COP28: Dispatches from the Field

Momentum is built in moments — and despite its controversy, COP28 was one of these moments for Elemental and its portfolio companies. Innovation was front and center like never before. By the numbers, COP28 in Dubai was a meaningful one for the Elemental community, with:

• Hundreds of productive conversations
• Over 50 events attended
• Twelve portfolio companies represented
• Four team members and one Policy Lab Fellow
• Three big announcements for Elemental companies

Here is what the Elemental team on the ground had to say:

• “Innovators changed the tone. Entrepreneurs participated in greater numbers than ever before,” our Founder and CEO Dawn Lippert said.
• “Inclusion, local action and indigenous wisdom were at the forefront… nearly every conversation I participated in drove the point home that the answers and the action are with the communities most impacted by climate change and we all have much to learn,” wrote Managing Director of Portfolio Danya Hakeem.
• “In a variety of conversations it became clear to me that to some degree, regardless the outcome of COP negotiations, undrilled oil will soon become stranded assets,” Director of Innovation, Mobility & Innovation Gabriel Scheer shared.
• “The Inflation Reduction Act has truly made a difference. [It] was repeatedly cited as an important (if imperfect) step forward by everyone from international bankers to Gen Z activists,” Policy Lab Deputy Director Josh Stanbro remarked, on how the IRA is serving as a model for global climate policy.

While in Dubai, our portfolio companies made big announcements:

• Energy Dome announced funding commitments from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst and the European Investment Bank to support construction of its first standard commercial-scale CO2 Battery.
• CarbonCure announced its first deployment in Africa — its 6th continent! — with developer ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms’ adoption in Benin & Gabon.
• ZeroAvia announced the completion of its $116M Series C Funding Round.

And the beat goes on… In the wrap up of COP, our team members continued to share their insights across platforms and publications:

• Danya spoke with Grist: “Entrepreneurs and government need each other in order to implement the technologies we need to mitigate climate change.”
• Elemental entrepreneurs left with new investor prospects, deeper customer relationships and momentum borne from a collective sense of possibility and action. And these outcomes are key, because as Dawn told Reuters and Impact Alpha, it takes collective, coalition-building moments like COP to bridge the scale gap.
• At the end of the day, as Dawn wrote in FastCompany, “The real value of COP is what comes next.” We still have a lot to do — and now is the time to encourage governments, investors and others to do more — but helping this collaboration blossom at COP was powerful.