This Week in MCJ (12/5/20)
This Week in MCJ (12/5/20)
Happy 2nd birthday to MCJ!
Hey MCJers,
Well, it has been exactly two years since I started focusing on climate change. Here is the first newsletter I ever sent, from Dec 2018. It is funny reading it, especially when I see snippets like this one….
In many ways I guess nothing has changed for me two years in, except I am further along and even more committed to this pursuit! It has been an awesome journey so far. I was worried when I left Runkeeper that I would never find a project I was as passionate about again. Not only did I find one, but I have never felt a greater sense of purpose or excitement professionally than I do right now. A huge piece of that is the energy, excitement, optimism, ambition, diversity, and sheer horsepower in this community, so - thank you! I can’t wait to see what the future will bring.
Jason
⚒ Make-a-thon Update
We’re organizing a community-wide event from December 4th to December 18th to foster collaboration, new ideas and action related to climate. All are welcome to participate and any types of projects are accepted!
The start of the Make-a-thon officially began on Friday and you can view in detail a list of projects here as well as browse the summary below. Feel free to DM on MCJ Slack the respective leads of projects you’re interested in joining.
Projects Summary
(Sam Butler) Highlighting Urgent Environmental Challenges with "Seeing Earth"
(Ryder Bergerud) Mapping Energy Flows in Canada
(Vrushank Vora) Democratizing Climate Intelligence
(William Jackowitz) Market Mapping The Climate Landscape
(Liam St. Louis) Developing a Project Related to Climate Policy
(Jeremy Jones, Thai Nguyen, MCJ) 'Project Exodus': Improving the MCJ Slack Community
(Chris Tolles' RFPs)
Helping Carbon Offset Purchasers Buy Meaningful Credits
Addressing 'Permanence' in Carbon Soil Sequestration
Check out the #make-a-thon channel on the MCJ Slack to share ideas and feedback. If you have any questions, please reach out to the organizers, Jeremy Jones & Thai Nguyen, via DM.
📼Episodes
Here’s this week’s episode, in case you missed it.
Episode 133: Amy Francetic, Managing Director of Buoyant Ventures
This week’s guest is Amy Francetic, Managing Director of Buoyant Ventures, an early-stage fund investing in digital solutions to climate risk.
Amy is a longtime entrepreneur and business executive. She has 25 years of experience in energy and high tech. She was most recently Managing Director of Energize Ventures. Prior to that, she co-founded and assumed the role of CEO of the Clean Energy Trust, which funds and grows new cleantech businesses in the Midwest.
Amy and I have a great discussion about her focus with her new firm Buoyant Ventures, some areas of investment that are exciting to her and the firm, cleantech 1.0 vs today, lessons learned, the role of venture capital, the role of innovation, the future of capitalism, and what else matters in the climate fight.
Given the depth and breadth of Amy’s experience, it was invaluable as a relative newcomer to working in this area to learn from her and hear her perspective on where we are and where things are going.
Can’t miss episode, make sure to check it out!
📼Startup Series
The Startup Series features founders of early-stage companies, sharing their business and mission. The audio to this series is available wherever you get your podcasts. The pitch presentation and slides are exclusively available to My Climate Journey Members. If you’re interested in watching this episode or checking out past episodes, you can learn about becoming an MCJ Member here.
Startup Series Episode 20: AMP Robotics with CEO and Founder, Matanya Horowitz
AMP Robotics is a company reimagining and actively modernizing the world’s recycling infrastructure. They do this by applying AI and robotics to economically recover commodities reclaimed as raw materials for the global supply chain. Headquartered and with manufacturing operations in Colorado, they build and deploy technology that solves many of the central challenges of recycling and shifts the economics of the industry to make it more efficient, cost-effective, scalable, and sustainable. With more than 70 systems installed across North America, Japan, and Europe, they are increasing the value that can be extracted from recyclable material through superior separation, purity enhancement, and identification of new end markets for reuse and recycling.
Awesome episode and awesome company, one of my favorites we’ve had on so far! Make sure to check it out, as waste/recycling is also an under-appreciated area in helping to address climate change.
Enjoy the show!
👋 Welcome New MCJers!
Below are new members who joined the community and introduced themselves in the past week. You can learn more about them on #introductions, where you can welcome them to the community.
A warm welcome to the MCJ Community!
Tabong Kima: Currently an analyst at Auldbrass Partners, a growth secondaries firm focused on late-stage tech. Tabong is looking to more actively pursue climate investing in his day-to-day and as a personal angel investor. He is looking forward to meeting more people in companies building in space and connecting with more of the MCJ community.
Evan Maynard: An ex-New Space data analyst turned founder of KoToo and data-centric platform to manage your carbon footprint. He is looking forward to feedback from the community on KoToo’s approach and meeting more members.
Daniel Cavero: Currently the Co-Founder at Aether Laboratories. They build technology to capture CO2 directly from the atmosphere. Daniel is looking to have virtual coffees with other community members involved in direct air capture.
Katie Gardner: Currently a product manager at Banyan Infrastructures. She recently completed her JD/MBA with a background in engineering. Katie is LA based and looking forward to connecting with members in the cleantech space and climate policy.
Greg Little: Greg is an engineer and novelist in Richmond, VA. He’s not currently working in cleantech or the climate space but he’s interested in learning about the climate problem from MCJ.
🚀On Deck Climate Tech Fellowship
The On Deck Climate Tech Fellowship (ODCT) is kicking off in early March. Climate tech is one of the paramount industries of our times but has seen a disconnect between entrepreneurial talent and the climate scientists, policymakers, and researchers who have been in the space for years.
ODCT is a 10-week program for 150 startup and climate experts to come together to start, join, invest in, and advise climate tech companies. The goal is to help startups navigate the complex regulatory, funding, and technical landscapes of the climate crisis. The fellowship provides guidance and a collaborative environment to create innovative and scalable climate tech businesses. Fellows will also benefit from the On Deck community and network.
On Deck already has a handful of speakers lined up, including me! It is a terrific program, and we encourage anyone who is looking to start a climate tech company to consider applying. The deadline for applications is January 31st, 2021. Apply here! If you are interested in learning more, sign up for the Q&A on December 15th, 2020 here.
💡Third Derivative Launches Their Portfolio
Third Derivative is focused on accelerating the rate of climate innovation. On November 30th, they announced the portfolio for their first cohort. Third Derivative also shared information about the players involved in their collaborative ecosystem. To learn more about what startups were selected, check out the below tweet! Third Derivative is led by MCJ’er Bryan Guido Hassin, and there are many people and companies involved that we know well and think highly of!
📚 Startup Resources
Calling Startups, Academics & Researchers Ready to Tackle the Planet's Toughest Problems! The Techstars Sustainability Challenge brings together founders, nonprofits, and universities with innovative industry leaders in sustainability. In this four-month challenge, they will connect the most promising applicants with industry-leading companies to build out real-world solutions. It's innovation with impact, powered by Techstars. Deadline: March 8, 2021. For more info check out Cody Simms’ post.
Urban Future Lab, Greentown Labs, and Fraunhofer USA recently announced the launch of the Carbon to Value Initiative. This program will connect innovators and startups with industry leaders and carbontech experts in the chemicals, advanced materials, energy, and other verticals who can provide the resources and market access necessary to enable rapid commercialization of carbontech. Apply by Jan 27, 2021.
💼Climate Jobs
Here are some jobs shared by members of the MCJ community that we think might be of interest to you. Many of these opportunities and the MCJers who shared them can be found in #climatejobs in the MCJ Slack.
Sales Representative to help bring sustainability to buildings, procurement, and construction at Ecomedes (job listing)
Director of Carbon Finance at Carbon Cure (careers page)
Full Stack Software Engineer at Singularity Energy (Remote or Boston) (job listing) (careers page)
Social and Digital Media Manager at Natural Capital Partners (job post) (careers page)
Stefano Bernardi is hiring climate scientists, entrepreneurs, VCs, and junior positions for a soon to be announced adventure. (Remote but Italy-based) (Stefano Bernardi tweet)
MCJ Alum Ken Caldeira is hiring someone similar to an ARPA-E Fellow, analyzing oddball ideas for energy technologies and answering diverse technical questions. Calling all polymath experts! (Ken Caldeira tweet)
MCJ Alum Jason Bordoff is hiring a Senior Research Director at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. Jason Bordoff’s team includes fellow MCJ alums Varun Sivaram, Melissa Lott, and Julio Friedmann. (careers page) (tweet)
Hydro Commercial Associate at Natel Energy (careers page)
Software Engineers at Raptor Maps (job listing) (careers page)
Climate Fellowship Associate at On Deck (careers page)
Product Managers, Engineers, Head of Sales at Aclima (job listing) (careers page)
Scientist in Residence focusing on tissues engineering/cell culture, plant biology/food tech, & molecular biology including protein fermentation at Counterfactual Ventures (job listing)
Director of Development at Clean Energy Trust (careers page)
📰🎧Recommended Reading/Listening
Below are recently published articles and content that we find interesting and/or that were shared by fellow MCJers.
PV Magazine US: “New York is launching a $10 million program to support climate tech startups, following Massachusetts’ lead”
MIT Technology Review: “How VCs can avoid another bloodbath as the clean-tech boom 2.0 begins”
Our World Data.org: “Why did renewables become so cheap so fast? And what can we do to use this global opportunity for green growth?” & Check out author, Max Roser’s tweets about his new data!
Axios: “BlackRock unveils new way to assess climate investment risk”
Sierra Club: “With Bank of America Announcement, Every Major US Bank Has Ruled out Funding for Arctic Drilling”
GatesNotes: “Here’s how the U.S. can lead the world on climate change innovation”
🎟Climate Events
As a reminder, we have an MCJ Events Calendar, where you can view and post events for the rest of the MCJ community to attend. When posting an event, please refer to this checklist.
*We’re highlighting a few upcoming events below; please refer to the events calendar for a complete list.*
Upcoming
Green Hydrogen Webinar (Wednesday December 9th @ 3pm ET)
Topics on this webinar will include: how green hydrogen will be a catalyst to a green economy, what are the latest technology developments for large-scale industrialization of green hydrogen, and potential applications for utilities and industries? and what are the benefits and challenges of this energy transition? Register here!
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