Climate investor, former presidential candidate and best-selling author Tom Steyer has had a career spanning many disciplines, but at the core of his work is a relentless commitment to climate action, which he sees as both a necessity and a historic economic opportunity.
Ahead of his book talk at USC Annenberg on March 3, Steyer sat down for an exclusive interview with Annenberg graduate student Dylan Macy to discuss climate optimism and key insights on how to win the climate war from his latest book, Cheaper, Faster, Better.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Your career in the climate space has spanned activism, investing, and politics. What has made climate action such a central focus in your life?
In terms of the progress we’re making in so many different spheres — health, longevity, education, earnings — we’re on this amazing trajectory. But I have felt in danger of really dramatically damaging the natural world in a way that we’d spend all our time trying to deal with. It seems to me that if we get that right, there’s just a whole host of things that are going to be so fabulous. So why don’t we get that right?
That was my original thinking twenty years ago [when I decided to move towards climate activism]. It was like, “Wow, this is the stumbling block.” If we can avoid damaging the natural world, then I think we’re going to be in a true golden age.
Q: Many young people are currently experiencing a sense of hopelessness and dread towards the climate crisis. But in your book, you maintain a sense of optimism and express a desire to be part of the next “great American success story,” the way your parents’ generation had been. What keeps you optimistic and how can young people tap into that climate optimism?
There’s no doubt that the optimistic part of this is what I see in my job: the new developments and new possibilities in terms of energy. Last year, globally, over 90% of new electricity generation was renewable. It’s not like this transition’s going to happen. This transition is already happening.
No one who was putting in new electricity generation did it to be nice. Zero people did that. They did it because it was a better deal.
When you see what people are developing and what’s possible, you see there are tipping points for the good. When a new technology becomes cheaper and better than an old technology, it follows an S-curve, where it grows really slowly, and then it goes almost straight up before it flattens out. This has been true for hundreds of years, and in a lot of these climate technologies, it’s just going straight up. That’s why I’m optimistic.
Q: A lack of climate optimism can often be tied to the highly partisan and politicized nature of climate change in the United States. How can we transcend partisanship to drive climate solutions?
There have been a lot of messages that have gone out on both sides of this and they’re basically arguing for or against clean energy adoption. But the truth is, that is not how to make people make decisions. I was watching someone buy a car and they asked things like, “What’s the cheapest, best car I can get? What’s the ride I want? What fits my kids?” It’s very specific.
In my experience, even the people who are talking about a much more grandiose vision should make a vision that’s based on what the best product is. We have to win in the marketplace; the good news is we already are.
Q: Related to winning in the marketplace, you talk in your book about how climate action can lead to a new era of innovation and economic prosperity similar to what was seen in post-WWII America. What are some areas in climate tech or renewable energy where you see the most potential in this regard?
If we’re going to react quickly and effectively, I think a lot of it is going to be based on the existing footprint. For example, a big utility in the Midwest increased its grid capacity with sensors and software. It cost them $48,000 a mile. To entirely rebuild the grid would have cost $600,000 per mile.
We’re in the 21st century where it’s all about information, data, software, artificial intelligence. Our ability to transition to clean energy, given the existing physical footprint, in my mind, is really dramatic.
Q: Concern about climate change has been increasing, but it is still a lower priority for most U.S. adults. How can climate communicators frame or “sell” climate action and the clean energy transition as issues that more Americans should be prioritizing?
I’m an investor, so I can see this from a business standpoint. It’s not only the future; it’s the present. This is where we’re going.
But beyond that, we’re currently in Los Angeles, California. A whole bunch of people lost their houses in the wildfires. A whole bunch of people who didn’t lose their houses can’t get home insurance. If you can’t get home insurance, you can’t get a mortgage. If someone can’t get a mortgage, you can’t sell your house for anything like what you thought you could sell for.
We think, “Oh, we can’t bring this home,” but for everybody who needs home insurance in a place where there’s a threat of climate change, it’s coming to you in real dollars, one way or the other, in a big way. The idea that somehow no one’s paying the cost of this is not true. People are absolutely paying the cost of it.
Americans are all freaked out about inflation, particularly with food. Do you think food is going to get less expensive at a time when growing everything is much more difficult and more expensive? Of course, it’s going to get much more expensive.
Whether people connect the dots is the question. But whether climate change is having a huge impact on the economy, is not a question.
Q: Lastly, what inspired you to write a book about climate solutions and what is one thing you hope readers will take away from Cheaper, Faster, Better?
What I really want people to think is this: climate change is a solvable problem. But it is not a solvable problem without us trying. We need to recognize climate change for what it is: a big threat, but one where we can not only solve it, we can also make a bunch of money solving it, and we can live a much better life.
Despair is neither a solution nor a strategy. And the same goes for denial.
I see this as a race to turning points. The good turning points in terms of technology and business. And the truly negative turning points in terms of the natural world – that if we flip some stuff, then we’re in a different and worse world. The U.S. has traditionally been willing to accept challenges and come together to meet them, and we in fact define ourselves by that.
There’s no question about what we need to do. We will be richer, better off, a much stronger country, and have something to contribute in the long history of world and American progress through climate action. That’s what we’re trying to do.
Dylan Macy is a student at USC working on his Masters in Public Relations and Advertising.
