Partner Spotlight: Climate Vine
Whatever your experience, we need you in climate. But there aren’t many spaces for you to meet and create systems-level change with people from different fields. Since 2020, our team has gathered more than 650 people in virtual communities to fill this gap. Past Members raised over $350M+ in venture funding, dozens of companies emerged, and hundreds of emerging contributors transitioned to the climate innovation space. We’re now building Climate Vine to further connect regulatory, funding, scientific and technical landscapes.
Introducing Climate Vine
Climate Vine is a membership community that combines elements of a continuous conference and an action-oriented lab. Want to start something new? Excellent. Our members find jobs and cofounders. Want to expand your network? Investors, entrepreneurs and advisors find each other here. Want to work with leaders in their fields? Fantastic. We build each themed cohort through a competitive application process to create a dynamic, 150-person collective. Climate Vine helps our Members strategically unlock ideas, talent, and capital to accelerate their climate impact.
Each Member is a deep expert committed to collaborating with people from different backgrounds, ranging from academia and science to policy, tech and entrepreneurship. Members can expect to spend about 1-3 hours a week on Climate Vine throughout the 3-month themed cohort and about 1 hour a week for the rest of the annual membership in curated small groups, socials and off-the-record conversations.
As a Climate Vine Member, you’ll have access to:
- Peer-to-peer brain trust groups for accountability and support within the cohort
- Office hours and sessions led by peer Members who are experts in their respective fields, from science to tech, policy and investing
- Curated resources, organized by subject, to help you hone in on our cohort themes
- Exclusive access to projects from large companies, NGOs and start-ups in the space who can become long-term collaborators
- Build Showcases to share what you grew on the Vine
- Fireside chats, small group breakouts and deep-dive sessions with the world’s best climate entrepreneurs, policy experts, investors and scientists, focused on driving climate solutions
Whether you are an entrepreneur obsessed with solving our climate challenges, a scientist looking to bring deep, technically complex solutions to market, or looking to join, partner with or support climate organizations, Climate Vine provides the structure and framework for systems-level change.
Inaugural Theme: Government Incentives & Climate Deployment
In the last year, we’ve seen both horrific extreme weather events and the boldest climate and environmental justice bill in US’s history. Unlocking the full potential of recent government bills will make the difference between slow climate progress and game-changing leaps and bounds. For example, political scientists believe the Inflation Reduction Act will spur climate spending to as much as $1 trillion. As one vehicle for tapping into and helping to shape this unique opportunity, Climate Vine will bring public and private forces together with the following types of experts:
- Scientists with ready-to-commercialize scientific innovations.
- Policy and government actors looking to connect with more innovation communities in order to disperse public dollars, find talent, and/or improve future policies.
- Entrepreneurs and corporate leaders looking to action recent climate bills.
- Private Investors in venture capital, private equity, and project finance who understand that public money catalyzes private money and hope to help their portfolio companies gain policy support and public dollars.
- Frontline community advocates at the forefront of community development who understand the requirement and need for community involvement
- And interdisciplinary strategic advisors who bring a breadth of knowledge and experience across these categories
Our first theme aligning government with climate solutions will serve as a crucial building block for future themes that will range from water and home decarbonization to regeneration and scientific research gaps.
Who is in the first cohort?
Here’s a sampling of the types of folks who will be in the first cohort.
- Sedale Turbovsky: Founder of Opengrants.io
- Frances M. Wang: Associate Director at ClimateWorks Foundation, focused on CDR
- Evan Korth: NYU Compsci Professor and Founder of their Computing, Entrepreneurship & Innovation program
- Cara Maesano: Physics and CDR research scientist at RMI
- Aina Abiodun: Former CEO of 8Fit and founder of new climate company
- Paul Manwell: Former CoS to Sundar Pichai (Alphabet CEO) and founder of new climate company
- Nicole Kelner: Climate Artist
- Archer H Christian: Climate Policy Analyst and Advisor
- Dr. Reginald Parker: Climate Tech founder in solar
- Chloe Harford: Founding team of Zillow, Climate Tech Advisor
- Tim Trefren: Cofounder and CTO of Mixpanel, founder of new renewables company
- Ahmad Butt: Founder and CEO of Jetstone Management
- Zeev Krieger: Third Sphere, Partner
- Folasade Ayoola: Founder of ElectricFish
- Dimitry Gershenson: Founder, Enduring Planet
- Lynn Booth: climate policy and finance expert
- Jamil Wyne: UNICEF advisor and Co-lead, Oxford Climate Tech Initiative
- Joel Armin-Hoiland: Founder, Climate Finance Solutions
- Erin Lindgren: Activate, Strategic Partnerships
- Rachel Halfaker: Associate Director, Milken Institute
- Dimitar Simeonov: Founder Pioneer Climate
- Emiola Banwo: Founder, CEO – Monuments
- Chante Harris: ClimateTech Strategist, Schmidt Futures
- Pooja Tilvawala (she, her): Founder at Youth Climate Collaborative
- Monali Mujumdar: Startup Engagement Lead, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
- Micah Kotch: Partner, Blackhorn Ventures
- Megan (Dishman) Wenrich: Global Director, Philanthropy Effectiveness at The Nature Conservancy
- Christina Reynolds: Mobile Carbon Capture Pioneer, Remora
Speakers include:
- Tom Kalil of Schmidt Futures
- Sarah Kearney of Prime Coalition
- Shayle Kann of Energy Impact Partners
- Micah Kotch of Blackhorn Ventures
- Alicia Seiger of Stanford University
Ready to get started?
In this complex and sometimes emotionally taxing space, it’s especially important for people to band together and drive solutions. We’re thrilled to launch this new initiative, and can’t wait to build this space with and for you.
The Inaugural Climate Vine Cohort kicks off in early April. Applications are rolling, with an early bird deadline of February 24th. If you’re looking to unlock ideas, talent, and capital and leverage your time for impact, join our live Q&A session on February 14th and apply here to be considered for this or future cohorts.