News about how investors are responding to climate change can look pretty grim these days.
Opportunities in AI have taken up a lot of the oxygen—and capital—in the financial sector, and the Trump Administration’s move to rip up anything climate related has pushed some investors to turn their backs on climate deals.
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If these developments have you down, consider looking to Tom Steyer for a pick-me-up.
Steyer, known by many as a 2020 presidential candidate, has since returned to his finance roots—this time as an investor focused on climate change. When we caught up earlier this month at his office in San Francisco, he brushed aside questions about how the new Trump Administration, and the broader climate pullback it has inspired, might challenge his business. He’s focused on economics, and in his telling the financial side of the equation remains solid.
“I would say the numbers about the ability to make this transition are much better than expected,” he tells me, citing the continued record deployment of clean energy technologies. “The rhetoric moves back and forth, but ultimately the facts drive home reality.”
His firm, Galvanize Climate Solutions, has focused in three categories: equities, real estate, and venture and growth. In those areas, the Galvanize team looks for investments that advance the climate cause while generating above market returns—all without relying on policy support from Washington. “This is going to happen if, in fact, we win in the marketplace,” he says. “We’re not getting subsidies, we’re not getting free money from the government, and we’re not counting on anybody being nice.”
Read More: Here Are All of Trump’s Major Moves to Dismantle Climate Action
Take real estate. Galvanize pairs general expertise on the real estate sector with knowledge of the financial opportunities that can come from decarbonizing real estate assets—think of lower costs as a result of energy efficiency and on-site renewable energy. That in turn drives up the price of the asset. “It’s just understanding technology, understanding costs, understanding buildings and real estate markets,” he says.
Steyer is not the only investor sticking with climate, though few are likely to be as full throated in still making their case or as steadfast in their determination. Some big financial institutions have insisted they will continue to pursue deals that advance the climate agenda when the economics pencil out.
But there’s no question that the general enthusiasm that made anything climate-related hot a few years ago has dissipated—and troublingly for climate advocates, the enthusiasm was already waning before the Trump Administration took office in January. A report from PitchBook, which tracks private-market investment data, found that total venture funding for climate-tech fell for the third year in a row last year with funding down more than 17% from the year prior. In the public markets, U.S. ESG funds experienced outflows every quarter last year, according to a report from investment research firm Morningstar.
And yet Steyer argues that the zeitgeist shift around sustainable investing makes this a great time to be a climate investor. At the core of Steyer’s argument is an assessment of the supply and demand for capital. Right now, he says, there are more investment-grade opportunities in climate and decarbonization than capital available to make those investments. This, he argues, translates into a wide range of opportunities to pick from and better deal terms for investors willing to take the leap. “From the standpoint of an investor, that’s a good thing,” he says. “From the standpoint of the country or the world, that’s probably not a good thing.”
Over the years, I’ve had a chance to chat with Steyer on several occasions, especially during his political phase. And yet this feels like his most important environmental work. When it comes to convincing the private sector to stick with climate, he tells me, “success is the best argument.”
