Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Think Globally, Act Globally ... Venture Capitalist Gary Rieschel on RMI in China

Image copyright Thinkstock / chuyu.

Gary Rieschel has built a phenomenally successful set of businesses in a career that straddles the tech revolution in the United States and Asia. Along the way, he refined a global perspective on what makes true transformation happen. A resident of Shanghai for the past ten years, he and his family are committed to changing China’s environmental tragedy into a success story the whole world can learn from. That’s why Rieschel has been such a strong supporter of Reinventing Fire: China. “You have to align yourself with people that have the discipline, the dedication, and the stamina, frankly, for what it takes to actually get things done,” says Rieschel. “How many have done what Amory and Rocky Mountain Institute have done and been hammering away at this for 30 years? You look for people who appreciate that this is not an instant fix.”

Reinventing Fire: China takes that long view. Its rigorous analysis and companion policy recommendations identify the maximum share energy efficiency and clean energy could provide to support China’s forecasted economic growth through 2050. RF: China is a from-the-ground-up Chinese version of Reinventing Fire (RMI’s analysis for the U.S. published in 2011).

Rieschel knows a thing or two about economic growth. Qiming Venture Partners — a $1.6-billion fund he founded and manages — focuses on early-stage investments in China, where it’s one of the top venture-capital firms. But it’s only the latest in a long line of start-ups in Silicon Valley, Japan, and China. He was an executive in the early years of Intel and Cisco, and helped to bring the IT revolution to Asia by building joint ventures between American tech giants and Asian partners. He quickly moved into venture capital as a leader of firms like Softbank Venture Capital and Ignition Partners, before moving with his family to China in 2006.

Image courtesy of Trina Solar.

China’s Environmental Challenges

Rieschel also has a deep-seated passion for the environment. “It stems from reading books and getting involved in activities in Oregon when I was a kid,” he says. “Rachel Carson was one of my heroes growing up.” Today he and his wife, Yucca Wong Rieschel, are active supporters of environmental and educational causes. So they feel acutely challenged by the environmental degradation in China. Some in China talk of the ‘three T problem’ — $1 trillion each to clean up the water, the land, and the air. It is shorthand for the scale of the problem, says Rieschel. “The key is, there’s no such thing as a small problem in China. And there really isn’t a good example of how to do it at the scale of the problems that China has.” Making headway thus requires huge ambition, bold action, and relentless patience — all guiding principles of RMI and its Reinventing Fire synthesis.

There’s no such thing as a small problem in China. Making headway requires huge ambition, bold action, and relentless patience.

Rieschel thought this pragmatic approach could really help China, and the world. Jack Wadsworth, an old friend and Morgan Stanley veteran with decades of experience in East Asia, invited Rieschel to a summit at Amory’s home three years ago. “Reinventing Fire had just come out, and the thing that I liked about RMI’s approach is the Chinese are generally technocrats; they look for solutions,” says Rieschel. “What it does is outline a very strong economic rationale for choices that could be translated into decisive action in China.”

Ultimately, Reinventing Fire: China would not be happening without the support of Rieschel, Wadsworth, and others like them. Rieschel has generously supported the project from its inception, both financially and strategically. He has been indispensable advising, guiding, and making introductions for the RMI team in China. For Rieschel it was a natural progression — “being in China, realizing exactly how awful the environmental situation is here, looking at RMI as a really strong potential solution base for that, and then helping fund and promote RMI’s entry to China.”

Image courtesy of Gary Rieschel.

Solutions for the World

The project has since evolved into a major collaboration between the Energy Research Institute of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, the NDRC-sponsored Energy Foundation China, the China Energy Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and RMI. The hope and intent is for Reinventing Fire: China’s analysis and policy recommendations (to be published later this summer) to help inform China’s upcoming 13th Five-Year Plan — and the future of global climate.

“Some of what happens in China may be perfectly appropriate for what’s going to be required in Nigeria and India,” says Rieschel. “You’re going to have a larger palette of solutions the world can choose from. If we can find examples over the next three to five years of China’s successfully implementing Reinventing Fire concepts, then you can go to the rest of the world and say, ‘People in the United States have done this, people in China did something a little different. What solution works best for you?’”

— David Labrador

Web Extra For more information on this topic visit: rmi.org/reinventing_fire_china