Startups that set out to fix the climate are now talking about jet fighters

Climate startups are going quiet about the climate.

A generation of companies that launched in recent years promising to wean the economy off fossil fuels are revamping their pitch to be more in tune with the zeitgeist.

Companies developing climate-friendly metals, cement and fuel are now emphasizing how their products benefit national security as global trade disputes increase. Other green-technology developers are seeking a niche in the hot artificial-intelligence market.

Many got their start when economic and political forces were aligned behind climate action. The pivots come as those forces wane.

The Trump administration has vowed to boost oil-and-gas production, ax environmental regulations and suspend the Biden administration’s green-funding programs. Even before the election, many companies had been walking back environmental goals amid investor and political pressure.

Financial conditions are also tough, with higher interest rates undermining the investment case for capital-intensive green projects. Equity funding for climate-tech startups fell 40% to $50.7 billion in 2024, a third year of declines, according to research firm BloombergNEF.

“There’s a lot of reflection and trying to anticipate the future," said Jacob Bro, a partner at venture-capital firm 2150. “Everyone is already relabeling things a little bit."

One company adjusting to the new reality is Magrathea Metals, which is developing a process for extracting magnesium from saltwater.

The Oakland, Calif.-based startup’s sales pitch used to focus on the climate benefits of its technology, but the references to decarbonization have recently vanished from its home page. Now it warns that the dearth of domestic magnesium production is a national-security emergency, and says Magrathea can secure material for products including jet fighters and drones.

“Getting the West’s magnesium supply base off of China—that is the problem we’re solving," Chief Executive Alex Grant said in an interview. Magrathea’s potential customers, such as automakers, still want to reduce emissions but the risk of supply disruption is more pressing, he said.

The furnace used by Magrathea Metals to heat seawater so that the magnesium can be separated from the salt.

Brimstone, a low-carbon cement startup, is also repositioning itself as a champion of domestic manufacturing.

In January, the company said its first plant would also make alumina, the key ingredient for aluminum. Announcing the move, it included a picture of a jet fighter and cited a Commerce Department report from President Trump’s first term that said China’s dominance of aluminum production was a national-security risk.

Brimstone also scrubbed the promise of “cement for our climate future" from its home page.

Like many climate startups, Brimstone’s fortunes could be shaped by the new government’s funding priorities. In January, it received the first $8.7 million installment of a $189 million funding award from the Energy Department.

A spokeswoman for Brimstone said the company changed its communications to reflect how producing alumina would strengthen its business. She declined to comment on the government subsidies.

It isn’t just startups making a patriotic argument for green technology.

Salt bricks at Magrathea’s magnesium-production facility.

Last month, Dow and General Motors cosigned a letter with a host of startups beseeching the Trump administration and congressional leaders to maintain tax credits for low-carbon hydrogen production. Those tax credits were aimed at cleaning up polluting industries but the letter didn’t mention climate change or carbon dioxide. It talked about enabling “American energy abundance and national security," and averting Chinese control of an emerging technology.

Trump’s vow to cancel the Biden administration’s green-funding programs is being tested in courts and faces some pushback in Congress. But for Matt Ocko, a managing partner at venture firm DCVC, companies’ rapid changes of rhetoric illustrate the danger of relying on policies that can soon change with a new administration.

Ocko sees hard times ahead for subsidy-dependent businesses. Some startups are “hoping that if they drape themselves in an America First flag they’ll get some more money," he said.

Some rhetorical shifts are jarring. Air Company’s website used to say it “exists to solve one problem: climate change." That mission no longer gets a mention. The company, working to commercialize a synthetic jet-fuel alternative, now says it is focused on “global energy independence and security." Air Company didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Other climate-focused startups want to surf the artificial-intelligence wave. VEIR, a company developing superconducting wires, was founded with a plan to equip the grid for electric-vehicle chargers and other new sources of power demand in the shift away from fossil fuels.

A cooled magnesium ingot made by Magrathea.

But America’s EV rollout has slowed, and grid operators have been slow to embrace new technologies. Now, VEIR’s priority is selling to the fast-growing and power-hungry data-center market.

Last year, most of VEIR’s technical team was reassigned to develop a new version of the wires. That product, not the high-voltage transmission wires the company originally set out to make, will be first coming off a new production line being built in Woburn, Mass.

The move has been fruitful, helping VEIR close a $75 million funding round in January.

“Anytime a company like ours can find an early market with an urgent problem that we can solve, that is always going to get quite a bit of interest," Chief Executive Tim Heidel said.

VEIR’s long-term mission remains enabling the shift to green energy, but “the timelines, obviously, are uncertain," Heidel said.

Alex Grant, the magnesium entrepreneur, said Magrathea’s marketing pivot was in the works long before Trump’s re-election as the company realized concerns about domestic supply were gaining momentum.

Magrathea currently makes tiny quantities of magnesium, but it says it has early-stage supply agreements with undisclosed buyers. Last year the company secured $19.6 million of funding from the Department of Defense to help it start producing magnesium on a larger scale. The department said the metal was critical to the production of defense systems.

A helicopter rotor housing made of magnesium.

Most magnesium is produced in China using heat from burning coal. Magrathea starts with brine, which is evaporated to leave salt containing magnesium chloride. An electric current separates salt from metal.

This can eliminate carbon-dioxide emissions entirely if the process is running on renewable energy, Grant says. But, for many potential customers, a smaller carbon footprint is just nice to have these days.

Grant founded Magrathea in 2022 when companies and governments were lining up behind commitments to cut emissions.

“I’ve been working in clean tech for my entire adult life, more than a decade, and it was like, ‘Oh, my God, it’s finally happening,’" he said.

Now, that enthusiasm looks to him like a fad.

“We tried it on," he said, “and then we just threw it out."

Magrathea Chief Technology Officer Jacob Brown with CEO Alex Grant.

Write to Ed Ballard at ed.ballard@wsj.com