Updates from Climate Change Fund grantees

We caught up with eight of the organizations and projects the Founders Pledge Climate Change Fund has granted to over the past three years. We're excited for you to hear their latest achievements and recent work; they've been busy advancing climate innovations, advocating for improved policies, and strengthening the networks focused on climate action.

Below, they share updates in their own words.

The Cascade Institute

The Cascade Institute is a Canadian research center addressing converging global challenges. By analyzing complex global systems, we anticipate future crises and identify high-leverage interventions to beneficially shift humanity’s course. Ultradeep geothermal power—an emerging form of zero-carbon, baseload power that is renewable, dispatchable, and immune to climate extremes—is one such intervention.

The Cascade Institute’s Ultradeep Geothermal Program aims to establish a Canadian geothermal innovation ecosystem. It supports and mobilizes industry, governments, scientists, and communities to accelerate the development of next-generation geothermal technologies and unlock “geothermal anywhere.”

With critical support from Founders Pledge and a consortium of funders, we have built an exceptional team with expertise in geology, geophysics, drilling, public policy, community engagement, and energy-system modeling. We recently coordinated a multi-firm campaign to broaden the federal government’s clean-technology tax credit and thereby amplify Canada’s geothermal investment. We have also forged partnerships with geothermal firms, service providers, industry organizations, and research groups in Canada and around the world.

The Institute will soon publish an authoritative assessment of deep “superhot” drilling technologies that integrates insights from top engineers and experts. This report will give investors and policymakers—in Canada and beyond—clear guidance on strategies for accelerating drilling-technology development. By the end of May, we will release an “R&D Roadmap” that assesses the technical, financial, and regulatory obstacles impeding geothermal R&D and commercialization and outlines strategies to address these obstacles.

We are also about to hire a director for the Institute’s new geothermal policy office in Ottawa. This person will engage leaders across the political spectrum and work with drilling firms, financial agencies, donors, and stakeholder communities (including indigenous groups) to advance a plan for a $550 million deep geothermal experimental program. The aim is to initiate drilling at multiple Canadian sites within the next two years.

Clean Air Task Force (CATF)

In late 2023 and early 2024, CATF continued to drive policies and private sector actions to drive global warming emissions down around the world:

Europe

• CATF mounted a successful all-fronts campaign leading the European Union to adopt a methane leak standard for imported oil and gas that is expected to reduce global emissions of methane from oil and gas by a third and avoid health damage to 10 million people.
• CATF successfully advocated for the European Union to include nuclear energy among the technologies qualifying for government support in the Net-Zero Industry Act, and to launch an accelerated effort to commercialize and deploy small modular reactors.
• CATF also successfully advocated for an EU CO2 scrubbing and storage target of 50 million tons per year by 2030 for the EU, requiring gas and oil producers in the region to provide geological carbon storage, based on a share of their production.

The United States

• CATF helped design, then successfully pushed for, a new federal rule that would force global warming emission cuts of up to 90% from coal and gas plants; CATF is now preparing to defend this rule in court.
• CATF's advocacy for deep dry rock geothermal led to the first-ever pilot demonstration program for this game changing technology that allows for “geothermal anywhere.”
• CATF successfully advocated for new clean energy standards in Minnesota and Michigan that require utilities to achieve 100% clean electricity.
• CATF published a detailed report on how US corporate clean energy buyers can speed commercialization of new “always available” zero carbon technologies by making sure suppliers are providing clean energy around the clock within local power grids.

Africa

• CATF published a shocking report on African energy transition scholarship, revealing that the majority of such research fails to consider the development imperatives of African nations, limits those nations to a narrow solution set, and is most often written by non-Africans.
• CATF produced studies on how African nations can reduce grid electricity losses, and worked with power companies and governments to explore how expanding clean energy grids can be financed by new industrial and transportation demand.

Nuclear fission and fusion

• CATF in partnership with Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) and Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) issued a report on how first-time nuclear countries can adopt fission technology; published a roadmap -- “Nuclear Energy at Scale” – that outlines steps to scale nuclear energy rapidly; and helped spur the first-ever ministerial-level meeting on nuclear energy at the annual global climate change “conference of the parties.”
• CATF launched the world’s only comprehensive civil society fusion energy program, beginning research and convening experts from around the world to identify key requirements for a commercial fusion energy, and policies to both advance and appropriately regulate this important potential energy source.

Emerging research

• CATF is launching new research and convening projects that 1) identify how current policies and markets cannot deliver the $4-12 Trillion dollars per year of investment needed to achieve climate goals and what radical rethinking might give us a chance of success in mobilizing capital at climate scale; 2) identify how a realistic transition for the global oil and gas industry might take place beyond wishful thinking that they might either disappear or transform themselves into renewable energy companies.

DEPLOY/US

DEPLOY/US builds, supports, and coordinates nonprofits that advance bipartisan US policy action on climate, particularly conservative climate-focused nonprofits and allies with right-of-center constituencies (e.g., nonprofits engaging business, national security, faith, and youth). We support and accelerate the impact of this “Ecoright field” by orchestrating multi-partner policy campaigns, by building and sharing “infrastructure” (e.g. a comms shop), and by strategically funding field nonprofits and collaborations. We also partner with philanthropic leaders as an advisor and funder intermediary. We are concentrating our efforts in important red states and in key capabilities like grassroots, policy research, and narrative change in the media. We’ve funded 15 organizations in the Ecoright field over the past few months. Recently, our grantmaking, on-the-ground support, and media work contributed significantly to a Republican-supermajority state legislature passing hundreds of millions USD for environmental conservation and deployment of climate technologies.

In the coming months, DEPLOY/US will invest in multi-partner educational campaigns in 5-7 states, focused on two policy areas: permitting reform & transmission and climate & trade. These investments work under almost all election scenarios because (1) there is active engagement in these policy areas from leaders in both parties; and (2) the nonprofit capabilities built through these efforts are necessary to both preserve the most important climate-related policies and enable new policy change.

Energy for Growth Hub

Clean energy markets are evolving quickly, yet many parts of the world are stuck with old contracting models that are painfully slow, stifle competitiveness, and ultimately deter investment. The Energy for Growth Hub aims to accelerate clean energy investment by establishing global contract disclosure norms and spurring bottom-up demand for transparency in countries that need it most.

A big step forward has been our growing partnership with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), an influential organization that created global transparency standards in mining and oil contracts. EITI has now issued a formal call for greater transparency in renewable energy, which is an important validation milestone and opens the door to collaboration with their country-based chapters. Our early success in helping create a public PPA register in Ghana has inspired regulators in Kenya and Zambia to request similar assistance. We are also expanding our relationships in Indonesia, with a coalition of Pacific islands, and in the Caribbean.

Future Cleantech Architects (FCA)

In January 2024, we successfully hosted the second edition of Coffee & Cleantech in Brussels, a briefing session tailored for EU policymakers. The session was focused on aviation decarbonization and attracted participation from key stakeholders, including Members of the European Parliament, representatives from the European Commission, and industry experts. We also embarked on a transatlantic journey and co-hosted a session on Thermal Energy Storage (TES) at the EU-US Trade and Technology Council Stakeholder Event in Washington D.C., exploring collaboration opportunities between the US and EU to accelerate the adoption of TES technologies.

Furthermore, we strengthened our collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to advance initiatives promoting clean technologies and sustainable industrial practices globally. Notably, in January, we attended a workshop hosted by the UNIDO Innovation Lab in Vienna to explore collaboration on their Government Lab initiative, which aims to develop tools for policymakers to advance clean technologies. Moreover, our collaboration with UNIDO ITPO Germany was recognized in the organization's annual report.

Since the beginning of this year, our joint series with Handelsblatt continues to generate significant impact, with several featured articles on the non-CO2 effects of the aviation sector, concentrated solar power (front-page feature), alternative production pathways for green hydrogen production and innovative hydropower energy. The series has garnered substantial readership and through this collaboration we raise awareness and provide science-based, independent technology insights to a broader audience.

In February, our CEO presented initial findings on getting off natural gas and high-temperature heat innovation at the Munich Security Conference, highlighting the challenges of decarbonizing industrial processes. The presentation was well-received and opened doors for us to engage with key policy makers on this important topic for industrial decarbonization. We continue to disseminate the findings of our research and policy recommendations on our social channels and are preparing a policy brief, expected to be released in Q2 2024.

In March, we published the Future Cleantech Architects Aviation Policy Brief. The comprehensive document outlines actionable policy measures to accelerate emissions reduction and promote sustainable aviation practices. After the release of the policy brief, we were requested by EU policymakers to provide technical and policy analysis on potential policy mechanisms to accelerate the update of sustainable aviation Fuels (SAF) in Europe. Also in March, FCA provided technical and policy analysis on policy mechanisms to support hydrogen production and development in Europe. We emphasized the need for effective guiderails to ensure hydrogen will be deployed in applications where it can deliver significant climate benefits and cautioned against potential pitfalls in using hydrogen where other technologies are more efficient to reduce emissions.

In April 2024, we completed the third edition of Coffee & Cleantech in Brussels on cement decarbonization. We were delighted to welcome representatives from the European Commission, the Council and the European Parliament (EPP, S&D and Greens) and our experts delivered a comprehensive overview on technological innovations for decarbonizing the most neglected hard-to-abate sectors. In total, 24 attendees participated in the interactive session, underscoring the appetite for these events in Brussels.

Looking ahead, we aim to leverage and expand existing Future Cleantech Architects initiatives, and benefit from our policymakers’ network in Brussels and in key Member States, to spearhead targeted advocacy efforts. Our aim is to influence policymakers and stakeholders to prioritize a science-based pro-innovation, independent, non-conventional, technology-agnostic agenda for the upcoming European legislative period.

Finally, the third Future Cleantech Festival will take place from May 27-29 in Remscheid. Together with the United Nations, we are once again taking over one of the last German industrial cities - in the heart of North Rhine-Westphalia. This year, we are once again focusing on the structural promotion of cleantech innovations., where leaders, innovators, and policymakers will come together to discuss the path towards a net-zero 2050. We were delighted to announce early this year the European Innovation Council (EIC) of the European Commission as a co-host for the upcoming Future Cleantech Festival, in addition to IRENA and Mission Innovation. We are looking forward to welcoming in Remscheid leaders, policymakers, innovators, media and civil society to shape the future of cleantech innovation.

Quantified Carbon

Over the past few months at the Repower Initiative we have convened our second network conference - in Xiamen, China. It was roughly double the size of our inaugural meeting in Indonesia in November last year. That meeting proved very influential with the concept of repowering now included explicitly in the national energy policy of Indonesia.

In China we were joined by representatives from Tsinghua University, CPECC and CINIS, as our network in China expands. We also had participation from two India power sector experts, as we work towards finalising a formal relationship with IIT Delhi.

Our support from HSBC foundation will see the publication of a 'white paper' aimed at the finance community - this is now drafted and due to be published at an event in London Climate Week in June. This strand of work has also led to our signing an MOU with two individuals with close relationships with existing asset owners, to work together to progress the concept of repowering and to help identify investable projects.

Our RepowerScore tool will support this effort and continues to be updated and expanded to take into account additional parameters (we just added a grid infrastructure layer) and technologies (we are adding concentrated solar power alongside geothermal and nuclear). We will also be adding a layer providing details of previous repowering projects together with new sites where the concept is being advanced.

Terra Praxis

Our newly released annual review showcases how Terra Praxis is forging an energy transition plan that can rapidly and directly substitute for fossil fuels, enabling cost-effective continued operation of existing sites and assets - without emissions.

Founders Pledge funding has enabled Terra Praxis to mobilise critical components within the delivery ecosystem, as well as policymakers, governments, and regulators worldwide. US Secretary Granholm recently invited Terra Praxis to stand up a Manufactured Reactor Taskforce for government and industry stakeholders to accelerate technology commercialisation and deployment to meet industrial energy demand and decabonisation goals.

We also recently completed a high level feasibility study for TNB, a Malaysian coal utility, and we continue to engage closely with coal plant owners, governments and other stakeholders in key markets, including the US, Central and Eastern Europe, India and South Africa. Terra Praxis also recently formed an unprecedented partnership with the World Economic Forum and will integrate nuclear energy into their programs of work for the first time, creating an opportunity to elevate the profile of nuclear energy as a powerful decarbonisation tool amongst this network of global leaders.

We will soon be announcing that Terra Praxis is receiving a grant of $1.25 - $1.5m from the U.S. Department of State to demonstrate REPOWER in the Ukraine. This grant is an important government validation of REPOWER and opportunity to make the business case for a Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) approach to repurposing entire coal fleets. Project Phoenix is a program launched by U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry at COP27 to accelerate the global clean energy transition by supporting feasibility studies and providing technical assistance to support the pursuit of the conversion of coal-fired power plants to reliable and safe zero-carbon small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear energy generation. Terra Praxis has hired a Director of REPOWER (Jon-Michael Murray) to deliver this project.

These achievements underscore the profound catalytic nature of Founders Pledge in incubating innovative climate solutions from their infancy and providing them with the resources they need to reach their transformative potential.

Although we do not receive funding from the private sector, we have been very successful in leveraging partnerships with large industrial energy users that help raise the profile of our work and contribute considerable in-kind resources. We’re delighted to have been the first to convene industrial energy users like Microsoft, Google and Nucor, leading to their recently published RFI.

Below are some examples of our collaboration with Microsoft.

• We partnered with Microsoft to build the EVALUATE app which enables stakeholders to quickly evaluate the business case for repowering a coal plant or fleet. EVALUATE provides global data on the 2,400 coal plants worldwide to provide estimated costs, savings, reduced carbon emissions, and a comparison to alternative technologies. This was launched it at COP27 in Egypt.
• In 2023, we hosted two pivotal REPOWER retreats (Dublin and Houston), bringing together 100 global leaders, helping expand the global REPOWER Consortium that Terra Praxis leads, and identifying key work streams for harnessing advanced nuclear to decarbonize coal and other large energy sources (e.g. gas generation, datacenters, manufacturing, synthesized aviation fuel, and large scale CCUS). One of the key work streams is focused on “creating fast lanes” for licensing. We demonstrated a prototype of the GenAI for Nuclear Licensing at the Houston Retreat and this work was referenced in a Wall Street Journal article on the topic.
• Terra Praxis was featured in the launch of the Microsoft Energy Transition Center of Excellence Houston and the Microsoft Experience Center Asia with an interactive 3-D model; the Microsoft Policy Brief on Advanced Nuclear and Fusion Energy launched at COP28; in a blog by Microsoft President Brad Smith along with other social media posts; and in a recent UK Microsoft Earth Day webinar.
• The focus of REPOWER for 2024 continues to be on key accelerants for scaling advanced nuclear.

Tsinghua University

On April 23rd, Tsinghua University kicked off the Research of Small Modular Reactor (SMR) and Decarbonization of China’s Power and Heating Sectors, a key component of the CCNI Project jointly supported by FP, RC, and UES. Top academic and industrial experts as well as a former regulator in China’s nuclear and energy sectors attended the meeting. Over the next two years, Tsinghua will work closely with China Huaneng Group and China Guangdong Nuclear Group to implement the project.