# Climate tech’s tough year in the public markets

- Show: [Catalyst](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst)
- Published: 2024-03-14
- Length: 40m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2024-03-14-climate-techs-tough-year-in-the-public-markets

## Summary

Shanu Mathew, portfolio manager and research analyst at Lazard, discusses the underperformance of climate tech stocks in public markets, citing high interest rates, election uncertainty, and normalized supply chains as key drivers. He details the specific struggles in the EV and lithium sectors, noting a supply surplus that has crashed commodity prices, and contrasts this with the mixed performance in solar, where residential installers face destocking while utility-scale developers see growth. Mathew observes a 'flight to safety' among investors, who are shifting capital toward profitable, incumbent 'climate-adjacent' companies like Eaton and Trane Technologies rather than pure-play climate tech firms.

## Chapters

- [0:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2024-03-14-climate-techs-tough-year-in-the-public-markets#t=1) Introduction and Defining Climate Tech
- [7:41](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2024-03-14-climate-techs-tough-year-in-the-public-markets#t=461) Macroeconomic Headwinds: Rates and Geopolitics
- [13:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2024-03-14-climate-techs-tough-year-in-the-public-markets#t=789) Election Uncertainty and IRA Tax Credits
- [21:18](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2024-03-14-climate-techs-tough-year-in-the-public-markets#t=1278) EV Market Slowdown and Lithium Price Crash
- [29:24](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2024-03-14-climate-techs-tough-year-in-the-public-markets#t=1764) Solar Sector: Utility Growth vs. Residential Destocking
- [35:49](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2024-03-14-climate-techs-tough-year-in-the-public-markets#t=2149) Flight to Safety and Climate-Adjacent Stocks
- [38:37](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2024-03-14-climate-techs-tough-year-in-the-public-markets#t=2317) Future Outlook and Analyst Sentiment

## Topics

- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Policy, trade & tariffs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/policy-trade-and-tariffs)
- [Sourcing & supply chain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sourcing-and-supply-chain)
- [Growth, exits & acquisitions](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/growth-exits-and-acquisitions)

## Most relevant to

large enterprises

## Mentioned

- Lazard (company)
- S&P Global Clean Energy Index (other)
- MAC Global Solar Index (other)
- Tesla (company)
- Rivian (company)
- Albemarle (company)
- SQM (company)
- Arcadium Lithium (company)
- NextEra Energy (company)
- General Electric (company)
- NextTracker (company)
- Quanta Services (company)
- SolarEdge (company)
- Enphase (company)
- Eaton (company)
- Hubbell (company)
- Trane Technologies (company)
- IRA (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [From Solar’s 90% Cost Crash to AI’s Energy Surge: The Economics Driving Climate Tech](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2025-09-16-from-solars-90-cost-crash-to-ais-energy-surge-the-economics-driving-climate-tech) (Hardware to Save a Planet)
- [Navigating Financial Trends Amid Political Change - EMS & The Economist, August 2024](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ems-c-level/2024-08-12-navigating-financial-trends-amid-political-change-ems-the-economist-august-2024) (EMS@C-LEVEL)
- [EP 186: Mobile Bottlenecks, Skyrocketing AI CapEx, and the Compute Crunch](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-circuit/2026-08-03-ep-186-mobile-bottlenecks-skyrocketing-ai-capex-and-the-compute-crunch) (The Circuit)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2024-03-14-climate-techs-tough-year-in-the-public-markets. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Catalyst.