Earlier this month, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins began the process of separating its cleantech investing from the rest of its fund. It marks the end of an era. Ten years after Kleiner star John Doerr was moved to tears during his TED talk about climate change, there’s no longer any question that VCs’ interest in clean energy is waning.
Does Silicon Valley Still Care About Climate Change?
Cleantech investments and patents are down.
May 30, 2017
Summary.
Earlier this month, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins began the process of separating its cleantech investing from the rest of its fund. It marks the end of an era. Ten years after Kleiner star John Doerr was moved to tears during his TED talk about climate change, there’s no longer any question that VCs’ interest in clean energy is waning. U.S. VC investment in cleantech “has declined sharply since 2011” according to a new analysis by the Brookings Institution. That trend is more than five years old, but it’s particularly notable given two other developments. First, another recent Brookings analysis found that U.S. cleantech innovation declined from 2014 to 2016, as measured by patents. Second, Ernst & Young, which for years ranked the U.S. as the most attractive market worldwide for renewable energy investment, this year downgraded it to third, behind China and India. America appears to be pulling back on cleantech innovation when it can least afford to do so.