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This newsletter explores topics in climate, energy, and everything in between.

When people first explore climate change it quickly dawns on them that the problem might be fuzzier and more difficult than anticipated.

The same has been true for my climate journey. Initially, I started to open browser tabs whenever I encountered a new concept but quickly realized that the scope was getting out of hand. Hundreds of tabs later, I was doubting myself and didn’t really know if all of this effort would ever amount to anything. Luckily, I stuck with it and found a path for myself.

This essay is for people who are curious about climate tech but don’t know where to start. By the end of it, you should have a glimmer of hope that everyone can pull their weight.

Let’s start with mythology 🏛️

Bill Grundfest - the founder of the Comedy Cellar - said that all narrative follows the same structure: Who (subject) wants what (desire)? And what’s in the way (tension)?

In ancient times there was a fella called Alexander the Great (subject). He wanted to rule the world (desire) but the Gordian Knot was in his way (tension). An oracle had declared that any person who could untangle this sophisticated knot would become the ruler of Asia - which from Alexander’s perspective meant the rest of the world. The crux was that the knot was impossible to untie.

After futile attempts, Alexander the Great had an idea. He took his sword and cut the massive knot in half 🗡️ Bazinga! He “untied” the Gordian Knot, conquered Asia, and the rest is history.

The moral of the story is that there is more than one way to solve a problem.

Sometimes it helps to reframe the problem all together. This is what resolved the tension of the narrative and allowed Alexander to fulfill his desire.

If he could do it, then there might be a way for us to do it as well.

tl;dr: All of us (subjects) want to live on a happy planet (desire) but climate change is in the way (tension) 🥵

How do we solve this tension? Well, that’s the million-dollar question and the starting point for climate action. At first glance, the challenge looks quite similar to the Gordian Knot. Unsolvable. Why is that?

In her essay “Finding a job in climate”, Nan Ransohoff wrote:

When I read this paragraph, a “mhm!” sound escaped my mouth. It resonated a lot because initially, it felt like I had to understand everything about everything.

At first, I didn’t fully grasp why learning new climate topics would always result in hundreds of open tabs and a feeling of “how the hell am I supposed to learn all of this?!” 🤷‍♂️ A year into my climate journey and I still feel somewhat overwhelmed when diving into a new topic but at least I understand why I feel that way.

Nan mentioned that climate touches most of the global economy. I would break it down even further and say that most climate topics must cover four fundamental areas to be useful:

When climate tech solutions overlap on those four areas, they(1) have a positive impact on our planet, (2) are doable, (3) make financial sense, and (4) work in the current set of rules we play by. This is the Gordian Knot of Climate 🪢

Albert Einstein famously said that “if he had an hour to solve a problem he'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”

Hence, let’s follow the wise man’s method and have a look at some of the important questions 👇

It helps to start with the fundamental building blocks of climate change:

Once you see the edges of the problem, you can start tinkering about possible solutions.

Since we are facing a real-world problem, we need to understand real-world fundamentals:

Most solutions will touch the real world and hence will require the manipulation of atoms, sophisticated machinery, industrial processes, and so on. This sh!t’s expensive. That’s why we need to think about economics.

People and businesses usually pick the most economically feasible alternative - regardless of how bad it might be for the environment. That’s why climate-friendly solutions have to compete on an economic basis.

Climate positive solutions have to make economic sense.

Last but not least, climate tech solutions have to play in a given legal context. Policy and the law are tightly interlinked since political agendas steer legislation (Policy goal → policy instrument [e.g. laws, regulations, incentives, etc.] → policy outcome).

Let’s look at an example from the hydrogen space:

The common belief was that hydrogen - due to its physical properties - could be synthesized but couldn’t be extracted like natural gas. Well, turns out that we might be able to extract natural hydrogen after all. Some entrepreneurs were quick to get on this opportunity and acquired exploration rights for a region in Spain where there might be sufficient quantities of natural hydrogen.

The problem is that this exploration and extraction concession is governed under Spanish oil law, which halted all new operations. These entrepreneurs don’t want to extract harmful oil but want to extract carbon-neutral hydrogen. Yet, the law says they cannot touch. And as such, they are waiting for a legal carve out for hydrogen-related exploration/extraction.

In this case, law and policy dictates the pace of execution.

After snacking on so many questions, it becomes clear why people might feel overwhelmed when diving nose first into climate. To make things even more complicated, the parameters in all four areas are constantly changing.

But fear not. Let me re-share Nan’s paragraph yet again and emphasize a different section:

In the next section, I’ll share some frequently under-indexed problem areas, which might hold interesting paths for some of you ✌️

When I first heard of climate tech, I immediately thought of Environment (#1) + Technology (#2).

Never in a million years did I think I could get excited about the people in the back office👇

Of course the fundamental science is the starting point of every good solution. Of course the ingenuity of engineers is required to come up with novel technologies to battle climate change. But more often than you’d think, big dreams come up short due to some boring details.

My friend Ben put it best: “Climate is not a technology problem. It is a business problem.”

And as such, we have to address Economics (#3) and Law & Policy (#4).

tl;dr: Carbon removal facilities (subject) want to suck carbon dioxide out of the air (desire), but no one buys this service (tension).

So what the hell is Carbon Removal? Simply put, it is a group of technologies, which capture carbon dioxide molecules via some sort of process (mechanical; chemical; etc.) and permanently store the CO2 away.

But there’s a big problem:

You might recognize the name. I know what it sounds like… Nan, Nan, Nan,… but hey! Credit where credit is due. Nan doesn’t only write insightful newsletters but also runs some of the most innovative teams in climate. To solve the chicken-and-egg problem for carbon removal technologies, the team had a look at other industries with similar challenges:

An industry, which looks quite similar is pharma 💉 

Nan continues:

The moral of this particular story is that financial and business model innovation can resolve the fundamental tension of a nascent market.

tl;dr: We (subject) want to deploy renewable energy sources quickly (desire), but permitting law are in the way (tension).

Maybe you have seen one of these charts:

This particular chart is from the European Union but pretty much every country and region has something that looks quite similar.

As of writing this piece (Feb’2023), we have roughly 8 years left. This is a massive problem since average permitting procedures take way too long:

If the planning and permitting of a wind mill can take many years, then we should realistically scrap our 2030 targets. Ain’t gonna happen, buddy.

Luckily, there are two concurrent trends, which might ease this tension: (1) Updated legislation to accelerate permitting by reasoning of “overriding public interest” and (2) innovative legal solutions to the problem. Let me unpack the second trend. Prof. Anchustegui introduced me to a case study from Equinor - Norway’s state-owned petroleum giant 🇳🇴 

Equinor’s Hywind Tampen project is awesome on so many levels:

The good news is that other operators can use this blueprint and apply it to their own projects.

Norway alone has 87 oil and gas platforms off shore. If you widen the scope to a global level, then you can quickly see how this legal innovation can accelerate the deployment of clean energy while reducing carbon emissions at the same time.

The moral of my essay is similar to Alexander’s story: There is more than one way to solve a problem.

Maybe you’ve heard of the term “death by a thousand cuts” - a scenario where many small bad things add to a large bad thing. To flip it around, I would argue that the Gordian Knot of Climate can be resolved by a thousand cuts in the discussed areas:

In climate tech, we naturally gravitate towards the first two but let us not forget that #3 and #4 have a massive impact on loosening the threads.

Climate neutrality will require all minds, not only the engineers and the scientists but also the unsung heroes in the back office. The important thing is that all of us have to come together and start pulling the Gordian Knot of Climate.

Where will you begin?

If you enjoyed this essay, please consider forwarding it to a friend who wants to get started with climate 🌳

If you have feedback/ideas/critique/etc., please let me know how I can improve.

The team at Frontier Climate put together a database of interesting problem/research areas. It is split by skillsets so that you can easily find an area, that might be a good fit for you.

tl;dr: We (subject) want people to act (desire), but no one understands what’s going on (tension).

All four areas (environment, technology, economics, law & policy) if people don’t understand them enough to care. That’s why we need story tellers who can inspire and activate large audiences.

Rahul Rana put it well in his recent essay “Tell Good Stories”:

This is the core motivation behind writing Delphi Zero.

As always, I’m happy to welcome new readers to Delphi Zero.

Let me know what has been on your mind and if you want to read about specific topics. Since, I’m currently studying Energy Law, I’ll naturally lean towards the intersection of energy x law x climate.