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) details, humans are responsible for virtually all global heating over the last 200 years.
The climate time-bomb is ticking. But today’s IPCC report is a how-to guide to defuse the climate time-bomb.
In short, our world needs climate action on all fronts -everything, everywhere, all at once-"
– António Guterres, UN Secretary General.
From Rumbo with 💚
💡 Innovation, Collaboration, and The Challenge of our Generation - Fernando Lelo de Larrea, Rumbo Ventures
“While some people in Mexico still think that we are an oil economy (think the Dos Bocas refinery), the reality is that manufacturing, construction, and tourism are the engines that can catapult Mexico’s conversion into a world leader in sustainability…”
💡Infographic Climate-Tech focused funds across the world - Rumbo Ventures
💡Infographic Climate-Tech Iberoamerican Female Founders - Rumbo Ventures
Fostering community
🇬🇧 Rumbo is happy to have been part of the invite-only @GoogleCloud_UKI Climate Tech Leaders Day to network, discuss priorities, and learn from the best innovators, investors and sustainability leaders in the Climate Tech space.
🇺🇸 Thank you @pablolucangeli for having invited us to join the panel of Latin American market experts at @SFClimateWeek.
🇬🇧 Ana Luz Díaz Smith highlighted the reasons why @RumboVentures had decided to focus on investing in early-stage climate technologies with a relationship to Iberoamerica during #EarthWeek.
Warm-up
Reads 📚
Climate investing: Continuing breakout growth through uncertain times -McKinsey and Company
“From 2019 until the end of 2022, private-market equity investors launched more than 330 new sustainability; environmental, social, and governance (ESG); and impact funds. The cumulative assets under management in these funds grew threefold, from $90 billion to more than $270 billion…”
Why Impact Investing Is More Important Than Ever - Illuminem
“But one of the greatest challenges in trying to integrate sustainability into the investment mindset is the issue of proof. Investors unfamiliar with a specific strategy want proof. But the issue is not proof, but belief.…”
Recordings 🎤
Making the difference - Outrage + Optimism Podcast
For this episode the special guest is Pete Betts, the highly respected civil servant with over 10 years as Director International climate and energy in the UK Government. Despite receiving a terminal diagnosis, Pete continues to dedicate his time and effort to climate change.
Is there a greener way to rank successful economies? - The climate question Podcast
The United Nations is currently looking at options for what might replace Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the world’s primary go-to indicator of success, taking into account factors including sustainability and the natural environment. If this happens, it would be the biggest shift in how economies are measured since 70 years ago.
Fundraising💲
Energy
☀️ SPAN, based in San Francisco, raised $96 million Series B2 funding to expand its operations. It develops electrical panels and products that enable electrification and simplify the adoption of clean energy including solar, batteries, and electric vehicles.
Mobility & Transportation
⛏️ Lithium extracting and refining startup EnergyX raised $50 million, in a round led by General Motors, to scale its tech. GM will receive exclusive access to some of the lithium that EnergyX sources from mining companies in North and South America, for use in its electric vehicles
Food, Agriculture & Land use
🐄 Alga Biosciences, based in California, raised $4 million seed funding to stop cows burping methane. Its algae-based feed supplement helps cattle to burp less and grow faster.
Industry & Manufacturing
Switzerland-based Impossible Materials secured $3.8 million seed funding to commercialise its first product, a cellulose-based alternative to white pigment titanium dioxide, which has recently been banned in the EU for use in foods.
CCUS & Restoration
UK-based Seafields won a £250,000 grant from Innovate UK to test its carbon reduction technology, designed to remove billions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere by cultivating and harvesting seaweed in the Atlantic Ocean.
Main ideas
Energy x climate ⚡
Can sodium-ion batteries work for mainstream EVs? - David Snydacker
“I’m hopeful that battery technology will continue to improve for both lithium and sodium chemistries. We need all the batteries we can get for both EVs and the grid.…”
Why heat is a challenge in the fight against climate change, and what we can do about it - Tony Pan at World Economic Forum
“... most climate efforts have been focused on decarbonizing electricity and cars. It was only last year, after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing energy crisis, that attention and efforts on decarbonizing heat really accelerated…”
Funds x Climate 📈
Grants for Climate Change projects - Enduring Planet
“Grants are available for initiatives across all sectors that have a robust plan to drive decarbonization or build resilience to the impacts of climate change…”
What a downturn in fundraising means for climate founders and their next round - Arman at ClimateHack
“…while many founders rely on serendipity in their fundraising efforts, we strongly advise the companies we speak with to treat their fundraising process with the same level of attention as they would their sales or product development efforts…”
Miscellaneous
Tweets that speak 🐦
Communities 🤜🤛
• Join here to LATAM Path to Net Zero Slack
• Join here to Work on Climate Slack
• Join here to My Climate Journey
Random 🛸
“Extrapolations” is a bracing drama that introduces a near future where the chaotic effects of climate change have become embedded into our everyday lives.
Are we brave enough to become the solution to our own undoing before it’s too late?