Given the enormity of climate change and the unprecedented opportunity for innovation that comes with decarbonization, I love learning about ambitious efforts that really take seriously the speed and scale at which we need to invest in change. I’ve long been a fan of New Energy Nexus – an organization that aims to make clean energy accessible to everyone by supporting 100,000 climate entrepreneurs. They take an ecosystem approach, recognizing that entrepreneurs need not just cash, but supportive networks to succeed, and they’ve been building up ecosystems all over the world to support diverse entrepreneurs.

I was thrilled to learn more about New Energy Nexus and one of their best-known accelerators Third Derivative, which is a partnership with RMI. In this episode, you’ll hear from Nexus’ founder and CEO, Danny Kenedy, and Third Derivative co-founder and CMO, Elaine Hsieh. We talk about their backgrounds, the work that Nexus and Third Derivative are doing, their approach to ecosystem building, the importance of justice, equity, and inclusion in climate investing, underhyped and overhyped spaces in climate tech, and much more. Third Derivative is currently accepting applications through March 21 for its next two cohorts - so if you’re a startup founder, consider putting in an application. For everyone else, hope you enjoy.

In today’s episode, we cover:

[3:43] Third Derivative & Elaine’s role
[4:31] New Energy Nexus & Danny’s role
[5:07] Danny’s path to starting New Energy Nexus
[8:15] Elaine’s path to starting Third Derivative
[11:28] Nexus’ large-scale approach
[14:48] Nexus’ country-level programs in practice
[18:41] Challenges & learnings from setting up programs in other countries
[20:41] What makes Third Derivative different & important
[25:53] Underhyped & overhyped spaces in climate tech
[31:54] The climate justice lens that informs Nexus’ & Third Derivative’s work
[37:10] Recent growth & continued interest in climate investments
[41:07] What needs to change to address today’s climate crisis
[44:10] How listeners can get involved with New Energy Nexus & Third Derivative

Resources Mentioned

Connect with Danny Kennedy & Elaine Hsieh

Connect with Danny on LinkedIn
Connect with Elaine on LinkedIn

Connect with Jason Rissman

On LinkedIn
On Twitter

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If you have feedback or ideas for future episodes, events or partnerships, please get in touch!

Larry Taunton