Zero: The Climate Race Trump’s immigration policy is a nightmare for climate tech
Jul 24, 2025
Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures and a pioneer in breakthrough technologies, shares his insights on the challenging landscape of climate tech. He discusses the significant drop in investments and why he remains optimistic about the future of fusion energy within five years. Khosla highlights the detrimental impact of immigration policies on the talent pipeline vital for innovation. He argues that despite financial setbacks, the best clean tech solutions are yet to come, emphasizing the need for global talent to tackle these climate challenges.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Subsidies Should Taper Off
- Subsidies should start high and decline as market share grows, stopping when a few percent of the market is served.
- This approach frees funds for better uses and avoids perpetual subsidies in energy markets.
Nuclear and Geothermal Challenges
- Nuclear's biggest obstacle is social opposition, not funding or technology.
- Geothermal breakthroughs need technology to access super hot steam for feasible economics.
Fusion's Promising Horizon
- Fusion will be proven viable with clear economics and scale within five years.
- Only one among many efforts needs to succeed to solve the planet's energy problem.