Catalyst with Shayle Kann Latitude Media
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- Technology
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Investor Shayle Kann is asking big questions about how to decarbonize the planet: How cheap can clean energy get? Will artificial intelligence speed up climate solutions? Where is the smart money going into climate technologies? Every week on Catalyst, Shayle explains the world of "climate tech" with prominent experts, investors, researchers, and executives. Produced by Latitude Media.
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Digging into the SEC climate disclosure rules
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved new rules this month on what information companies must disclose about their greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks, but notably dropped more stringent requirements that the commission initially proposed.
Despite being halted by lawsuits, the rules are a significant win for climate transparency. But they’re not as strong as existing climate disclosure regulations in California and the European Union, where many multinational corporations do business anyway.
So how big of a deal are the new SEC rules?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Mallory Thomas, risk advisory partner at consulting and accounting firm Baker Tilly US. The two talk about the details of the new rules and cover topics like:
The rules’ requirements for disclosing greenhouse gasses and climate risks
How the rules compare to European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and California’s twin climate disclosure laws
Which companies are required to comply and under what conditions
How standardized reporting may help with comparability across companies
Recommended resources:
Baker Tilly: SEC announces final rules for climate-related disclosures
Deloitte: A landmark ruling for ESG disclosure requirements
Reuters: US climate rule will boost sustainable accounting industry
Catalyst is supported by Antenna Group. For 25 years, Antenna has partnered with leading clean-economy innovators to build their brands and accelerate business growth. If you’re a startup, investor, enterprise or innovation ecosystem that’s creating positive change, Antenna is ready to power your impact. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.
Catalyst is brought to you by Atmos Financial. Atmos is revolutionizing finance by leveraging your deposits to exclusively fund decarbonization solutions, like solar and electrification. Join in under 2 minutes at joinatmos.com/catalyst. -
Climate tech’s tough year in the public markets
Two major indicators of climate tech stocks – the S&P Clean Energy Index and the MAC Global Solar Index – are significantly trailing the overall market. They’ve been declining for months, down from their mid-pandemic highs when they performed far better than the rest of the economy.
So what happened to climate tech investments in the public markets? And what do these investments tell us about the coming year for climate tech?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Shanu Mathew, portfolio manager and research analyst at Lazard. They cover topics like:
The macroeconomic factors behind this underperforming sector, like higher interest rates, election uncertainty, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Trends in specific industries, like EVs, solar, and lithium
Investors moving funds into (and paying more for) climate tech stocks with consistently higher performance
Analysts’ expectations for climate tech stocks in the the near- and long-term
Recommended Resources:
Shanu Mathew: Cleantech FY23 Recap And FY24 Outlook
Catalyst: How has US industrial policy impacted climatetech investment?
Catalyst is supported by Antenna Group. For 25 years, Antenna has partnered with leading clean-economy innovators to build their brands and accelerate business growth. If you’re a startup, investor, enterprise or innovation ecosystem that’s creating positive change, Antenna is ready to power your impact. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.
Catalyst is brought to you by Atmos Financial. Atmos is revolutionizing finance by leveraging your deposits to exclusively fund decarbonization solutions, like solar and electrification. Join in under 2 minutes at joinatmos.com/catalyst. -
The early days of AI on the grid
The first wave of digital grid infrastructure in the U.S. didn’t quite deliver on its promises. More than 100 million smart meters have rolled out across the country, buoyed initially by billions in federal funding. But instead of using them for exciting things like time-of-use pricing and automated demand response, utilities used them for more mundane things like automated billing, according to a whitepaper from Guidehouse.
Could the new wave of AI-based grid tech be different?
In this episode, Shayle talks to David Groarke, managing director at the energy consultancy Indigo Advisory Group, who co-authored a forthcoming Latitude Intelligence report on utilities and AI.
David says that AI is showing promise so far. Unlike the first wave of hardware-focused advanced-metering infrastructure, AI leans heavily on relatively cheap software and data. He also says that AI’s capabilities are advancing quickly (“doing pressups” as the Irish say) by improving algorithms, handling more tasks, and improving efficiency.
David and Shayle cover use-cases and other topics like:
Wildfire management, using data from cameras, lidar, and satellites
Customer propensity modeling, including detecting EVs to aid with infrastructure planning
Automated and personalized communication with customers
Predictive maintenance of substations and other grid infrastructure, using data from, for example, computer vision to detect corrosion and reduce downtime
Optimizing transmission capacity by moving from static ratings of transmission lines to real-time ratings
Whether incumbents or startups are leading the development of these AI-based solutions
David’s take on whether AI’s impact on utilities will be revolutionary or incremental
Recommended Resources:
Latitude: Welcome to the smart meter’s second act
Latitude: AI is simplifying complex decisions for utilities
Latitude: Seven ways utilities are exploring AI for the grid
Latitude: Could AI-fueled weather forecasts boost renewable energy production?
Catalyst is supported by Antenna Group. For 25 years, Antenna has partnered with leading clean-economy innovators to build their brands and accelerate business growth. If you’re a startup, investor, enterprise or innovation ecosystem that’s creating positive change, Antenna is ready to power your impact. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.
Catalyst is brought to you by Atmos Financial. Atmos is revolutionizing finance by leveraging your deposits to exclusively fund decarbonization solutions, like residential solar and electrification. FDIC-insured with market-leading savings rates, cash-back checking, and zero fees. Get an account in minutes at joinatmos.com. -
The challenges of building a carbon removal portfolio
The carbon removal market could reach $400 billion to $1.6 trillion by 2050, according to McKinsey. But it’s got a long way to go. Right now the market is wild, unexplored territory filled with unproven technologies, murky cost curves, and a motley mix of price points and standards. The hope is that one day it becomes a standardized commodity market of high-quality, durable removals.
But for now, brave buyers have to wade into the wilds and see what works. So what does that look like – and what have they learned so far?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Stacy Kauk, head of sustainability at Shopify, which paid $55 million for 85,000 tons of removal in 2023. Kauk says that very few of those credits have been delivered yet, but the company, along with a few other early entrants like Stripe, H&M, and Microsoft, are investing in a varied field of technologies to develop the market.
Stacy thinks of Shopify’s approach like a venture capitalist’s portfolio, with some companies succeeding and others failing. Stacy and Shayle walk through the practical realities of building that portfolio, covering topics like:
Using forward purchases, flexible contracts, and Shopify’s internal credit standards
The challenges that slow down ambitious startups, like permitting delays and the complicated work of measuring, reporting, and verifying credits
Which technologies are hot and which are not, ranging from biomass burial and wastewater treatment to enhanced weathering and ocean alkalinity enhancement
Comparing the lower energy requirements of enhancing natural systems with the potentially clearer cost curves of engineered systems
Building a diverse portfolio across technologies and maturities
What determines the prices Shopify pays for different credits
Recommended Resources:
Bloomberg: Stripe, Alphabet and Others to Spend Nearly $1 Billion on Carbon Removal
Carbon Dioxide Removal Primer
Latitude: Fixing the messy voluntary carbon markets
Catalyst is supported by Antenna Group. For 25 years, Antenna has partnered with leading clean-economy innovators to build their brands and accelerate business growth. If you’re a startup, investor, enterprise or innovation ecosystem that’s creating positive change, Antenna is ready to power your impact. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.
Catalyst is brought to you by Atmos Financial. Atmos is revolutionizing finance by leveraging your deposits to exclusively fund decarbonization solutions, like solar and electrification. Join in under 2 minutes at joinatmos.com/catalyst. -
The electric transformer shortage
The list of things that depend on transformers is long: new housing, EV chargers, renewable projects, and more. That’s why skyrocketing lead times and prices for grid equipment that raises or lowers voltage is a real problem.
The wait for a new transformer has jumped to over two years, according to WoodMackenzie. Back in 2020 it took just a few months, according to Tim Mills, CEO at transformer manufacturer ERMCO. WoodMackenzie found that prices, meanwhile, have risen over 60% since 2020.
So what’s causing the shortage?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Tim about how rising demand for transformers has pushed manufacturers to capacity – and why it’s been so hard for manufacturers to expand that capacity.
They also cover topics like:
The state of the shortage, including prices, lead times and types of transformers that are in especially short supply.
The major drivers of demand growth, including renewables, storms, federal investment, and EV chargers.
How the housing boom and bust of the 2000s left transformer manufacturers wary of bubbles in demand.
Why the tight labor market makes it hard to expand manufacturing capacity.
How new rules proposed by the Department of Energy are throwing uncertainty into what type of equipment manufacturers should invest in.
Recommended resources:
WoodMackenzie: Supply shortages and an inflexible market give rise to high power transformer lead times
T&D World: No Easy Answers: Transformer Supply Crisis Deepens
Catalyst is supported by Antenna Group. For 25 years, Antenna has partnered with leading clean-economy innovators to build their brands and accelerate business growth. If you’re a startup, investor, enterprise or innovation ecosystem that’s creating positive change, Antenna is ready to power your impact. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.
Catalyst is brought to you by Atmos Financial. Atmos is revolutionizing finance by leveraging your deposits to exclusively fund decarbonization solutions, like residential solar and electrification. FDIC-insured with market-leading savings rates, cash-back checking, and zero fees. Get an account in minutes at joinatmos.com. -
Frontier Forum: Diving into the booming transferable tax credit market
It's been a year and a half since the Inflation Reduction Act was passed. In that time, we've seen $110 billion in planned investments for factories that are pumping out electric cars, batteries, solar modules, and wind towers.
The upper end of 2030 forecasts show nearly twice as much zero-carbon generation getting built compared with scenarios without the law in place.
Much of this activity is the result of a new shift in the US tax code that allows wind, solar, storage, hydrogen, carbon capture, and manufacturing tax incentives to be sold for cash. It’s creating a lot more deal volume as many more companies can now buy those credits to support new development.
“This very rarely happens that a new market forms basically overnight. The private estimates on how big the market gets get it to something like $80 or $100 billion dollars by the back half of the decade,” said Alfred Johnson, co-founder and CEO of Crux, speaking at Latitude Media’s Frontier Forum.
In January, Crux closed an $18 million Series A round led by Andreesen Horowitz – bringing the company’s total funding to $27 million to scale its sustainable finance platform.
It’s been about a year since credits started trading, with activity really picking up in the last six months. Much of our understanding of how the market is performing comes from new research from Crux, which recently surveyed 150 buyers, sellers, and intermediaries – and found a mix of eagerness, hesitance, surprises, and lots and lots of questions.
Stephen Lacey spoke with Alfred Johnson live during Latitude's Frontier Forum to address many of those questions – and riff on how this new market is taking shape. You can watch the full conversation, including questions from the audience, here.
Customer Reviews
Great show.
This is the most informative climate tech show available. Excellent. Always interesting.
Topic power beaming
Sanjay well spoken and very knowledgeable about the space base solar power technology. I learned something I didn’t know about. Thanks to Kaan for bringing him to the podcast.
Sourcing Biomass
70 % of municipal solid waste is biomass yet it is not even mentioned in your podcast as a potential source. Also, you did not mention direct sequestration of biomass. Please look at our website for details on how to sequester biomass.