G7 leaders agreed to create a critical minerals alliance to reduce reliance on China for lithium, nickel, rare earths, and other inputs tied to batteries, grids, defense systems, EVs, and clean-energy manufacturing. The plan targets dependence on any single non-G7 supplier below 60% by 2030, while China still controls about 90% of processed rare earth production, making mineral access a direct bottleneck for electrification and industrial resilience. The operational consequence is clear: clean-energy deployment is now a geopolitical supply-chain contest, forcing governments, utilities, automakers, and battery manufacturers to prioritize stockpiles, recycling, joint procurement, and non-China processing capacity to prevent grid upgrades, EV production, and defense electrification from becoming hostage to mineral chokepoints. (Reuters)
Strategic Moves | Capital flows in energy, infrastructure, and policy
Energy Systems & Grid Reliability
- Helion raised $465 million led by Thrive Capital at a $15.5 billion valuation to expand Polaris fusion manufacturing and build a 50MW Malaga, Washington plant by 2028, adding dispatchable clean-power capacity for grid reliability.
- Focused Energy raised $240 million from RWE, SPRIND, the European Innovation Council Fund, and Prime Movers Lab to convert RWE’s Biblis power plant site into a laser-fusion development hub, accelerating clean baseload infrastructure for Germany’s future grid.
- Twelve launched AirPlant One in Moses Lake, Washington, with Microsoft and Alaska Airlines backing CO₂-based E-Jet SAF that cuts lifecycle emissions up to 90% and supplies commercial aviation without aircraft, engine, or airport-infrastructure changes.
- Endurance Energy raised $54 million led by Founders Fund to develop deep-ocean geothermal platforms and subsea power systems near tectonic plate boundaries, hardening offshore clean-power supply for high-load energy demand.
- Critical Energy raised $22 million from Susa Ventures, Upfront Ventures, and Silicon Valley Bank to build modular 2.5MW geothermal turbines by 2027, reducing turbine-supply bottlenecks for scalable grid power and data-center demand.
- Kvasir Technologies raised €10 million from European Energy, EIFO, Mærsk Growth, and Footprint Fund to scale 2-tonne-per-day marine biofuel production in Fredericia and develop a commercial plant in Aabenraa, reducing shipping-fuel emissions without engine or port-infrastructure changes.
- British Airways extended its EcoCeres SAF supply deal through 2030, using waste-based biomass fuel to avoid 198,000 tonnes of lifecycle CO₂ emissions and reduce aviation fuel-transition risk for IAG’s 10% SAF target.
Resilient Infrastructure & Materials
- Foundation Alloy raised $22 million from Voyager Ventures and partners to scale solid-state metal alloy production to several tons per week by 2027, reducing energy use and supply-chain risk for aerospace, automotive, semiconductor, and defense components.
- Rio Tinto started commissioning its $1.5 billion AP60 low-carbon aluminum expansion at Complexe Arvida in Quebec, adding 160,000 tonnes of annual capacity and reducing smelting emissions to one-sixth of the industry average using Canadian hydropower.
Resilience Finance & Policy
- Anthropic joined Frontier’s $915 million carbon-removal tranche, lifting total pledges to $1.8 billion and backing 50+ CO₂-removal projects that reduce emissions exposure from AI data-center growth.
- Gigascale Capital closed a $250 million institutional fund to back 25+ early-stage energy, materials, grid infrastructure, and physical-AI companies, strengthening deployment pathways for lower-cost climate infrastructure under rising electrification, AI, and weather stress.
- 100×100 launched a $100 million Fund II to build 50 climate tech startups across South Asia and India, targeting energy, agriculture, materials, buildings, and industrial systems that reduce emissions and strengthen regional deployment resilience.
- Microsoft will buy 36,920 tons of CO₂-removal credits from Alt Carbon’s Darjeeling Revival Project by 2029, scaling India-based enhanced rock weathering across 80,000 acres and reducing verified carbon-supply risk for Microsoft’s climate targets.
Omer Agadi, Analyst. Firstime Credit
