Four Takeaways from San Francisco Climate Week 2025

As a Bay Area company, Banyan Infrastructure is proud to send its many local employees to attend the various events held during San Francisco Climate Week (SFCW) 2025. From keynote speakers to panel discussions, networking events to sustainable wine tastings, professionals from around the world came together to talk climate, clean energy, and sustainability. 

Across SFCW events, we noticed several trends repeating in formal conversations and personal chats. Whether you were in attendance or watching through LinkedIn posts from afar, here are the top four takeaways from SFCW this year.

1. No climate solution is too ‘out there’

As a decentralized event, SF Climate Week featured speaker sessions, networking hours, and panel discussions throughout the city, covering various topics within the climate space. From solar financing to hydrogen-powered watercraft, electric vehicle infrastructure to the latest in carbon capture, San Francisco was teeming with climate solutions. 

The diversity in thought, technology, and problem solving was most evident at a panel titled, “Can ‘Black Sheep’ Technologies Help Address Climate Change?” hosted by InnerPlant. The panel featured leaders from so-called “black sheep” companies that tackle environmental issues by thinking way, way outside the box. Have you considered sowing fluorescing sensor plants that visually alert farmers to growing conditions? What if we vaccinated cattle to reduce their methane output? How about generating power from nuclear fission one mile underground? Banyan Infrastructure team members who attended this panel left with an optimistic outlook at the promise of constant—though sometimes wild—creativity driving the world’s founders in cleantech in 2025. 

2. Innovative finance remains top of mind for climate leaders

SFCW dedicated an entire event track to financing topics, highlighting the importance of creating purpose-built finance solutions for cleantech. Over two dozen finance events were held throughout the week and across the Bay Area, covering topics such as impact investing, funding strategies for sustainable companies, and energy markets. 

Banyan Infrastructure hosted one event attended by more than 90 renewable energy finance professionals to discuss how to finance critical climate infrastructure for commercial entities and local communities. A second event hosted by Derapi at Banyan Infrastructure’s office highlighted the importance of virtual power plants (VPPs) in the era of electrification and renewable energy. Banyan Infrastructure employees were pleased to welcome attendees from across the renewable energy project finance world, including project investors, green banking lenders, and a new influx of private investors this year.

At another SFCW finance event, iBank CEO Scott Wu emphasized his bank’s approach to funding, which combines public and private money. This approach fills gaps in capital access for renewable energy projects and sustainable startups. At the end of the session, he put out a call to all those seeking funding to reach out to his team as they continue to deploy money—yet another promising signal of the well-being of the cleantech sector. 

3. Cleantech leaders are ready to standardize

Most renewable energy, cleantech, and sustainability markets are still in their early stages. Even mature industries like solar are only a few decades old and continue to innovate go-to-market strategies, financing solutions, and technological efficiencies in 2025. Cleantech leaders are seeking standardization and stability to compete in markets that are fast-paced and constantly changing. 

Many Banyan Infrastructure customers at SFCW noted that not only have their internal processes improved since adopting the Banyan Infrastructure software, but that connecting to others in the Banyan Infrastructure ecosystem has made all the difference for their renewable energy portfolios. Conversations among Banyan clients at several events raised the question that private investors, green banks, and community development financial institutions (CDFIs) all face as they expand their funds: How can they standardize their internal workflows and ecosystem collaboration to increase efficiency and, ultimately, return on investment (ROI)? 

The answer they landed on was twofold. First, digital standardization. Second, connect to the ecosystem. Accessing the ecosystem is essential for capital stacking, and capital stacking is crucial for success in the renewable energy market.

4. Connecting to the renewable energy ecosystem is invaluable

Creating connections isn’t just a pragmatic business choice. At the finance track events and throughout SFCW, a major takeaway from participants was how necessary it felt to connect with people working hard to reach the same cleantech goals. Attendees left feeling empowered, not only by a slew of new LinkedIn connections, but also with motivation to continue pushing the envelope on what it means to create a sustainable, thriving economy. 

With over 25,000 attendees from more than 1,000 organizations, the climate tech and clean energy industry professionals in attendance remained optimistic for the future. From event to event, people emphasized their unwavering commitment to advancing technologies that are both environmentally friendly and economically productive. Banyan Infrastructure team members walked away from each session feeling hopeful about the future of the cleantech industry, knowing that they are among thousands of other people committing their work to mitigating environmental harm while promoting economic and social growth.

Interested in learning more about Banyan Infrastructure’s project finance solutions? Reach out to our team today.