President Joe Biden looks at a 2022 Corvette at the General Motors’ Factory ZERO Facility in Detroit with UAW President Ray Curry and CEO of GM Mary Barra, Wednesday, November 17, 2021. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less. Produced by Renewable Energy World and Tigercomm, This Week in Cleantech will air every Friday in the Factor This! podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.
This week’s episode features Amanda Chu, US energy reporter for the Financial Times, who reported on President Biden’s challenge of making investments in clean energy and infrastructure resonate with voters.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Dan Shugar, CEO of the Nextracker, which was recently featured on CNBC’s “Mad Money” for its successful IPO and stock performance.
1. JPMorgan, State Street quit climate group, BlackRock steps back — Reuters
JPMorgan Chase and State Street’s investment arms both withdrew from a global investor coalition, Climate Action 100+ (CA100+), which advocates for companies to decarbonize. BlackRock also reduced its level of engagement with the coalition. Collectively, the withdrawals totaled nearly $14 trillion in total assets from Wall Street’s initiatives to combat climate change. The firms said their reason for withdrawal was because they wanted to build up their own investment stewardship capabilities.
2. ‘We got your money, see ya’: Customers frustrated by Encor Solar closure — WRAL News
When Encor Solar went out of business, 190 of their customers were in the process of installing panels. Now, they’ve been left with hefty loans and panels that aren’t hooked up. Customers were told they wouldn’t need to pay for the panels until they were interconnected and generating power that would offset their electric bill. However, when panels were installed, no one came to turn the system on, leaving them with a loan payment but no solar power.
GoodLeap, Encor’s lending partner, told customers they’d consider deferring loan payments case by case until the solar systems are operational.
Watch the full episode on YouTube
3. How the housing industry is working to stop energy efficient homes — The Washington Post
Homes account for about one-fifth of U.S. greenhouse gas pollution, much of that due to poor design a
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