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“Most people hate to admit they’re wrong, but it didn’t bother Bill [Gates] one bit. All he cared about was *what* was right, not *who* was right. That’s what makes Bill very, very dangerous.”

Larry Ellison, SoftWar

The record-breaking fires and storms of recent years are an indication the next administration will face a tough 4 years of the climate crisis. President-Elect Biden’s plan seeks to avoid the question of who is right with a focus on jobs.

#trends

When we make investments, we don’t look for policy support. But we do consider the potential upside if it materializes. One way we can test our impact thesis is to ask “are climate and city policies catching up to our investments?” For example, at the intersection of real estate and energy, the EU just announced the massive Bauhaus plan for retrofit building-efficiency policies. We’re seeing similar policy trends in Japan and China. We’re participating in the preparation of urbantech policy suggestions for NYC’s next mayor. And California continues to lead in the decarbonization of the economy. 

As much as policy, economics matters too. Our focus on electrification of everything depends on being able to move to zero emissions energy generation. Solar is now ‘the cheapest electricity in history’. Climate tech investing is growing at a rapid pace (also unpacked by Michael Corren at QZ). Real estate investors are trying to get a better understanding of climate risks. 

And then there’s consumer behavior. Are zoom towns a permanent migration pattern? Are Americans going to continue driving less after the pandemic? Or will car people demand the streets back?  Here is David Levinson’s take on post-COVID cities. And here are four more visions for the city of the (post coronavirus) future.

#stats - You’ve asked, so we’re sharing a few stats to keep you posted on our progress. 

#wins

Evolve was acquired by Octopus Energy and SeamlessDocs was acquired by Kofile ; Bowery Farming was named the largest indoor farming company in the US - Techcrunch ; Covetool raised a Series A - Techcrunch ; Xtelligent was featured in Forbes ; Flair was praised on Techcrunch ; Kibbo was profiled in Treehugger; Robyn Beavers at Blueprint Power was named Entrepreneur of the Year on Nasdaq; and we’re still reeling from a successful demo day for URBAN-X Cohort 8. Here’s a recap from Axios and the full recording.

#asks 

• Nominate your favorite climate investors here.
• Sissi@Metalmark.xyz is looking for hotels in the Boston area to pilot their air quality devices. 
• The US GSA and DOE have issued a Request for Information for resource-efficient technologies that improve commercial building health and resilience.
• If you come across any great climatetech / urbantech pre-seed startups, please share with us.
• Please share this email with your colleagues and friends :-)

Best,
Zeev, Liz, Stonly, Shaun, Shilpi and Mark

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