The Venn Diagram of American Dynamism and Climate Action
by Sonam Velani, Lyn Stoler, and Anson YuClimate Industrialism solutions on the American Dynamism 50 list
Yesterday, storied venture firm a16z released its inaugural American Dynamism 50 list — a cohort of tech companies that “embody the spirit of American Dynamism”.
What are these companies, and how do they impact the world around us? More specifically, how can they help us drive climate solutions forward that make our lives and cities more beautiful and resilient?
First: what is dynamism, and why should we care?
When we first were introduced to the idea of dynamism, it was in the context of Virginia Postrel’s 1999 book, The Future and Its Enemies. The book basically presents two camps of thought: dynamism vs. stasis.
Dynamism is characterized by experimentation, competition, learning, and innovation. Stasis is characterized by control, stability, conformity, and predictability.
Perhaps the most poignant distinction between dynamism and stasis is captured by Postrel when she asks:
Do you prefer to diversify risks and try to bounce back from them, a strategy of "resilience"? Or do you follow a "precautionary principle" that says try nothing new that might have dangers?
In climate, we typically operate under the precautionary principle. Applying the precautionary principle is healthy and important to keep us all safe. But at this stage of the climate crisis, too much of the precautionary principle is the same as paralysis. We've found ourselves stuck in endless cycles of hundred-page-long PDF reports, plans, and strategies. Many of the promised actions we see in those plans are to "assess", "evaluate", or "prioritize". We've focused so much on making sure that we don't make any more mistakes that we are losing time and missing opportunities to put real solutions to work. Sure, the solutions we try might have downside risk — everything does. But not trying anything isn’t going to get us out of this mess; it only guarantees an ugly climate future.
There’s never been a more urgent or important time for us to take big bets, chase moonshot solutions, and tackle our problems head-on. We need innovation and creativity — dynamism — to mitigate and build resilience to climate change. To steal a16z’s catchphrase: it’s time to build.
We see Climate Industrialism in American Dynamism.
American Dynamism is a modern application of this broader theory of dynamism, which a16z's Katherine Boyle describes as:
the recognition that seemingly insurmountable problems in our society — from national security and public safety to housing and education — demand solutions that aren’t simply incremental changes that perpetuate the status quo. These problems demand solutions from builders — and it’s never been more vital that startups tackle these serious American problems.
At first glance, this might not seem immediately relevant to our work here at Parachute. (We would, for example, humbly point out that climate should be on this list of seemingly insurmountable problems.) But if we take a quick step back, it's clear that dynamism is an amazing opportunity for action in the form of Climate Industrialism.
The AD50 list has a wide variety of companies working on all sorts of problems. We identified 19 companies whose solutions have implications for climate adaptation and mitigation.
Some of these technologies may seem a little out of left-field (what does a drone company have to do with climate?). But we need to start thinking creatively and expansively when we define climate technologies, because our best solutions may come from unexpected places.
Most importantly, the companies we've listed below all shape our real, physical environments; cities are the test beds for these types of technologies. In this list, we see a promise of a Climate Industrial future where these solutions create high quality jobs, vibrant economies, and more beautiful, resilient cities.
Let’s get into the companies.
❤️ Apeel: Apeel has created a natural, edible food coating that can extend the shelf-life of produce (and is FDA approved!). This might not seem like an obvious fit for climate, but food waste accounts for 170 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent GHG emissions. For scale, that’s the same as the annual output of 42 coal-burning power plants. Reducing food waste is a climate solution!
Taranis: One of the major dangers of climate change is the threat to food security and agriculture as weather patterns change. Not only are weather patterns impacting the arability of land, but they’re also introducing new types of pests into agricultural areas that threaten our food supply. Technologies like Taranis, which uses drones and AI to monitor crops, can protect our food supply in the face of these changing climate conditions.
❤️ Commonwealth Fusion: Nuclear power is an important part of the energy transition away from fossil fuels, and Commonwealth is making nuclear reactors faster and cheaper with its new superconductor technology.
Last Energy: We are really excited about the use of micro and modular nuclear reactors, and that’s exactly what Last Energy is building! This has significant implications for broader reach and more localized nuclear power production, which helps us create more low-carbon, independent climate-resilient energy systems.
❤️ Radiant: Another one of our nuclear favorites, Radiant, is creating portable nuclear microreactors that can replace diesel generators. This is a double-win for climate. Not only does replacing diesel generators practically eliminate their carbon footprint, but these reactors could contribute to climate resilience by powering our most important buildings — like hospitals — during power outages.
Jetti Resources: Copper is a critical material in the move to electrification; it’s used in batteries, motors, charging infrastructure, and more. Jetti is using a catalytic leaching technology to extract copper more cheaply, efficiently, and sustainably.
KoBold Metals: KoBold metals is using AI to help mine a variety of metals (like nickel, copper, cobalt, and lithium) to ensure we have the materials we need to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles.
Lilac Solutions: Another lithium company! Lilac is similarly helping meet demand for EVs and batteries by extracting lithium from brine (natural deposits of saltwater).
Redwood Materials: Mining can be controversial, but Redwood is playing its role in battery production by recovering metals (nickel, cobalt, lithium, and copper) from recycled batteries. This not only reduces the impact of mining, but also creates a manufacturing process that requires a lot less transportation, promotes a circular economy, and further reduces the carbon impact of batteries.
Shift: Right now, one of the biggest challenges for climate tech startups is hiring the right talent. Shift matches former military members (and their unique skills) with private sector jobs. Though we aren’t sure about their climate career pipeline so far, we hope to see Shift link up with some of the amazing climate talent, training, and recruitment companies such as Greenwork, Terra.do, Climatebase, and others.
Workrise: This one sort of speaks for itself. Climate technologies need all sorts of talent, and Workrise is connecting companies with that talent in wind, solar, and construction.
Gecko Robotics: Gecko is using robots to inspect and maintain our energy infrastructure. Part of climate resilience is ensuring that our energy systems are operational when we most need them. Though Gecko currently services the oil and gas industry in addition to renewable energy infrastructure, we’re hoping that they’ll transition away from oil and gas as the rest of the economy does.
❤️ Petra: Utility and power lines are a huge vulnerability during extreme storms, and have also been culpable in a number of destructive wildfires across California. Petra is developing semi-autonomous tunneling robots that bury utility lines underground, reducing these potential threats.
Skydio: Real climate resilience solutions need to be incorporated into our built environment and infrastructure. Skydio is making that easier with autonomous drones that can assist in complex environments, including infrastructure projects.
❤️ Zipline: Zipline is another non-traditional pick for a climate list; they’re best known for their awesome work delivering healthcare supplies (like vaccines and blood) via drones. The thing that makes Zipline so exciting to us is their role as a transportation provider that sees a 98% reduction in delivery emissions compared to cars. Considering that they operate largely in developing regions that are still building a lot of their transportation infrastructure, Zipline’s drone-enabled delivery creates a unique opportunity to design less car-centric, more climate-friendly transportation systems in these countries. (Side note: Sonam used to lead global partnerships at Zipline and the company has a special place in her heart!).
Cover: Part of the Climate Industrialism thesis is that solutions should make our cities more beautiful, and Cover is helping do that by using a production line to build low-cost, high-quality homes. Building denser cities makes lower-carbon lifestyles easier, and helps us get climate resilience resources to more people at a lower cost.
Saildrone: As we mentioned in our Alaska Street Note, ocean data collection helps us better understand the climate conditions that we’re responding to. Saildrone is collecting ocean data with wind and solar-powered uncrewed surface vehicles; this data can be used for climate, mapping, and security.
❤️ OpenGov: You know us, we're all for expanding state capacity. Including OpenGov is driven by our experience working in government and doing research for Parachute. We have spent untold amounts of time poring over government documents, trying to understand how dollars are spent and projects are tracked. We want to see this process streamlined for governments — and want transparency for citizens, as well. Governments are dedicating a lot of dollars to climate action, and we should know where those dollars are going.
Solugen: Solugen is decarbonizing the chemicals industry to convert inexpensive feedstock into valuable chemicals. They’re taking the petroleum and natural gas out of processes like strengthening concrete and treating water. They’re not only reducing carbon emissions from the manufacturing process; their actual products are also important for climate resilient cities!
❤️'s for some favorites!
So, what's missing?
When we first opened up this list, we didn't know what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised by the number of companies whose work relates to climate. But there are other types of innovation and technology that we want to see, especially on the resilience and adaptation front!
Construction materials (e.g., mass timber that is designed for dynamic insulation, permeable pavements, or photovoltaic windows)
Cooling technologies beyond traditional AC and heat pumps
Consumer and government-facing platforms to streamline design, permit, and finance solutions
Other types of energy storage, like green or pink hydrogen
Other types of energy generation, like geothermal
Water systems technologies (e.g., atmospheric water generation and desalination)
Home retrofitting platforms & electrification technologies
Larger-scale transportation (or anything that will make it easier to build things like rail)
Technologies that enable nature-based solutions implementation, evaluation, and financing
Chips! (We have an entire Congressional Act for these, after all!)
American Dynamism (and the AD50 list) is a great step in the right direction toward a Climate Industrial future. a16z's focus on public interest investments — especially those where governments are a customer, competitor, or key stakeholder — is an encouraging rebuttal to the common belief that venture capital isn't compatible with these types of technologies and missions. Public development doesn't have to be unprofitable.
All of that said, there are (of course) some limitations. For example, we want to see more resilience and adaptation technologies — 93% of climate finance goes to mitigation. Climate change is here and now; we have to do something about it today, rather than waiting for 2050. And though this is obviously out of the scope of American Dynamism, it's also important to remember that climate change disproportionately impacts people in developing countries. We should be exploring solutions that can be implemented in the places that need them most, and Climate Industrialism must have a broader geographic scope.
But maybe even more importantly, we think that the most exciting climate solutions will come from the people that need them most. This means we should be investing in a more diverse array of climate founders, especially women. If we don’t, we’re leaving solutions and investment opportunities on the table. Women-led teams generate a 35% higher return on investment than all-male teams, yet only 2% of all venture capital goes to female founders. These numbers are even worse for minority founders. (This is the problem that Sonam is working to solve at Streetlife Ventures — investing in a new generation of diverse founders leading Climate Industrialism companies!)
The future of our cities is being built by companies like the ones on the AD50 list. It's time to expand that call and recognition to new geographies, new faces, and new solutions in climate.
Location check: Lyn is headed to Austin, TX and then Seattle, WA. Sonam is in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt for COP27! If you're around, let us know and say hi!
For those of you interested in urban tech (many of you, we think!), check out this fantastic new report on industry trends by one of our favorite urban tech venture funds, 2150, and global startup data platform Dealroom. Sonam is excited to join the team for a discussion on the role of technology in helping cities fight climate change on Thursday, November 17 – feel free to zoom in!
by Sonam Velani, Lyn Stoler, and Anson Yu