Galvanize Climate Solutions Co-Founder Tom Steyer Talks Energy Solutions

Published Aug 15, 2024, 6:56 PM

Galvanize Climate Solutions Co-Founder Tom Steyer discusses his outlook for energy solutions that work for both companies and the consumers they service. He speaks with Bloomberg's Lisa Abramowicz and Annmarie Hordern.  

Joining us now is Tom Steyer, a co founder of Galvani's Climate Solutions. Tom, great to have you back. Thank you so much for being with us. What are you hoping to hear from Harris's campaign, given that we haven't heard so much in terms of how she differs from President Biden.

Well, what I'm expecting to hear Lisa, and hoping to hear is that her agenda around the economy is going to be about opportunity. Then in fact, she understands that America is the land of opportunity and it gives every of the chance to do the most, and that is exactly what drives this economy, what makes our capitalism capitalistic economy so strong. At the same time that I expect her to continue most of the policies of the Biden Harris administration.

So she will continue on this electrifying the grid. What more do you expect if she were to win, that they can add on to what Biden did. When it comes to the Inflation Reduction Act.

Well, I think to a large extent, it is going to be about implementing the Inflation Reduction Act, which is really two things. It's not just about the grid, it's about deploying the existing technologies when solar batteries, evs, but it's also about innovating and creating the next generation of energy related companies and technologies. So that second part is absolutely critical. We're seeing deployment happen spurred by the IRA, but very much driven by private money. What we need to see is new companies solving some of the problems around energy in ways that work for consumers and companies.

Well, when it comes to that competition and if you think climate is existential, why not let the cheap Chinese evs into the United States.

I'm square. Here's my answer for you. Look, I am a huge believer in trade. I believe that the benefits, the dispersed benefits to American consumers of trade are huge and important, and we've all enjoyed them for a long time. And it's theoretically true too. What is true is that the Chinese economy is doing something strange. They are leading them manufacturing of almost every clean energy product wind, turbine, solar arrays, batteries, evs. But what's also true is they're by far the biggest polluter in terms of carbon emissions, and they're using their carbon emissions to try and drive their economic program of leading this energy transition to pull their very weak economy out of the ditch. So, in fact, the idea that they should be charged for their emissions that are about a third of global emissions makes very good sense to me, and we're doing it in not direct way, but it's actually a way that turns out to be pretty fair.

The other big issue, not just national security when it comes to China, but the other big political issue in the election is who's going to win the union vote. How does Kamal Harris strike that tone the fact that they want to see more evs in the road. But actually this unnerves a lot of rank and file of those labor unions in places like Michigan, which is critical to Democrats maintaining the White House.

Absolutely, But let's take a step back, if we could, Henry, which is this We've all listened to Elon Musk and Donald Trump talk about their attitude towards organized labor and labor unions. In fact, they've been sued over what they said on Twitter. So the truth is, it's not a choice between Kamala who is a very strong union person, and a blank person. It's someone who clearly is anti union and an anti working person. And that's been a long history over decades of where mister Trump has gone and where he's likely to go. So yes, it's absolutely clear that Michigan. Obviously, the UAW has a huge sway in Michigan and they're a really important part of the Democratic coalition. But the truth is that the person who supports working people and who supports organized labor is definitely Kamala Harris. And to go any other way is to ignore the facts of this week, let alone the last two decades.

And Tom, you're painting quite a dichonomy between the two candidates. And I just wonder in your conversations with not just investors but portfolio companies that want to do clean technology, if there's a sense that they're holding back on investing because of the uncertainty of the race, and it might continue to do so if it is a Trump presidency.

Well, I think when we talk about the possibility of a Trump presidency, let's break it down into two things. One is what's going to happen in the United States of America. And I think that to a very large extent, when it comes to the deployment of the existing technologies. They're just cheaper. You know, if you look around the world last year, so twenty twenty three of new electricity generation, eighty six percent of it was renewable. They're not doing that to be nice. They're doing it because it's a cheaper, better deal. And those lines have crossed and there's nothing that mister Trump can do to change the economic forces. What is really important from the standpoint of addressing the climate crisis more broadly, is this. This is obviously a global issue. It requires global cooperation and American leadership. That is something that a Trump and administration will never do. I mean, they famously withdrew from the Paris Accords. He's talking about getting out of NATO, let alone cooperating with the UN efforts around climate. So from the standpoint of the American economy, we're going to continue to deploy I think that's baked in the cake, just because it's a better deal. Texas has tripled its solar since twenty eighteen. And that's the state where they love to say how bad renewables are, but they're a bigger win producer and producer than California.

Tell me Jeff about thirty seconds. Do you think that Musk's friendship with Donald Trump will ensure that there will be a friendly environment for electric vehicles even though Trump gets since the office. No.

I think that mister Trump doesn't really have policies and he doesn't have friendships. So whatever he said on said this week, that's something that will change over time because they don't even have a platform. They literally don't have a platform because they don't have policies. They just have instincts urges, and pensions.

Tim Styer of Galvanized Climate Solutions, who really appreciate you coming in as always, thank you for being here.

Bloomberg Talks

Curating today’s top interviews from around Bloomberg News. Hear conversations with the biggest name 
Social links
Follow podcast
Recent clips
Browse 1,675 clip(s)