INVEST, CONNECT, LEARN
SV2 Puts Global Warming Solutions on the Agenda

On the evening of April 11, the Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund (SV2) held its first joint event with Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) and hosted keynote speaker Lt. Governor John Garamendi at the Google headquarters in Mountain View. The event allowed attendees to gain Lt. Gov. Garamendi’s perspective on the implementation of Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Assembly Bill (AB) 32).

Spearheading the event was Marianna Grossman Keller, a member of E2 and a leader of SV2’s Environmental Affinity Group. The Environmental Affinity Group is grantmaking group focused on influencing other organizations working to implement AB 32. The bill requires:

• Reducing emissions in California to 1990 levels by the year 2020
  
• Providing the California Air Resources Board (CARB) with many tools, including regulatory approaches and market-based approaches, and enforcement authority to ensure that the state meets this emission limit
  
• Requiring CARB to institute a mandatory emissions reporting and tracking system to monitor and enforce compliance with the emissions limit.

The Affinity Group, along with some of the staff of Google.org, were privileged to meet privately with Lt. Gov. Garamendi to gain further understanding for how SV2 might have the most leverage with a grant. He addressed two areas.

1) First, SV2 should ask which groups are opposed to implementation of AB 32, such as utility companies, oil companies, and labor, and think about how we might neutralize the opposition.

2) Second, SV2 might work on ways to obtain policy help for the regulators. Garamendi felt that CARB is casting about for the right strategy but there is a dearth of good research on various policy alternatives.

Of particular note was his challenging conclusion saying, “We need a long-term strategy to move us away from dependence upon fuels that we burn, to energy sources that are renewable and we can do that. Silicon Valley is about taking ideas and changing them into money. There is an incredible entrepreneurial opportunity for this valley to transform itself yet again, into leadership in energy technology. We need good public policy that will last for decades to usher in this future.”

This event characterizes well the many ways that SV2 connects donors to the heart of issues of importance to them. Marianna observed that “SV2 is a great resource for learning about philanthropy and for joining with others who want to strengthen the well-being of our community. There is always time for networking at our events, which is one of the ways that the Silicon Valley residents ensure a fecund environment for new waves of innovation.”

SV2 pools not only its financial and intellectual resources, but its reach is magnified by the diverse interests and wide networks of our partners. This network allows SV2 to attract experts and policy makers to inform and motivate our collective grantmaking and advocacy actions.

To learn more about how you might connect with philanthropy and social change through SV2, please contact Nancy Clarke Cole, executive director, at nccole@siliconvalleycf.org.

Watch the video from this event at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAnj0wb-vlY.