A Clean Energy Fund’s Challenges, How Twitter Antics Hurt Tesla’s Brand And 30 Under 30 Innovators

This week’s Current Climate, which every Saturday brings you the latest news about the business of sustainability. Sign up to get it in your inbox every week.

Earlier this week, Forbes launched its annual 30 Under 30 list, featuring some of the top innovators across 20 different categories. And lots of these innovators are working on ways to make the economy more sustainable. Take Noah McQueen, for example, a chemical engineer whose company, Heirloom, extracts carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into limestone, which can be safely and stably stored. Then there’s Quansan Yang, who’s developing microchips that are biodegradable both in the environment as well as in human bodies to eliminate electronic waste.

On the transportation side, there’s Ben Parker, whose company Lightship is developing long-range electric RVs. On the battery side, there’s Joanna Patsalis, whose company Direct Kinetic Solutions aims to build better nuclear batteries. And on the homefront, there’s Jiachen Li, who helped invent a roof coating that can keep houses warm in winter and cool in summer, and is raising money to commercialize the material. And on the clothing front, there’s twin sisters Neeka and Leila Mashouf, whose company Rubi Laboratories has developed carbon-negative textiles that can be used for fashion or other applications.

These are just a few of the Under 30 listmakers who are making strides in sustainability efforts. You can check out the entire list by clicking here.

The Big Read

His Clean-Energy Fund Was Up 206% In 2020. Then It Crashed. What Should We Expect Now?

Invesco stock-index owner Robert Wilder has bet on eco-friendly long shots for years, mostly winning. But it’s been a volatile ride.

Read more here.

Discoveries And Innovations

New research finds that as carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere increase, plants become nitrogen deficient, which means they produce less protein and nutrients than they would otherwise.

Extreme heat was responsible for more than 20,000 deaths across western Europe this summer, official figures suggest, as the continent was battered by a series of punishing heatwaves and record-breaking temperatures.