Michele Demers, CEO of Boundless, tells Newsweek that clean tech investment remains strong despite political shifts.

Michele Demers is CEO of Boundless Impact Research and Analytics, which helps companies and organizations understand their environmental impact and commercialize clean technology. She said the "political noise" around environmentally minded business is a distraction but not indicative of a change in direction.

"There's just too much economic momentum and too many investors making a lot of money for them to go back," Demers told Newsweek.

Trump's first term in the White House provides evidence, she said. Even with his efforts against climate action, clean energy and clean tech business grew dramatically.

That's not to say Trump's policies will have no effect, however. Demers said clean tech areas in early stages of development could suffer, such as some carbon dioxide removal technologies and work to cut emissions from cement and other heavy industries.

Demers said companies are also changing how they communicate about their climate goals. The label ESG—a catch-all term for environmental, social and governance—will probably not last, she said.
"ESG has had its day and it's now going to be called something different," she said. "But you're still going to see sustainability policies at companies."

Anne Kelly at Ceres agreed.
"You may see a shift in language, but that's very different than people actually changing course or redeploying capital," she said. "You know, what's in a name?"