How is it April already? The whirlwind of global headlines, geopolitical unrest, and financial market upheavals mixed with hyper local seasonal changes, kids’ extracurriculars, and a gradual uptick in (cautiously masked) travel has somehow sped up time passing even more quickly than before.
As Ferris said so well, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
And when I stop to look around, I’m astounded by the outsized impact on the climate emergency that an organization like Evergreen Climate Innovations can have. Compiling the organization’s 2021 Impact Report – our first in a few years – brought that impact into clear view.
Since I started at Evergreen (then called Clean Energy Trust) early last year:
- Thousands of participants have attended our educational virtual events, enjoying relevant, timely, and entertaining content from leading experts in a huge variety of climate-related topics.
- Hundreds of climate innovators have applied for catalytic seed investment through our 501vc platform.
- Tens of millions of dollars in follow-on funding have been catalyzed by the philanthropic seed capital that we’ve invested in our portfolio of early-stage climate tech startups.
- Scores of passionate supporters joined us to celebrate the unveiling of our evolved branding (which now more accurately represents our mission and vision, as Erik so aptly described here).
- Untold numbers of stakeholders diligently partner with us to deliver positive climate impact and inclusive opportunity, helping high-potential climate tech startups from the Greater Midwest succeed.
More than anything, I am in awe of the entrepreneurs that I’ve met over the past year. Their inspiring ingenuity, consistent determination, unfailing optimism, and unwavering belief in the power of technical innovation to attack climate change in interesting new ways… words can’t describe the pride I feel in the tiny role I play in fostering their success.
Thankfully for all of us, their success begets more success. The flywheel of climate innovation keeps building momentum, one win at a time, step by incremental step. As the impact of our work expands, and as our evergreen model continues to demonstrate the #compoundingimpact of our approach, we see an exciting crowding-in of more capital, talent, and resources in support of innovative climate technologies.
The past year was an exciting demonstration of how much we can accomplish together. This year is already showing even more momentum, and I can’t wait to see what I’m able to report on in another 12 months!