Steph Speirs

Clean Energy Already Has Big Trade Barriers. Now Comes Trump Researchers see negative impacts across the board, but some countries and industries are far more exposed. Solar and onshore wind should fare better.

How Bad Will Trump's Tariffs Be for Clean Energy? - Bloomberg www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Tackling climate crisis will increase economic growth, OECD research finds Third of global GDP could be lost this century if climate crisis runs unchecked, says report

Guess what?? Investing in climate solutions actually grows your economy.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

It’s why Warren Buffet spent 2024 building up a cash pile—so he could deploy it starting now.

Yes, tariffs will worsen inflation and weaken the US economy, but that’s another conversation.

First graph shows the economy (imperfectly measured by GDP) and the stock market in the last 20 years.

Second graph goes back to 1948, when we started measuring.

The market is always more frenetic.

5 years ago, the market was at the nadir of the pandemic. Right now it’s closer to 2024 levels.

Zooming out and taking a wider aperture allows us to see this is a bad time to pull money. Rich people are buying, not selling, investments now.

(1/3)

People want clean air, clean water, and affordable, clean energy. People are struggling to pay their bills. It is sensible to hold onto the good, well-paying jobs we've created in the last few years. If we don't, countries like China are eager to step into our place.

It hurts American tech companies that are transforming our economy. It hurts domestic manufacturing that are building components that power our daily lives. Which means it hurts our energy independence and national security.

It is not partisan to say, “We need to cultivate a clean energy industry in America, not kill it.”

The current effort to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and freeze climate grants hurts American workers and increases the cost of electricity.

BREAKING: @EPA and @Citibank have been illegally withholding $20 billion for transformative clean energy investments in US rural, low-income, and Tribal communities.

@Climate_United filed suit this weekend to unfreeze the funds.

POLITICO Pro: EPA unfreezes some climate grants Programs had been frozen — with one brief interruption — since Jan. 28.

subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...

🚨 Solar for All grants will flow again!

The Trump administration attempted to claw back the $7B in grants awarded last year to 49 states, 6 tribes, and 5 coalitions to make solar more accessible and bring energy costs down. Kudos to the public servants and lawyers who fought to keep the programs. 👏

Happy to share I’ve joined the faculty at @yalesom.bsky.social to teach climate tech innovation and entrepreneurship!

Designing the course has been a dream. It’s the class I wish I had taken before becoming a climate tech entrepreneur.

Excited to train students to work in this dynamic industry.

Happy Thanksgiving, happy hunting season, and happy that trees remind us to glamorize letting go.

Hard to think of a policy that would automatically increase gas prices for no good reason more than this.

>50% of the oil imported into the U.S. comes from CAN, and roughly 25% of all crude processed by U.S. refineries is from CAN. MEX is also the largest export destination for US petro products.

Northvolt’s (Europe’s battery juggernaut) bankruptcy is one of the most important climate tech lessons of 2024. EU carmakers will now have to rely on Asian producers, and investors will fear taking risk at a time the world needs to multiply battery investment. Excellent summary of what happened:

6) Activists screamed a lot at negotiators throughout the event. Expect more aggression in Brazil COP next year given this year will break all historical heat records and more people reckon with the effects of a warming planet.

5) Island and low-income countries had to walk out to get rich countries to agree to give $300B a year by 2035 (instead of the proposed $250B) to help countries that are not responsible for climate change the resources they need to adapt. Too bad they actually need closer to $1.3B a year. 🧐

4) Real action happened outside of official meetings: Britain announced new funding to preserve forests. Mexico, the last holdout against net zero in the G20, finally came around. Indonesia pledged to phase out fossil-fuel generation. Private investors made trillions in commitments despite Trump.

3) Influence of US negotiators down given impending Trump circus, while China stepping up to take more of an “unusually cooperative” leadership role, which will further bolster China’s global competitive edge in climate.

2) Shocking no one, Saudi Arabia doled out unprecedented level of objections to any agreement to transition away from fossil fuels. Genius move when analysts say they have 60 years of oil left at current extraction levels.

Helpful COP29 snapshot by @bloomberg.com. The other big stories:
1) Azerbaijan opens as host declaring oil and gas as a “gift from God”—cool cool cool. Senior negotiators call it the worst COP in over a decade and call for reform. Maybe oil magnates don’t host the best climate parties?
(Continued)

A great quick video from Smithsonian on how climate and culture can work together to engender a sustainable planet.

Athens on 35mm film. The Parthenon was destroyed and transformed 7 times in human conflicts over 2000 years. Each time, anonymous workers took to the rubble with hand tools and built it anew. We need more builders now for our world.

And I appreciate the education you put out in the world!

🤓

Hi new friends! I never twatted on Twitter but more community sounds excellent right now, doesn’t it?

I’m a climate tech entrepreneur that loves to freedive, hunt, and take photos. Follow along for adventures in nature, climate, and community.