Climate media on the 2024 tech outlook 👀

We asked prominent climate journalists and podcasters where they're focusing their attention in the new year.

Dec 20, 2023

2023 was a pivotal year for global climate action. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) investments began making their way into communities and clean energy solutions continued to expand. Earlier this month, diplomats from around the world struck a historic agreement to “transition away” from fossil fuels at COP28 in the UAE. This momentum towards the clean energy transition will only accelerate in 2024—which is critical as we will continue to see the impacts of extreme weather caused by climate change all around us.

Communications around climate solutions are a critical part of galvanizing individuals, communities and businesses to continue to drive this momentum. This year we saw a growing interest around the world in consuming climate solution-oriented media. As we enter another critical year for climate innovation, the media covering the space have an important role to play in shining a light on the clean energy transition.

As we approach the new year, we connected with influential industry journalists and commentators to learn more about what they’re paying attention to in the coming months.

Jeff St. John, Director of News and Special Projects @ Canary Media, on clean energy tax incentives and the grid:

Beyond some election that I hear is happening…we’re going to be looking at a whole range of IRA initiatives that are set to get into serious gear in 2024.

The pending release of guidance on the 45V hydrogen tax credit from the U.S. Treasury Department will begin to give clarity to a $100B-plus industry in waiting that could either play a vital role in reducing carbon emissions from a range of hard-to-decarbonize economic sectors, or become a polluting boondoggle, depending on who you ask and how the industry shapes up. We’ll also be tracking the earliest efforts from the hydrogen hubs that have received $7B in federal funding — and trying to determine where the demand from sectors that can use that hydrogen to decarbonize will emerge.

The other big issue I’m focused on is the grid – expanding it, enabling it to interconnect far more wind and solar and batteries and electric vehicles and electric buildings, and enabling all of those resources, and everyday homes and businesses, to play a more active role in balancing the supply and demand of an increasingly variable and distributed clean energy resource mix. FERC’s forthcoming long-term transmission planning order – and the execution of FERC Order 2023 on transmission interconnection – will be two areas to watch. So will a host of state-by-state and utility-by-utility actions.

Lisa Martine Jenkins, Editor @ Latitude Media on climate policy and new opportunities:

2023 caught certain sectors of the U.S. cleantech industry in a waiting game. While the early years of the Biden administration promised tectonic shifts of the policy landscape — tax credits for a slew of technologies! funding for research hubs! — details were sparse until the last few months of this year. This dynamic has held certain segments of the industry in limbo: with no clear definition of clean hydrogen, for instance, electrolyzer manufacturers haven’t known how much demand to expect. And electric vehicle makers, until sourcing rules were released mere weeks ago, didn’t know how quickly they would have to pivot their supply chains.

This, of course, doesn’t mean that the industry was at a standstill: far from it. (In fact, the U.S. installed more solar in 2023 than ever before.) But especially in combination with high interest rates and an investment landscape that was, to quote our reporter Maeve Allsup, “very weird,” the market for frontier tech has lacked certainty. And I’m not in the business of making predictions, but at least on the policy front, that may be starting to shift.

By the end of this week, we’ll have a draft of the 45V clean hydrogen tax credit — one major outstanding rule — and consequently a fairly thorough understanding of how the government’s subsidies will likely be structured. This comes in the wake of the clean energy manufacturing subsidies released just last week. Meanwhile, sites for direct air capture and hydrogen hubs have been chosen, and developments at (an even more chaotic than usual) COP are expected to fuel nascent sectors like methane detection technologies.

Essentially, I’m expecting 2024 to be a year of building. Technologies at the frontier of climate tech have new policy certainty, and the potential for new momentum.

“Especially in combination with high interest rates and an investment landscape that was, to quote our reporter Maeve Allsup, “very weird,” the market for frontier tech has lacked certainty…That may be starting to shift.”
—Lisa Martine Jenkins, Editor @ Latitude Media

Vartan Badalian Esq., Director of Transportation @ GreenBiz Group, on EV charging, sustainable aviation and shipping decarbonization:

In 2024, I will watch to see:

How automotive manufacturers, Tesla and the EV charging industry overall continue rolling out non-Tesla vehicle integration with Tesla's North American Charging Standard and Superchargers first through an external adapter and then with the charging port built into non-Tesla vehicles starting in 2025. I’m also interested to see how non-Tesla EV players improve charging reliability and uptime of public charging networks, whether by improving existing networks or building new partnerships for further deployments and how federal standards help bring about more reliable public EV charging.
How advancements in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and alternative technologies like electric and hydrogen aircraft continue to develop to reduce the aviation sector emissions. I’m curious to see how the industry continues to scale the development of SAF while focusing on cleaner versions of SAF development and additional methods of reducing aviation emissions, such as carbon capture.
How the launch of book-and-claim programs in maritime shipping and increasing corporate freight buyer pressure accelerates green maritime shipping and the shipping sector's decarbonization

Somil Aggarwal, co-host of Cleantechies Podcast, on the role of established energy companies and impact on the Global South:

The top issues in climate that I will be following in 2024 are monitoring what the dry powder that's expected to be deployed from recent billion-dollar funds goes towards; fleet electrification specifically in drayage and freight as pilots between public entities and startups mature; the progression of green hydrogen as a result of recent government interest; and how O&G interact with startups and energy companies following COP 28.

In addition, Africa recently had its first Africa Climate Summit that highlighted how climate solutions should be considering impact on frontline communities affected by climate change. As the globe continues to warm, I will be tracking how these communities are affected and what adaptation innovations arise as a result.

Silas Mahner, Co-Host of Cleantechies Podcast, on FOAK funding, support for manufacturing and a new narrative around climate tech investment:

The things I'm keeping my eye on the most in 2024 are...

A lot of new FOAK [first of a kind] fund announcements along with existing VCs (especially those in hardware) adding debt or project finance funds/vehicles to ensure the successful scaling of their investments.
How well the ecosystem comes together around helping companies that manufacture things to figure that out because it's perhaps one of the most difficult things to do when building a startup given how expensive and time-consuming mistakes are.
The shift in narrative around climate tech as an investment and not a philanthropic effort, paired with the IRA & CHIPS act, will bring in a lot of new actors (Funds & Founders) and there will be many bad actors that walk into the party.

📗Climate words of the year
2023 was a major year for our climate—and it was reflected in the language we used. “El Niño” and “heat dome” were among Oxford English Dictionary’s word-of-the-year finalists, defining the hottest year on record. Grist’s top 10 list of climate words from 2023 include innovations in climate solutions like “white hydrogen,” new terminology reflecting the state of the climate crisis “global boiling,” and climate communications “greenhushing.” Trending words like “RICO” and “climate quitters” define normal people who are tired of the status quo, and taking climate matters into their own hands. These words tell a story of a world ready for change.
🌎Polling for awareness
“Direct air capture,” “IPCC report,” and “the Paris Agreement” are familiar lingo to climate communicators—but according to recent data from Heatmap News, the average person doesn’t know what they mean. The publication conducted its second climate poll in mid-November, surveying 1,000 American adults about their understanding of industry terminology. For example, while a majority understand carbon emissions, less than 40% know what “net zero” means. All-in-all, a reminder to communicators in 2024 to simplify or unpack climate terms we may take for granted.
🎨Visualizing climate change
Visual storytelling is a critical medium for communicating about climate change. Katharine Hayhoe a Climate Scientist and author of the Talking Climate newsletter wrote about some impactful pieces of climate art she’s seen this year. These artists don’t just convey their experience with climate change, but they also educate viewers on complex topics and hold power accountable through their work. For the first time, the National Climate Assessment featured work from over 100 artists in this year’s edition. Data visualization can also make complex climate topics compelling and accessible. A recent visualization from the European Space Agency lays out over 80 years of global temperatures in a digestible graphic, demonstrating how hot the world has gotten in the last decade.