GREEN TECHNOLOGY
What You Should Know About CleanTech
There has never been a more positive outlook on the convergence of disruptive technology and the winds of change. Green technology is no longer just solar and wind power. It reaches across the entire spectrum of impactful change: in the way we look at energy consumption, clean our water, care for our agricultural lands, and develop better healthcare. Investors and scientists alike are coming to understand the value of impact investing for these incoming technologies – not just for better resources today, but for a better world tomorrow.
Whether you call it green technology, clean technology, or cleantech, many recognize that the need for changing how we manage our resources is growing. The future is written in our growing population, growing climate change, and growing demand for energy. We need better technology—clean technology—that helps us maintain our resources and our population. Through impact investing, we can make positive change happen.
As a pioneer in investing in cleantech, Dr. Schindler’s immense experience has earned him global recognition in his work to understand the question of “How do we make green technology worth the investment?”
Invested Industries
What is Green Technology?
Green tech or green technology refers to the science and technology that aims to produce clean energy, reduce negative impacts of greenhouse gases, preserve and occasionally restore the earth’s natural resources. Green technology plays an important role in recycling, water treatment, air purification, and clean energy.
Today, the interest of several industries in sustainability continues to grow and investors, especially in this millennium, place a huge priority in companies that seek to develop clean and green technologies
Source: Green Tech
Companies Using Green Technology
As of today, here are top 4 companies that are using Green Technology:
- Intel – Intel is the leading company that operates on green energy using wind, solar, hydro and biomass to manufacture their products.
- Google – Google’s shifts to cleaner operations and responsible supply chains. Google continues to be carbon neutral and create products and that help utilize energy.
- Microsoft – Using their own technology, Microsoft lends a hand to companies’ environmental initiatives. Microsoft also announced their data centers construction that will focus on R&D for efficiency and renewable energy.
- Apple – Apple has committed to 100% renewable energy to power its data centers and has influenced most of its suppliers to follow their footsteps. The company has also aimed for a zero waste production to conserve water and reduce carbon emissions.
Top 10 Companies Using Green Technologies
The 5 greenest tech companies in 2019
Why Invest in Green Technologies?
Climate change has created a significant impact in the global markets and economic growth and now is the best time for investors aiming for financial stability and sustainability. However, it is also important to be aware of the risk of greenwashing and create extensive research to find the best investment opportunity.
Investing in green technology is not only a financially viable option for investors, it is also crucial to the survival of our people and our planet.
4 Points to Keep in Mind for Green Technology Startup Investments
For several years now, green technology investing has been stuck in a rut—still perceived as too risky by some, too slow to grow by others. However, there’s no doubt that we need VC investors in cleantech startups. Whether it’s two years from now or ten, the future is written in our growing population, growing climate change, and growing demand for energy—all of which combats our decreasing safe drinking water, decreasing agricultural abilities and global financial instability.
If you’re going to invest in green technology startups, here are a few points to remember:
1. Green technology investments are not short-term investments
New and developing clean energy investments require time and money, more so than many investments that realize within a fairly short period of time. Green technology has a long development cycle, which means that VC investors have to have sufficient capital to survive until the investment pays off.
2. Green technology startup ventures are trying to break into established territory
Many startups are breaking into a bright new world with a new idea. IT, for example, is constantly making leaps and bounds: phones the size of your hand; toasters that talk to refrigerators; television screens on windows. Never-before-seen technology. Science-fiction come to life.
Not so with most green technology startups. Many are trying to capture a part of an established market—the energy market. They’re going up against the likes of mega oil companies and utilities.
3. Governance can be an issue
Although part of the purpose of clean energy is to solve the ESG criteria, creating cleaner, more sustainable energy, startup ventures generally lack trained management. So, while the established energy companies may work like well-oiled machines, many startup venture managers are hired based friendships and how well one gets along with another.
4. “Strike while the iron is hot” may not be the best mode of operations for green tech
Green technology investing is high-risk investing that needs to be balanced with careful research. As mentioned above, smaller VC investors should take a good hard look at whether they can sustain the longer lifecycle of clean energy.
Cleantech startup initiatives aren’t going to go away, and we shouldn’t want them to. To continue to exist, to move forward as healthy humankind, to have breathable air, unpolluted ground waters and safe agricultural practices that span the world, green technology is a must. It’s a long-term investment for you, as a VC investor, that will last for multiple generations.
Learn About Green Technology
The Green Revolution
In the early 1950’s, the world was predicted to be on the brink of mass famine due to the impacts of climate change, rapid growth in population and depleting natural resources.
Before the awakening issue turned into reality, American scientist Norman Borlaug pioneered a revolutionary research that transformed agricultural processes worldwide. The solution? Developing new disease resistance high-yield varieties of wheat in combination with various agricultural technologies. His research began in Mexico and led to success and the spread of a global reformed agricultural system.
Today, the same global issues persist and continue to require innovative solutions. The United Nations states that the world population is projected to reach 9.8 billion in 2050 – it is essential to preserve our food supply and find innovative ways to eradicate hunger, in order to do this, we will need another green revolution.
Read more: History and Overview of the Green Revolution, The Next Green Revolution, and How Will We Feed 10 Billion People In 2050?
The Next Green Tech Revolution Needs
“The first Green Revolution succeeded in improving yields in the breadbasket regions where it was implemented. But it sometimes came at a high social and environmental cost, including the depletion of soils, pollution of groundwater, and increased inequalities among farmers. And the productivity gains were not always sustainable in the long term.” (Olivier De Schutter and Gaëtan Vanloqueren)
Olivier De Schutter and Gaëtan Vanloqueren wrote an extensive article on how to address the 20th century food crisis and places emphasis on the importance of recognizing the relationship between climate change and food security.
“It must not only preserve land and other agricultural resources for future generations; it must actively restore lands and resources that have been degraded… It must also create the enabling macroeconomic environment needed to link sustainable agricultural systems to markets.”
This could be challenging as there are overwhelming factors in the green technology revolution that negatively contribute to the environment.
Where Should Investments Be Made?
Author Alex Jones wrote an article that notes how the choices investors make, especially in 2020, will become crucial to the survival of our planet. He urges investors to invest in four main areas that could make a difference in the upcoming green revolution:
- Education– Proper education affects a long line of influence, “women educated to university level, on average, later invest more money in their communities than men, and their children usually benefit from a higher level of education” which creates impact in how communities live and consume energy.
- Green Energy – Renewable energy has come a long way, breaking barriers such as cost effectiveness and technological developments to ensure that greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants are reduced, positively contributing to our planet’s well-being.
- Infrastructure– Infrastructures in energy, transportation, waste management, land use planning and governance not only drive economic growth; they also contribute to the health and development of our planet. Sustainable infrastructure can create various positive impacts to our environment.
- Research and Development – Continuous progress in research and development is valuable in all types of industries and is highly significant in finding innovative solutions and new technologies.
Make Your Investment Count
Help shape the world for the coming generations and invest in areas that make the most positive change for our planet and global economic growth.
No one has more experience in this arena than Dr. Schindler. He’s advised some of the world’s leading sustainability companies as a corporate lawyer and invested in some of the first ground-breaking green technology as a venture capitalist.
Today, he focuses on initiatives that make a long-lasting impact on protecting the world’s sustainable resources. Whether finding key investment opportunities or providing his expertise as a sustainability advisor, he works to uncover green technologies that make a difference.
Contact Transformation LLC to join green revolution.