Climate tech isn’t the future: it’s the present
Miami-based Watsco is leading an industry shift. Here’s what we’re digging into at Opportunity Miami.
This is the March 8, 2022 edition of the Opportunity Miami newsletter, which we send every Tuesday. Click here to subscribe to get our weekly updates in your inbox.
For years, automakers tinkered with electric cars. Toyota presented the hybrid Prius in 1997. Nissan launched the all-electric Leaf in 2010, and Chevrolet presented the Volt in 2011. Each was viewed as a nice change and perhaps a peek into the future — but never took off in any transformative way.
But — unlike incumbent automakers — Elon Musk went all-in with electric cars. In 2006, he wrote that his business plan for Tesla Motors was an effort to “help expedite the move from a mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy towards a solar electric economy.”
The Tesla Model S was released in 2012, followed by the Model X, Model 3 and Model Y. Today, Tesla is the most valuable automaker in the world, Musk is the world’s richest person, and the entire car industry — once so supremely confident in its way of doing business — is racing to transition to electric.
It illustrates that climate tech isn’t the future, but the present. And that addressing climate change and building companies that help reach net zero by 2050 — in which no more CO2 is put into the atmosphere than taken out — is the business opportunity of our lifetime.
The fact that today’s most successful car company and biggest fortune has been built on creating a net zero future raises the question: who will be the next entrepreneur or company blazing similar trails in other industries? Who will be the Miami real estate developer or cruise ship operator that goes all in, turns the status quo on its head, helps build the carbon neutral future, and generates enormous wealth in the process?
Across South Florida, climate tech can often seem more aspirational than real — but there are signs that’s changing. We see this today in Watsco, the $11 billion, publicly-traded company in Coconut Grove that supplies a fifth of all heating and air conditioning units across the U.S.
This week, we’re featuring Watsco in a Q&A with Nancy Dahlberg. She sat down with Watsco President A.J. Nahmad, ESG Director Marisol Gomez-Melzi, and Watsco Ventures managing director Ivan Rapin-Smith.
Watsco, the nation’s largest HVAC distributor, has a story that is both compelling and important.
The reason is half of a U.S. household’s energy consumption is for heating and air conditioning. As a result, the most meaningful way homeowners can reduce their carbon footprint is to increase the efficiency of their air conditioning and heating units. There are estimated 110 million HVAC systems installed across the U.S., Watsco shared in its latest annual report, presentings a huge opportunity to reduce carbon emissions that are warming the planet and driving climate change.
Last month, I shared a Twitter thread from London-based venture capital investor Christian Hernandez, who noted that Watsco has reduced CO2 emissions by an estimated 11.1 million tons in 2020 and 2021. By comparison, Tesla reported mitigating 5 million in 2020.
“I’ve fallen in love with what I think could be one of the most impactful companies in our fight against climate change,” tweeted Hernandez, partner and co-founder of the 2150 venture capital firm, who also previously appeared on the Opportunity Miami podcast.
It’s an impactful role Watsco is now embracing.
“What’s new for us is actually doing the math to understand how impactful our sales of high efficiency systems actually are in terms of the avoidance of CO2 emissions,” Nahmad told Nancy. “And frankly, when we did that math [last year], it stunned us, it motivated us.”
Added Gomez-Melsi: “because of the sheer size of our market share in North America… we can have a really significant impact in reducing greenhouse emissions for the entire industry.”
Meanwhile, illustrating the broader shift, LinkedIn published its Global Green Skills Report 2022. It reported that over the past five years the number of Renewables and Environment jobs in the U.S. has increased 237 percent, while oil and gas jobs increased 19 percent.
“At this pace, the Renewables & Environment sector will outnumber Oil & Gas in total jobs on our platform by 2023,” wrote LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky.
The trends get clearer every day. The question for Miami is if there will be even more companies following the example of Watsco or Tesla, leading the shift to a more prosperous, job-creating, carbon neutral future.
This Q&A series will become a staple of original Opportunity Miami content. On a monthly basis Nancy — who we all know and love from her great, ongoing work with Refresh Miami — will sit down with people leading efforts to address questions pivotal to Miami’s economic future.
Before closing, a reminder that we’re hiring. We have several part-time freelance positions where you can play a direct role in our work focused on elevating the best ideas, practices and people addressing questions pivotal to our economic future. We’re excited to expand our effort to share, clear actionable solutions to help our community make better decisions, faster.
As always, we would like to hear from you. Email us at next@opportunity.miami and engage with us on social media. Please invite friends to subscribe to this newsletter.
Hope to see you.
Matt Haggman
Opportunity Miami
@matthaggman
