Are Climate Businesses Still Climate Businesses If They Don’t Talk About Climate?
How to win customers and save the planet by saying the quiet part quietly
Over the last few months, as the federal government under President Trump started torching any industrial or energy initiative that had a whiff of sustainability, companies that previously touted their climate bona fides abruptly shifted gears.
Gone were the climate warriors with their talk of decarbonization. In their place stood Great American Industrialists™, ushering in a new wave of American exceptionalism and energy dominance with technologies that could power a generation of manufacturing innovation. Robots! Artificial Intelligence! And drones! Oh my.
This would be problematic if it weren’t pragmatic… and if abandoning a climate conversation meant abandoning climate outcomes.
The new economic imperative
Energy security is a national issue. Increased manufacturing and job creation are also in the national interest. So too is the development of resilient infrastructure to withstand natural disasters. Are these energy companies, industrial businesses, and real estate and government contractors addressing economic concerns… or are they climate tech?
Manufacturing, jobs, and economic advantages can no longer be the appetizers at the buffet of climate solutions – they’re the main course. Companies can succeed in this transformation by appealing to the economic anxieties many Americans are facing.
Most Americans rank addressing “economic issues” as the most important problem the country faces. These economic issues include national competitiveness in global markets, job creation and economic stability, and at a bare minimum: the ability to afford basic necessities like electricity, water, housing, and food.
Luckily, whether they’re pitched as climate solutions or as industrial and defense opportunities; creating jobs, lowering food and energy prices, building more housing, and ensuring global economic competitiveness are exactly what the companies currently in the crosshairs are claiming to do.
Pivoting to this economic language can be a powerful tool for climate action, even when "climate" isn't explicitly mentioned. Companies like Magrathea Metals have the potential to create jobs and open up domestic supplies of strategic magnesium. Brimstone is developing processes for alumina production. Clean energy jobs accounted for 42% of the total 8.35 million energy jobs created in the U.S.
Climate interests are national interests
China, the leading producer of technologies to support the energy transition away from fossil fuels, views climate issues through the lens of national security and its national interests. China has long been the largest importer of fossil fuels and depended on coal, oil, and natural gas for much of its energy supply despite being a leader in renewable energy production.
But Chinese fossil use may have peaked. And China now reaps the benefits of controlling the supply chains for the next generation of energy and industrial technologies, with solar panels, electric vehicles, and batteries contributing to 10% of the nation’s gross domestic product last year (roughly $1.9 trillion – which is about the size of the U.S. oil industry’s contribution to GDP). Big oil may already be entering an era of managed decline. If that’s the case, new industries will need to come in and take its place in the economic landscape or the U.S. economy will erode even further.
Money is still flowing
According to media reports, the pivot away from climate talk in the U.S. mirrors the erosion of equity financing for climate startups. The Wall Street Journal, using data from BloombergNEF, reported that equity investing in climate companies fell by 40% from $51.7 billion in 2023 to $31 billion in 2024 (which is still three times the amount funneled into “cleantech” during the first climate-technology boom).
Numbers don’t lie, but different numbers can tell very different stories. The same BloombergNEF report noted that investment in the low-carbon energy transition hit $2.1 trillion over the same period. Over the next three years, roughly $450 billion will be spent on what BNEF calls clean-tech factories and battery supply chains. Debt financing for energy projects reached $1 trillion in 2024, and that will likely continue.
The cracks in financing emerge where technological progress has not yet yielded price declines to make products economically competitive with oil and gas. BNEF particularly cited electrified heat, hydrogen, CCS, nuclear, and clean industry as areas that faced affordability and commercial scalability challenges (we’d add geothermal to that list).
Strangely, these are areas where the U.S. government is committing money to accelerate market entrants. The Department of Defense, through the Air Force, is pursuing a geothermal initiative, while the military’s Defense Innovation Unit continues to fund research into hydrogen applications. Meanwhile the Department of Energy has recommitted to spending $900 million on new SMR technologies.
These are critical initiatives to ensure the U.S. has low-carbon energy technologies it can sell to a world that wants those power assets.
Evolving climate language is fast, cheap, and about control
The new climate conversation is to talk about these industrial benefits. What this means is less planet-saving language and more focus on shaping America’s next frontier.
At the end of the day, emissions reduction and clean energy companies are still here but taking on a new persona under the umbrella of energy security, job creation, and American industry… at least for now.
Finally… here are some of the stories we’ve been telling:
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