Climate Positive (HASI)
Explore every episode of Climate Positive
| Pub. Date | Title | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 May 2022 | Tim Hade | Securing a clean energy future with microgrids | 00:46:35 | |
In this episode, host Gil Jenkins speaks with Tim Hade, Co-Founder & COO of Scale Microgrid Solutions – a New Jersey-based company that designs, builds, finances, and operates distributed energy assets that are cheaper, cleaner, and more resilient. Tim talks about his journey since founding the company in 2015, how customer demand for resilient energy solutions is evolving, the intersection of EV fleets and microgrids, the merits of cogeneration technology, his perspective on energy security as a U.S. Air Force veteran, the prospects for federal climate legislation, and much more.
Links: Scale Microgrid Solutions on Twitter Scale Microgrid Solutions on LinkedIn
Episode recorded: April 8, 022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.comor tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 30 Mar 2021 | A climate finance pioneer | Jeff Eckel, CEO of HASI | 00:31:39 | |
For our inaugural episode, HASI Chairman and CEO Jeff Eckel joined us to talk about his experience growing up in deindustrializing Ohio, how he became committed to sustainability, his early start, and his eventual return to HASI, and his reflections on the company’s 2013 initial public offering. We also talked to Jeff about the case for carbon dividends, his views on the ESG movement, and how 2020 changed him as a leader. Episode recorded February 11, 2021.
Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 17 May 2023 | Venice's revolutionary sea barriers | Jason Horowitz and Emma Bubola, The New York Times | 00:31:45 | |
In this week's episode, Gil Jenkins and Hilary Langer speak with Jason Horowitz and Emma Bubola of The New York Times about their recent cover story on Venice's battle against the relentless forces of rising seas. They discuss the unlikely early success of the MOSE sea walls in protecting the city during high water events that have become increasingly commonplace due to climate change. Links: As Sea Levels Rise, the Savior of Venice May Also Be Its Curse, (The New York Times, April 2, 2023) Recorded: April 21, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 02 Mar 2022 | Jeff Hooke | Demystifying private equity | 00:32:55 | |
In this episode, Chad Reed and Jeff Eckel sit down with Jeff Hooke, senior finance lecturer at the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business and acclaimed author, to discuss his new book, The Myth of Private Equity, An inside Look at Wall Street’s Transformative Investments. Jeff dives deep into his thesis that certain private equity funds aren’t nearly as successful as they claim to be and that, as a result, many of their investors, including the pension funds of public employees, are subject to more risk than they think—with taxpayers potentially and ultimately on the hook for unexpected underperformance. Jeff also explores a similar dynamic plaguing the ESG investment space. While more financially focused than many other Climate Positive episodes, we chose to focus on this topic as we believe it is of increasing importance to both taxpayers and investors—including anyone with retirement savings—as we all look to put our dollars into investments that are both profitable and climate positive. Links
Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.comor tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 17 Nov 2021 | Tariq Fancy | ESG investing and its discontents | 00:40:56 | |
The recent meteoric rise of ESG or sustainable investing is both compelling and undeniable. Today, more than 3,500 asset managers and related organizations representing more than $120 trillion in assets under management subscribe to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), which are a set of voluntary and aspirational principles that encourage the incorporation of ESG factors into investment decisions. But as more and more professional investors publicly proclaim their ESG and sustainability bona fides, real questions persist as to both their sincerity and their actual impact on the pressing social and environmental challenges of our day—most notably, climate change. Tariq Fancy served as the first Chief Investment Officer for Sustainable Investing at BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. But since leaving the firm, he has become a prominent critic of the efficacy of ESG investing and the greenwashing efforts of many investment firms and a strong proponent of policy solutions to address climate change. In this episode, Chad Reed and Jeff Eckel dive deep with Tariq into the heart of ESG investing and the sustainable capitalism movement. We also speak with Tariq about the mission and initiatives of the education technology nonprofit he now leads—Rumie. Links The Secret Diary of a Sustainable Investor United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 30 Jun 2021 | Nancy Floyd | Venture capital for climate tech | 00:36:42 | |
In this episode, we speak with Nancy Floyd, the founder and managing director of the venture capital firm Nth Power and a new member of Hannon Armstrong’s Board of Directors. Throughout the conversation, Nancy offers several insights on the past, present, and future of the clean energy venture space. She also provides plainspoken advice on effective board service, what makes a good pitch, and a good business plan from the perspective of someone who reads thousands a year. Additionally, Nancy talked with Gil about her time in the political spotlight, how the traits she developed in competitive ski racing and tennis help her in the venture world, and much more. We hope you enjoy this conversation with one of the true pioneers of climate tech investing. Links: 2008 Democratic National Convention speech by Nancy Floyd Hannon Armstrong Appoints Clarence D. Armbrister and Nancy C. Floyd to Board of Directors Episode recorded June 2, 2021. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 07 Mar 2024 | 2024 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook | Lisa Jacobson and Tom Rowlands-Rees | 00:46:27 | |
The Sustainable Energy in America Factbook serves as a key reference for the state of renewables in the United States. To mark the release of the 12th edition, Gil Jenkins and Hilary Langer talked to the people behind the annual report: Lisa Jacobson, President of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and Tom Rowlands-Rees, Head of Research for North America at BloombergNEF. Despite significant headwinds in 2023, including high interest rates and supply chain challenges, the factbook is full of record-shattering figures that reveal momentum toward a more sustainable energy future. Lisa and Tom discuss the importance of stable federal policies, the optimism they find in reduced emissions, and how America will need to accelerate sustainable energy development to meet carbon reduction targets. Links:
Episode recorded February 26, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 23 Sep 2021 | Michael Eckhart | The origins of U.S. renewables | 00:37:05 | |
In this episode, we speak with Michael Eckhart, former Global Head of Environmental Finance at Citigroup, founding chairman and former president of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), and co-author of the Green Bond Principles. Michael now serves as a board member for Hannon Armstrong and as an adjunct and visiting professor at Columbia University and the University of Maryland, respectively. Michael discusses the history of the global clean energy financing space, the benefits of financing—rather than funding—renewable energy, what the Green Bond Principles offer the market, how today’s clean energy financing models evolved, and more. Links: American Council on Renewable Energy International Capital Market Association Green Bond Principles International Solar Energy Society
Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 22 Jun 2022 | Tim Brown | Racing to destroy the world’s most potent greenhouse gases | 00:40:26 | |
Climate change solutions typically center on carbon, and addressing carbon is essential for a safer climate future. But we sometimes forget that carbon isn’t the only culprit. Fluorinated gases such as old HVAC refrigerants can have more than 10,000 times the climate-changing potential of carbon. The climate research nonprofit Project Drawdown determined that refrigerant management is one of the most impactful ways to mitigate climate change. As CEO of Tradewater, Tim Brown is racing to aggregate potent gases from around the world and destroy them before they leak into the atmosphere and wreak havoc on our climate. In this episode, host Hilary Langer speaks with Tim Brown, CEO and Founder of Tradewater – a Chicago-based company that finds and destroys the world’s most potent climate-changing gases. Tim shares how his eBay purchase of a common refrigerant inspired him to build a company that produces some of the highest quality carbon offsets. He explains how the Tradewater team leverages partnerships to scale their impact, why they expanded internationally, and how they plan to accelerate their work before potent GHGs are released into the atmosphere. Links: Project Drawdown: Overview of Refrigerant Management One overlooked way to fight climate change? Dispose of old CFCs. (National Geographic)
Episode recorded: May 5, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.comor tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 31 May 2023 | The Finless Foods sustainable seafood strategy | Shannon Cosentino-Roush | 00:44:35 | |
Seafood provides nearly 20% of the animal protein humans consume globally. This growing source of protein is also rather healthy with many of our nutrient-rich foods coming from aquatic creatures. But already, the supply of our wild capture seafood has flattened, meaning that the vast majority of our global fisheries today are being overfished in an unsustainable manner. Fortunately, Finless Foods and other sustainable seafood startups are working to bring sustainability-driven innovation to the seafood space. With both plant-based and cell-cultured options, consumers are finally beginning to experience the taste and value of seafood alternatives that are better for our oceans and their inhabitants as well as our climate. In this episode, Chad Reed talks with Finless Foods’ chief strategy officer Shannon Consentino-Roush about the past, present and future of the sustainable seafood movement and industry. Links: Article: World Tuna Day: How sustainable are tuna fisheries? Episode recorded: April 21, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 08 Aug 2024 | Eavor Loop – the underground underdog | Jeanine Vany, Eavor | 00:35:15 | |
As the accelerating deployment of variable wind and solar resources pushes us ever closer to Net Zero – or the state whereby we’re not emitting any more greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere than we are simultaneously removing – we increasingly need to deploy both battery storage as well as dispatchable renewable baseload generation. But despite its ability to serve as dispatchable renewable baseload, geothermal energy today accounts for less than 1% of the world's primary energy supply.
In this episode, Chad Reed chats with Jeanine Vany, co-founder and executive vice president of corporate affairs at Eavor, a next generation geothermal energy company based in Calgary, Canada. Jeanine adeptly explains how Eavor’s Closed-Loop solution is different and better than traditional geothermal, discusses how Eavor plans to scale its initial projects, details the numerous environmental benefits next generation geothermal can provide and much more. Links: Underground, Underdog: The Eavor Story Episode recorded June 21, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 27 Apr 2022 | Bonnie Schneider | How climate change is affecting your health and what you can do about it | 00:26:22 | |
The impacts of climate change are front and center. Rising temperatures, volatile weather events, and poor air quality affect our physical and mental health in dangerous new ways. From increasing the risk of infectious disease to amplifying emotional stress and anxiety—even the healthiest among us are at risk. Bonnie Schneider has tracked environmentally linked physiological impacts throughout her career as a Peabody Award-winning TV journalist, meteorologist, and founder of Weather & Wellness©—a platform that explores the connection between weather, climate change, and health. In this episode, host Gil Jenkins speaks with Bonnie about her most recent book, Taking the Heat, How Climate Change Is Affecting Your Mind, Body, and Spirit and What You Can Do About It. In Taking the Heat, Bonnie provides crucial and practice advice from a broad range of science experts and medical professionals. Links: Episode recorded: April 7, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 25 Aug 2023 | Building the world of low carbon cement | Ryan Gilliam, CEO of Fortera | 00:31:32 | |
In this week’s episode, we explore the world of cement. Concrete is the second most consumed material on earth behind water and is essential to the infrastructure that will enable the transition to renewable energy. But producing cement, which is the material that glues concrete together, is incredibly carbon intensive. As CEO of Fortera, Dr. Ryan Gilliam looks to nature and how coral and shells are strengthened by imbedding ambient carbon. Fortera’s first plant, in Redding, California, will come online by the end of 2023 and Fortera cement is construction ready. Throughout the conversation, Dr. Gilliam discusses how he partners with existing concrete suppliers, why the first iteration of Fortera failed to gain traction, and how he has built a business savvy team to bring Fortera cement to market. Links:
Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Episode Recorded August 9, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 03 May 2021 | Zach Knight | Financial innovation for forest restoration | 00:40:56 | |
Blue Forest Co-Founder and CEO Zach Knight joined us to talk about the Forest Resilience Bond – an innovative public-private partnership focused on deploying private capital to fund proactive forest management practices that reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and generate other ecosystem services and community benefits. We also spoke with Zach about his transition from Wall Street to conservation finance, the role of policy in scaling solutions, and the long-term perspective children can open our eyes to. Links: Official Bio The Forest Resilience Bond The Yuba Project Episode recorded April 13, 2021.
Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 08 Feb 2024 | Leading the charge in commercial solar | Steve Raeder, CEO of Summit Ridge Energy | 00:26:36 | |
In this week's episode, Gil Jenkins sits down with Steve Raeder, the founder and CEO of Summit Ridge Energy. As a leading player in the community solar market, Summit Ridge Energy (SRE) has made significant strides since its inception in 2017, deploying over $1.6 billion into clean energy assets. With a robust development pipeline of more than 2 GW, SRE will have more than 400 MW of solar PV online by the end of 2024, powering 50,000 homes and businesses. During the conversation, Steve opens up about his journey from SunEdison to founding Summit SRE. He breaks down the incredible value proposition for community solar, which offers guaranteed savings to both residential and small commercial customers while underscoring its pivotal role in the broader energy transition. Steve also discusses SRE’s growth strategy. Giving his outlook on the future of the community solar market, he details how the company is positioning itself to capitalize on this sector's continued growth. Additionally, Steve talks about the company’s solar panel supply partnership with Qcells, which was announced last year and is the largest domestic community solar purchase ever. He also shares insights into their innovative sustainability apprenticeship program in Chicago. Note: Summit Ridge Energy is a client of HASI. Links:
Episode recorded January 24, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 06 Jan 2023 | Ivan Frishberg | Collaborating to manage and finance the climate transition | 00:38:49 | |
Every day, the alphabet soup of climate and ESG-related NGOs seems to thicken. But their respective raisons d’etre can seem like a mystery for all but the closet of insiders. To help unravel the role of each of these organizations in the broader social movement and policy push for urgent climate action, Chad Reed speaks with Ivan Frishberg, the chief sustainability officer of Amalgamated Bank and a pioneer of climate collaboration for big banks and corporates. Given his historically central and successful role in driving industry collaboration on climate action, Ivan provides key insights into the current state of this evolving landscape, delves into the hot topic of divestment versus engagement, and discusses the merits and significance—or lack thereof—of the so-called ESG backlash. Links:
Episode recorded: December 19, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 23 Nov 2022 | Building clean and equitable rural community power | Michelle Moore, CEO of Groundswell | 00:40:28 | |
In this episode, Hilary Langer speaks with Michelle Moore, CEO of the nonprofit Groundswell and author of the recently published book, “Rural Renaissance. Revitalizing America’s Hometowns Through Clean Power.” Michelle has spent her career advocating for equitable power. Her accomplishments range from delivering programs that cut energy use by $11 billion and led to the deployment of 3.2 Gigawatts of new renewable energy production while leading sustainability for the Obama Administration; to developing LEED into a globally recognized brand as Senior Vice President of USGBC. Hilary and Michelle discuss the values that motivate her, why Groundswell is revitalizing rural areas, and how the Inflation Reduction Act will change America. Links:
Episode recorded: November 9, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 03 Feb 2023 | Bringing carbon positive hemp to the paper industry | Kim Kovacs, CEO of element6 Dynamics | 00:36:06 | |
Kim Kovacs is the Chief Executive Officer of element6 Dynamics. She is spearheading a transformation in the hemp industry to bring industrial hemp production to scale. By replacing tree-based pulp in paper and in packaging, hemp can reduce the pressure to harvest forests while also sequestering carbon and replenishing soils. In this episode, Hilary Langer and Kim Kovacs discuss how hemp works as a carbon sink, why both farmers and corporations are eager to get involved in hemp production, and why now is the time to grow in the volume needed to reverse the carbon impact of the paper and packaging industry. Links New York Times: Where Does All the Cardboard Come From? Episode Recorded: January 13, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod.
Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 04 Aug 2022 | Mike Casey, Emily Chasan, Gil Jenkins, Nico Johnson, Tim Montague, Bill Nussey, and Joshua Porter | Cleantech podcasters quarterly roundtable | 01:05:12 | |
This week we’re presenting a special bonus episode where Gil Jenkins joined fellow podcasters for the most recent edition of the Cleantech Podcasters Quarterly Roundtable, hosted by Tigercomm & SunCast Media. We covered topics such as the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on EPA power plant regulations, the implications for energy markets due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the escalating attacks by pro-fossil fuel pundits, and a whole lot more. Please note that we recorded this conversation before Senator Manchin’s surprise and welcome support for climate provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. In the show notes, we’ve linked to all the terrific podcasters included in this roundtable. Please give them a follow when you have a chance. We hope you enjoy this rich, one-hour discussion on the top clean energy trends, developments, challenges, and opportunities ahead of us. Other podcasters included in this roundtable (you can find them wherever you listen to podcasts): Mike Casey – Scaling Clean Podcast Emily Chasan – The Energy Gang Nico Johnson – SunCast Podcast Tim Montague – Clean Power Hour Bill Nussey – The Freeing Energy Podcast Joshua Porter – The Solar Coaster Podcast Episode recorded: July 21, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 27 Jun 2024 | Innovation at the grid edge | Barbara Humpton, CEO of Siemens USA | 00:56:13 | |
Barbara Humpton, President and CEO of Siemens USA, sits down with Gil Jenkins and Susan Nickey to discuss Siemens' pivotal role in advancing sustainability across industry, infrastructure, and transportation sectors. The conversation dives into Siemens' approach to decarbonization as an engine for growth and spotlights how innovation at the grid edge will be key to delivering a more sustainable future, guiding energy flows and balancing supply with the demands of buildings, industry, and private consumers. Additionally, Barbara discusses the encouraging trend of U.S. manufacturing expansion, advancements in EV charging infrastructure, and more. Finally, Babara shares insights into her leadership philosophy, discusses her passion for integrating work and personal life priorities, and explains why she started a podcast for Siemens, The Optimistic Outlook, back in 2021. Links:
Episode recorded June 12, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 01 Mar 2023 | Investing in sustainable, resilient, and inclusive infrastructure platforms | Jonathan Winer, Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners | 00:38:30 | |
Over the last few years, there has been an influx of venture capital seeking out profitable climate tech startups. At the same time, asset-backed financing has become generally more available and cheaper – all else equal – for renewable energy and other sustainable infrastructure projects. But there has been a missing middle – investors willing to underwrite both technology and project-level risk to drive systemic climate positive change. This is why Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP) was created – to reimagine infrastructure investing for the 21st century. By integrating technological expertise, infrastructure experience, creative capital, and multistakeholder engagement, the firm has been making significant platform investments in the technology-enabled infrastructure of the future. Chad Reed and Jonathan Winer (SIP Co-Founder and Co-CEO) dive deep into many of the spaces SIP is investing in – from autonomous vehicle roadways, to shared broadband solutions, to waste-free recycling, to truly resilient electric grids.
Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners Episode recorded: February 3, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 26 Jul 2023 | Going beyond megawatt hour matching | Katherine Collins, Hank He, Lee Taylor, Rob Threlkeld | 00:56:45 | |
For several years, well-intentioned companies seeking to reduce their emissions from electricity consumption – a primary component of their Scope 2 emissions – have bought Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) or signed Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). Known as energy or megawatt hour matching, this approach, which forms the backbone of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s Scope 2 Market-Based Method accounting system, does not distinguish the time, location or emissions profile of a company’s electricity consumption from that of its REC and PPA interventions to offset this consumption. But as different grids have decarbonized at different rates over the years, the emissions impact of a REC purchased or PPA signed in one location at a particular time no longer necessarily has a similar impact to RECs purchased or PPAs signed in different locations covering different periods of time. In essence, at least as it pertains to carbon impact, not every megawatt hour is created equal. In this episode, recorded at the GreenFin 23 Conference in Boston, Chad leads a panel of industry experts – including Katherine Collins of Putnam Investments; Hank He of Tabors Caramanis Rudkevich; Lee Taylor of REsurety; and Rob Threlkeld of General Motors – on the deficiencies of energy matching, the benefits of a new approach known as carbon matching and the resulting implications for ongoing efforts to reform Scope 2 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Links:
Episode recorded June 26, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 14 Nov 2024 | Critical Minerals: Made in the USA | Coleman Adams, CFO of Nth Cycle | 00:37:46 | |
Critical minerals are absolutely vital for the energy transition. Without nickel, copper, lithium, cobalt and other rare earth elements, we simply cannot produce the solar modules, wind turbines, batteries and other technologies necessary to decarbonize the global economy. It’s no surprise then that demand for these critical minerals is expected to almost triple by 2030.
But mining, processing and incorporating these critical minerals into manufacturing processes can itself result in far too many emissions. In addition, the concentration of related supply chains in just a few – sometimes authoritarian – countries exposes the United States in particular to unacceptable geopolitical risks.
In this episode, Guy Van Syckle and Chad Reed chat with Coleman Adams, CFO of Nth Cycle – an industry leader in critical metal refining. Coleman discusses the climate and supply chain benefits of Nth Cycle’s first-of-a-kind (FOAK) Oyster facility in Fairfield, Ohio, which produces from recycled materials a critical input needed to manufacture batteries. Links Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Credit (48C) Program
Episode recorded October 30, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 05 May 2023 | Environmental risks and opportunities for insurers | Sarah Chapman, CSO for Manulife | 00:27:02 | |
With extreme weather events proliferating, insurance companies are already on the front lines of climate change. In this episode, Chad Reed speaks with Sarah Chapman, Chief Sustainability Officer for Manulife – one of the world’s largest insurance providers and investment managers. Sarah discusses how Manulife incorporates ESG risks and opportunities, including emissions accounting and biodiversity issues, into its operations and investment decisions, the three pillars of Manulife’s ambitious impact agenda, and the role of industry associations and policy in supporting financial material ESG initiatives. Links: Manulife’s Environmental, Social and Governance Report (2021) Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures Episode recorded: April 12, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 30 Jul 2024 | HASI leadership in conversation | Jeff Lipson, Marc Pangburn, Susan Nickey | 00:47:34 | |
We started the Climate Positive podcast just over three years ago at HASI, seeing an opportunity to contribute our unique perspective to the climate and clean energy podcast scene. As a pure play climate investment firm, we aimed to cultivate a forum for mission-driven leaders, innovators, and changemakers to engage in conversations about the challenges and opportunities on the path to a climate-positive future. Our inaugural episode of Climate Positive featured our trailblazing former CEO and current Board Executive Chair, Jeff Eckel. Now, looking back on over 75 episodes since launch, we wanted to take a moment to reflect and celebrate this journey and share more about the people leading HASI today in this special episode. Join Chad, Gil, and Hilary in this insightful conversation with three of HASI's most senior leaders - CEO Jeff Lipson, CFO Marc Pangburn, and Chief Client Officer Susan Nickey. Links:
Episode recorded June 13, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 20 Mar 2024 | Climate Capitalism | Akshat Rathi, Senior Climate Reporter at Bloomberg News | 00:44:14 | |
In this episode, Gil Jenkins sits down with Akshat Rathi, a senior climate reporter at Bloomberg News and the host of Bloomberg Green's Zero podcast, to discuss his new book, "Climate Capitalism: Winning the Global Race to Zero Emissions and Solving the Crisis of our Age," which was released on March 12 in the U.S. "Climate Capitalism" takes readers across five continents, tracking the unlikely heroes driving the fight against climate change. The stories within the book reveal how people, policy, and technology are converging to create a green economy that is not only possible but profitable. Akshat and Gil explore key chapters from the book, touching on stories like that of Wan Gang, a Chinese bureaucrat who played a pivotal role in the rapid expansion of electric vehicles in China. They also discuss India's significant progress toward solar power since 2015, the transformative influence of the International Energy Agency, and the UK's legally binding decarbonization commitments, among other topics. Links: Episode recorded March 8, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 22 Mar 2021 | Introducing Climate Positive | Presented by HASI | 00:01:08 | |
With the climate crisis igniting around us, it’s easy to let defeatism and complacency creep in. But there is so much to be hopeful for. And we know that hope breeds action, the action we need to sustain change. That’s why we’re starting Climate Positive. As investors in climate solutions, we only make investments that improve our climate future. Of course, Climate Positive means so much more than that. Join us, Chad Reed, Hilary Langer, and Gil Jenkins, as we talk with the business leaders, scientists, authors, advocates, and policymakers who are committed to making a difference in the climate fight. We’ll unpack their personal journeys and accomplishments and get their perspectives on emerging energy and environmental trends with the goal of driving all of us toward a more just and sustainable future. Email your thoughts to climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet us at @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 14 Jul 2023 | How nanobubbles solve climate challenges | Nick Dyner, CEO of Moleaer | 00:29:21 | |
Nanobubbles provide an effective solution to many of the challenges of climate change. These nanoscopic bubbles are 2500 times smaller than a single grain of salt and can be formed with any gas. Unlike larger bubbles, they remain suspended in liquid longer and remain stable until they interact with surfaces or contaminants. Their size allows them to achieve dissolved oxygen levels many times greater than those achieved using traditional aeration technologies. With applications from industries including agriculture, aquaculture, oil and gas, mining, and municipal and surface water treatment, nanobubbles can improve energy efficiency, save water, and reduce chemical use. In this episode Hilary Langer talks with Moleaer’s CEO Nick Dyner. Moleaer provides nanobubbles-as-a-service, nanobubble equipment, and water quality improvement around the world. Links: Article: Capitalism Vs. Climate Change: Moleaer’s Innovative Nanobubbles (forbes.com) Article: Moleaer Deploys Nanobubble Generators to Eliminate Foul Odour (h2oglobalnews.com) NOAA: Nanobubble Ozone Technology Shown to Eliminate Invasive Species in Ballast Water Article: A breath of fresh air: how nanobubbles can make aquaculture more sustainable Article: Nanobubbles as an Emerging Sanitation Technology Episode recorded: May 25, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 16 Nov 2023 | (Ep. 50 replay) Outsmarting waste with the Mill kitchen bin | Matt Rogers, CEO of Mill | 00:26:27 | |
In this week's episode, Gil speaks with Matt Rogers, the founder and CEO of Mill, a startup revolutionizing how we tackle food waste. They delve into the inspiration behind Mill, discussing how the idea came about and the parallels to Matt's previous work as the co-founder of Nest, the company behind the iconic learning thermostat and other smart home products. Matt discusses the functionality of Mill's kitchen bin, which transforms food scraps into nutrient-rich animal feed, and how the company is bringing this groundbreaking product to the market. He explains the emissions profile of Mill's appliance and the positive impact it can have on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Also, Matt shares his insights on the crucial role of technology and innovation in driving sustainable solutions. Links:
The episode originally aired on June 15, 2023. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 03 Jan 2024 | Speeding GETs for a clean and reliable grid | Julia Selker, WATT Coalition | 00:30:16 | |
America’s dramatic shift towards renewable energy generation in remote areas will require a substantial transmission build-out in the years ahead, potentially doubling or tripling the current grid. In other words, there is no transition without transmission. While it's crucial that we expedite the construction of large power lines at a much faster clip, there's another technology solution that demands equal attention. This parallel approach involves the use of Grid-Enhancing Technologies (GETs). GETs offer a modular, cost-effective path to enhancing our existing infrastructure while also significantly amplifying the efficacy of new transmission investments. To gain deeper insights into how GETs can help us meet the needs of the 21st-century electric grid, accelerate the clean energy transition, and lower energy costs, Gil Jenkins and Manish Chaturvedi spoke with Julia Selker, Executive Director of WATT Coalition. Links: WATT Coalition
More on Julia: Julia Selker is Executive Director of the WATT Coalition and Director of Policy and Strategy and Chief Operating Officer for Grid Strategies. She previously worked for the Business Council on Sustainable Energy, the technology startup Faraday Grid, and interned with Congressman Peter DeFazio focused on energy and climate policy. Prior to coming to Washington, DC, Julia worked on the launch of Monterey Bay Community Power through the public relations agency Miller Maxfield, Inc., in Santa Cruz, California. Julia previously worked for the Bulleit Group, a San Francisco public relations agency. She has a bachelor’s degree in physics from Reed College.
Episode recorded December 8, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 16 Feb 2022 | Amanda Simpson | A sustainable aviation trailblazer | 00:39:38 | |
In this episode, Chad Reed sits down with Amanda Simpson, Vice President for Research and Technology and Head of Sustainability for Airbus in the Americas, to discuss her trailblazing career as the first openly trans woman appointed to an executive branch position by a U.S. president. Amanda shares the challenges she has faced and the opportunities she has seized throughout her career as an aerospace corporate executive and senior official at the U.S. Department of Defense. She also deep dives into the future of sustainable aviation—from Sustainable Aviation Fuels or SAF to ZEROe, Airbus’s hydrogen-powered concept aircraft, to the role of policy and consumers in decarbonizing the aviation sector. Links
Episode recorded: January 20, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.comor tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 06 Apr 2023 | Solar in underserved international markets | Chris Burgess, RMI | 00:46:04 | |
Expanding access to clean energy like solar is essential to global climate goals, and it is especially impactful for the residents on island nations in the Caribbean that face high energy costs and are exposed to increasingly violent storms. As the director of projects for the Rocky Mountain Institute (now known as RMI), Chris Burgess navigates the decarbonization and decentralization of energy in markets that have previously been left out of the energy transition. Hilary Langer and Chris Burgess (Director of Projects for RMI) discuss why decentralized power is especially important to quality of life in underserved communities, how to establish alignment among disparate stakeholders, and how urgent action can be scaled. Links: RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute) RMI’s “Solar Under Storm” Report Christopher Burgess on LinkedIn Amory Lovins, Soft Energy Paths Mia Mottley UN Profile: Champions of the Earth Episode recorded: March 23, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.comor tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 30 Apr 2024 | ‘Life As We Know It (Can Be)’ | Bill Weir, CNN's Chief Climate Correspondent | 00:58:12 | |
In this episode, Gil Jenkins sits down with Bill Weir, Chief Climate Correspondent at CNN, for a rich, engaging, and meaningful conversation about his new book, “Life As We Know It (Can Be): Stories of People, Climate, and Hope in a Changing World.” While reporting from every state and every continent, Bill Weir has spent decades telling the stories of unique people, places, cultures, and creatures on the brink of change. As the first Chief Climate Correspondent in network news, he's immersed in the latest science and breakthroughs on the topic, while often on the frontlines of disasters, natural and manmade. In 2020, Bill began distilling these experiences into a series of Earth Day letters for his then-newborn son to read in 2050, to help him better understand the world he will have grown up in and be better prepared to embrace the future. Bill's work and his letters were the inspiration for “Life As We Know It (Can Be),” which confronts the worry and wonder of climate change with messages and examples of hope for all of us on how a better future can still be written. Highlighting groundbreaking innovation in fields of clean energy, food and water sources, housing and building materials, and more, and touching on how happiness, resilience, and health and wellness factor into the topic of climate change, Bill's stories take readers on a global journey, from one community in Florida that took on a hurricane and never lost power, to the Antarctic Peninsula where one species of penguin is showing us the key to survival, to the nuclear fusion labs where scientists are trying to build a star in a box. Through a tapestry of stories—tales of resilience, community, and the indomitable human spirit— ‘Life As We Know It (Can Be)’ celebrates our planet’s marvels, contemplates our collective desires, and calls us all to unite with nature and each other. It’s about preparing and planning for the future, together. Links:
Episode recorded April 19, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 30 Oct 2024 | Insights from a climate and energy reporter’s notebook | Tim McDonnell, Semafor | 00:43:55 | |
In this this episode of Climate Positive, hosts Gil Jenkins and Conor Fryer sit down with Tim McDonnell, Climate & Energy Editor at Semafor and the author of Semafor’s Net Zero newsletter, to delve into the current state of climate journalism, real-time energy crises, and the forces driving the energy transition. Tim reflects on how far climate reporting has come, moving past basic awareness to explore intricate, interwoven stories at the heart of sustainability and energy. They also discuss Semafor’s mission to bridge divided audiences with “common facts” and Tim’s take on the energy demands of AI, and the high-stakes landscape of climate policy ahead of the 2024 U.S. election. Links:
Episode recorded October 16, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 22 Feb 2024 | Not every battery is created equal | Jacob Mansfield, Emma Konet and Adam Reeve | 00:33:08 | |
As the energy density of batteries continues to increase even as costs keep declining, the stationary energy storage market is booming, with investment growing by over 7x over the last few years – from $5 billion in 2020 to over $35 billion in 2023 – and with battery installations tripling just last year alone. While an influx of storage is certainly needed to integrate the vast amount of renewables we need to fully decarbonize the grid, the storage we are adding to the grid is not always or even usually reducing overall carbon emissions. In fact, too often new batteries are resulting in positive net new emissions – an outcome almost no one wants. In this episode, Chad Reed chats with Jacob Mansfield and Emma Konet of Tierra Climate and Adam Reeve of REsurety to learn more about the efforts of the Energy Storage Solutions Consortium (ESSC), which seeks to align the economic incentives of the storage market with truly accelerating grid decarbonization. Links: Energy Storage Solutions Consortium (ESSC) Charging Towards Zero: Harnessing Batteries and Carbon Contracts to Accelerate Grid Decarbonization Decarbonization: Stocks and flows, abundance and scarcity, net zero
Episode recorded February 14, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 15 Dec 2021 | Lee Taylor | Measuring and maximizing the carbon impact of clean energy projects | 00:34:03 | |
U.S. power markets are evolving. Three factors—(1) the increasing penetration of generation from more intermittent renewable resources; (2) an increasing number of extreme weather events; (3) and the influx of new, especially corporate, buyers and sellers into the market—together are driving the development and adoption of new contracted revenue structures, risk management strategies, and products to measure emissions at a granular level. Born and bred to be an environmentalist, Lee Taylor founded REsurety nine years ago to develop new critical data analytics and risk management products to address the challenges faced by buyers and sellers in these evolving power markets. In this episode, host Chad Reed dives deep with Lee into the shift of focus from commodity price risk faced by fossil generation to volumetric risk faced by renewable generation. Chad also speaks with Lee about REsurety’s innovative Locational Marginal Emissions (LME) Product, which, by measuring emissions at a localized level, seeks to drive investment to clean energy projects with the highest impact on reducing carbon. Links: Note: Hannon Armstrong is a both client of and investor in Resurety. Episode recorded November 30, 2021 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 06 Jan 2022 | Andrew Winston | Inspiring companies to become net positive | 00:45:57 | |
Profits should come not from creating the world’s problems but from solving them. Companies must ask themselves: Is the world better off because your business is in it? These are just a few of the urgent and inspiring lessons offered by the globally renowned sustainable business author and advisor Andrew Winston in his recent book, “Net Positive: Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take,” co-authored with Paul Polman, the visionary former CEO of Unilever. In this episode, host Gil Jenkins speaks with Andrew about the principles and practices of net positive companies that are outlined elegantly and colorfully in his seminal new book. Gil and Andrew talked at length about the growth of clean energy and sustainable businesses, what ultimately convinced Andrew to write his fourth book on the subject, and what makes his co-author’s journey so compelling and instructive for others. They also discussed the Golden Rule, why corporate climate advocacy is so important, the failure of shareholder primacy, and a whole lot more. We hope you enjoy this spirited conversation on how businesses can prosper while also helping to confront the massive dual challenges of climate change and rampant inequality. Links: Article: Sustainable Business Went Mainstream in 2021 (Andrew Winston, December 27, 2021) Episode recorded: December 15, 2021 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 31 Mar 2022 | Nick Dilks | The role of ecosystem restoration in economic development | 00:41:32 | |
Are there unavoidable tradeoffs between human economic development and environmental conservation? Long before there were carbon offsets to help address climate change, there were environmental offsets – or projects undertaken to counterbalance significant but unavoidable negative impacts to wetlands, streams, and other important natural resources caused by infrastructure, commercial, industrial, or residential development. In the U.S., these sorts of projects are actually mandated by various state and federal environmental permitting regulations. But many of us – including many environmentalists – are completely unaware of the environmental offset market and how it works. In this episode, Chad Reed sits down with Nick Dilks, Managing Partner at Ecosystem Investment Partners (or EIP). EIP acquires, restores, and permanently protects conservation properties and sells the mitigation credits generated by the projects to a diverse group of customers who must offset their unavoidable environmental impacts. Nick discusses EIP’s role in the environmental offset and mitigation banking markets in support of environmental restoration at scale. Note that EIP is a client of Hannon Armstrong. We also note and celebrate today the one year anniversary of the launch of the Climate Positive Podcast. With support from Hannon Armstrong, Chad, Hilary, and Gil started this podcast to delve into both the personal stories of the leaders, innovators, and changemakers driving our climate positive future and the sometimes wonky details of the wide array of climate positive topics and initiatives these leaders are engaged with. We encourage you to check out each of our first year’s 20 episodes, and we thank you for listening. Links Episode recorded March 10, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 20 Oct 2021 | Suzanne Singer | Empowering Indigenous communities to tackle energy poverty | 00:46:51 | |
In this episode, we speak with Suzanne Singer, Founder and Executive Director of Native Renewables, an Indigenous-led nonprofit organization that empowers Indigenous families to achieve energy independence by expanding renewable energy capacity and affordable access to off-grid power. It may be surprising to learn that by some estimates, up to one third of U.S. households suffer from some form of energy poverty, meaning that they find it difficult to afford the energy they need to heat and cool their homes and provide basic lighting, cooking, device charging, and entertainment. Energy poverty is a particular challenge for Indigenous communities, many of which are rural in nature and continue to rely on expensive and carbon-intensive diesel, kerosene, and other fossil resources for the limited electricity access they do enjoy. So, in this episode, we take a deep dive into this issue with Suzanne Singer, the Founder and Executive Director of Native Renewables. Growing up, Suzanne’s grandparents, members of the Navajo Nation, lacked access to electricity and running water. This, in part, inspired her to establish her organization, which is specifically focused on installing off-grid solar PV systems and batteries for community members of the Navajo and Hopi Nations. In addition to the origins, mission, and operations of her nonprofit, we also discuss Suzanne’s career transition from the prestigious National Research Laboratories to mission-driven entrepreneurship and the particular challenges faced by Indigenous women leaders. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. Note: The Hannon Armstrong Foundation provided a grant to support the efforts of Native Renewables.
Links: Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 14 Sep 2022 | Unpacking West Virginia v. EPA | Max Rodriguez | 00:42:41 | |
Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court in West Virginia v. EPA ruled that the Clean Air Act does not authorize the EPA to require a systematic shift to cleaner sources of electricity generation. Many fear this decision will be devastating to the agency’s and the executive branch’s ability to move the U.S. away from carbon-intensive energy sources and toward cleaner resources to address climate change in the accelerated timeline necessary to avoid its worst impacts. So, in this episode, Chad Reed sits down with Max Rodriguez, an attorney with Pollock Cohen and the primary author of an amicus curiae brief on behalf of 192 Members of Congress supporting the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act. Max discusses in depth the history and justiciability of the case, the major questions doctrine underpinning it, the potentially far-reaching implications of the decision and the related non-delegation doctrine for federal environmental regulations going forward, and much more. Importantly, the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed after this episode was recorded, amends the Clean Air Act to add several specific new programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide funding to the states to develop their own plans. Taken together, these provisions go a long way towards addressing the view of the 6-3 majority in West Virginia v. EPA that Congress has not been clear enough regarding the EPA’s authority to tackle climate change. However, the new law may still fall short of granting EPA the authority to revive the generation-shifting approach struck down by the Court in this case. Links: West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency Brief of 192 Members of Congress as Amici Curiae in Support of Respondents Episode recorded: August 8, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 26 Sep 2024 | Climate and the Court | Kevin Poloncarz, Covington & Burling | 00:43:34 | |
Over the last few years, the United States has led the world in the fight against climate change by passing some of the most impactful and largest investments in infrastructure and related regulatory reforms ever. Together, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law seek to deploy nearly $1 trillion in climate positive infrastructure investment over the next decade. At the same time, however, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued a series of decisions that together significantly curtail the authority of executive agencies charged with implementing and defending legislation passed by Congress and signed by the President. In its most recent term, the Court issued four such decisions including Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which overturns a 40-year precedent and ensures the courts will have a commanding voice over climate policy and regulation for the foreseeable future.
Links: Supreme Court strikes down Chevron, curtailing power of federal agencies (SCOTUSblog, July 2024) CleanLaw – Suite of Supreme Court Decisions Undermine Administrative Law Episode recorded September 12, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 17 Aug 2022 | Transforming the death economy into a life economy | John Perkins, NYT Bestselling Author | 00:40:52 | |
In this episode, Gil Jenkins speaks with internationally renowned economist, author, and activist John Perkins. John Perkins was formerly chief economist at a major consulting firm, where he advised the World Bank, United Nations, Fortune 500 corporations, and the U.S. and other governments—though much of this was a part of his previous work as an economic hit man he later denounced and became a whistleblower on, as he detailed in his New York Times Bestselling memoir, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. John talks about his earlier life as an economic hitman — including his profound awakening around the evils of this work and his journey to becoming a crusader for transforming our failing Death Economy that destroys its own resources and nature itself into a flourishing Life Economy that renews itself. In the conversation, he shares a simple exercise in the form of five key questions we can all ask ourselves to shift our perceptions and move toward this Life Economy as he describes it. John also discusses his involvement with the Living Earth Movement—a collection of leaders in theology, business, science, activism, and academia passionate about combating climate change and preserving life as we know it. The Living Earth Movement was started around a righteous call for the U.S. and China to work together on climate. John’s next book, out in February 2023, focuses on the U.S.-China relationship. John and Gil also discussed Russia’s war on Ukraine and how that has dramatically changed geopolitical dynamics, focusing on energy and climate. Links:
Episode recorded: July 22, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 19 Oct 2023 | Generating and reporting sustainable impact | Mandi McReynolds, Workiva | 00:27:49 | |
With the recent proliferation of sometimes conflicting standards around sustainability and impact reporting, companies across the globe are seeking trusted partners to help them determine and measure sustainability metrics that are truly material to the business and its stakeholders and also generate real value. To this end, Workiva – a global software-as-a-service company – has developed a suite of products to help companies make real progress on their sustainability journeys.
In this episode, Chad Reed sits down with Mandi McReynolds, VP of Global Environment, Social and Governance at Workiva and the host of the ESG Talk podcast. Chad and Mandi discuss the at times differing perceptions of company executives and sustainability practitioners, the emerging role of AI in sustainability reporting and the evolving nomenclature surrounding efforts to generate and report sustainable impact. Links: Workiva 2023 Global ESG Practitioner Survey Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) Episode recorded October 4, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 29 Aug 2024 | Reimagining the maritime industry to cut emissions | Roger Holm, Wärtsilä | 00:32:30 | |
The maritime industry transports over 80% of goods worldwide and is essential to the deployment of climate technologies. At present, the industry contributes approximately 2 to 3% of global emissions, but this figure is projected to grow without major changes to the industry and its ancillary services. However, decarbonizing the maritime industry is unusually challenging. As the president of Marine and executive vice president at Wärtsilä, Roger Holm’s team helps power one out of every three ships worldwide. In light of new EU regulations and the International Maritime Organization’s goal of net neutral carbon emissions by 2050, Wärtsilä is now focused on solving the decarbonization riddle for clients that operate ships that can last for decades and need to be able to adapt to a wide range of infrastructure and fuels in ports. In this episode, Roger Holm chats with Hilary Langer and shares why Wärtsilä approaches maritime decarbonization at the systems level, why clients are increasingly focused on sustainability, and where he sees the greatest potential for carbon and cost savings. Links: European Commission - Reducing emissions from the shipping sector World Resources Institute - Decarbonizing International Shipping NYTimes Gift Link – Shipping Contributes Heavily to Climate Change. Are Green Ships the Solution? Bloomberg - How the Shipping Industry Aims to Reach Net Zero by 2050 Episode recorded August 14, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 24 May 2024 | The Carbon to Sea Initiative | Dr. Antonius Gagern | 00:31:12 | |
In this episode, Hilary Langer met with Dr. Antonius Gagern, the Executive Director of the Carbon to Sea Initiative, for a lively conservation about a hot topic: the promises and sensitivities of tinkering with the ocean’s chemistry to enable it to store more carbon dioxide. Initial research on ocean alkalinity enhancement supports its potential as a significant means of capturing carbon. Carbon to Sea is a $50M non-profit effort that brings together leading funders and researchers to explore ocean alkalinity enhancement. The area is gaining increasing attention and traction, as evidenced by the White House’s launch of a “Fast-Track Action Committee” on Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal. Within the past year, the U.S. federal government has put out about $100 million in grants to accelerate research in the area, including $23.4M from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Researchers and funders are balancing the urgency of action with the need to ensure that any intervention is a clear win for the oceans they seek to protect. Links:
Episode recorded May 15, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 02 Feb 2022 | Kiran Bhatraju | Bringing clean energy to the masses | 00:27:40 | |
In this episode, Hilary Langer speaks with Kiran Bhatraju, CEO and founder of Arcadia—a tech company that allows consumers to opt-in to clean energy. Kiran and the Arcadia team believe data will catalyze the decarbonization of the grid and community solar will help to tackle climate change and racial injustice while spurring economic growth. Links: Kiran Essay on Community Solar in Fast Company Arcadia’s Acquisition of iSolar Episode recorded: January 14, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.comor tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 17 Feb 2023 | Climate impact-driven corporate venture capital | Brandon Middaugh, Microsoft | 00:33:46 | |
Way back in early 2020, Microsoft made some of the most ambitious climate pledges of any corporation on the planet. It pledged to be carbon negative by 2030 and by 2050 to remove from the atmosphere all the carbon the company has emitted either directly or by way of electricity consumption since its founding nearly 50 years ago. It also launched a $1 billion Climate Innovation Fund to accelerate the global development of technologies required to achieve these pledges. In this episode, Chad Reed chats with Brandon Middaugh – Senior Director of Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund. From direct air capture to sustainable aviation fuels to urban green buildings, the discussion spans several of the verticals into which Microsoft has invested a portion of the $500 million it has already deployed through its fund. In addition, Brandon touches on the value of industry coalitions, the role of climate philanthropy, and the importance of centering people at the heart of the climate movement. Links: Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund Episode recorded: January 18, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 15 Dec 2022 | The secret life of corals | Dr. David E. Vaughan | 00:36:33 | |
Corals are the gems of the oceans, creating beautiful colors and shapes that form our reefs while serving many vital functions for life on this planet. With 25-40% already lost, the worldwide coral population faces incredible danger from climate change and other threats. But there is hope. On this week’s episode, Hilary and I talk with Dr. David E. Vaughan, an esteemed marine biologist and author of the new book The Secret Life of Corals: Sex, War, and Rocks that Don’t Roll. Dr. Vaughan has held aquaculture research and development positions for over 45 years. He is best known for developing the innovative restoration technique of “micro-fragmentation, which can speed up coral growth by 25 times by breaking them into tiny little pieces. He is focused on making this innovative process a scalable tool for reef restoration as the Founder of Plant a Million Corals. As you’ll hear in this conversation, David brings great clarity and joy when talking about corals and why they are so important. Links: Book: The Secret Life of Corals: Sex, War and Rocks That Don't Roll Website: Plant A Million Corals NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Overview Episode recorded: December 7, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 03 Nov 2023 | Rising risks facing solar projects | Jason Kaminsky, CEO of kWh Analytics | 00:32:07 | |
According to the International Energy Agency, the world is expected to build more renewable projects in the next five years as we have in the past 20. But this rapid and massive growth in the renewable energy space has proven increasingly challenging for insurers of these assets, who are struggling to deal with mounting losses from natural disasters (which themselves are often driven by climate change) as well as growing demand for new products that insure against other emerging risks such as production and revenue variability. In this episode, Chad Reed sits down Jason Kaminsky, CEO and co-founder of kWh Analytics, perhaps the leader in delivering data-enabled Climate Insurance for zero-carbon assets. In the discussion, Chad and Jason get into the weeds on the recent evolution of the Climate Insurance industry, kWh’s Fifth Annual Solar Risk Assessment as well as data-enabled solutions to address the most pressing risks facing the U.S. solar industry today. Links: From Niche to Necessity: Insuring Renewable Energy
Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 03 Jun 2021 | Michael Kobori | The evolution of corporate sustainability | 00:29:59 | |
Starbucks Chief Sustainability Officer Michael Kobori has been corporate sustainability changemaker for over two decades. From his time at Levi’s to his current role at Starbucks, Michael has been at the forefront of a movement that has evolved from a narrower focus on Corporate Social Responsibility to a broader conception of Stakeholder Capitalism. In this episode, Michael joined us to talk about how the intrapreneurship he exercised at Levi’s progressed and broadened its concept of sustainability. Chad and Michael also discuss the carbon footprint of coffee, how to discern greenwashers from true climate leaders, the role of business in combatting systemic racism, and how lessons from the Boy Scouts inform Starbucks’ recent commitment to become resource positive. Links: LinkedIn Twitter Sustainability at Starbucks Starbucks Borrow a Cup Program Transform to Net Zero All We Can Save Utopia Theater Project
Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 25 May 2022 | Joe Britton | Supercharging federal climate policy | 00:41:19 | |
Joe Britton is the Executive Director of the Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA), a federal coalition focused on advocating for 100% electric vehicle (EV) sales by 2030. ZETA is committed to enacting policies that drive EV adoption, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, securing American global EV manufacturing dominance, dramatically improve public health, and significantly reducing carbon pollution. In this episode, Gil Jenkins speaks with Joe about his experience working on climate policy on Capitol Hill, how the politics around the environment and energy have changed, and what that might mean for passing a massive clean energy incentives package that deals with emissions. Joe also talks about the future of transportation (hint: it’s electric), the top policy priorities at ZETA, the key consumer selling points for EVs and charging, and how to overcome common misperceptions in the marketplace. Links:
Note: Joe Britton (via Pioneer Public Affairs) is a registered climate policy lobbyist for Hannon Armstrong. Episode recorded May 3, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.comor tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 09 Nov 2022 | The Big Fix: 7 Practical Steps to Save Our Planet | Justin Gillis and Hal Harvey | 00:52:27 | |
In this episode, Gil Jenkins speaks with Justin Gillis and Hal Harvey, authors of the recently published book “The Big Fix: 7 Practical Steps to Save Our Planet.” The book offers an everyday citizen's guide to the seven essential changes our communities must enact to bring our greenhouse gas emissions down to zero. Justin Gillis spent a decade as an award-winning reporter for The New York Times covering climate change, where he is a contributing opinion writer for the newspaper now and currently a fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Environment. Hal Harvey is an acclaimed energy policy advisor and the CEO of San Francisco-based Energy Innovation, a nonpartisan energy and climate policy firm delivering research and analysis to help policymakers make informed choices. Gil, Hal, and Justin discuss the themes, industries, policies, and issues from The Big Fix and highlight the stories of people who are making those changes a reality. Links:
Episode recorded: October 12, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 11 Jun 2024 | Enabling global emissions matching with data-enhanced RECs | Casey Martinez, CEO of Clean Incentive | 00:35:53 | |
Just as not every battery is created equal, neither is every renewable energy credit (REC). Even though RECs today are commodified financial products companies purchase to reduce their carbon footprint, the actual avoided emissions impact of an individual REC can vary dramatically based on the time and place it is generated. As our carbon accounting frameworks seek to become more precise and impact-driven and as transmission constraints proliferate, it is increasingly important that the markets for RECs and other net zero procurement products become more sophisticated.
In this episode, Chad Reed sits down with Casey Martinez – the Founder and CEO of Clean Incentive, an emerging new platform focused on changing the way companies think about and execute on their net zero procurement targets. In addition to the getting into the weeds on Clean Incentive’s new Power Emissions Certificates (PECs), they discuss the imperative of data granularity, the challenging role of additionality and how to channel investment capital to the most impactful projects. Links: https://www.cleanincentive.com/
Episode recorded May 31, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 28 Sep 2022 | The role of fuel cells and clean hydrogen in our energy transition | Deia Bayoumi, Bloom Energy | 00:32:55 | |
Deia Bayoumi is the Vice President of Global Product Management at Bloom Energy, a San Jose-based company whose mission is to make clean, reliable, and affordable energy for everyone globally. In this episode, Deia, a global innovation executive with more than three decades of experience, discusses Bloom’s unique fuel cell and clean hydrogen solutions and the role these technologies play in addressing climate change. Bloom is changing the future of energy with its leading solid oxide platform for distributed generation of electricity and hydrogen. Its customers include many Fortune 100 companies and leaders in manufacturing, data centers, healthcare, retail, higher education, utilities, and other industries. Links:
Episode recorded August 23, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 06 Sep 2023 | Investing to create a more equitable and sustainable world | Jennifer Pryce & Beth Bafford, Calvert Impact | 00:40:20 | |
In this episode, Chad Reed speaks with Calvert Impact's President and CEO, Jennifer "Jenn" Pryce, and Beth Bafford, Calvert Impact's Vice President of Syndications and Strategy. Calvert Impact is a global nonprofit investment firm that helps investors and financial professionals invest in solutions that people and the planet need. During its 28-year history, Calvert Impact has mobilized approximately $5 billion to build and grow local community and green finance organizations. Jenn and Beth discuss Calvert Impact’s history, evolution, and core mission. They also delve into Calvert Impact's unique nonprofit model, financial self-sufficiency, and structure. Chad, Jenn, and Beth explore the impact investing space overall and highlight the distinctions from ESG investing. Finally, Jenn and Beth share stories about what drew them into the impact investing field before closing with a discussion around Calvert Impact's work spearheading the Climate United coalition, which is participating in the EPA's National Clean Investment Fund $14 billion grant competition announced earlier this summer. Links:
Episode recorded August 15, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 09 Jun 2022 | The nexus of deep decarbonization | Sheldon Kimber, Sheldon Kimber has built from scratch multiple successful enterprises over his two decades in the energy industry CEO and Co-Founder of Intersect Powe | 00:45:57 | |
Sheldon Kimber has built from scratch multiple successful enterprises over his two decades in the energy industry. Now the CEO and Co-Founder of Intersect Power, a developer and owner of some of the world’s largest clean energy resources, Sheldon is working to bring innovative and scalable low-carbon solutions to customers across North America. Earlier this year, Sheldon published an article entitled, “The Nexus of Deep Decarbonization,” in which he discusses the five inevitable industries that have the potential for exponential growth as we work to decarbonize the global economy by leveraging increasingly affordable and available clean energy. These five industries include; Green Hydrogen and E-Fuels, Direct Air Capture, Electrification of Industrial Thermal Loads, Mass Electric Vehicle Charging, and Desalination and Water Transportation. In this episode, Chad Reed and Jeff Eckel dive deep into Sheldon’s unique background and discuss the five inevitable industries, and the related decarbonization policy challenges and opportunities given the current macroenvironment. To get the most out of this episode, we encourage you to read Sheldon’s aforementioned article, available in the show notes.
Links: Article: The Nexus of Deep Decarbonization (Sheldon Kimber, February 11, 2022)
Episode recorded: May 11, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 28 Jun 2023 | The essential role of RNG in the energy transition | Michael Bakas, Ameresco | 00:45:30 | |
Every community across the globe produces waste. This waste can come from landfills, decomposing food, animal manure, and wastewater sludge. As this waste decomposes, it emits natural gas – primarily composed of methane, which is a naturally occurring but very potent and harmful greenhouse gas. In fact, methane is nearly 30 times more potent at trapping heat in our atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) projects capture this methane before it harms our environment and repurposes it to create clean and reliable energy that is used to generate electricity, power our vehicles, heat our homes, cook our food, and many other productive purposes. In this episode, Chad and Gil speak with Michael Bakas, Executive Vice President at Ameresco, a leading cleantech integrator specializing in energy efficiency and renewable energy. Michael details the various RNG production pathways and revenue streams, discusses his views on RNG market growth drivers, and makes a compelling case for the essential role of RNG in the energy transition. Links:
Episode recorded May 4, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 05 Oct 2023 | Deploying a safer cold chain for vaccines, food, and planet | Manik Suri, CEO of Therma | 00:31:41 | |
We all depend on the cold chain to keep our foods, vaccines, and medical equipment safely chilled from production to use. This energy intensive process requires constant monitoring. As CEO of Therma, Manik Suri deploys small mobile sensors that monitor conditions to optimize energy efficiency and quality along the cold chain. His work is infused with his family’s legacy of service to others, and his team is dedicated to leveraging technology to improve the well-being of both people and planet. In this episode, Hilary Langer is joined by Therma CEO Manik Suri to discuss the impact of the cold chain on human health, food waste and the planet. Links: The Role Of Businesses In Creating More Environmentally Friendly Cooling Systems (forbes.com)
Episode recorded September 13, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 17 Mar 2022 | Paula Glover | The power of efficiency | 00:38:33 | |
In this episode, host Gil Jenkins speaks with Paula Glover, president of the Alliance to Save Energy – a bipartisan, nonprofit coalition of business, government, environmental, and consumer leaders advocating to advance federal energy efficiency policy. Since its founding 45 years ago, the Alliance has played an integral role in nearly every major energy efficiency policy achievement on the national stage. Paula and the Alliance team believe that a nation that uses energy more productively can achieve economic growth, a cleaner environment, and greater energy security, affordability, and reliability. It was wonderful to sit down with Paula roughly one year into her tenure as president of the Alliance. We are lucky to have such a wise, passionate, joyful, and dedicated person leading the charge for energy efficiency in America! Links: Alliance to Save Energy Twitter Active Efficiency Collaborative Op-Ed: The clean energy economy has a diversity problem. Let’s change that as we build back.(Canary Media, Paula Glover, July 22, 2021) Episode recorded: February 23, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.comor tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 12 Sep 2024 | Revolutionizing wind power with the world’s largest aircraft | Mark Lundstrom, Founder and CEO of Radia | 00:38:33 | |
For the world to meet its growing need for low-cost clean energy and achieve ambitious decarbonization targets, land-based onshore wind energy must be an increasingly large part of the electricity generation mix—potentially as much as 20-41% by 2050, according to BloombergNEF and the International Energy Agency (IEA). But there is a challenge: the most efficient and cost-effective wind turbines, currently applied only in offshore wind farms, have enormous blades—some longer than a football field. That makes them extremely difficult, if not impossible, to deliver and deploy, as bridges, tunnels, and road curves literally get in the way. To explore how the onshore wind industry can overcome these obstacles and drive further growth for the sector, Gil Jenkins spoke with Mark Lundstrom, Founder and CEO of Radia. Mark is a serial cross-industry entrepreneur and MIT aerospace engineer who has co-founded companies over the course of his career that seek to bring aerospace solutions to new sectors, including biotech, telecommunications, and materials science. With Radia, Mark is focused on applying these technologies to the low-carbon energy transition. Radia is in the process of building the world’s largest aircraft, which will enable the deployment of the industry's biggest and best wind turbines to locations they could never reach before—creating more clean power at a lower cost. Links:
Episode recorded August 22, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 03 Nov 2021 | Bren Smith | Farming the ocean to fight climate change | 00:40:51 | |
In this episode, we talk with Bren Smith, a former commercial fisherman who is now the co-founder and co-executive director of Greenwave, a nonprofit dedicated to creating jobs and protecting the oceans through regenerative ocean farming. The oceans are taking a beating from climate change. It’s estimated that they have absorbed nearly a third of the carbon released by humans. This creates a whole host of problems as the carbon dissolves in saltwater, making it more acidic while making it harder for calcifying organisms like oysters and coral to grow. Fishermen like Bren are on the front lines of the changing climate, but Bren shares how the oceans can be a source of renewal. Bren discusses how his inexpensive system for regenerative ocean farming avoids the vices of land-based agriculture: it requires no inputs of pesticides, fresh water, or even land. But, it produces nutrient dense foods while absorbing carbon and nitrogen, creating habitat, reducing local ocean acidification, and mitigating the impact of storm surges. Bren shares what motivated him to provide open access to his farming designs, why he started a nonprofit, and how he evaluates new market opportunities that can support ocean farmers. Talking with Bren left us more optimistic about the future of the planet and we hope his story will inspire you as well. Links: Greenwave (includes visuals of the Renerative Ocean Farm) Patagonia Provisions Short Film on Kelp Farming and Greenwave Bren Smith’s book, “Eat Like a Fish”
Episode recorded: September 16, 2021 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 26 Oct 2022 | Funding the frontier of decarbonization | Shayle Kann, Energy Impact Partners | 00:46:30 | |
If you’re listening to this podcast, you have probably heard of Shayle Kann. Shayle has been at the frontier of climatetech research, media, and investing for over 15 years. Now a partner with the venture capital firm Energy Impact Partners (EIP), Shayle leads EIP’s Frontier Fund, which invests in revolutionary technologies to enable deep decarbonization. Of course, he’s also the host of the popular climate tech podcast from Canary Media, Catalyst with Shayle Kann. In this episode, Chad Reed and Gil Jenkins walk through Shayle’s diverse and impactful career path and dive deep into several of the Frontier Fund’s portfolio companies along with other emerging issues, including rebuilding trust in carbon markets; climatetech vs. cleantech 1.0; and the promise of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Links: Energy Impact Partners Website Energy Impact Partners Frontier Fund Episode recorded: September 29, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 06 Oct 2021 | Jonathan Webb | Reinventing farming on a changing planet | 00:39:44 | |
In this episode, we speak with Jonathan Webb, Founder and CEO of AppHarvest. AppHarvest, which went public in 2021, is building some of the largest indoor farms in the world, combining conventional agricultural techniques with today’s technology to grow non-GMO, chemical-free produce to be sold to the top 25 U.S. grocers. The company’s first controlled-environment agriculture facility, opened in 2020 in Morehead, Ky., spans 60 acres. It uses 90% less water than a typical farm because of a sophisticated circular irrigation system and 10-acre rainwater retention pond. In conversation with Gil and Chad, Jonathan talked about the unique aspects of AppHarvest’s business, his personal journey in starting the company, the parallels of ag-tech with the solar revolution, the specific advantages of Controlled Environment Agriculture, what it’s like to experience rapid growth while maintaining a culture of excellence, how ESG drives their business, and much more. We hope you enjoy this spirited conversation with a passionate climate solutions entrepreneur as much as we did. Article: Martha Stewart’s recipes using AppHarvest tomatoes Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 09 Aug 2023 | Sustainability in every step | Kirsten Blackburn, KEEN | 00:27:53 | |
In this week's episode, we're stepping into the world of sustainable footwear with Kirsten Blackburn, Director of The KEEN Effect — the social impact division for hybrid footwear brand KEEN. Since its founding in 2003, KEEN has evolved into a leading global footwear company renowned for innovation, originality, and a strong emphasis on sustainability.
Throughout the conversation with Gil, Kirsten, who has spearheaded environmental, social, and governance strategies across for-profit and non-profit sectors for over a decade, shares invaluable insights into KEEN's sustainability journey and its global commitment to ethical practices. Additionally, she sheds light on several actionable strategies to reduce the broader footwear industry's environmental impact. Links:
Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 09 Sep 2021 | Sara Kane | Insuring for accelerated climate change impacts | 00:42:34 | |
Sara Kane is the co-leader of the Power and Renewables Practice at CAC Specialty, an integrated specialty insurance brokerage business. She has focused on assessing, pricing, and insuring against climate risk for more than a decade. In this episode, Sara and Chad Reed discuss the impact of the increasing number and severity of catastrophic weather events on renewable energy projects as well as the sobering findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent Sixth Assessment Report, the promise of professional career growth from crisis situations, the difference gender diversity makes in the workplace, and much more. Links: CAC Specialty Natural Resources Practice Group Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (August 2021) Episode recorded August 17, 2021 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 16 Oct 2024 | Nature’s Best Hope | Dr. Doug Tallamy | 00:33:05 | |
In this episode, Dr. Tallamy and Hilary Langer tap into the world of caterpillars, birds, and native flora to illuminate how individuals can be agents of change and address urgent issues of species loss and ecosystem collapse. From publishing research on insects to reviving his own property that was overrun by non-native plants, Dr. Tallamy's journey has been a fascinating exploration of the intricate web of life that begins from the ground up. He offers a fresh perspective on the symbiotic relationship between native plants, insects, and the ecosystems they support, and emphasizes the urgency of education and personal responsibility to protect species in the face of a changing climate. Links: New York Times: Why You Should Plant Oaks Dr. Doug Tallamy Professional Page Meet the Ecologist Who Wants You to Unleash the Wild on Your Backyard Why Native Plants Are Key to Saving Our Ecosystems: An Interview With Doug Tallamy
Episode recorded September 5, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 17 Jan 2024 | Markets for valuing biodiversity | Tim Male and Ryan Sarsfield, Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) | 00:46:25 | |
At the end of 2022, 200 countries signed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework – what some have called the “Paris Agreement for Nature”. It calls on signatories to work together to enhance the resilience of natural ecosystems and to turn the tide on species extinction rates through the setting of national targets, the establishment of disclosure regimes and the creation of innovative financing mechanisms – such as biodiversity credits. While there has been some subsequent positive international progress on this front driven by the UK and others, most biodiversity credit markets remain in very nascent stages. In this episode, HASI’s investment team lead for nature-based solutions Tim Mooradd speaks with Tim Male and Ryan Sarsfield of the Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC). They discuss the imperative of protecting and valuing biodiversity, the existing and potential buyers for biodiversity credits, lessons learned from other environmental markets and much more. Note also that the HASI Foundation recently provided a grant to EPIC for its work at the intersection of climate action and social justice. Links: Environmental Policy Innovation Center Biodiversity Credits Gain Traction but Questions Persist Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West by William Cronon Episode recorded January 10, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 19 Dec 2023 | Tracking our solar-powered future | Dan Shugar, CEO of Nextracker | 00:41:35 | |
In our final episode of 2023, we sit down with Dan Shugar, founder and CEO of Nextracker, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXT), a leading provider of intelligent, integrated solar tracker and software solutions used in utility-scale and distributed generation solar projects globally. With over 30 years of experience in the field, Dan has been a driving force in advancing climate tech solutions in the U.S. and around the world. In the conversation with Gil, Dan reflects on Nextracker's incredible success over the past ten years, including its successful IPO earlier this year; they talked at length about the company's steadfast customer-focused mindset and how that has driven so many industry-first solar tracker innovations in their mission to transition the world to affordable, renewable power. Dan also talked about Nextracker's remarkable initiatives with U.S. manufacturing expansions over the past three years and the importance of public policy engagement for our industry. He also touched on a few non-U.S. markets that are key to his optimism for the future of solar power. We even found time at the end to have fun talking about great guitar music and his new musical products venture, AmpMojo. Links: More on Dan
Nextracker, Inc.
Episode recorded December 8, 2023. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 04 Apr 2024 | Navigating new climate disclosure rules | Steven Rothstein, Ceres | 00:33:17 | |
Disclosure. Disclosure. Disclosure. In early March, the SEC issued final climate-related disclosure rules for U.S. public companies. Designed to enhance standardization and in response to increasing investor demand, the new rules mandate companies disclose material climate risks they face and greenhouse gas emissions they generate as well as other material climate-related information. While not as comprehensive as existing mandatory climate disclosure regimes in the European Union or California, the rules represent a groundbreaking step forward in climate disclosure across the United States. In this episode, Chad Reed discusses the new rules, their implications and their detractors with Steven Rothstein, managing director at the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets. Steven and his colleagues at Ceres over two decades have been instrumental in building a large and powerful investor coalition in support of greater climate disclosure and provide crucial insights on this complex and significant public policy issue. Links: SEC Adopts Rules to Enhance and Standardize Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors Letter from Jeffrey W. Eckel (then CEO and now Executive Chair of HASI) to U.S. SEC (June 15, 2021) Ceres: Get ready for standardized climate disclosure Episode recorded March 29, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 19 May 2021 | Erin Burns & Giana Amador | Building a world that removes more carbon than it emits | 00:46:48 | |
In this episode, we speak with Erin Burns (Executive Director) and Giana Amador (Co-Founder and Policy Director) of Carbon180, a new breed of climate-focused NGO on a mission to fundamentally rethink carbon. Chad and Gil talked to Erin and Giana about how their early years in rural West Virginia and the Central Valley of California drove their passionate interest in climate policy. We also discussed how Carbon180 has pivoted as an organization over the last six years, the most promising carbon removal technologies (including direct air capture, soil sequestration, and carbon tech), and the essential role of policy in driving solutions in the future. Finally, Erin and Giana give their takes on the most overused energy jargon we should retire and share what "climate positive" means to each of them. Links: Official Bios Twitter Direct Air Capture Fact Sheet Soil Carbon Storage Fact Sheet Enhancing and expanding the 45Q tax credit for direct air capture: How 45Q can catalyze equitable DAC development and deployment Paving the Way for Low-Carbon Concrete: Recommendations for a Federal Procurement Strategy The Atlantic: Why Celebrities Are Agog Over This Tiny Climate Think Tank Episode recorded April 21, 2021.
Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 18 Apr 2024 | Wood that’s stronger, lighter, and cheaper than steel | Josh Cable, CEO of InventWood | 00:28:45 | |
Steel is the world’s most used metal, and enables the construction of everything from buildings to wind turbines. Unfortunately, steel manufacturing is incredibly carbon intensive, contributing to approximately 8% of global green house gas emissions. As CEO of InventWood, Josh Cable envisions a future where the demand for steel can be satisfied with a renewable resouce: fast growing woods like Poplar. By densifying wood, Josh Cable’s team produces a fire-resistant product that is stronger, lighter and cheaper than steel. The final product, MettleWood is actually carbon negative. In this episode, Hilary Langer and Josh Cable discuss InventWood’s foundational technology, its early partnership with the University of Maryland, and its new 89,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Frederick, Maryland. Links: Liangbing Hu makes wood stronger than steel (acs.org) Fast Company profile of InventWood innovations Episode recorded April 10, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 13 Oct 2022 | Carbon accounting 2.0 | Toby Ferenczi and Killian Daly, EnergyTag. | 00:37:17 | |
As more and more leading companies, governments, and other large buyers of electricity pledge to procure 100% carbon-free energy (CFE), markets are in need of better, more granular information on the time, location, and emissionality of every megawatt-hour that is produced and consumed. To this end, EnergyTag – an independent, non-profit, industry-led initiative – is developing the standards and markets for Granular Certificates (GCs) that enable energy consumers to verify the source of their electricity and carbon emissions in real time. In this episode, Chad Reed sits down with Toby Ferenczi and Killian Daly, the Founder and General Manager, respectively, of EnergyTag. They discuss the cruel irony at the center of deploying more and more renewable energy on local grids, the nuances differentiating 24/7 carbon-free electricity claims from emissionality considerations, and how Granular Certificates can both drive the next generation of carbon accounting (or Carbon Accounting 2.0) as well as accelerate the growth of new markets such as green hydrogen and battery storage. Links: WattTime: Avoided Emissions / Emissionality
Episode recorded: September 8, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 20 Apr 2023 | Integrating emissionality into the Greenhouse Gas Protocol | Faraz Ahmad, Amazon | 00:37:12 | |
More than 90% of Fortune 500 companies report their emissions using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP), which supplies the world’s most widely used greenhouse gas accounting standards. But despite significant advances in data analytics around emissions measurement, it’s been nearly a decade since the GHGP was last updated. Thankfully, the NGOs that manage the GHGP recently kicked off the update process, soliciting feedback from stakeholders across the spectrum. In this episode, Chad Reed and HASI Strategic Advisor Brendan Herron speak with Faraz Ahmad, Head of Net Zero Grid for Amazon. Faraz dives deep into the efforts of the Emissions First Partnership, a consortium of companies working together to reduce their emissions with the most impactful clean energy projects and to move away from megawatt hour matching and toward integration of an emissions-based framework into the GHGP. Faraz also discusses how underserved regions – both across the globe and within the U.S. itself – could economically benefit from an emissions first approach to the energy transition. Links: Episode recorded: March 28, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod.
Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 22 Mar 2023 | The evolution of sustainable investing | Peter Krull, Earth Equity Advisors | 00:28:04 | |
In this episode, Gil Jenkins speaks with Peter Krull, Partner & Director of Sustainable Investing at Earth Equity Advisors, A Prime Capital Investment Advisors Company. Peter focuses on creating and managing Earth Equity’s sustainable, responsible, and impact investment portfolios as well as writing thought leadership pieces and elevating the responsible investing story. Gil talks with Peter about his background and journey into the industry, how sustainable investing has evolved from socially responsible investing (SRI), which focused on exclusion, and the differences between impact investing, ESG investing, and sustainable investing from his point of view. Peter also shares his thoughts on a few of the energy and environmental sectors that excite him most. Links: Full Bio: Pete is a well-known leader in the green business community and a long-time advocate for fossil-fuel-free and sustainable, responsible, and impact (SRI) investing. He began his investment career at Merrill Lynch in 1998 where he earned the firm’s Certified Financial Manager designation. He honed his investment management skills as he guided his clients through the dot-com bubble and recovery. In 2004, he hung up his shingle as Krull & Company and began the journey as a conscious entrepreneur. From the beginning, he knew that his firm would focus on responsible investing and trademarked the phrase, helping you align your investments with your values®. In 2017, Krull & Company became Earth Equity Advisors. Over the years, he has provided leadership to clients, colleagues, and communities. From chairing the Asheville-based environmental non-profit MountainTrue through a pivotal expansion to guiding Earth Equity Advisors’ rapid growth and rise to prominence as a six-time Best for the World™ honoree, Pete’s impact on the responsible investing movement is clear. He was named one of the 100 most influential financial advisors in America by Investopedia in 2018 and became one of the first individuals to earn the Chartered SRI Counselor™ designation from the College for Financial Planning. In 2021, Pete was featured by The Collider among the Faces of Climate City, which highlights Asheville, NC residents who are providing leadership in the Climate industry. He was also recognized on Real Leaders’ list of 70 Environmental Leaders You Should Know alongside Sir David Attenborough, Jane Goodall, and Greta Thunberg, and was selected for the LUMINARIES Class of 2021 by ThinkAdvisor in the category of Thought Leadership & Education. Recognition continued in 2022 with Pete being announced as a finalist for the RIA Intel Awards’ ESG Advocate of the Year, appearing on AdvisorHub’s list of Fastest Growing Advisors to Watch in 2022, and receiving the 2022 Sustainable Champion Award from the North Carolina Business Council. Pete’s expert opinion is sought after by The New York Times, Bloomberg, Money Magazine, CNBC, The Washington Post, Investors Business Daily, US News & World Report, MarketWatch, Investment News, Wealth Management, RIA Intel, Barron’s, and other notable national publications, podcasts, and channels. He is also a contributing writer to top business publications, Forbes and Kiplinger. As Partner and Director of Sustainable Investments, he is responsible for leading the firm’s SRI initiatives, including thought leadership, education, and managing the sustainable investment portfolios. A native of Western New York, he lives in Asheville, NC with his wife, Dr. Melissa Booth, a microbiologist, author, and the founder of The Science Communicator. He is a serious amateur photographer, a lover of world travel, and a huge fan of the Buffalo Sabres. As you would expect, their house is solar-powered and their cars are electric. Episode recorded February 3, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.comor tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 01 Dec 2021 | Donnel Baird | Making buildings greener, healthier, and smarter for all | 00:38:28 | |
Leading analysts estimate that more than 7% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are generated by small-to-medium buildings. Too often, these buildings are terribly inefficient—wasting as much as 50% of the energy they consume, which significantly drives up energy bills—and unhealthy—with deadly viruses and other toxins circulating freely. What’s more, many of these buildings primarily serve low-to-moderate income Americans, who often lack the upfront capital needed for proven upgrades. In part driven by his childhood experience with energy poverty and the related localized pollution, Donnel Baird founded BlocPower seven years ago to ensure that everyone, especially those with lower incomes and/or from other disadvantaged backgrounds, has access to greener, healthier, smarter, and more cost-effective homes and buildings. To date, BlocPower has helped to identify, finance, and upgrade more than 1,200 buildings—many in communities that had previously been left behind in our transition to a greener economy. In this episode, host Chad Reed dives deep with Donnel into how his professional experiences in community organizing and with the Obama Administration led him to his entrepreneurial efforts to decarbonize buildings in disadvantaged communities. Chad also speaks with Donnel about how best to ensure all communities—whether in neglected urban areas or deindustrialized rural areas—share in the economic benefits of a cleaner, greener economy. We hope you find this discussion as inspiring and entertaining as we did. Links: Washington Post: This US city just voted to decarbonize every single building Episode recorded: October 6, 2021 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 22 Jul 2022 | Optimizing building efficiency for a more resilient grid | Mark Danzenbaker, CEO of GridPoint | 00:30:50 | |
As CEO of GridPoint, Mark Danzenbaker believes that energy efficiency can be harnessed to make the power grid more sustainable and resilient. GridPoint does this by installing energy optimization hardware in mid-sized commercial buildings that are often overlooked by efficiency programs. GridPoint works with corporations that have many sites across the country and provides real time data on savings and energy consumption for a client’s portfolio of buildings. As their reach has expanded, the network of buildings GridPoint serves has become an important way to partner with utilities to manage energy demand during heat waves and other periods of high energy use. In this episode, Hilary Langer talks with Mark about how GridPoint engages clients both in front of and behind the meter to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable grid.
Links: Canary Media: “Goldman Sacs and Shell bet $75M that chain stores can boost grid resiliency”
Episode recorded: July 6, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 07 Jul 2022 | Desiree Fixler, Tim Mohin, and Erik Becker | Counting carbon and the credibility of "green" capital | 00:47:06 | |
With the meteoric rise in net-zero commitments and “green” capital raises by corporations and financial institutions, investors and consumers are wondering if these statements are credible. Do “green” labels actually accelerate the flow of capital to companies and projects seeking to improve our climate future? In this episode, Chad Reed sits down with Desiree Fixler (former chief sustainability officer at DWS), Tim Mohin (chief sustainability officer at Persefoni), and Erik Becker (senior vice president of corporate development at Arcadia) at the GreenFin22 Conference in New York City to discuss why “green” financial products and labels are ineffective and why actually counting carbon levels the playing field for investors and consumers alike.
GreenFin: The Premier ESG Event Aligning Sustainability and Capital Markets Article: Deutsche Bank, DWS Raided Over Allegations of Greenwashing (Bloomberg, May 31, 2022) Article: The ESG Mirage (Bloomberg, December 10, 2021) Article: The Secret Diary of a ‘Sustainable Investor’ – Part 4 (Epilogue) (Tariq Fancy, June 2022) Article: Re: File No. S7-10-22: The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors (Jeffrey W. Eckel, June 17, 2022) Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 11 Jul 2024 | Transferring tax credits has never been so fun (and easy) | Alfred Johnson, CEO of Crux | 00:37:47 | |
For over a century, the U.S. government has provided subsidies – often in the form of tax credits – to support domestic energy production. For renewable energy sources, these tax credits have traditionally subsidized investment (i.e., a project’s capital expenditure) and production (i.e., the amount of energy produced by a project). But the Inflation Reduction Act altered these tax credits in a number of ways: it significantly extended their life, massively expanded the technologies eligible for them and made them more easily transferable so that project developers can sell them directly to a wide array of third parties for cash. The transferability provision alone has already supercharged the growth of this market and, as a result, has helped to drive low cost capital to project developers attempting to accelerate the energy transition.
In this episode, Chad Reed and Guy Van Syckle sit down with Alfred Johnson, co-founder and CEO of Crux – a new platform created for developers, tax credit buyers, banks and advisors to manage and transfer tax credits. While an inherently complex and at times eye glazing topic, Alfred dynamically details how his platform works, provides the puts and takes on recent market developments and conveys some sage advice – including lessons from U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen. Links: Crux Quarterly Market Update: 1Q 2024 Episode recorded May 31, 2024 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 30 Nov 2023 | Applied hope and the ZEROgrid Initiative | Mark Dyson, RMI | 00:32:00 | |
The private sector has been a critical driver of increasing clean energy on the grid. Since 2008, corporate renewable purchases have helped bring online nearly 150 GW of new renewable energy capacity globally — more than the total power-generating capacity of France. Despite these purchase commitments, overall global emissions from the power sector have remained flat at a time when we need to see a sharp decline. At the same time, extreme weather events have exposed vulnerabilities in the reliability of the current fossil-fuel powered grid that aren’t yet being addressed at sufficient scale. Earlier this year, a group of leading companies focused on accelerating decarbonization while also bolstering grid reliability partnered with RMI, a leading climate NGO, to launch the Zero-Emissions | Reliability Optimized Grid Initiative, or ZEROgrid, with the objective of developing a comprehensive roadmap to accelerate the transition to a zero-emissions grid. In this episode, Chad Reed chats with Mark Dyson, Managing Director at RMI, about the challenges ZEROgrid aims to address, the objectives it seeks to achieve as well as the concept of applied hope. Links: Amory Lovins (RMI): Applied Hope (May 2019) Episode recorded November 28, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 14 Apr 2022 | Tim Wildin | The quest for delicious and sustainable plant-based cheese | 00:26:39 | |
People want performance. As sustainability focused as a new product can be, if it is truly attempting to dominate the market, the new product has to be as good as or better than the less sustainable incumbent it is looking to replace. This is especially true with sustainable food. To this end, many of us have searched – often in vain – for plant-based dairy products, such as ice cream and cheese, that are both delicious and environmentally sustainable. In this episode, Chad Reed sits down with Tim Wildin, CEO of Vertage. Using a chef-driven, science-backed, and consumer-focused approach, Vertage develops and sells delicious plant-based cheeses to restaurants across the spectrum in select U.S. cities. Tim talks about his career journey through the sustainable food space, how he teamed up with Chef Margaux Riccio to found Vertage, the secret sauce behind Vertage’s plant-based cheeses, and much more. Links Episode recorded March 22, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 15 Jun 2023 | Outsmarting waste with the Mill kitchen bin | Matt Rogers, CEO of Mill | 00:26:27 | |
In this week's episode, Gil speaks with Matt Rogers, the founder and CEO of Mill, a startup revolutionizing how we tackle food waste. They delve into the inspiration behind Mill, discussing how the idea came about and the parallels to Matt's previous work as the co-founder of Nest, the company behind the iconic learning thermostat and other smart home products. Matt discusses the functionality of Mill's kitchen bin, which transforms food scraps into nutrient-rich animal feed, and how the company is bringing this groundbreaking product to the market. He explains the emissions profile of Mill's appliance and the positive impact it can have on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Also, Matt shares his insights on the crucial role of technology and innovation in driving sustainable solutions. Links:
Episode recorded May 2. 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 29 Jul 2021 | Alice Hill | Building climate resilience | 00:40:08 | |
In this episode, we speak with Alice Hill, senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations, and author of the upcoming book, The Fight for Climate After COVID-19. As a former federal prosecutor, judge, special assistant to President Barack Obama, and senior director for resilience policy on the National Security Council, Alice has a unique and powerful perspective on the risks, consequences, and responses associated with climate change. In conversation with Gil and Hilary, she discusses her journey in becoming an expert on catastrophic risk and climate resilience, which countries are doing well on climate adaptation, and where the U.S. government is falling short. Additionally, Alice talks about what the pandemic can teach us about fighting climate change, how the democratization of data could improve climate security for the world’s most vulnerable populations, how she finds joy in her work, and more. Episode recorded July 13, 2021 Links: Article: COVID’s lesson for climate research: go local (Alice C. Hill, Nature, June 29, 2021) Book: The Fight for Climate after COVID-19” (Alice C. Hill, released August 4, 2021) Book: Building a Resilient Tomorrow (Alice C. Hill and Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, 2019)
Show contributors: Gil Jenkins, Hilary Langer, Alice Hill Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 31 Aug 2022 | Our fusion powered future | Jim McNiel, TAE Technologies | 00:44:40 | |
For decades, many have called nuclear fusion the “holy grail” of energy sources. The undying hope is that fusion will someday provide very cheap, abundant, zero-carbon electricity to all – thereby both decisively addressing the climate crisis and powering economic growth across the globe. But despite decades of well-funded research and even recent technological breakthroughs, we still seem to be years away from a commercially viable fusion reactor. In this episode, Chad Reed speaks with Jim McNiel, Chief Marketing Officer of TAE Technologies, which just raised $250 million in venture financing to support the development of Copernicus – its next-generation hydrogen-boron fusion research reactor. Chad and Jim get into the weeds on the tradeoffs of competing fusion fuels, the longstanding challenge fusion must overcome to reach commercial viability, the role of fusion in our energy future, Star Trek versus Star Wars, and much more. Links:
Episode recorded: July 28, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 20 Jan 2023 | Brian von Herzen, PhD. | Scaling marine permaculture | 00:29:05 | |
Dr. Brian von Herzen is the founder and executive director of the Climate Foundation, and a champion of marine permaculture – a process that the Climate Foundation is bringing to scale to reduce carbon, improve food security and regenerate marine ecosystems. In this episode, Hilary Langer and Brian von Herzen discuss the importance of restoring balance to the ocean, how marine permaculture engages populations that depend on the ocean for food, and how his team plans to expand marine permaculture in Asia and around the world. Links Brian von Herzen, PhD LinkedIn Profile Greenwave Regenerative Ocean Farming on Climate Positive Episode Recorded: January 10, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 20 Sep 2023 | Credibly removing carbon at scale | Andreas Aepli, Climeworks | 00:33:33 | |
At this point, the science is very clear. If we want to limit global warming to 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, we must not only reduce existing emissions, we must also at some point become net negative – meaning that we are removing more carbon from the atmosphere than we are putting into it. In this episode, Chad Reed sits down with Climeworks CFO Andreas Aepli to discuss the promise of Direct Air Capture (DAC) to provide a scalable, measurable and permanent solution for carbon removal. In addition to discussing how DAC works and both the DAC facilities Climeworks already has in operation and the DAC hubs in United States they are now developing, they delve into the viability of the business model for carbon removal, the need for supportive policy incentives and the imperative to establish transparency and trust for a truly scalable and tradable carbon removal credit market. Links:
Episode recorded August 22, 2023 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||
| 20 Jan 2022 | Ravi Mikkelsen | Changing your bank to fight climate change | 00:30:13 | |
In this episode, hosts Gil Jenkins and Chad Reed speak with Ravi Mikkelsen, co-founder of ATMOS Financial -- an exciting new climate fintech startup that offers ethical banking and savings accounts for a fee-free and climate positive future. Ravi and the ATMOS team are on a mission to develop the best technology solutions and banking experience available so that you never again have to give up convenience or yield for doing the right thing. Links: How ATMOS Calculates Carbon Impact Report: Banking on Climate Chaos 2021, Rainforest Action Network Episode recorded: January 12, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. | |||