#126 | Redefining corporate citizenship + RSVP for Tuesday Showcase
Understory newsletter on climate and sustainability tech
It’s Climate Week! Check out the variety of events happening both in-person in NYC and online. We are hosting our September ‘Startups Driving Sustainability’ Showcase webinar on Tuesday at 11am ET. Don’t miss out - register today.
📚 Worth Reading
Patagonia continues to redefine corporate citizenship. Already a leader in environmental sustainability, the founder put 100% of the company’s voting stock into a trust created to protect the company’s values. All profits will be distributed as a dividend to support the climate crisis each year.
“While we’re doing our best to address the environmental crisis, it’s not enough. We needed to find a way to put more money into fighting the crisis while keeping the company’s values intact.”
“Instead of “going public,” you could say we’re “going purpose.” Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth.”
This is a new model for capitalism that makes our planet the primary shareholder. All companies - big and small - should take note.
Read more: Earth is our only shareholder by Yvon Chouinard
In other news, the World Economic Forum authored a great summary on U.S. climate spending that will happen over the next decade.
Read more: Three laws will triple US climate change spending over the next decade
🚀 Funding and Congrats!
TeraWatt Infrastructure, an EV charging network for fleets, raised a $1 billion Series A round.
Agtech company Gotham Greens raised $310 million in Series E funding.
Patch, a carbon offsetting platform, raised a $55 million Series B round.
EV charging platform Monta raised a €30M Series A+ round.
Populus, a mobility management solution, raised an $11 million Series A round.
Flair Systems, a smart home energy solution, raised a $7.6 million Series A round.
Corepower Magnetics raised a $2.5 million pre-seed round. The company develops magnet solutions that support EVs and other industrial solutions.
Carbon capture tech startup NeoCarbon raised a €1.25M pre-seed round. The company builds direct air capture (DAC) devices.
💡 Startup Spotlight
EarthUP - a saas platform that helps companies reduce emissions through employee action.
🌱 Startup Resources
Apply by September 28: TechStars Impact powered by Cox Enterprises accelerator program.
👀 Quick Hits
Biden will unlock the first $900 million of EV charging funding. Congress approved almost $5 billion back in November as part of the infrastructure bill.
Switching to renewable energy can save the world close to $12 trillion over the next 35 years.
Investment is pouring into battery recycling tech.
PET plastic is sitting at recycling centers waiting to be recycled and can be a fire hazard.
🎧 Podcast
Jorge Bonilla: sustainable structures with bamboo
Hazel Horvath: empowering sustainable transformation
Marcelo Lando: developing renewables in Latin America
The Understory Podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Google Podcasts.
⚙️ Jobs
Find and share your open positions on the Understory Slack channel.
🆕 Assistant Director - GSD Office of Sustainability at the City of Detroit
🆕 Vice President, Sustainability Business Development at JLL
🆕 Project Leader, Climate & Sustainability at BCG
🆕 CEO & Co-Founder [Proptech] at Struck Studio
🆕 Director, ESG & Sustainability at Elastic
🆕 Head of Sustainability Partnerships, Social Impact at Google
Full Stack Developer at Sortile
Director, Sustainability – Materials and Circular Economy at Levi Strauss
Global Climate Strategy Director at Yum! Brands
VP of Sustainability at Gelato
Director of Finance at Nitricity
Climate Tech Investment Extern at Newlab
Director of New Business at Bullhorn
Director of Sustainability Impact Narrative at Microsoft
VP, Sustainability at Meta
Decarbonization Principal Consultant at Black & Veatch
Head of Commercialization at Formo
🗓 Events
September 20: Understory’s Startups Driving Sustainability - September Showcase
November 2: Understory’s Startups Driving Sustainability - November Showcase
December 6: Understory’s Startups Driving Sustainability - December Showcase
Do you have any events to share? Post them in our Understory Slack community.
📧 Stay in Touch!
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