Though only around one-sixth as big as the Henry Paulson/TPG fund, this is another example of the scale of the money pools being mobilized ahead of the giant climate get-together in Glasgow.
From TechCrunch, August 12:
Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon Capital has raised $800 million to "keep unf*cking the planet"
Lowercarbon Capital, a climate-tech focused fund founded by longtime investor Chris Sacca and his wife Crystal Sacca, has closed on $800 million in capital, Sacca announced today in a post on the firm’s site.
According to Sacca, the commitments came exceedingly fast — in “just a few days.” Writes Sacca: “It turns out that raising for a climate fund in the context of an unprecedented heatwave and from behind the thick clouds of fire smoke probably didn’t hurt. In fact, all that pollution may have lent a warm, beautifying haze to our Zoom calls. Like an Incendiary Doom Glow Insta filter.”
The interest is far from surprising given the mounting and rather stark evidence that life as humans know it is in peril, owing to rising temperatures. On the heels of a deadly floods in Western Germany and China, wildfires in Greece and California, and ahead of another heat wave in the Pacific Northwest, a new report released Monday by the United Nations’ climate science research group was clear about the current state of affairs, declaring a “code red for humanity.”
Certainly, some of Lowercarbon’s backers are interested in tech that’s working to reverse some of these trends. But as Sacca notes, if they’re purely focused on the financial rewards that climate-focused tech can reap, that’s fine, too.
“We are thrilled to see how many investors understand the urgency of the climate crisis and are already dedicating their time, as well as their capital, to real solutions,” he says in his post. “However, to be frank, we were also heartened by those investors who actually don’t care that much about the planet and instead are just chasing financial returns.”....
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