Episode Summary
Executive Summary: Jason Jacobs interviews Ryan Panchadsaram about Speed and Scale, a climate action framework that pairs six emissions solutions with four accelerants: policy, movements, innovation, and investment. They revisit cleantech 1.0, argue that its failures were overstated and shaped by macro forces, and emphasize that climate progress now depends on collective action, durable policy, and market-competitive technologies that reduce the green premium.
Main Topics: MCJ community and climate peer support (Priority: 4/5): Jason explains the MCJ membership model: a screened Slack community for people seeking not just climate education but collaboration, networking, hiring, fundraising, and project formation. Ryan Panchadsaram’s background and role at Kleiner Perkins (Priority: 4/5): Ryan outlines his path from Microsoft, Salesforce, and health-tech entrepreneurship to the White House and then Kleiner Perkins, framing his work as improving the “plumbing” of systems like energy and government. Speed and Scale as an OKR-style climate roadmap (Priority: 5/5): Ryan describes the book’s origin as an attempt to apply objectives and key results to climate, eventually becoming a framework built from interviews with experts and designed to mobilize collective action. Lessons from cleantech 1.0 (Priority: 5/5): The conversation revisits the first cleantech wave, arguing that losses were driven not just by bad investing but by falling oil prices, the 2008 financial crisis, technical challenges, and China’s industrial-scale support for solar and batteries. How to accelerate climate solutions (Priority: 5/5): Ryan explains the book’s four accelerants—policy, movements, innovation, and investment—and stresses that progress requires using all of them together rather than relying on entrepreneurs or government alone. Investment strategy, diligence, and climate venture fit (Priority: 4/5): Ryan discusses how climate investors should staff teams with scientists, engineers, operators, and policy expertise, and why climate opportunities can still produce venture-scale returns when they solve real market needs. Equity, fossil fuels, and the social dimensions of transition (Priority: 4/5): The discussion covers carbon removal, the limits of offsets, the role of oil and gas firms as incumbents under pressure, and the need to ensure the transition creates jobs and does not deepen inequality.
Key Arguments: Climate action requires collective action; individual behavior changes matter but are insufficient to decarbonize grids, transportation systems, or industrial infrastructure. The public narrative that cleantech 1.0 was a failure is incomplete; at Kleiner, roughly $1B invested returned more than $3B, while macro shocks and foreign industrial policy heavily shaped outcomes. Clean technologies often failed when they lacked cost competitiveness, customer proximity, or access to sufficient scale-up capital after R&D. The right climate investors need mixed teams with science, engineering, operating, and policy capabilities because climate touches many sectors and cannot be analyzed like pure software investing. Innovation should be judged by its ability to reduce the green premium; when clean options become cheaper than fossil alternatives, adoption accelerates rapidly. Policy is essential, but waiting only for policy is too slow; movements, corporate commitments, and capital allocation can create pressure and momentum in parallel. Carbon removal is a valid venture category, but it must complement—not replace—emissions cuts and efficiency gains; low-quality offsets are largely greenwashing. Oil and gas companies must transform like disrupted tech companies or risk obsolescence; those that cling to fossil models become adversaries in the transition. Climate and equity are intertwined: successful decarbonization must also improve education, health, and economic opportunity so the transition is just and durable.
Data Points: MCJ membership size: more than 1,300 members - Jason describes the Slack-based membership community for climate peers. MCJ screening criteria: 4 criteria - Determination, ambition, optimism, and collaborative spirit are used to screen applicants. Kleiner Perkins cleantech investment deployment: about $1 billion - Ryan says Kleiner’s clean investments in the cleantech 1.0 era deployed roughly this amount. Kleiner Perkins cleantech returns: over $3 billion - Ryan states those investments have returned more than this amount today. Ryan’s tenure at the White House: about 3.5 years - He served as Deputy CTO, focusing on federal technology use and the U.S. Digital Service. Climate investing annual pace: more than $30 billion - Ryan says climate technologies are on pace to attract this much money in the current year. Capital flowing into cleantech during early wave: a couple of hundred million dollars - He contrasts early-2010s climate-tech funding with today’s larger flows. Climate-tech funding after Paris Agreement: $2 billion to $3 billion - Ryan cites the jump in funding after the Paris Agreement as a sign of growing momentum. Electric cars on the road: about 4% - Ryan uses this to show how much transportation turnover still remains. Cars still not electric: 96% - He emphasizes the remaining market opportunity in vehicle electrification. Battery scale target: 10,000 gigawatt hours per year - Ryan cites this as a key innovation target in the Speed and Scale plan. Battery cost target: less than $80 per kilowatt hour - He says battery innovation must get below this threshold. Carbon removal target by 2050: 5 to 10 billion tons - Ryan says this level will be needed to reach net zero. Current annual carbon removal volume: about 4,000 tons - He contrasts today’s removal level with the required scale. Jobs needed in transition: 65 million new jobs - Ryan cites this as a key equity/economic goal in the plan. Green premiums on a page: 55 key results - Ryan notes the Speed and Scale action plan is publicly available with these KRs. Fossil fuel company transition cycle: 40 to 70 years - He contrasts the long-cycle mindset of fossil firms with tech’s faster disruption cycles. Wind cost reduction at Ørsted: 60% - Ryan says Ørsted cut offshore wind deployment costs by this amount within four years. Ørsted market cap: $50 billion - He cites this as evidence that incumbent energy firms can successfully transform.
Pivotal Quotes: "to tackle this crisis, it'll take collective action, not only the individual action." — Ryan Panchadsaram: Ryan summarizes the central thesis of Speed and Scale and the need for coordinated systemic change. "we need both the now and the new." — Ryan Panchadsaram: He explains that climate strategy must scale existing solutions while still inventing breakthroughs for hard-to-decarbonize sectors. "For them, Investing in you is putting them out of business." — Ryan Panchadsaram: He warns climate founders to be cautious when oil and gas companies seek partnership or capital involvement.
Implications: The episode argues climate progress will accelerate only when policy, capital, innovation, and organizing align around measurable goals. For founders and investors, the opportunity is large—but only if they target real emissions, cost declines, and just transition outcomes.