When I meet with others who are working — or want to work — in ‘climate’ there’s a disappointment and sadness about the situation. A few years ago there was so much momentum and excitement, but now the cumulative effect of hostile government leaders, focus on AI, and sustainability fatigue have conspired to put climate concerns up on a shelf.

And when I consider humanity’s willingness to continue behavior that will kill us all, my thoughts turn from fixes to resilience, i.e. how can we survive even when the climate changes radically?

For better or worse I am skilled at channeling my frustration into critique, such as with my book on user experience failures. And from the feedback I’ve heard, it helps people who are building things. And hopefully the cycle will come around and we’ll get excited again. So I’m going to focus on products and services that hoped to address climate change but failed commercially. Potential case studies include:

• Climeworks (carbon capture)

• RunningTide (ocean carbon removal)

• Carbon Engineering (turning captured CO₂ into synthetic fuels)

• Solyndra, SunPower (solar panels)

• Biofuels: corn ethanol, algae…

• Better Place (EV battery swapping)

• Northvolt (EV batteries)

• Vera (carbon offsets)

• Manure digesters for methane reduction

• CFL light bulbs

• Hydrogen cell cars

• Hydrogen trucking

• Smart thermostats

• Carbon capture for coal plants

• Plant-based meat

It might sound depressing to read that list, but every sector has failures on the way to success. If there’s a particular case study you’re interested in just hit Reply and let me know.

In other news:

🚙 Cars are Batteries “A new Australian study has found that electric vehicles (EVs) equipped with vehicle‑to‑home (V2H) technology can significantly reduce household electricity costs and lessen the need for large, costly home battery systems.”

🇯🇵 Kokushobi means HOT. “Japan now has an official name for days that hit 40°C (104°F) or above: kokushobi – meaning ‘cruelly hot’. Chosen via a national survey of 478,000 responses, it’s a new word for a new normal.”

🇮🇳 Banda, India set a temperature record: 48.2°C (118.76°F). “Since April, I have sold almost nothing,” Gupta says. “After 10am, Banda becomes deserted. At first, you see one or two people outside. Then, as the day rises, there is only silence.“ Having read Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel The Ministry for the Future I can’t help but be reminded of the disturbing first chapter.