Spotlight on John Doerr

TL;DR

• A venture capitalist and engineer, John Doerr pioneered cleantech investment in Silicon Valley and has been a prominent voice in the climate change movement since 2006.  

• He has invested more than $1 billion to support cleantech start-ups and, alongside his wife Ann, gifted $1.1 billion to establish the Doerr School of Sustainability at Stanford University.  

• Alongside his investments, Doerr has become a thought-leader in the space. His book, ‘Speed and Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now’, takes a strategic approach to ten key areas of focus including vehicle electrification, fixing food, protecting nature, encouraging movements to act, and promoting investment.  

• His quantifiable goals highlight the importance of both public and private investment to fund innovation and ensure the world achieves net-zero by 2050. Nearly $1.7 trillion will need to be raised each year for the next 20 years to stay on track.  

• Doerr demonstrates the importance of enacting change now; venture capital has a unique opportunity to stake a claim in the industry of the future, invest in cleantech, and benefit from its potential returns while also joining the fight against climate change. As he puts it, “we’ve got to invest like our lives depend on it, because they do”. 

The detail

John Doerr made his name as an engineer, author and venture capitalist, most notably as chair of Kleiner Perkins.  

For many years, however, he has also risen to prominence as a pioneer of the cleantech movement. Alongside managing his investment portfolio, Doerr serves on the board of Breakthrough Energy Ventures and works closely with social entrepreneurs who are tackling system issues across climate, public health, and education.  

He arrived in Silicon Valley in 1975, joining Intel at the same time as the company invented the 8-bit microchip – and his ability to be in the right place at the right time has persisted throughout his career. The impressive list of companies he has backed includes Uber, X (or Twitter, as it was at the time), Slack, Doordash, and Amazon. 

From investor to environmentalist 

It wasn’t until 2006 that Doerr started to turn his attention to climate concerns. He was inspired by Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’; watching the documentary with his family, he was struck by his daughter Mary’s reaction. Not only was she scared and angry, but she also wanted answers. For her, the problem and its solution were clear – it was her father’s generation that had caused the climate crisis, and thus their responsibility to solve it.     

A natural problem solver, Doerr immediately responded to the challenge and set out to find science-backed, actionable solutions to address climate change at scale. He spent time travelling the world to understand the issues involved and experience their effects first-hand. The result was that over eight years – and three funds – he committed approximately $1 billion to fund start-up green ventures.  

In 2022, Doerr and his wife Ann gifted $1.1 billion to establish the Stanford University Doerr School of Sustainability. By investing in educating the next generation, he hopes to inspire young people to pursue a course of study that prioritises climate concerns and seeks innovative solutions. “Climate science is going to become the new computer science. It’s where all the young people want to work, for all the right reasons,” Doerr said when explaining the drive behind setting up this new school to current Stanford students.  

A strategy for success 

However, Doerr’s impact goes far beyond financial contributions. He has become a thought-leader and vocal advocate for investment, innovation and international collaboration to tackle climate change.  

As the author of ‘Measure What Matters’, the definitive text on OKRs (objectives and key results), it was perhaps unsurprising that Doerr’s work in this space would involve setting clear numerical targets that can be easily tracked. He outlined his strategy in his 2021 book, ‘Speed and Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now’, co-authored with Ryan Panchadsaram.  

‘Speed and Scale’ sets out a 10-step approach to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reach net-zero by 2050. It has been described by Al Gore as, “a clear, detailed, and comprehensive plan for climate action exactly when we need it most” and looks at everything from decarbonisation and agricultural innovation to politics, policy, and activism.  

While it takes a global view, the book’s authors believe that the world’s alpha emitters – the US, Europe, China, and Japan – bear the most responsibility for meeting the targets it has identified. And time is running out, as Panchadsaram told an audience at Stanford University, the window for avoiding the worst outcomes from climate change is rapidly closing.  

Encouraging the switch to EVs 

Electric vehicles (EVs) are the first topic addressed in ‘Speed and Scale’, with Doerr setting a target of making the shift from fossil fuel vehicles to zero-emissions models by 2050. For this goal to be met, EVs must overcome existing barriers to entry including their price, availability, and charging infrastructure. That’s one reason why the first objective Doerr sets to help accelerate the transition to EVs is to achieve price parity between existing petrol and diesel vehicles and their zero-emissions counterparts – by 2024 in the US, and by 2030 in India and China. Currently, these targets remain out of reach, with the average EV priced at $54,288 compared to the average fossil fuel-powered car coming in at $47,209.  

Doerr’s confidence in the importance of EVs extends beyond cars. To make a meaningful difference, he believes all new buses should be electric, 30% of all new trucks should have zero emissions by 2030, and 20% of all aviation fuel should be switched to low carbon sources, i.e. sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), by 2025.  

Fix food and protect nature  

While many climate change advocates will talk about the importance of the energy transition and moving away from fossil fuels, the environmental impact of agriculture isn’t often placed high on the agenda, despite the fact that 15% of the world’s annual emissions come from farming and our food systems. The food chain is also reckoning with an expanding population, and it is estimated that farmers will need to produce up to 60% more food by 2050 to ensure everyone can be fed.  

Doerr suggests addressing these issues by encouraging us to alter our consumption habits while simultaneously making agriculture more efficient and environmentally friendly. In ‘Speed and Scale’, he advocates for cutting food waste to 10% by 2050 and cutting emissions from beef and dairy consumption by 25% by 2030. Doerr also sets targets for improving soil health, ending the overuse of nitrogen-based fertilisers, and reducing the methane and nitrous oxide produced by rice farming by 50% by 2050.  

Beyond agricultural land, Doerr also prioritises protecting nature in the wild. The book sets a target of cutting seven gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions by ending deforestation, as well as halting destructive fishing practices and protecting more of our land and seas. To put measurable targets against these goals, he suggests achieving net-zero deforestation, protecting 30% of oceans, and expanding the surface area of protected lands to 30% by 2030.  

Empower movements and increase investments  

Changing hearts and minds is also integral to fuelling the fight against climate change. This involves inspiring societies and communities to participate in the movement and persuade their politicians and governments to enact meaningful policies. The eighth objective of ‘Speed and Scale’ is to turn movements into action by making climate change a top three issue for voters. By ensuring the climate is an ever-present topic in political debate, Doerr also hopes that the majority of key government officials will support the drive to net-zero and all Fortune Global 500 companies will commit to this ambitious emissions target.  

These political ambitions are supported by initiatives designed to improve the population’s rate of education and health. Goals include achieving universal primary and secondary education globally by 2040, eliminating gaps in pollution-linked mortality rates, and creating 65 million new clean energy jobs by 2040.  

Investment is also a key piece of the puzzle; as Doerr puts it, “we’ve got to invest like our lives depend on it, because they do”. As an investor, Doerr has contributed to several cleantech companies and technologies, including funding more efficient solar cells and batteries, biofuels, lower-carbon cement and alternate proteins. He believes that an overall investment of around $2 trillion each year for the next 20 years is needed to achieve net-zero by 2050.  

The plan outlined in ‘Speed and Scale’ encourages government support as well as private and philanthropic investment. This includes introducing clean energy incentives totalling $600 billion a year, in addition to increasing public investment in sustainability research and development to $120 billion a year. On the private investment side, Doerr is pushing for support for cleantech start-ups to total $50 billion a year and philanthropic donations to increase from $10 billion to $30 billion a year.  

The time is now 

The wide scope of the 10 objectives set out in ‘Speed and Scale’ demonstrate the complexities that can make the fight against climate change so difficult to navigate. There isn’t simply one initiative – the energy transition, for example – that can carry the burden of solving the climate crisis and protect future generations. As Doerr’s arguments outline, what’s needed is a concerted global effort that tackles multiple strands simultaneously.  

Investment lies at the heart of achieving these objectives – lowering the price of EVs, transitioning to renewable fuels, and cleaning up industry all require innovation and investment to fund those innovations. It also needs to attract philanthropic donations as critical environmental efforts, such as climate justice and protecting nature, don’t always generate financial returns but are still vital.  

Doerr demonstrates that the time for talking is over. As a solution-focused engineer, his approach is strategic and actionable, providing a blueprint that is becoming more and more difficult to ignore. The guide is clear and comprehensive, and invites both the public and private sector to play a role.  

Venture capital now has a unique opportunity to enter the conversation, support cleantech, and accelerate clean energy projects – not only for the environmental benefits they yield, but also the potential returns.  

— Lew 👋

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