Jenny ChaseIf I had ten billion dollars to spend on combatting climate change, I'm honestly not sure what I'd do with it, and I rather think that if you are then you haven't really looked into the question.
(For obvious reasons this is not investment advice).
This is also an obvious EA rabbithole I am not diving into today. (To my mind a big EA weakness is it doesn't, as a movement, seem to have much interest in climate change though this is unfair to parts of it).
FWIW, ideas I don't think are obviously stupid:
- lobbying for specific solutions, eg bike lanes, density, renewable energy planning reform
- lobbying against coal, cars, oil
- giveaways of ebikes or electric tuktuks in strategically chosen congested cities
- donating renewables microgrids to villages and hospitals in sub-saharan Africa
- straight up buying and retiring mandatory carbon credits
BashStKid@solar_chase
Fifty years ago demonstration solar was rolled out in Indian villages to power water pumps, lighting, radios, run satellite downlinks for tv, break the cycle of fetching water & kerosene.
We’re not waiting on tech, it’s just political will & money.
Chris AdamsAhoy! This one here:
"straight up buying and retiring mandatory carbon credits"
I think I agree. You're referring to any compliance market specifically here?
I ask as I devoured this report below:
But the prices and effectiveness of governance structures seem to differ wildly from market to market.
I haven't found any good resource in the public domain to make meaningful comparisons across markets for doing so.
@mrchrisadams a few years ago, my carbon colleagues told me to buy in the EU ETS as it's mandatory and fairly watertight. I'd ask them for an update though.
Look I am ruling out any solution which starts "be the government", okay, that's quite a significant step forward from just having ten billion dollars.
them#tic@solar_chase == supervillain
@thematic don't tempt me.
Martin Kimber@solar_chase either a thousand interventions costing ten million each, or a million interventions costing ten thousand each? (mind boggles)
rgmerk@drmakimber @solar_chase deploy existing tech or fund research that holds potential to abate hard to abate sectors? FWIW if I had 10 billion dollars to spend and didn’t care about getting any of it back I’d probably do the latter, but it’s not a straightforward call to say the least!
@rgmerk @drmakimber there are so, so many labs, incubators and funds set up to do that.
@drmakimber @solar_chase for what it’s worth if I had a few million dollars to throw at climate activism at the moment I’d spend it on product placement for induction cooktops :)
@rgmerk @solar_chase I did read recently that hobs with a battery integrated in have become a thing. Amazing
Cynan
DamonHD@solar_chase I am confident that if I had to produce a solution it would include PV and storage of some sort somewhere..
robinsonmeyer@solar_chase Agreed—I wrote about this when he first made the announcement a few years ago. It’s really hard! Nowhere is prepared to accept that level of spending. (Agreed with you about what possible options could look like, though.) https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/02/jeff-bezos-will-struggle-spend-10-billion-climate-change/606733/
Joel D@robinsonmeyer @solar_chase What about this earlier piece of yours, which purports to answer exactly this question? Has your opinion changed since then (hardly unlikely)? https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/10/every-climate-concerned-billionaire-should-do-this-to-save-the-world/413020/
@joeld @solar_chase it still requires a regulatory change, which is slightly out of scope of the question — under current law, you can’t lease a coal reserve (at least in the US) without planning to exploit it
jimray@robinsonmeyer @solar_chase I’m not a big brained billionaire but I’ll just note I’ve yet to see a single Whole Foods with solar panels. The parking lots alone!
@jimray Yeah but they can buy their own solar panels!
@solar_chase Fair. That leaves plenty of money for Bezos to buy *me* solar panels.
Gershon Bialer@solar_chase why not spend it on elections and lobbyists to get strong legislation and treaties?
@gersh "I will buy political influence" might BE the right answer but it is fraught with problems and accusations of being evil.
@solar_chase If have 10 billion you are already gonna get accused of being evil.
Kevin Cianfarini@gersh @solar_chase I think about this a lot. I would do virtuous corporate raids through Engine No. 1 or Sphere Index.
@kevincianfarini @gersh hmmm so try to change the oil giants rather than destroy them?
@solar_chase @gersh well, it depends. That's the goal of Engine No. 1. Sphere backs out of fossil fuels altogether, and instead focuses its voting power on the 416 non-fossil fuel companies in the SP500.
I personally like Sphere better because it avoids exposure to (what I think are) stranded assets in your retirement accounts.
But $10B would be easy for the market to absorb AND it would disrupt many shareholders trying to vote against humanity.
Trivia Posing As A Human@solar_chase Probably put it into projects to convince planning reforms, the wind and solar is already their it's just people can block the permits very easily, and faster planning approvals would make solar even cheaper and more profitable.
interstarBuying a newspaper might be a smart move