Crypto's Bare Knuckle Politics Come to Climate

Last year, clean energy attracted double the investment of fossil fuels. It's now a multi-trillion dollar industry globally, and the dominant source of new capacity in the US. And yet in the 2024 election cycle, the entire renewable energy industry donated just $2.5 million to political campaigns. The oil and gas industry donated $75 million just to elect one man. Now consider crypto. A few years ago, most politicians treated it as a fringe technology. Then the crypto industry decided it was done being ignored. It built a war chest, spent hundreds of millions in 2024 — nearly half of all corporate political spending that cycle — and went from regulatory target to political kingmaker in a single election cycle. Clean energy has been a legitimate economic force for over a decade and still gets pushed around Washington. How does an industry that's winning on economics keep losing in politics? This week, Stephen Lacey is live at the Prelude Climate Summit with Chris Larsen and Michael Brune. Chris is the billionaire co-founder of Ripple who helped engineer crypto's political transformation and is now deploying that playbook in service of climate. Mike is the longest-serving executive director in Sierra Club history, who is now CEO of the Clean Break Fund, which he started with Chris. We talk bare knuckle politics, the crypto playbook, climate messaging, and the AI fault line splitting the environmental movement. Timestamps: 0:00 Clean energy vs. crypto — the political spending gap 1:00 Introducing Chris Larsen and Mike Brune 2:30 The ideas that aren't working in the climate movement 5:30 The case for carbon dioxide removal 8:30 What we got wrong on coal 13:11 The Chip Roy attack ad 14:30 How crypto’s Fairshake campaign worked 17:30 Is this climate’s political warfare moment? 20:30 "What kind of political catastrophe are you waiting for?" 22:30 The climate messaging debate — should we even say "climate"? 28:13 AI and the fault line splitting the environmental movement 30:30 Are we headed toward an AI disaster? 38:00 Three strategies for holding hyperscalers accountable 40:00 What does success look like in two years? Credits: Co-hosted by Stephen Lacey, Jigar Shah, and Caroline Golin. Produced and edited by Anne Bailey, Sean Marquand, and Stephen Lacey. Sponsors: Open Circuit is brought to you by FlexGen, a leader in integrated battery energy storage solutions and energy management software. FlexGen helps owners and operators gain greater visibility and control across complex energy systems to maximize performance. Learn more: www.flexgen.com Tune into Critical Capital, a brand new podcast from Crux and Latitude Studios. Hosted by Crux CEO Alfred Johnson, Critical Capital explores the interlocking forces powering clean and critical infrastructure. Join us every other Tuesday for in-depth conversations at the intersection of energy, government, finance, and global markets. Listen here: https://www.cruxclimate.com/critical-capital?utm_source=latitude-media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=critical-capital&utm_content=open-circuit About Open Circuit: Open Circuit brings together three industry veterans to decode the forces shaping the next era of the energy transition — from AI-driven load growth and supply chain crunches to market upheavals and policy battles. Hosted by Stephen Lacey, Jigar Shah, and Caroline Golin, the show offers a rare insider’s view into the biggest technological and economic transformation of our time. Watch more episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@LatitudeMediaInc/podcasts Read Latitude Media: https://www.latitudemedia.com/ Subscribe to newsletters: https://www.latitudemedia.com/newsletter/