Playing the Climate Policy Game

For many climate startups, the regulatory environment is a key element of success. As a result, it’s critical that founders understand the existing policy landscape and how they can influence its future development.

To understand the key components of a top tier policy playbook, Enduring Planet sat down with Aimee Barnes. As the Founder and CEO of Hua Nani Partners and the Director of Elemental Excelerator’s Policy Lab, Aimee is well-versed in how to play — and not play — the policy game.

Live in the present

Before climate entrepreneurs engage with a single lawmaker, they often make their first policy-related mistake by adopting one of two positions:

1. “Policy is not relevant to me and my venture.”
2. “I need to spend a lot of time thinking about policy because, unless current regulations change, my venture will not succeed.”

Both of these approaches are problematic. If you are not engaging with the policy environment around you when it has an impact on your business, you are (a) signaling to investors that you are not thinking critically about risk and (b) likely leaving a lot of opportunity on the table. If you are too fixated on policy and build your business against a hypothetical future change to the regulatory environment that you hope to effect — say, a national carbon price — you may be betting the farm on a fantasy. Instead, live in the present and ensure that your venture can thrive in the existing (and rapidly changing) policy landscape.

Friends in high places

Once you have a handle on the policy environment and how it is influencing your venture, it’s time to get active. Two groups — trade organizations and policymakers — will be particularly helpful:

1. Trade organizations

Trade organizations representing climate startups are becoming increasingly prevalent. Working with one can be a low cost, high impact way to stay informed and make clear to investors that you are an active advocate for both your venture and the broader ecosystem around it. Finding the “right” trade organization is situation-specific; that said, to start, consider the level of policy that affects your venture (state, federal, etc.), where your company is located, and what sector you operate in.

How do trade organizations make an impact? These coalitions have highly skilled teams that are in constant contact with other companies in your space, so policy problems and proposed solutions are effectively crowdsourced. They are also active advocates, submitting comment letters, tracking the progress of proposed legislative and regulatory changes, and interfacing directly with government officials on your and your entrepreneur peers’ behalf.

Pro tips:

• When a trade organization announces a forthcoming “Hill day,” clear your schedule. These visits to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (or state capitols, e.g. California) allow a cohort of companies to speak face-to-face with key members of Congress. Your trade organization will set the day’s agenda and give each company representative an opportunity to speak. These visits are a great way to pitch policymakers in a controlled environment and build key policy relationships for the long haul.
• A potential shortcoming to working with trade organizations is that they are consensus-based. So, if you have an impassioned stance on a particular policy, be prepared for the coalition to potentially advocate for the lowest common denominator and stay neutral on or even in some rare cases, oppose your views and priorities.
• A few examples of trade organizations in the climate space are: Advanced Energy Economy, Clean Energy Business Network, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, Solar Energy Industries Association, and American Clean Power Association.

2. Policymakers

Although this may come as a surprise to some, Policymakers want to hear from you. A promising venture that reduces emissions and creates jobs in their constituency is a success story that they can use to advocate for policies on your behalf. When approaching your representatives, keep these tips top of mind:

• Startups move fast, policymakers do not. Changes can take months, years, or decades to materialize, so be prepared to stay the course.
• In the early going, don’t expect to interface directly with your target policymaker. It is more likely that you will be speaking with a junior member of their team, who should be treated with the same amount of respect. They may be young, but remember that they can influence their boss for or against your interests.
• Know your audience. Policymakers are neither customers nor investors and have a unique perspective on the issues you’re likely solving for and often facing. Speak in plain language, but don’t be condescending; in all likelihood, the person hearing your pitch will be more of a subject matter expert than you realize. Define the problem that you’re trying to solve, explain why it’s something that they should care about, and make clear how your solution will help the constituency-at-large. Avoid talking about “disruption” and “transformational change;” to lawmakers, those words mean risk, which they are generally averse to. Instead, convey that you, like them, are passionate about policies that reduce uncertainty for startups. Close with a clear ask, even if it’s simply a request to be on the policymaker’s radar moving forward.
• Bring a physical, one to two page print-out to all meetings as a “leave behind” with your business card attached. On the sheet, provide background about your venture, indicate where in the constituency it is located, and share any available revenue, project, and job creation data. This enables a staff member to quickly get your information in the right person’s hands. To access industry-level information sheets, touch base with your trade organization.

Advisors are your best friend

Unless you’re a policy wonk with years of experience in the White House, don’t be shy about bringing in outside help to support your policy efforts. The regulatory landscape is complex, ever-changing, and often opaque, and this is where specialist resources can really shine. Groups like Hua Nani Partners and Ad Hoc Group specialize in helping climate entrepreneurs navigate the policy game.  Investing in this kind of tactical support can pay dividends for years!

Aimee Barnes has nearly 20 years’ experience in climate, energy and sustainability, spanning the state, federal and international levels, and the public, private, and non-profit sectors. She is the founder and CEO of Hua Nani Partners, a consulting practice focused on seeding the next generation of climate and energy solutions. She also serves as co-director of Elemental Excelerator’s Policy Lab, and a senior advisor at the California-China Climate Institute. In 2022, Aimee was appointed by Hawai’i’s Governor David Ige to serve on the Hawai’i State Board for Land and Natural Resources. Aimee served previously as Senior Advisor to California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., Deputy Secretary for Border and Intergovernmental Relations at the California Environmental Protection Agency, and was a partner at Allotrope Partners. Earlier in her career she worked on climate issues internationally, in the UK and United Arab Emirates, at the carbon markets firm EcoSecurities, and at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

Hua Nani Partners (HNP) is a small woman-owned business that provides policy, strategy and advisory services to help seed the next generation of climate and energy solutions. Building on decades of experience, Hua Nani Partners works with governments, philanthropy, non-profits, funds, and companies - from startups to Fortune 500s. Our team has global reach and expertise, and has worked in California, the US, and internationally, including China, the MENA region, Southeast Asia, the UK, and islands (Pacific, Caribbean, AIS).

Elemental Excelerator’s Policy Lab works to support policy changes that benefit the climate innovation ecosystem. A savvy, nimble collective of policy entrepreneurs who work at the seam of technology and policy, the Policy Lab team and its Fellows are designers and implementers who know how to access and navigate local, state, and federal processes and embed reality-based, equity-centered solutions into policies.