Climate Talent Leaders: AI and Energy

Climate Talent Leaders

Edition 2: January 30, 2025

Hi there,

Welcome back to Climate Tech Leaders! This week, we’re exploring the power of core values and how integrating them into your hiring strategy—early and intentionally—can help you build a strong, culturally aligned team.

We’ve also been following the headlines and have some educational resources on AI and energy demand for you to dive deep(seek) into—get it? 😉

Enjoy, and as always, let us know what hiring challenges you’re facing so we can make them the focus of a future newsletter!

Crafting Core Values that Stick

We regularly host hiring workshops with climate-focused accelerators and incubators.

The entire workshop is only 60 mins, but we always seem to spend 20+ minutes on core values—and for good reason.

Ironically, this is the one many founders tend to breeze past when building their hiring strategy. We’d argue it’s one of the biggest hiring mistakes you can make.

When hiring, don’t overlook the importance of:

• Defining a few clear, actionable core values (3-5).

• Communicating those values to candidates early and often.

• Asking thoughtful interview questions to assess alignment.

If you get value alignment right, you’ll build a team of employees who:

• Care deeply about the same fundamental mission.

• Stay through market ups and downs.

• Are truly in it for the long haul.

• Become a lasting part of your company’s culture.

Upcoming Climate People Events

Our upcoming events to help you perfect your hiring strategy!

🌎 WHAT: Climate Talent LinkedIn Live Session: A Critical Look at DEI with Sonali Anderson
🗓️ WHEN: February 5, 2025 @ 3 PM EST
📍WHERE: https://www.linkedin.com/events/navigatingdeiinclimatehiring-al7290489232492515328/theater/

🌎 WHAT: Growth Stage People Ops and Hiring Best Practices Workshop
🗓️ WHEN: February 26, 2025 @ 12 PM EST
📍WHERE: https://lu.ma/0pn1da8v

Climate People News

What we’re reading, watching, tuning into, and talking about.

→ Attracting and retaining top talent requires more than a compelling mission, hiring is a two-way street. To stand out, focus on offering competitive compensation, fostering a strong work environment, and creating a transparent, intentional hiring process. Read the full discussion in this LinkedIn post.

→ Yesterday, we went live to talk about the power of integrating core values into your interviewing and onboarding processes. Catch the recording here. 

→ Missed last week’s edition? It was full of events, resources, funding reports, etc. Find it here.

→ Are you a job seeker looking for more candidate-focused content? You can find that in our bi-weekly “Driven By Impact” newsletter. Subscribe to that here.

Monthly Must Haves

This week, we’re switching things up and diving into some thought-provoking discussions around AI and energy. Here’s a roundup of the key arguments we’re seeing across the community.

→ 1️⃣ Solar Power and AI Ventures: This TechCrunch article explores how solar energy is fueling $100B in AI investments. While it’s impressive, it raises a critical question: can we truly sustain the energy demands of such an energy-intensive technology?

→ 2️⃣ The Debate Around DeepSeek: Karen Hao’s analysis shifts the focus from DeepSeek being a Chinese company to the real issue: its massive energy requirements. DeepSeek could potentially curb energy consumption by reducing the need for data centers and coal plants.

→ 3️⃣ DeepSeek’s Emissions Claims Under Scrutiny: This LinkedIn post by Scott Chamberlin questions whether DeepSeek’s promises of cutting emissions hold up. Could the claims of reduced energy consumption be overstated?

→ 4️⃣ Efficiency and Energy Demand: Susan Su’s Climate Money article dives into a paradox: even if DeepSeek is more energy-efficient, its affordability and accessibility might drive greater adoption—ultimately increasing overall energy demand.

The Bottom Line: AI is evolving fast, and it’s going to radically reshape how we approach energy in the years ahead.

One-Minute Climate Snippet: Grid Decongestion

Grid decongestion is critical to modernizing energy infrastructure and ensuring reliable electricity distribution in a low-carbon economy. Aging grids are under strain from increased demand, renewable energy, and electrification, but companies like Smart Wires, GridBridge, NewGrid, and Innowatts are leading the way with innovative solutions. From dynamic line rating systems and HVDC lines to smart substations and predictive analytics, these technologies optimize grid performance, enable renewable energy integration, and help prevent outages—paving the way for a resilient, net-zero future.

Top Candidates of the Week

We are building a robust anonymous talent portal, allowing you to browse candidates by sector, experience level, role type, and more. Stay tuned — it's launching in the coming weeks! In the meantime, here are some of our top candidates from this week. Simply reply to this email if you're interested in connecting with any of them!

👤🌱 Business Development & Operations Leader | Energy & Climate Tech
➵ Dynamic business leader with a proven track record of scaling climate tech startups, securing multimillion-dollar deals, and driving strategic growth. Employee #3 at a pioneering carbon analytics company, instrumental in securing $4.5M in seed funding and growing revenue to $1M+. Expertise in sales, partnerships, policy engagement, and fundraising, with a strong background in utility pilots, RFP responses, and go-to-market strategy. Former Bain consultant with experience in financial services, private equity, and market modeling. Passionate about accelerating the clean energy transition through innovative business and policy solutions.

👤🌱 Director of Hardware Engineering | Autonomous Vehicles & Advanced Sensors
➵ Experienced engineering leader with deep expertise in autonomous vehicles, EVs, and advanced sensor hardware. Proven track record in camera, lidar, and radar manufacturing for R&D and scaling production. Successfully led hardware operations at top autonomous vehicle companies, improving efficiency, reliability, and product readiness. Known for driving cross-functional initiatives in sensor calibration, fleet engineering, and commercialization of next-gen AV hardware. Combines hands-on technical skills with strategic leadership to deliver cutting-edge solutions in automotive and mobility industries.

👤🌱 Executive Leader in Climate Innovation & Sustainable Urban Transformation | Commercialization, GTM, & Strategy
➵ Visionary leader with expertise in climate innovation, urban transformation, and sustainable mobility. Brings a proven track record of leading large teams and partnerships to drive industrial decarbonization, secure over $500M in climate-critical investments, and scale solutions that sequester 1 GT of CO₂e. Skilled in fundraising, strategy development, and cross-sector collaboration, with deep experience in heavy industry, transport, and urban policy. Combines technical expertise with people-first leadership to deliver lasting systems-level impact in climate and sustainability.

👤🌱 Chief Innovator in Cleantech & Climate Technology Solutions | Hardware Product Leadership
➵ Innovative cleantech leader with 15+ years of experience designing and scaling climate technology solutions. Expert in launching ventures, driving multi-million-dollar investments, and developing software and hardware integrated climate innovations. Proven success in strategic leadership, including crafting a $4B climate investment strategy, pioneering breakthrough technologies, and creating products impacting 11M+ users daily. Holds multiple patents, authored a widely cited Nature paper, and contributed to Nobel Prize-winning water treatment innovations. Combines technical acumen with entrepreneurial vision to advance global sustainability.

That's all for this edition! Thanks for your support in getting more people working on climate solutions. See you next week. 👋