Paperwork and Hammer Businesses

For every flashy climate technology like direct air capture, hydrogen fuel cells, and sustainable jet fuel, there are ten boring businesses that are flying under the radar, solving everyday problems involving hammers or paperwork. ‘Hammer and paperwork’ businesses are not particularly innovative, but they’re everywhere, and they’re on the front lines of decarbonizing the economy by processing solar rebates, training electricians, navigating bureaucracies, financing solar panels, and installing heat pumps.

The speed of deploying clean energy and new climate technologies will ultimately depend on hammer and paperwork businesses at the last mile—doing work that is not easily done by ChatGPT, but is maddeningly hard to staff. The Wall Street Journal quoted Jim Fish, CEO of Waste Management, on the challenges in today’s labor market: “We can’t hire a truck driver to drive a trash truck for $90,000 in Houston, Texas, but I can hire an M.B.A. from a small school for $60,000, and I can get them all day long.”