Climate Tech Newsletter: July 20, 2026

Welcome to last week’s edition of the CBKNY’s Weekly News Highlights. Explore the latest policies, innovations, and market trends driving the future of climate tech.

Climate Tech Insights

Capital dominated: H1 climate tech funding jumped 55% to $26.1 billion, data centers taking a third and Fervo's IPO breaking clean-firm-power records. Yet AI power turned fossil—Chevron-Microsoft signed a 2.67GW Texas gas deal and Musk acquired gas-turbine maker APR Energy. CATL unveiled 15,000-cycle sodium-ion cells, Hyundai opened its $5 billion battery plant, and Lazard flagged tariff-driven storage cost rises.

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1. How the 2026 Climate Tech Market Is Shaping Up So Far
   July 13, 2026 – Latitude Media

2. SAF Travel: Deutsche Bank Invests in Decarbonizing Lufthansa Air Traffic
   July 7, 2026 – EnergyTech

3. Waaree, India’s Biggest PV Module Supplier, Opens 5.15GWh Battery Storage Assembly Plant
   July 17, 2026 – Energy Storage News

4. Pumped Hydro Costs Revised Up, Battery Storage Costs Down as Australia’s CSIRO Publishes Final GenCost 2025–26 Report
   July 15, 2026 – Energy Storage News

5. Lazard: US Utility-Scale Energy Storage LCOS Has Increased Since Restrictions on Chinese Cells Came Into Force
   July 14, 2026 – Energy Storage News

6. Google Projects Are Evidence That Long-Duration CO2 Batteries Are ‘Reliable Capacity Assets,’ Energy Dome Says
   July 15, 2026 – Energy Storage News

7. California Batteries Missing Out on Revenue Due to Suboptimal Bidding Strategies, Gridmatic Analysis Finds
   July 17, 2026 – Energy Storage News

8. Battery Storage Investment at Stake as Australia’s AEMC Consults on Minimum System Load Market Rules
   July 13, 2026 – Energy Storage News

9. Avantus Progresses California Solar-Plus-Storage Projects, Fluence Providing Domestic Content BESS
   July 15, 2026 – Energy Storage News

10. Australia’s Transgrid Opens Pathway for 900MW of Grid-Forming Battery Storage as Synchronous Condenser Costs Surge 38%
    July 16, 2026 – Energy Storage News

11. H1’26 Climate Tech Funding Up 55% to $26bn, Thanks to Data Centers
    July 13, 2026 – CTVC

12. Nuclear Energy Could Be in for a Big Decade
    July 17, 2026 – Canary Media

13. PJM’s Old Way of Getting Power Built Isn’t Working. Has It Found a Fix?
    July 17, 2026 – Canary Media

14. New Jersey Law Will Let Data Centers Pay for Home Energy Upgrades
    July 16, 2026 – Canary Media

15. Google Buys Power From Record-Busting Solar-Battery Site in Arkansas
    July 15, 2026 – Canary Media

16. AI Boom Drives States to Rethink Data Center Water Use
    July 16, 2026 – Axios

17. More Chief Sustainability Officers Are Taking on Risk Management
    July 16, 2026 – Trellis

18. Decarbonizing Cement With Electricity
    July 16, 2026 – Happy Eco News

19. Spain and Portugal Data Center Boom Faces Grid Bottlenecks
    July 17, 2026 – Financial Post

20. BlackRock’s GIP Acquires Commercial Solar Platform Summit Ridge
    July 16, 2026 – ESG News

21. CATL’s Sodium-Ion Battery Targets 15,000-Cycle Grid Storage
    July 16, 2026 – Electrek

22. Hyundai Opens $5B Battery Plant in Push to Become America’s No. 2 EV Brand
    July 15, 2026 – Electrek

23. Musk Buys Gas Turbine Company APR Energy for xAI’s Grok
    July 14, 2026 – Electrek

24. Grid Batteries Need to Last Longer. Here’s How the Tech Is Improving
    July 15, 2026 – Corporate Knights