This month, we’re highlighting some of the energy and climate provisions in the infrastructure bill, touching on what the international climate conference COP26 was and wasn’t, highlighting the potential impact of corporate buyers coalitions, giving a round of applause to the progress the company NET Power has made, and more! Infrastructure Month! The bipartisan infrastructure bill was signed into law. Here’s a summary from Canary Media. Here’s another summary from the AP. Here’s a chart for what it means for the utilities sector from Accenture:   While the bill is only indirectly related ..read more

Credit: Hertz A lot of attention throughout the month of October was on Washington, where the (as-of-yet unpassed) reconciliation bill with major climate provisions was being negotiated, but there was a lot else going on as well. In particular, Hertz and Tesla announced a deal that should provide a great opportunity for consumers to try-before-you-buy EVs, Breakthrough Energy announced their first batch of their important Fellows program, news about a Clean Energy Trust portfolio company being acquired, more activity in the EV battery material supply chain, learnings from corporate carbon offs ..read more

Credit: Rethink Electric This month, we’re highlighting big climate policy news in Illinois, how the battery materials supply chain is evolving, why sustainable aviation fuels may be a Goldilocks solution, and changing beliefs on climate change. Illinois Commits to 100% Clean Energy Illinois passed major climate policy in September, the first state in the Midwest to do so. The law will phase out fossil fuels in energy generation, provides additional funding for the construction of renewable energy projects, subsidizes some existing nuclear power plants in the state, and a host of other fe ..read more

Here’s why Clean Energy Trust is excited about our investment in Continuum Ag, an Iowa-based startup run by farmers, for farmers, to drive the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices that improve sustainability, increase profits, and sequester carbon in the soil. Meet Mitchell Hora. Mitchell is a farmer in Iowa. His father is a farmer. His grandfather is a farmer, as was his great grandfather. In fact, Mitchell is a seventh generation farmer. Without a doubt, Mitchell Hora was born to farm. Regenerative agriculture: a new way to farm There’s a new trend in farming known as “regenerative ..read more

CHICAGO, IL – October 6, 2021 – Clean Energy Trust announced its $200,000 investment in Iowa-based startup, Continuum Ag, developer of a software platform that helps farmers manage soil health and implement regenerative agricultural practices. Continuum Ag’s TopSoil software integrates agronomic data and compiles the information into an easy-to-understand platform that offers soil health information. TopSoil provides benchmarking metrics, such as nutrients, organic matter, and microbial activity based upon different geographies, soil types, and cropping systems. Clean Energy Trust joins Ag Sta ..read more

Join Clean Energy Trust on Thursday, November 18 from 3 – 4 pm CT to learn more about our Spring 2022 Investment Cycle and other opportunities for climate tech startups. Speakers will include members of the Clean Energy Trust Investment Team, Tony Zhu and Dylan O’Reilly.   Clean Energy Trust’s 501vc® Investment Fund supports early-stage climate tech startups in the Greater Midwest. Learn more and apply for investment at https://www.cleanenergytrust.org/apply/ If you are unable to attend, feel free to email your questions to info@cleanenergytrust.org   The post November 18 – Spring 2 ..read more

Haley Marie Keith, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at MITO Material Solutions Name: Haley Marie Keith Title: Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Company: MITO Material Solutions   Our first post in this blog series featured Chief Executive Officer Dr. Francis Wang of NanoGraf Corporation. As a reminder, NanoGraf has developed a silicon-based anode battery material that enables electric vehicle (EV) batteries to run longer and charge faster than traditional lithium-ion batteries on the market. Following Dr. Wang, we knew we had to feature MITO Material Solutions CEO and Co-Founde ..read more

Credit: Vermont State Police/AFP Hope you had a relaxing Labor Day. Now that it’s behind us, let’s take a look at what happened in cleantech in August. This month, we’re talking about advances in limited-use-case autonomous vehicles, how electric vehicle battery recalls may impact their prospects, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, energy multinationals morphing into distributed energy solutions providers, and more! Battery Electric Vehicles are On FIRE Chevrolet has recalled every Chevy Bolt over battery issues, including a bunch whose batteries had already been reca ..read more

Photo by Jeremy Zero on Unsplash Ever have that moment when you realize your yogurt in the fridge has expired and feel bad that you have to throw it out? Or maybe it’s the strawberries you bought a week ago, or the chicken that somehow found its way to the back of the shelf. Whatever it is, chances are that many other people have the same problem. Across the globe, there is one pound of food lost or wasted for every two pounds that makes its journey all the way through the supply chain and the digestive tracts of consumers. That’s right, one-third of all the food produced in the world fails to ..read more

MILWAUKEE (September 1, 2021) — Milwaukee-based benefit corporation Agricycle Global, an innovative “landless” ingredient upcycling startup working across Sub-Saharan Africa, announced the close of its two-part $2.4M Series Seed funding round led by Wisconsin firms MaSa Partners and CSA Partners. The investment follows Agricycle’s commercialization of upcycled fruits from small farms across Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania and its US launch of two owned brands reaching 1,000 stores in distribution in 2021. Additional Series Seed investors who participated in this round include Madison-based Wisconsi ..read more