Republican Businessman Pledges $175 Million to Convince GOP to Act on Climate Change

Wealthy Charlotte, North Carolina-based entrepreneur Jay Faison has taken on a task that is probably more formidable than building his business empire was: he plans to spend a chunk of his fortune working to convince his fellow Republicans that climate change is real, human-caused and needs to be addressed.
Last year, Faison founded and put $165 million into his ClearPath Foundation to promote clean energy and solutions to climate change. He's starting to spend it in a campaign to persuade Republicans to accept the science and start to talk about solutions instead. ClearPath.org just had its official rollout this week.
"Climate change is both the greatest risk and the greatest opportunity of our time," says the site. "Most experts strongly urge us to act on the risks. The most actionable solution—a switch to clean energy—is already underway. We just need to accelerate the transition."
"I always felt a little alone out there as a Republican, and so I started ClearPath to create a dialogue around this in a way that hadn’t been done before and sort of be part of the solution,” Faison told Politico. “We think that there are real Republican solutions to the problem.”
Now he's pledged to put $10 million into a 501 (c) 4 nonprofit, a political advocacy group to push Republicans toward more reality-based positions on climate issues. The group "will reward thoughtful response to the issue," he said. It's a sort of conservative counterpart to Tom Steyer's liberal NextGen Climate, which is working to call out climate-denier candidates.
"Millennials especially want to see forward looking leadership that acknowledges the realities of today," he told the National Journal. "I think it's a brand issue. How our party and our presidential candidate talks about it will have a significant impact over voter perception, and I think the Democratic candidates know this."
"Nothing would be better for the planet than a bipartisan effort to put forward solutions to the tackle the climate crisis," said Debbie Sease, Sierra Club's DC Bureau Chief. "Time will tell how effective this approach proves to be, but Jay Faison's forward thinking investment is hard to ignore. We look forward to the dialogue."
All of the declared Democratic candidates—former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and former governors Lincoln Chaffee and Martin O'Malley—have emphasized the need to address climate-related issues. Of the 10 declared Republican presidential candidates, only two—former New York Gov. George Pataki and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham—have shown any openness to this message, and only Pataki has shown a commitment to dealing with climate change.
The others—Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, former governors Rick Perry and Mike Huckabee, former Sen. Rick Santorum, businesswoman Carly Fiorina and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson—are all fire-breathing climate deniers. Six more candidates expected to enter the race this month—former Gov. Jeb Bush, Governors Bobby Jindal, Scott Walker, Chris Christie and John Kasich, and Donald Trump. Most have largely been on the denier side, although Bush and Christie have dipped a timid toe into the reality of climate change.
Faison believes that once the primaries are past, the eventual Republican candidate will be able to adopt a more sensible position on climate change. He suggests that even though it's inevitable that the Democratic candidate will have a better record on environmental issues, Republicans can distinguish themselves by promoting market-based solutions as opposed to regulatory ones.
"I think they're looking for a new, fresher argument," Faison said of voters. "We could probably agree that a more advanced energy system is better for America even if climate change were not an issue at all, and that's not a bad place to start when you're talking to any Republican. Or some Republicans, I should say."
Nobody on the planet is leading like Elon Musk. He defies gravity. https://t.co/jNh2aHgYwa
— Jay Faison (@JayFaison1) April 22, 2015
Not included among "some Republicans:" Charles and David Koch, the infamous Koch brothers of the fossil fuel Koch Industries, have pledged to spend nearly $900 million during the 2016 presidential election cycle to elect someone committed to protecting the old, dirty, carbon-spewing way of producing energy.
Who is Faison's candidate of choice? He hasn't endorsed anyone yet, but if you want to read the tea leaves, he's already donated $50,000 to Bush and $25,000 to Graham, among the least denialist candidates in the GOP field, although Bush in particular has done some serious waffling, saying it's "arrogant" to claim the science around climate change is settled. Graham, on the other hand, told CNN's Dana Bash last week, "I do believe that the CO2 emission problem all over the world is hurting our environment."
In the past, Faison has donated to some climate-denier candidates such as Sen. Mitch McConnell who has been appealing to the states directly to defy federal environmental regulations. But he's saying never again.
"That was a long time ago and no, I would not give to somebody who's fighting against this issue," he said.
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theDOCK aims to innovate the Israeli maritime sector. Pexels
<p>The UN hopes that new investments in ocean science and technology will help turn the tide for the oceans. As such, this year kicked off the <a href="https://www.oceandecade.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030)</a> to galvanize massive support for the blue economy.</p><p>According to the World Bank, the blue economy is the "sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystem," <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019338255#b0245" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Science Direct</a> reported. It represents this new sector for investments and innovations that work in tandem with the oceans rather than in exploitation of them.</p><p>As recently as Aug. 2020, <a href="https://www.reutersevents.com/sustainability/esg-investors-slow-make-waves-25tn-ocean-economy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters</a> noted that ESG Investors, those looking to invest in opportunities that have a positive impact in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, have been interested in "blue finance" but slow to invest.</p><p>"It is a hugely under-invested economic opportunity that is crucial to the way we have to address living on one planet," Simon Dent, director of blue investments at Mirova Natural Capital, told Reuters.</p><p>Even with slow investment, the blue economy is still expected to expand at twice the rate of the mainstream economy by 2030, Reuters reported. It already contributes $2.5tn a year in economic output, the report noted.</p><p>Current, upward <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/-innovation-blue-economy-2646147405.html" target="_self">shifts in blue economy investments are being driven by innovation</a>, a trend the UN hopes will continue globally for the benefit of all oceans and people.</p><p>In Israel, this push has successfully translated into investment in and innovation of global ports, shipping, logistics and offshore sectors. The "Startup Nation," as Israel is often called, has seen its maritime tech ecosystem grow "significantly" in recent years and expects that growth to "accelerate dramatically," <a href="https://itrade.gov.il/belgium-english/how-israel-is-becoming-a-port-of-call-for-maritime-innovation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">iTrade</a> reported.</p><p>Driving this wave of momentum has been rising Israeli venture capital hub <a href="https://www.thedockinnovation.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">theDOCK</a>. Founded by Israeli Navy veterans in 2017, theDOCK works with early-stage companies in the maritime space to bring their solutions to market. The hub's pioneering efforts ignited Israel's maritime technology sector, and now, with their new fund, theDOCK is motivating these high-tech solutions to also address ESG criteria.</p><p>"While ESG has always been on theDOCK's agenda, this theme has become even more of a priority," Nir Gartzman, theDOCK's managing partner, told EcoWatch. "80 percent of the startups in our portfolio (for theDOCK's Navigator II fund) will have a primary or secondary contribution to environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria."</p><p>In a company presentation, theDOCK called contribution to the ESG agenda a "hot discussion topic" for traditional players in the space and their boards, many of whom are looking to adopt new technologies with a positive impact on the planet. The focus is on reducing carbon emissions and protecting the environment, the presentation outlines. As such, theDOCK also explicitly screens candidate investments by ESG criteria as well.</p><p>Within the maritime space, environmental innovations could include measures like increased fuel and energy efficiency, better monitoring of potential pollution sources, improved waste and air emissions management and processing of marine debris/trash into reusable materials, theDOCK's presentation noted.</p>theDOCK team includes (left to right) Michal Hendel-Sufa, Head of Alliances, Noa Schuman, CMO, Nir Gartzman, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, and Hannan Carmeli, Co-Founder & Managing Partner. Dudu Koren
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