Dirty Talk
If it seems like the recent issues of this newsletter have all relayed some heavy climate news … they have and unfortunately this month is no exception. But, we hope that amidst the alarm, you also glean optimism from the solutions and positive progress being made in climate tech.
July was the "hottest month ever recorded on Earth and likely the hottest in about 120,000 years". July’s record-breaking heat waves in the US Southwest, Mexico, China and around the Mediterranean follow the hottest June ever recorded, and it’s likely that the rest of the year will continue to break records. Climate change is currently mingling with El Niño, which has shifted the Pacific Ocean from a cooling period (La Niña) to a warming period—which is amplified by human-caused warming. So the stark reality is that while July was the hottest period ever recorded, it may actually be the coolest period of what’s to come.
Now for the solutions part. Our portfolio includes (and is seeking) companies that are capable of having a massive, positive climate impact. Our goal is to mitigate 1 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent by the end of this year. But climate tech is only part of the solution—the Earth’s natural systems are the original defense. So let’s take a moment to appreciate soil, which stores 2500 billion tonnes of carbon.
We are actively seeking companies that improve soil health or that catalyze high quality carbon credits (or other incentives to preserve ecosystems), but in the interim we want to do everything we can to keep carbon in the ground, preserve nature and halt record-breaking warming. Earlier this year we launched an Earth Month Challenge to galvanize a donation to the Nature Conservancy of Canada and we’re proud that we catalyzed a $22,000 with Spring Activator and Genus Capital Management. The gift goes towards NCC’s Hastings Wildlife Junction, a 10,000 hectare forest and wetland ecosystem in Southern Ontario that stores 11 million tonnes of CO2e and sequesters an additional 28,000 tonnes every year. It’s a drop in the proverbial bucket, but while heat records continue to be broken we think it’s important to do everything we can and celebrate even a little progress.