Investing in the Technologies of a Zero Carbon Future with David McColl

Climate change is the defining challenge of our generation; solving it presents a generational opportunity. Most models suggest we need to cut today’s global emissions by 50% over the next 30 years in order to keep average warming levels below 1.5 deg C, which means we need to start developing the climate technologies of the future today in order to reach full-scale commercialization by 2050.

Developing new technologies is hard, expensive, and slow, but necessary to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. Financing these innovations requires massive amounts of capital and a complete toolkit of investment mechanisms. In this Fortnightly, David McColl, investor at Echelon Capital and Shoreline Capital, will survey the climate tech funding landscape and discuss how and why these new technologies will play a key role in addressing this major challenege — and bring big returns in the process. In a nutshell, David argues that developing new technologies to fight climate change is not philanthropy; it’s good business.