News, Reconfigured: March 17th
This is really becoming a thing...
Quick note before we start: As a heads up – this newsletter contains references to startups and different organizations. I'm not endorsing any companies or products mentioned here (and if I do, I promise to be transparent about it). This newsletter is just for info and fun. Make sure to do your own digging (and tell me if you find gold💰)!
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Hey there Climate Globetrotters!👋
I’ve been busy lately: A combination of work travel and holiday kept me from giving you my unsolicited opinion on the Arctic and the Reconfiguration.
Since I hate to leave you all hanging, I’m handing out Arctic passports (see below). But don’t worry, we’re in for some great stuff as we wrap our Arctic adventures.
Hope you enjoy this edition, and as always - If you like this Substack, please share with your friends:
On Today’s Agenda:
🧭 Frontier Watch: UK Cozying Up to China
🎪 Globetrotting: I’m Handing Out Arctic Passports!
🌊 Ripple Reports:
Space Debris x Climate Change
Cities Experiencing Global Weirding
💻 Tech, Reconfigured:
Happened in Tech: Fervo Energy Eyeing IPO
Startup Shoutout: Newlight
🧭 Frontier Watch
Major shifts that caught our attention in the past two weeks.
Miliband Goes to Beijing
I normally try to dedicate this section to the big things that happen, but today I want to focus on a smaller topic that may indicate a larger story that’s just beginning to unfold: China and the UK getting cosy over the climate.
Setting the Scene: Trump Does a 180
Our story begins with something that has already been getting ample attention: the Trump Administration’s rapid reversal of Biden’s climate policies. Since the US has suddenly found petro-religion, a leadership vacuum has emerged and countries are starting to flock to China, which also happens to be one of the world’s largest emitters.
One example of this movement towards China is none other than the UK.
UK Cozying Up to China
With its green economy growing faster than its “traditional” economy, the UK finds itself increasingly in need of the natural resources critical for its energy transition. Responding to US retreat from climate leadership, UK is starting to warm up to China, as seen by Ed Miliband’s historic visit to Beijing. Miliband, UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, landed in Beijing to talk (green) shop 💸💹🧧.
Miliband is the first UK energy minister to visit China in 8 years. During his visit, he was quoted saying:
“We can only keep future generations safe from climate change if all major emitters act. It is simply an act of negligence to today’s and future generations not to engage China on how it can play its part in taking action on climate.”
While, on the surface, the rhetoric focused on convincing China to do its part in reducing emissions, there’s more to this story than meets the eye. It seems like the UK’s growing reliance on critical resources and Chinese-controlled supply chains has paved the way for a UK about face on China.
So what’s going on, and who cares?
It’s the Minerals. It’s Always the Minerals.
It’s never simple, but if I had to guess, the key issue is that China has things the UK wants:
The UK plans to capitalize on wind energy as part of the transition and generate 30GW onshore and another 50GW offshore. China is responsible for 2/3s of wind turbine manufacturing worldwide. Yeah, it needs turbines, and lots of them.
Solar energy modules, required by UK to triple solar capacity, is an area led by China, by far.
Critical minerals are increasingly under Chinese control through financial and supply-chain mechanisms, minerals the UK (and every other country) needs for the transition
Implications: China = Climate Leader?!
Miliband’s trip signifies a major reconfiguration of geopolitics and of the global economy. Climate change, despite what some may hope, isn’t going away, and neither is the Reconfiguration. Many countries are still very much looking to harness renewables to transition away from fossil fuels. As the US cedes its leadership position, countries might turn to China. The UK’s behavior is a case in point: They might not love it, but they kinda have to.
China’s potential role in leading the charge has significant ramifications that are only highlighted by the effort to decarbonize the global economy. The drive towards net zero, coupled with a leadership vacuum, creates a rewiring of international relations and the global economy and brings us closer to a multi-polar world.
The impacts of climate change and the need to decarbonize its economy are pushing the UK to set its differences aside and build a partnership with China. Had the US continued its push to decarbonize, it’s possible that the UK would have been less enthusiastic to cozy up to Beijing. But time is of the essence and the UK cannot wait for a potential course-reversal in 2028. ⏲️
I suspect this is the harbinger of a new reality in which China is a sought-after climate leader, that is positioned to win glory, lots of money, and influence.
So… good luck to us all 🚩
🎪 Globetrotting
As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been busy with my travel (it happens!). But still, to make it up to you, I’ve decided I’m handing out Arctic Passports.
See, since I’ve crowned myself King of the Arctic, I have realized I don’t have any citizens to govern. So, I have partnered with Base44 to give all subscribers (and would-be subscribers😉) Arctic Passports and a Citizenship Certificate.
Learn more here:
🌊 Ripple Reports
The Reconfiguration is not always about making giant waves, but sometimes about making smaller ripples. Let’s take a look at some of the more subtle signals of the Reconfiguration:
Climate Change in Low Earth Orbit Near You. I know, I know, you thought space has nothing to do with climate change. Guess what - it turns out climate change is reducing the Earth’s ability to clean up space debris in orbit, which is the only real way of getting rid of space junk. 🛰️ Therefore, the worse climate change gets, the harder it will be for humanity to use Space and the Earth’s orbit. That is pretty bad, given that we kinda need it to help fight climate change (reported by APNews; Thank you Mallory Lumpe for bringing this to my attention!)
Cities Are Experiencing Climate Whiplash. New study finds that climate change is weirding out many cities around the world. Some cities experience drought-to-flood whiplash, overwhelming local infrastructure, while others experience fundamental change in weather patterns. Either way, cities find themselves need to dramatically adapt to new realities and adopt new technologies and methods. That’s a Reconfiguration for ya (reported by TheGuardian).
👩💻Tech, Reconfigured
Innovators, inventors, and explorers building tools for our changing world
Happened in Tech
Fervo Energy eyeing IPO. Geothermal scale-up Fervo Energy is eying an IPO over then next couple of years. Fervo, which leverages drilling techniques developed by oil companies to tap into geothermal energy, has raised so far $786M (according to Crunchbase). The company has been laser focused on reducing its operational costs, which allowed it to reach commercial viability. Fervo’s operational excellence and cost reduction show how climate startups should be thinking about scaling up and how to reach commercial success (reported by TechCruch)
Startup Shoutout
Newlight:
You’re a shipping magnate. You LOVE the environment 🌍, but what can you do, ships emit carbon (hi Diesel engines 👋). Yeah, you’d love to cut emissions, but you’re a businessman, and you can’t give up profitability. Your investors won’t like it much. If only there was a way to have it both ways…
Well, maybe you can. Newlight can help:
Newlight develops a a plug-and-play device that can be installed on most existing ship engines without requiring dry docking (you really hate dry docking)
Their technology helps you reduce fuel consumption by 30%, while slashing your emissions by 20%, and planning to get up to a whopping 60%!
Newlight are an early-stage startup backed up by Fusion VC, the Israeli Innovation Authority and the US Department of Energy. While still a young company, they couldn’t be more timely, with the growing need to decarbonize shipping. The case for shipping has never been stronger, especially as accelerated Arctic thawing is expected to open up new shipping lanes. Since there are no real economically-viable solutions today, we need all the help we can get to reduce emissions while shipping volume rises.
What’s cool about Newlight’s solution is that it doesn’t require big infrastructure investments or retrofitting. It’s plug & play. Just put it on your ship and get going (seriously, get going, that new pair of jeans I ordered won’t get here it on their own) 🚢
In my view, Newlight is working at the heart of the Reconfiguration, developing a solution that helps an industry that needs to invent itself to meet decarbonization and net zero goals, while attempting to keep profitable. The Reconfiguration needs its heroes, and Newlight can certainly be one!
Check them out here.
That's a Wrap, Climate Globetrotters! 🌍✈️
We've reached the end of our expedition into the Reconfiguration. Hope you enjoyed the ride! Here's what's on the horizon:
🧊 Next week (this time for real): Part 6 of our Arctic adventure will recap our journey through the Arctic and will talk about the future of the region.
📅 In two weeks: Your next "News, Reconfigured" dispatch lands in your inbox.
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