Janet Yellen optimistic for ‘green tech’ investment opportunities

Former chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, said she is still bullish on the opportunities for green tech investors in the U.S. The economist also warned of severe risks that Trump’s war is creating for the entire national economy.

Yellen previously chaired the Federal Reserve and just took a position on the advisory board of Angeleno Group, a Los Angeles-based venture capital firm focused on clean energy and other climate-related businesses. She revealed that she wanted to serve on Angeleno Group’s board of advisers because it identified promising technologies and invested in them to help companies scale up and become globally competitive. 

Yellen remains bullish for green tech investors

Yellen, climate change existential challenge

If it were existential, yellen would push lowest cost option of geoengineering cuz past 30 years US and EU rejected paying over a trillion a year to the developing world. Backlash on trade, so tryina grab $ by climate & take fee pic.twitter.com/zHJRixRqZb

— 161phi (@161phi) May 2, 2025

In a Financial Times interview, former Fed chair Janet Yellen argued that climate change is an existential challenge and that addressing it effectively involves massive private investments. She also said last year the world’s transition to a low-carbon economy requires $3 trillion in new investment annually through 2050.

Yellen highlighted that she is concerned about the hostility towards climate change. She also expressed her disappointment with what was happening to research in the climate change field after the entire National Climate Assessment team was sacked during the week.

“But I really believe that this is an utterly critical global challenge and that private investment in climate solutions is a key way to address it.”

–Janet Yellen, Former Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The economist revealed that over four years during the Biden administration, she tried to use every tool at the Treasury to address climate change. She also added that she is currently involved in writing the tax rules for the Inflation Reduction Act. Yellen noted that the Inflation Reduction Act was an important law that created enormous incentives for investment in clean energy, after which many rules were fs.

The former Fed chair revealed she heard calls to repeal some rules. She believes there is bipartisan support because the tax incentives have created a huge wave of investment across the U.S. Yellen also argued that the investments were benefiting, particularly in red states that have suffered losses, either because of the decline of coal and fossil fuel or because of the China shock and loss of manufacturing.

Yellen said the incentives were meaningful and hopes they will remain in place. She also hopes that a lot of the activity related to clean energy will continue despite the sense of hostility in the Trump administration towards climate change.

The economist argued that clean energy for the American economy is an important sector to support, especially for an administration concerned with manufacturing. She believes there are real opportunities for companies to invest in the sector where the infant industry argument applies.

Yellen said the sector deserves direct support, which they’re getting through the IRA. She also believes the sector will generate meaningful technological change that will boost American success and productivity growth in the future.

She also noted her support of President Biden’s strategy to support domestic firms in making them leaders in the sector, which meant limited tariffs to provide a window of protection. 

Yellen believes Trump’s tariffs will harm U.S. industries

“This is the worst self-inflicted wound that I’ve ever seen an administration impose on a well-functioning economy.”

Former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen believes the odds of a recession stemming from Trump’s policies have “meaningfully risen”. pic.twitter.com/sxoC93W55O

— Bianna Golodryga (@biannagolodryga) April 10, 2025

Yellen also revealed she visited some innovative firms in the space while she was Treasury Secretary, which she said were harmed by the enormous subsidies that China imposed. She noted that a company outside of Atlanta called Suniva was a leader in developing solar cell technology, but China’s subsidies put it out of business.

Yellen expressed her concerns about President Trump’s broad-based tariffs and the tariff war he started with China. She said she supported limited tariffs in the clean energy sector that would give firms some breathing space to scale up and become competitive. 

The economist believes the U.S. is highly dependent on China, and putting enormous tariffs on them hobbles industries that could have a chance. She also said she supports strategies that would diversify the country’s supply chain and make the U.S. less susceptible to China cutting them off from crucial inputs like rare earths and magnets.

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