“The last time you had Trump in office, you saw an acceleration of private capital going into some of the climate areas to make up for the gaps that the government was pulling out of, and I would expect the same to happen again,” said Philip Krim, co-founder and chief executive officer of venture firm Montauk Climate. “We think of that as an opportunity to lean in where capital starts to dry up.”
President-Elect Donald Trump has made clear he plans to kill or undercut many clean energy incentives. Yet the prospect of less federal support for new climate technologies is already motivating some investors to step in to fill the void.
The climate tech sector, ranging from carbon capture to green hydrogen, has benefited widely from generous federal tax incentives, loans and grants for the past few years. With the fate of those funding sources now in flux, investors are dusting off the Trump 1.0 playbook.
