(Quartz) Over the course of two days in July, West Virginia emerged as the perfect proxy for America’s messy reckoning with climate change. First, it moved to punish banks for divesting from old economy coal and fossil fuels; next, its senior US senator had an abrupt change of heart and supported a serious step up…

(Pitchbook) When tech investor Abe Yokell heard about the $369 billion bill to fund climate investment in the US, he almost fell out of his seat. Yokell, a managing partner at Congruent Ventures, wasn’t alone. Climate tech investors and advocates were shocked by the agreement between Senators Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer that, if passed,…

(The New York Times) There will be jargon: carried interest, leveraged buyout, joint liability. I am aware that none of this is anyone’s favorite thing to be discussing on a summer’s day. But private equity is counting on your lack of interest; the seeming impenetrability of its practices has been called one of its “superpowers,”…

(The New York Times) The $369 billion climate and tax package forged in a surprise deal by Senate Democrats on Wednesday would be the most ambitious action ever taken by the United States to try to stop the planet from catastrophically overheating. The agreement, which Senate Democrats hope to pass as early as next week,…

(CNBC) “You just realize there’s a little bit more to life than maxing out your comp package. And I think people are realizing that now — and especially with some of the decisions that their companies have made to prioritize profits over democracy, for example.” Before starting at Sunrun in March, Anuras worked at Expedia…

(Knowledge at Wharton) A Texas law that bans its municipalities from doing business with banks that have ESG policies against fossil fuels and firearms is driving down competition for borrowing and costing taxpayers millions in extra interest, according to a new study from Wharton. In their paper, Wharton assistant finance professor Daniel Garrett and Ivan…

(Financial Times) Encouraging more women to start businesses and not providing them with adequate capital for growth is like sending talented novice mountain climbers up Everest without oxygen, a guide and a tent. Few will make it to base camp, and for those that do, the odds of survival are even lower. Still, when this…

(Forbes) The investment frenzy we all witnessed in the fall of 2021 has suddenly come to a standstill. The bubble that has pervaded the VC ecosystem has finally burst and pundits are echoing blame on economic shocks like a pandemic that paused the supply chain and created high unemployment, and then followed by the invasion…

(Forbes) This coming Thursday in Congress, the Task Force On Financial Technology is holding a hearing titled “Combatting Tech Bro Culture: Understanding Obstacles to Investments in Diverse-Owned Fintechs.” With Sequoia and AZ16 headlining a recent investment in a firm “seeking to break down barriers between blockchains” as reported by Forbes, it appears the next barriers…

(Wired) Google AI researcher Blake Lemoine was recently placed on administrative leave after going public with claims that LaMDA, a large language model designed to converse with people, was sentient. At one point, according to reporting by The Washington Post, Lemoine went so far as to demand legal representation for the LaMDA; he has said…