Energy and climate technologies as a ‘foundation for human prosperity’
During a recent Sustainability Accelerator event, venture capitalists urged researchers working to scale greenhouse gas removal technologies to focus on cost and seek common ground with a wide range of prospective partners.
Companies aiming to build a business around removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere need to think globally – to find both potential investors and locations where sequestering carbon can offer co-benefits.
That was some of the advice shared by Nicole Systrom, BS ’06, MBA/MS ’14, chief impact officer at investment firm Galvanize Climate Solutions, during a panel discussion at a March 18 event hosted on campus by Stanford’s Sustainability Accelerator.
Moderator Michael Wara, senior director for policy at the Sustainability Accelerator, asked panelists to share their hopes for policy shifts that could help the greenhouse gas removal business scale.
In his response, Rodi Guidero, JD ’96, executive director of Breakthrough Energy – the climate-focused organization founded by Bill Gates – encouraged audience members to start policy conversations by widening the lens beyond carbon dioxide removal.
“You’re actually talking about a broad landscape, a portfolio of things,” Guidero said, offering nuclear energy as an example. “It’s very clear in this country that there are things that align with an energy transition, align with energy innovation, and you ought to lean in on those things.”
Ultimately, nations and companies that adopt new technologies that become the foundation for human prosperity will have a competitive advantage. ”
Guidero, who is also managing partner for Breakthrough Energy’s venture capital fund, called for a long-term perspective. Companies need investors with the capital and the vision to think about energy solutions in terms of decades and centuries, and who want to be first movers on new technologies, he said. “Ultimately, nations and companies that adopt new technologies that become the foundation for human prosperity will have a competitive advantage.”
Cost is another critical factor in navigating the present moment, said Wen Hsieh, founding managing partner of Matter Venture Partners – but researchers often think they can wait to think about it until later, instead of letting it guide their way.
Companies can better manage risk and overcome the challenge of scaling if a technology is cost competitive and has strong economic value, he said.
“My advice to scientific founders and engineering founders is work with people, whether it’s industries or partners, that are very attuned to how to estimate, forecast, predict the economic, quantitative number that you need to guide your way – and do that early,” Hsieh said. “Otherwise, you have a proof of concept or a nice scientific paper, but you may not have a business.”
The panelists agreed that universities can play a key role in fostering innovation and translating it into the private sector, as well as bringing the world together to tackle greenhouse gas removal.
Hsieh said, “I think Stanford has a unique position in the world that you can actually assemble or call to this location people from different geographies, whether they’re governments or companies, and they would come.”
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