Durham-based venture fund joins 38 others in appeal to feds for more clean energy support

DURHAM – SJF Ventures and 38 other climate venture funds recently wrote a letter to congress and the Biden administration. Here’s the full text of the letter:

Dear President Biden, Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi:

As leaders of venture capital funds investing in entrepreneurial companies leading the clean energy transition, we are writing to urge you to pass the pending energy legislation this spring to accelerate America’s move to a more affordable, secure, clean, and vibrant energy industry. The war in Ukraine has made the mission to cut global reliance on fossil fuels all the more urgent.

Many companies we have funded have scaled tremendously in the solar, wind, hydro, storage, efficiency, resilience, and biofuels industries and now provide more than four million jobs¹ in the U.S. and produce 21% of the country’s power².   These companies are helping on-shore the supply chain for the energy industries of the future, creating high quality manufacturing and installation jobs in every state and county.

Our funds and many others are speeding up the pace of investment in energy innovation. In 2021, $56 billion in venture capital was invested in over 1,600 Climate Tech companies in the U.S., increasing by more than 5X over the past six years.³

However, to confidently invest, we need consistent federal policy leadership.   We appreciate the smart grid, electric vehicle, carbon capture and R&D measures in the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last fall. Now we ask you to proceed on the remaining pending legislation including clean energy tax credits, research support, domestic manufacturing incentives, resilience and mitigation investments, and electric vehicle incentives.   We also encourage the Administration to remove barriers to building more clean energy infrastructure, such as rapidly settling the recent solar module trade case.

For the U.S. to build a vibrant and healthy economy of the future, we must accelerate public investment to match the level of private dollar spending, including by funds like ours. These investments will strengthen the U.S. response to fossil fuel driven autocracies and will also help prevent the U.S. from  falling further behind in leading these critical industries as countries like China invest heavily to support innovation and deployment of clean energy technologies.

The U.S. energy industry has led the world in technology and innovation. Our funds are excited to invest in the industry’s future, helping to create quality jobs, build a vibrant and resilient economy, reduce emissions, and enhance national security.

Sincerely,

Dave Kirkpatrick, SJF Ventures
Rob Day, Spring Lane Capital
Tim Woodward, Prelude Ventures
Tripp Baird, The Builders Fund
Emily Fritze, The Westly Group
Sameer Reddy, Energy Impact Partners
Anup Jacob, Activate Capital
Scott Jacobs, Generate
Josh Posamentier, Congruent Ventures
Emily Kirsch, Powerhouse Ventures
Praveen Sahay, WAVE Equity Partners
Paul Straub, Wireframe Ventures
Erik Lensch, Leyline Renewable Capital
Stonly Blue, Third Sphere
Amy Francetic, Buoyant Ventures
Jason Blumberg, Energy Foundry
Wal van Lierop, Chrysalix Venture Capital
Erik Snyder, Drawdown Fund
Tom Amis, Equilibrium Capital
Kevin Tidwell, Grantham Foundation
Tom Rand, ArcTern Ventures
Karl Khoury, Arborview Capital
Dan Goldman, Clean Energy Ventures
Andrée-Lise Méthot, Cycle Capital
Paul Richardson, Renewal Funds
Dawn Lippert, Elemental Excelerator
Sasha Brown, Ecosystem Integrity Fund
Daniel Prawda, GEF Capital Partners
Tyler Lancaster, Energize Ventures
Tom Steyer & Katie Hall, Galvanize Climate Solutions
Josh Cohen, City Light Capital
Ron Gonen, Closed Loop Partners
Monica Varman, G2 Venture Partners
Justin Desrosiers, SustainVC
Mike Jackson, Earthshot Ventures
Paul Seidler, Evergreen Climate Innovations
Whitney Haring-Smith, Anzu Partners 
Scott Tierney, Valo Ventures
Brendan Bell, Aligned Climate Capital

Sources:

¹ Fact Sheet, Climate Jobs 2021, Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a research nonprofit founded by a bipartisan group of members of Congress in 1984.   https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-climate-jobs

² ‘Renewables became the second-most prevalent U.S. electricity source in 2020’, U. S. Energy Information Administration, July 2021.  https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=48896

³ ‘The Future of Climate Tech’ 2022 report, Silicon Valley Bank, https://www.svb.com/trends-insights/reports/future-of-climate-tech.