"Last April, the private equity giant Apollo became one of the first mainstream investment firms to take an interest in helping climate tech firms navigate the valley of death. That term refers to the phase in an industrial technology company’s development when it needs more money than venture capitalists can offer to reach commercial scale, but it remains too speculative for a bank loan. (Climate software startups, which don’t need to build massive infrastructure projects to scale up, don’t face the same funding challenges.)"

"Part of the carbon absorbed by cork oak trees is transferred to cork products, which can be used for long periods, repurposed and recycled. Several studies found that cork is carbon negative, meaning it can store more carbon than what is required to produce it."

"Total global investment in the energy transition hit about $1.8 trillion last year, a 17% increase from 2022, according to BloombergNEF. That was still far short of the $4.8 trillion the data provider estimates is needed annually from 2024 to 2030 to meet the world’s climate targets."

"The company’s Loblolly facility — named after the pine tree species grown in the area — intends to start manufacturing the shoe-box-sized blocks no later than Friday and gradually scale up production, CEO Barclay Rogers told E&E News."

"At the end of November last year, uranium prices reached more than $80 per pound (lb) for the first time in more than 15 years. Commenting on the attractive market conditions, Mark Chalmers, CEO of Energy Fuels, said: 'Due to the substantial increase in uranium prices, US Government support for nuclear energy and nuclear fuel, and a global focus on reducing carbon emissions, Energy Fuels is resuming large-scale uranium production.'"

"The high cost of protectionism has been long documented. Surveying research on protections for various U.S. industries from 1950 through 1990, the Cato Institute’s Scott Lincicome found that the average annual cost to American consumers per job saved during those four decades was $620,000 (in 2017 dollars). Moving forward a few decades, Peterson Institute economists Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Sean Lowry estimate the price tag for each job saved by President Obama’s tire tariffs at $926,500."

"However, Rainbow is now working with K-Tech, a Lakeland, Fla.-based chemical technology firm, on a novel approach to processing the rare earths further into more valuable rare-earth oxides. It is testing out a faster, more environmentally friendly way, known as continuous-ion chromatography, which has been used in photography. Bennett hopes to start producing rare-earth oxides with K-Tech on a trial basis by the end of March."