This year was said to be a remarkable one for the Earth’s climate, but also a challenging one as extreme weather disasters fueled by climate swept the world fast and furiously, affecting the population at large. Meanwhile, the topic of climate change continued to be an important, much-talked-about issue.And it sparked the establishment of more and more international companies, cropping up to provide technological solutions to the world’s growing list of climate change problems.
Israel is poised to become one of the major players in the climate innovation and climate tech sector. In 2021, climate tech companies in Israel raised more than $2.2 billion in investments, according to PLANETech, an Israeli nonprofit community focused on climate technologies established earlier this year as a joint venture of Israel Innovation Institute, led by Dr. Jonathan Menuhin, and Consensus Business Group,
“By the end of 2021, the annual investments in Israeli climate tech companies reached $2.2 billion, exceeding last year’s fundraising record of $1.4 billion by 57 percent,” said Uriel Klar, director of PLANETech, when the data was released.
Stormy skies in Caesarea where the coastline is being eroded. Deposit Photos
“This was really the year for climate tech,” he tells NoCamels separately in an interview on the new figures. Statements from tech heavyweights such as Bill Gates, who recently declared the climate tech sector would build around 10 companies the size of Google and Amazon and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who predicted the next 1,000 unicorns would be climate tech firms, made a significant impact on the world this year.
Klar also says that more investments are going into startups in the climate tech sector, noting a report from multinational financial consultant PwC that shows venture capital and private equity investments reached $87.5 billion for global climate tech firms from June 2020 to June 2021, an increase of 210 percent from the same period the previous when $28.4 billion was invested in the sector.
PLANETech has said that climate tech has become the fastest growing and most promising field in the high-tech industry in Israel. But it was only recently that it became clear that Israel was joining the global trend.
According to Klar, Israel is eager to join the movement “because it’s something that really affects the high-tech industry on a global level” but that there’s still a ways to go. “When you see what’s going on outside of Israel and the advancement of Europe and the US and other ecosystems with regards to climate tech, you understand there is a gap between the potential that Israel has to be a climate leader to the actual things on the ground. That’s very clear when you speak with startups [in Israel.] When you speak with investors, though, most of them are not familiar with the field at all and most of them do not have the same level of knowledge as their colleagues in Europe and the US.”
Courtesy: PLANETech
That’s essentially why a community like PLANETech was founded earlier this year, Klar tells NoCamels. The issue was important in other regions, but in Israel “nobody knew the term climate tech. It was a desert in terms of a climate tech ecosystem.”
Things changed in late October when Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told world leaders at the UN’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow that Israel can “lead the way” and “become a climate innovation nation.”
Two weeks prior, PLANETech and the Israel Innovation Authority released an extensive report on the climate tech sector in Israel, mapping out 1,200 climate companies, with 637 of them being startups that are developing climate technologies. The report showed that while there were still challenges ahead and room for improvement, there had been an appreciable spike in the number of new startups dealing with climate issues in Israel. The proportion of these new climate companies out of the total number of new high-tech companies increased considerably in the years ahead, reaching nine percent of the total companies established in 20202.
While Bennett indicated to the world that Israel was ready to step up its efforts to fight climate change, the report indicated that “there’s an ecosystem in Israel for climate tech and while there are some challenges and opportunities, we have high-quality startups that raised a lot of money have the potential to have a bigger impact,” Klar explains.
“I think that was one of the reasons for Bennett’s declaration, though of course not the only one. But in order to state something like that, you need to have the data to support it,” he adds.
UBG Materials. Courtesy.
That data now includes four companies that have made significant strides in taking action to fight climate change. Last week, Future Meat Technologies, a clean meat developer, raised $347 million for its lab-grown meat, the largest-ever investment in a cultured meat company. Fabless IoT startup Wiliot has raised $200 million to improve the supply chain footprint through battery-free sensors. UBQ Materials just raised $170 million to convert waste to a climate-positive thermoplastic substitute. Israeli-founded ride-sharing company VIA has raised $130 million to promote an advanced digital platform for shared transportation.
Klar also notes that Israel’s smart energy tech firm SolarEdgeas the first Israeli company to enter the S&P 500 index and weather platform Tomorrow.io is in the process of going public on the Nasdaq at a $1.2 billion valuation.
Lab-cultured chicken breast by Israeli food tech startup Future Meat Technologies. Photo: PRNewsfoto/Future Meat Technologies
“We are leaders in everything that is related to technology and innovation. We have the infrastructure, the entrepreneurs, we have everything. So it’s clear that we have the potential to become a real dominant player in the climate tech field. Now, our potential is partly fulfilled because only some of the companies are really working around climate change. We have some good companies that we can look at and say, these are the leaders. We need more of these — because it doesn’t happen overnight,” says Klar.
“We need to see more from the high-tech leaders and we need to see more leadership from the government. Although we already see this, we need more from the government and more from Israeli VCs that are not yet investing in climate tech but taking bold steps and saying it’s an important topic,” he continues.
“There’s a dynamic here and we need to see more leadership from all sides to get a real, developed ecosystem,” he adds.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was down more than 200 points in late-morning trading, weighed down by losses in the technology, base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets also fell.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 239.24 points at 22,749.04.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 312.36 points at 40,443.39. The S&P 500 index was down 80.94 points at 5,422.47, while the Nasdaq composite was down 380.17 points at 16,747.49.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.80 cents US compared with 74.00 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down US$1.07 at US$68.08 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.26 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$2.10 at US$2,541.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was down four cents at US$4.10 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in technology, financial and energy stocks, while U.S. stock markets also pushed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 171.41 points at 23,298.39.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 278.37 points at 41,369.79. The S&P 500 index was up 38.17 points at 5,630.35, while the Nasdaq composite was up 177.15 points at 17,733.18.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.19 cents US compared with 74.23 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up US$1.75 at US$76.27 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.10 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$18.70 at US$2,556.50 an ounce and the December copper contract was down less than a penny at US$4.22 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2024.
The crypto market has recently experienced a significant downturn, mirroring broader risk asset sell-offs. Over the past week, Bitcoin’s price dropped by 24%, reaching $53,000, while Ethereum plummeted nearly a third to $2,340. Major altcoins also suffered, with Cardano down 27.7%, Solana 36.2%, Dogecoin 34.6%, XRP 23.1%, Shiba Inu 30.1%, and BNB 25.7%.
The severe downturn in the crypto market appears to be part of a broader flight to safety, triggered by disappointing economic data. A worse-than-expected unemployment report on Friday marked the beginning of a technical recession, as defined by the Sahm Rule. This rule identifies a recession when the three-month average unemployment rate rises by at least half a percentage point from its lowest point in the past year.
Friday’s figures met this threshold, signaling an abrupt economic downshift. Consequently, investors sought safer assets, leading to declines in major stock indices: the S&P 500 dropped 2%, the Nasdaq 2.5%, and the Dow 1.5%. This trend continued into Monday with further sell-offs overseas.
The crypto market’s rapid decline raises questions about its role as either a speculative asset or a hedge against inflation and recession. Despite hopes that crypto could act as a risk hedge, the recent crash suggests it remains a speculative investment.
Since the downturn, the crypto market has seen its largest three-day sell-off in nearly a year, losing over $500 billion in market value. According to CoinGlass data, this bloodbath wiped out more than $1 billion in leveraged positions within the last 24 hours, including $365 million in Bitcoin and $348 million in Ether.
Khushboo Khullar of Lightning Ventures, speaking to Bloomberg, argued that the crypto sell-off is part of a broader liquidity panic as traders rush to cover margin calls. Khullar views this as a temporary sell-off, presenting a potential buying opportunity.
Josh Gilbert, an eToro market analyst, supports Khullar’s perspective, suggesting that the expected Federal Reserve rate cuts could benefit crypto assets. “Crypto assets have sold off, but many investors will see an opportunity. We see Federal Reserve rate cuts, which are now likely to come sharper than expected, as hugely positive for crypto assets,” Gilbert told Coindesk.
Despite the recent volatility, crypto continues to make strides toward mainstream acceptance. Notably, Morgan Stanley will allow its advisors to offer Bitcoin ETFs starting Wednesday. This follows more than half a year after the introduction of the first Bitcoin ETF. The investment bank will enable over 15,000 of its financial advisors to sell BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC. This move is seen as a significant step toward the “mainstreamization” of crypto, given the lengthy regulatory and company processes in major investment banks.
The recent crypto market downturn highlights its volatility and the broader economic concerns affecting all risk assets. While some analysts see the current situation as a temporary sell-off and a buying opportunity, others caution against the speculative nature of crypto. As the market evolves, its role as a mainstream alternative asset continues to grow, marked by increasing institutional acceptance and new investment opportunities.
