Stage: Main Stage

In 2023, Google and Microsoft alone consumed 24TWh of energy each, the equivalent to the consumptions of 2.3 million US households. As energy big tech’s energy demands explode thanks to the demands AI tech in particular places on data centers,  how is Big Tech attempting to balance that demand-driven growth with net zero decarbonization commitments?

Many global companies have pledged to decarbonize their business, and a growing number are setting up or updating an investment arm to help address this. Among the most active are tech and energy-related companies. In this panel, VCs working inside major corporations will discuss how venture fits in in the overall corporate decarbonization strategy, how

In its current state, the global fashion industry is wasteful and emissions-heavy, responsible for an estimated 4 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and 4 percent of waste. Part of the answer is to decarbonize textiles, a goal several startups are pursuing. TomTex, for example, makes leather and textile alternatives using 100% bio-based inputs including mushrooms,

It’s technically challenging to manufacture lithium-ion EV batteries in high volumes, and just six incumbents – CATL, BYD in China, Panasonic in Japan, and LG Energy, Samsung SDI, SK On in South Korea – produce 80% of the world’s supply. Several battery startups aiming to challenge the Big Six legacy with better technology stumbled badly

At 7-8% each, steel and cement production are responsible for 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and in the past 4.5 years investors have funded dozens of startups – $2.8 billion for steel and $925 million for cement – aiming to decarbonize these indispensable industrial sectors. Compared to energy, where winning renewable technologies are well

Nuclear fusion’s promise of limitless power is the holy grail of the energy sector, but containing the nuclear reactions that power the sun is one of mankind’s greatest technical challenges. So how close are we? Commonwealth Fusion Systems, an MIT spinout, has raised $2 billion and built the novel REBCO magnets required to contain super-heated

In August, Terrapower’s lead investor, Bill Gates, was in Kemmerer, Wyoming to break ground for Terrapower’s Natrium nuclear power plant, the first in the US to use liquid sodium as a coolant (instead of water) and also the recipient of the largest single federal commitment ever to a private project – 50% of the $4

Growth investors may have slowed the pace, but a few relatively new startups have nonetheless succeeded in raising huge rounds clearly designed to vault them very quickly into meaningful commercial deployment. The founders at geo-thermal power leader Fervo Energy, home heat-pump champion Aira, and industrial heat innovator Antora have raised more than $1.1 billion in