ARTICLE
11 July 2023

Webinar Key Takeaways: Climate Tech And Renewable Energy

FL
Foley & Lardner

Contributor

Foley & Lardner LLP looks beyond the law to focus on the constantly evolving demands facing our clients and their industries. With over 1,100 lawyers in 24 offices across the United States, Mexico, Europe and Asia, Foley approaches client service by first understanding our clients’ priorities, objectives and challenges. We work hard to understand our clients’ issues and forge long-term relationships with them to help achieve successful outcomes and solve their legal issues through practical business advice and cutting-edge legal insight. Our clients view us as trusted business advisors because we understand that great legal service is only valuable if it is relevant, practical and beneficial to their businesses.
Foley recently cohosted a webinar with the 4thly startup accelerator where a panel of experts discussed Climate Tech and Renewable Energy.
United States Energy and Natural Resources

Foley recently cohosted a webinar with the 4thly startup accelerator where a panel of experts discussed Climate Tech and Renewable Energy.

The panel was moderated by 4thly founder Bret Waters in conversation with panelists Charlie Crocker (founder and CEO of Zonehaven, sold to Genasys), Kathleen Egan (Co-Founder and CEO of ecomedes, a vertical SaaS solution for cost-effective, sustainable commercial building products and projects), Gopal Erinjippurath (CTO of Sust Global, a platform providing AI-powered climate modeling for science-backed climate risk reporting, analysis and adaptation), and Kristin Wegner Guilfoyle (Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis (JISEA) and the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and CleanTech co-chair for the Keiretsu Angel investment group) with Foley's energy co-chair Jeff Atkin and Silicon Valley-based partner Louis Lehot.

The backdrop for the webinar was set by the massive amount of federal spending for clean energy projects and the proving economics for climate tech investors and entrepreneurs, juxtaposed against the challenging dynamics for obtaining venture capital (despite the fact that climate-tech deals are outperforming the overall market by a factor of 50%). Investors are increasingly looking at climate tech to diversify and develop profitable new markets, which include both hardware companies and software companies.

The panel discussed climate tech and renewable energy trends, greenwashing, the level of risk in investing in these industries, where each speaker would be investing right now, and much more.

Here are some of the key takeaways from their discussion:

  • The climate industry is becoming a much safer area to invest in, and because of this, we are seeing growth in climate product commercialization. Climate tech is in an area where investors can quantify future profits on a derisked basis.
  • Significant capital is available to a large number of investors as both the climate and energy industries continue to mature.
  • Greenwashing has become a hot topic within the environmental, social, and governance investment areas. Typically, investors with dedicated funds in these industries and investment areas hire scientists or related professionals to understand the level of realness and competence to avoid any greenwashing.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

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