Humans have an innate desire to give names to things, but let’s be honest, we’re not always very good at it.
Consider climate technology. Broadly speaking, this is a category of companies and technologies that help us adapt to increasing change while minimizing or reversing our impact on the climate. As a term, climate technology is actually not a bad thing, as it defines the focus of the field in two words:
It’s definitely better than previous clean technologies. A startup under the climate technology banner today would have called itself this just 10 years ago. But that wasn’t a very good explanation. Clean technology that hasn’t yet taken off could easily mean robot vacuum cleaners or new household appliances. Climate technology is much easier to understand.
But climate technology is about a decade old, and humans like to feel like they’re at the forefront of something new. Moreover, the scope of climate technologies has become somewhat unwieldy. Some have begun exploring alternatives in the past few years.
Planetary Health emerged as an early alternative, first appearing in medical journals. lance Some investors have embraced this, in part, to solve the range expansion problem. Although many companies are not trying to solve the problem of carbon pollution, they are still focused on technologies that address humanity’s impact on the planet. Although attractive, most people stuck with climate technology.
Then Donald Trump was elected a second time. The word ‘climate’ hasn’t gone from buzzword to dirty word, but people are actively talking about distancing themselves from it. You can fight back if you want, but the migration actually started before the election. In five years we will be calling climate technology something completely different.
What is it? People started throwing things at the wall to see what stuck. Planetary health is a clear alternative. There are descriptive, initial leads. The American Dynamics platform includes clean energy initiatives, but the term is associated with a16z, a single VC firm whose partner Katherine Boyle coined the term and does business under that name, which includes many others, including defense. Included. , public safety, education, housing, etc.
Frontier technology is another. But if you thought climate technology was too broad, you might not like how much Frontier Technology encompasses. Critical infrastructure? This overlaps with climate technology, but the Venn diagram is not a perfect circle. Deep tech is another technology that encompasses climate technology, but includes much more, such as AI, robotics, and quantum computing.
The most recent proposal was Growth Tech. I don’t mean to throw stones, but I just can’t see myself going along with it. It’s too common. Aren’t all venture-backed startups seeking growth? — and doesn’t capture the point of what these startups are pushing. Does climate technology have the potential to unleash a wave of growth and industrial innovation? You don’t have to look much further than China to understand that. But I think there is a better term.
Since I’m not one to criticize without offering solutions, here’s mine. If you really need a term, I would suggest resilience skills. It’s not perfect, and I’ll probably think of something better in the future. But I think it will happen now. This captures the point of what climate technology strives for: making both the world and humanity more resilient.
