SF Climate Week

Want to help shape the future of SFCW? Have feedback you’d like to share? We’d love to hear about your experience and what could be improved next year! Share Your Feedback ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eDv7jVHf But that’s not all! Complete this short survey and you could: 📆 Get an invitation to an exclusive town hall style conversation with SF Climate Week's leadership team 🌟 Win a full-ride scholarship to the upcoming cohort of the Climatebase Fellowship! Your input is invaluable to us. Share your feedback and help us make SF Climate Week even better! Thank you to the 18.5K+ attendees who made this year’s SF Climate Week so special and impactful. 💚 from the SFCW Team

The latest episode of Watt It Takes is now available. It was such a pleasure to speak with Toby Kraus, Co-Founder and CEO of Lightship for a live recording during SF Climate Week. In an industry that can be filled with bravado and showmanship, Toby’s genuine and humble nature was a treat to experience. Listen to this latest episode to learn more about his journey, from growing up in Boulder, Colorado, to joining Tesla and later Proterra, to meeting his Lightship co-founder Ben Parker and embarking on the road trip of a lifetime, to revolutionizing the RV industry with Lightship. #electricrvs #electricfuture #rvadventure

🌍 The SF Climate Week is Out of This World! A few weeks ago, I attended SF Climate Week with Adan Ramirez on behalf of everyone at Greenfluidics. The impressions I carry are overwhelmingly positive. The climate tech ecosystem in Latin America is growing rapidly. I reconnected with Gabriela Carrasco, who, along with Reciprocal, hosted fantastic events focused on the Latin American ecosystem and the rising investment opportunities in the region. The Consulate General of Mexico in San Francisco is also making great strides in supporting Mexican entrepreneurs. It was a pleasure to meet Ursula Rojas Weiser, who has many amazing experiences to share and is always eager to help. I would need several posts to mention all the incredible people I met, but here are a few making a significant impact in the climate tech ecosystem: Alicia Hernández Arriaga, Daniel Gajardo, Waldo Soto Bruna, Cristobal Sanchez, Gabriel Estrada Escalante, Tamara L Diamond, LEED Green Associate, Justin Hardin, Andres ☀️ Friedman, Benjamin Zehr, Guillermo Repizo, PhD, Matthew Joehnk and Mauricio Kremer #ClimateTech #SustainableFuture #Greenfluidics #SFClimateWeek #LatamClimateTech #Innovation #Sustainability #Networking

❌ SF Climate Week is not a conference ❌ It is 100x better than a conference. It's more like the urban-techy Burning Man of climate (think: more networking & clothing, less music & drugs). An ecosystem of 350 diverse events was built out of nothing, led by Climatebase and grassroots organized by a coalition of over 750 organizations. 15,000 people attended (many from outside the Bay) to frolic around SF and revel in climate solutions. Notably, it was far more accessible than Burning Man, nearly all events were free! A local attendee could have feasibly gotten through the week without exchanging money (in fact, I ate dinner at events all week!). I was blown away by the quality of all the events I attended– each one was totally unique and embodied the organizers. Despite the massive list of events, most of them were filled to capacity within days of being listed (sign up early and remove yourself if you can't attend!). It may have been my first SF Climate Week, but I went hard 😎, attending 10 events in 7 days. Here are my highlights: ✨ 👟 Started the week with my kind of "happy hour," a 7am run hosted by Streamline Climate and A Runner's Mind. I demoed first-of-a-kind recyclable sneakers by Asics— ⭐⭐⭐⭐ for comfort. 🧠 Got inspired by the potential of AI to positively impact climate solutions in an immersive workshop. In small groups, we brainstormed ways AI will be part of the problem and solution (so much to unpack here). 🚲 Joined the teams of G2 Venture Partners, Union Labs Ventures & Congruent Ventures on a lovely loop through the headlands. Cycling truly is the golf of the West Coast. ✏ In an intimate & artsy Cole Valley home, I watched a panel called "What makes good climate storytelling?" and got insight into the minds of 4 talented women focused on telling climate stories, including esteemed author, Rebecca Solnit 😍. This was my favorite event. 💸 I grew my understanding of the breadth of financing options available to climatetech companies at a TRIPLE panel event hosted by Banyan Infrastructure & Streamline. We heard from folks in equipment financing (Camber Road), venture debt (Mercury) & government grants (Streamline Climate). Elemental Excelerator also shared how they design programs to help their cohorts bridge the gap between venture & project financing. ✅ Lastly, I learned about divesting your 401k from fossil fuels in a talk by Alex Wright-Gladstein. There was a ton of useful info, but the bottom line is that fossil fuels (the "energy sector") have underperformed the rest of the S&P 500 over the past 10 years by >3%. You can invest fossil fuel free through Sphere. This is only the 2nd SF Climate Week and it will only grow in size, caliber & prestige. I'm eager to organize something next year— please reach out if you're interested in collaborating on a creative event concept, or have thoughts on what was missing from SFCW. 💌

Electric Hydrogen's VP of Strategic Projects, Mujinga Mwamufiya joined a panel of changemakers during SF Climate Week to discuss decarbonization solutions for critical industries, breaking barriers, and the importance of building community across women leaders in the climate space.

When Salesforce joined GAEA’s Corporate Philanthropy Challenge at Davos, we committed to helping mobilize $1 billion of philanthropic capital towards climate and nature interventions by 2030. At San Francisco Climate Week, we put that commitment into action by convening 45 corporate foundation executives and climate leaders in partnership with the World Economic Forum's GAEA, Google and Pledge 1%. As a partnership person, I know that the only way forward is together. And as a people person, well, it's also just more fun that way! Huge thanks to all my buddies -- new and old -- who are helping more corporations find their role in climate and nature philanthropy, including Naomi Morenzoni, Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink, Shally Venugopal, Joanna Messing, Luis Alvarado Martinez, Filippo De Gennaro, Yvonne Leung, Amy Lesnick, Maria Choi, Amy Beck Landrith, Hilary Woon, Brittany Soto, Cher Jacques Braden, Erin Connor, Erin Baudo Felter, Grace Cadiz, Ed.D, Jan D'Alessandro, Jean Shia, Karen Little, Kenzie Ferguson, Kevin Brege, Matthias Muehlbauer, and many many more. https://lnkd.in/gKa3PYBz

What a treat to partner with Salesforce, World Economic Forum's GAEA + Google on behalf of Pledge 1% during SF Climate Week to bring together corporate foundation leaders and climate experts and spur more cross-sector collaboration and capital shifts for our planet. 🌍 Collaboration is how we're going to build, discover, and fund the solutions we need now!

Reflecting on a great SF Climate Week that wrapped up last week! On Tuesday, we took our "Taco Tuesday Ride" up to the city. This year we had a record number of RSVPs bike Hawk Hill overlooking the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. Post-ride, we networked over breakfast burritos and the yummiest acai bowls from Sweet Nothings (okay I'm biased...this awesome brand is owned by our founder's amazing wife Beth Porter). Later in the week, we partnered with The Information for an exclusive panel event with LPs and founders. Moderated by editor Steve LeVine, our panelists represented the entirety of the climate capital stack. Breakthrough Energy Ventures on early-stage opportunities, Brook Porter (representing G2 Venture Partners!) discussing what some are calling the "missing middle" of the funding stack, and Generation Investment Management covering the growth equity stage. The markets that our three firms are investing in (energy, transportation, agriculture and others) are trillion-dollar industries that are ripe for disruption. Read the article written about the event here: https://lnkd.in/g52YUsGz So great to partner with my team and these other firms to bring together the thriving climate community in SF!

What a SF Climate Week!! Where do I start… This past week has been nothing short of exhilarating! Kicking off with a vibrant event hosted by College to Climate, it was truly inspiring to see young students so engaged and eager to drive change. A massive thank you to the College to Climate team — Jessica Harrington, Kevin Lu, and everyone involved for orchestrating such a fantastic start! It was equally thrilling to reconnect with some of the innovative founders and investors from our Earth First community that Haley Hughes and I have had the pleasure of getting to know. Hearing about their work across diverse areas—from cold chain logistics to grid solutions, and from software innovations to hardware developments—was incredibly enlightening. Special shoutouts to Hannah Sieber, Lucas Ackerknecht, Josh Felser, Nare Janvelyan, PhD, and Keely Anson for sharing their impactful initiatives. Last but not least, True Ventures x Earth First gathering successfully brought together young, passionate individuals from various backgrounds to engage in meaningful dialogue about innovative climate solutions! Heartfelt thanks to the entire True Ventures team, with special mentions to Mikaela Lipsky, Julie Walker, Bryan Mason, Laura Vrcek, and Cindi Jo Cheaney + a big shoutout to McGee Young and Aaron Hall for their invaluable insights. A huge appreciation also goes out to everyone who attended and contributed to the discussions. Reflecting on the week, here are some of my insights that I want to highlight: 1. The path to becoming a founder or investor in the climate space is anything but linear—embrace the beautiful imperfections of this journey. 2. "Bits make the atoms smarter." (-Josh) We must leverage every tool at our disposal, from software to hardware, to drive solutions. 3. The climate crisis affects us all, and there is a vital role for everyone, regardless of background. We need collective action now more than ever. Here’s to continuing the momentum and pushing boundaries together!

After the events of SF Climate Week and hearing so many inspiring ideas, I felt the need to take a break from reading about white papers under fluorescent lighting and do something physical in nature - like setting grapevines on fire! Huge thank you to Napachar founders Eric Mayer and Katy Mayer for allowing Adam Shurbaji MD and I to help them turn leftover biomass from vineyards in Napa and Sonoma Counties into #biochar. They helped us learn and understand the potential behind biochar, which according to Project Drawdown, could sequester billions of metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. Biochar replaces a polluting, commonplace activity - open burning - with pyrolysis, which generates energy from biomass in the absence of oxygen and little to no smoke. The leftover material can sequester carbon for thousands of years if buried in the soil, or in my case, my vegetable beds :) Being outdoors, getting your hands dirty, and connecting with nature is something we all could use more of - and this black gold acts as a wonderful fertilizer or compost additive! #Biochar #Agriculture #Sustainability #RegenerativeAgriculture #ClimateChange #SoilHealth #CarbonSequestration #RenewableEnergy #CircularEconomy #AgTech