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(Bloomberg) Most corporate retirement plans are awash in fossil-fuel investments. But that could start to change this year as a new US rule comes online and employee pressure builds for more climate-friendly options. Starting on Jan. 30, a Department of Labor rule will take effect that explicitly allows fiduciaries to consider climate change and other environmental, social, and…

(TechCrunch) The latest Crunchbase data shows that Black startup founders in the United States raised around $264 million out of the total $33.6 billion in venture capital allocated in Q4 2022. That’s an uptick from the $178 million — or 0.43% — the group raised in Q3. In total, U.S. Black founders raised an estimated $2.254 billion…

(Techcrunch) There isn’t much hope that 2023’s fundraising environment will be better for startups than last year’s. It seems likely that it will get worse before it gets better — even at the earliest stages, which have largely been insulated thus far. But for burgeoning companies capable of building business models that reflect current conditions and rely less on…

(Bloomberg) The start of the year is a boon for the data-minded in the climate and energy world: We get the full wrap on the prior year’s investment flows and indicators, and a raft of outlooks on the year ahead. Earlier this week, Bloomberg Green’s Eric Roston neatly summarized the climate numbers to watch in 2023 . I have…

(GreenBiz) The amount of energy wasted over the whys and wherefores of corporate ESG disclosure is a travesty. It also begs the question: Why does that intense level of public discussion suddenly vanish when it comes to refining the antiquated methods that corporations use to account for their greenhouse gas emissions reductions? Read more here.

(The Information) There’s no better way to avoid flack for a slew of bad venture capital investments than simply erasing evidence of those deals—right? That’s apparently what a handful of VC partners decided in 2022, a year many will remember for the collapse in startup valuations and several unforgettable blow-ups. In between marking down the…

(The Atlantic) The dramatic, multidimensional implosion of Meta; the nuclear train wreck of Elon Musk’s Twitter; the momentous labor uprising against Amazon—it wasn’t just an unusually disastrous year for America’s biggest tech companies. It was a reckoning. The tech giants that have shaped our lives, online and off, over the course of the 21st century…

(Washington Post) They are not elected to any office. But in the fight against global warming, the world’s billionaires have more influence than many heads of state. As government struggles to move quickly to contain greenhouse gases, ultrawealthyinvestors and philanthropists are increasingly grabbing the reins, using their fortunes to guide the transition to cleaner energy toward their…

(Fast Company) Those of us who make things are idealistic. We see the beauty of how a new idea can change the world and we run after that vision. Sometimes, we put well-intentioned policies in place, or execute new programs, but don’t always think through all the ways they might impact customers, teams, or partners. …

(FT) Vanguard is pulling out of the main financial alliance on tackling climate change at a time when Republicans in the US have stepped up their attacks on financial institutions that they say are hostile to fossil fuels. Read more here.