Climate Confident - Stories And Strategies That Cut Emissions

Get in touch - leave me a message AI data centres are creating an extraordinary new demand for electricity. The harder question is whether clean, firm power can be built quickly enough to meet it, without falling back on gas. My guest in this episode is Matt Loszak, co-founder and CEO of Aalo Atomics, which is developing small, factory-built nuclear reactors initially for AI data centres. The bet is that nuclear can move from bespoke megaprojects to repeatable manufactured products, cutting d...

Get in touch - leave me a message Enhanced rock weathering looks deceptively simple: crush suitable rock, spread it on farmland and let chemistry remove CO₂. The harder question is whether you can prove that removal reliably enough to make the economics work. I speak with Chris Zair, Director of Partnerships at UNDO, about what happens when enhanced rock weathering moves from controlled trials into real fields. For buyers, investors and policymakers, the stakes are practical: measurement and ...

Get in touch - leave me a message For years, renewable natural gas had a basic problem in heavy-duty trucking: it lacked a 15-litre engine capable of doing the work fleets expect from diesel. That barrier is disappearing. The harder question now is whether the economics and infrastructure stack up. My guest is Scott Brinner, Executive Vice President of RNG Solutions at NoPetro Energy, who works across RNG production, fuelling and fleet deployment. We look at the real decision facing operators...

Get in touch - leave me a message Carbon removal is often framed as a technology problem. But what if the harder constraint is demand, and what if waiting decades to remove a tonne of CO₂ carries a climate cost of its own? My guest is Barclay Rogers, founder and CEO of Graphyte, a durable carbon removal company using agricultural and timber residues in a process it calls Carbon Casting. He brings a practical operator’s view of what it takes to move carbon removal from credible tonnes to meani...

Get in touch - leave me a message Building more renewable generation is not enough if the grid cannot carry the electricity to where it is needed. Curtailment, connection queues and delayed infrastructure are turning grid capacity into a climate and competitiveness constraint. My guest today is Niklas Persson, CEO of Grid Integration at Hitachi Energy, with nearly three decades in electrification. We look at what happens as industry, transport and data centres demand more clean power while tr...

Get in touch - leave me a message Solar, batteries and EVs are moving fast enough to change the risk calculus for energy investment. The bigger mistake may now be assuming today’s system, and its customers, will still be there tomorrow. I speak with Professor Ray Wills, Managing Director of Future Smart Strategies, who has been modelling technology adoption curves for years. We examine what accelerating clean-energy deployment means for capital allocation, electricity prices, new gas infrastr...

Get in touch - leave me a message Long-duration energy storage is increasingly ready to deploy. The harder problem is that electricity markets still struggle to value what duration actually provides - flexibility, reliability and power when the sun sets, the wind drops and demand peaks. My guest is Julia Souder, CEO of the Long Duration Energy Storage Council. She works across the policy, finance and deployment questions shaping this market, and brings a useful view of what is already happeni...

Get in touch - leave me a message Two million hectares of avoided deforestation is not a theoretical climate benefit. It is what Priscillia Moulin says can happen when companies stop treating supply-chain risk as somebody else’s problem. ClimateEpisode291.srtSRT Priscillia is Director of Strategy at MosaiX, working on deforestation-free commodity supply chains across palm oil and other high-risk materials. Her work sits at the intersection of traceability, satellite monitoring, supplier engag...

Get in touch - leave me a message At John Sisk & Son, up to 98% of company emissions sit in the supply chain. That changes the decarbonisation problem completely: the biggest levers are often not on the construction site, but in what gets bought. I speak with Keith O’Flynn, Group Supply Chain Sustainability Manager at Sisk, about what that means in practice for one of Ireland’s largest contractors. When concrete and steel dominate purchased-goods emissions, procurement decisions become cl...

Get in touch - leave me a message Soil health is starting to look less like an environmental side issue and more like infrastructure. The real question is whether regenerative agriculture can improve resilience and economics without asking farmers to absorb years of financial pain. My guest is Tim Weaver of Holganix, working at the intersection of soil health, regenerative agriculture and measurable environmental outcomes. We look at the pressures farmers and companies already recognise: vola...

Get in touch - leave me a message Cheap solar, batteries and EVs are no longer merely cleaner alternatives. Their falling costs are undermining fossil-fuel economics, and leaders may be misjudging the speed of that shift. My guest is Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University and a long-time IPCC contributor whose work has focused on cities, transport and automobile dependence. We examine how China’s manufacturing scale is turning clean technology from a policy ambition i...

Get in touch - leave me a message Carbon accounting can send companies straight at the wrong problem. A visible sustainability initiative may feel productive while the real emissions hotspot sits in raw materials, product design or the supply chain. My guest is John Beath, CEO and Chief Technical Director of John Beath Environmental, whose work in lifecycle assessment helps companies test assumptions before they commit money, engineering effort or supplier changes. The stakes are practical: g...

Get in touch - leave me a message Battery storage is getting cheaper, but the data used to trade and operate it may be badly wrong. When forecasts miss, penalties stack, warranties get messy, and returns can quietly unravel. My guest is Ash Vats of 3E, who works on battery intelligence for utility-scale assets. We look at the gap between what a battery management system reports and what the hardware can actually deliver - a gap with direct consequences for grid reliability, revenue and asset ...

Get in touch - leave me a message Heavy machinery can waste three quarters of the energy fed into it. The battery may not be the real electrification bottleneck. In this episode, I speak with Hiten Sonpal, CEO of Rise Robotics, about a neglected part of the energy transition: the hydraulic systems inside construction, mining, and port machinery. You’ll hear why conventional hydraulics are only around 25% efficient, how that forces manufacturers to install larger batteries, and why electric he...

Get in touch - leave me a message AI isn’t weightless. Every model, token, and workflow sits on land, water, power, heat, and governance choices. In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Sophia Mendelsohn, who leads SAP’s Global Sustainability Platform. We look at AI not as abstract software, but as physical infrastructure with real consequences for climate tech, decarbonisation, the energy transition, policy, and the businesses racing to use it. You’ll hear why data centres now si...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if electrification is no longer just a climate solution — but an energy security strategy? In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Gavin Mooney, an independent energy transition advisor working across utilities, electrification, and energy markets. We look at Australia as a live test case for the energy transition: a country rich in coal, gas, sunshine, and wind, yet still exposed through imported diesel, freight, mining, agriculture, and lon...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if AI’s biggest climate impact isn’t chatbots, but cutting real energy waste in buildings, grids, and factories? In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Philippe Rambach, Chief AI Officer at Schneider Electric, to unpack one of the sharpest tensions in climate tech today: AI is increasing electricity demand, but used well, it may also be one of the tools we need for decarbonisation, emissions reduction, and a faster energy transition. You’ll ...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if one of the biggest climate risks in your portfolio is hiding in plain sight — in food, land, methane, and animal-dependent industries? In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Claire Smith, founder and CEO of Beyond Investing, to unpack why climate finance cannot stop at fossil fuels. Claire has spent years building investment products that screen for animal use, climate impact, weapons, defence, human rights issues, and risks mainstream ES...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if fossil fuels aren’t energy security at all, but exposure dressed up as realism? This war is making that harder and harder to ignore. In this bonus episode of Climate Confident+, I unpack why the US and Israel’s war against Iran is forcing a faster rethink of fossil fuels, renewables, EVs, and electrification. This is a solo episode with me, Tom Raftery, and the stakes couldn’t be clearer: if your economy, business, or household still depends on fuels ...

Get in touch - leave me a message No one wants to ship water around the world. That one line says a lot about the next phase of energy storage. In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Min Tang, Director of International Business at Rongke Power, one of the world’s leading vanadium flow battery companies. We get into why long-duration storage is moving from climate tech side-story to core grid infrastructure, and why that matters for decarbonisation, energy transition planning, net...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if the biggest greenwashing risk isn’t bad intent, but business-as-usual marketing? In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Helen Neal, founder of HN Communications, to dig into one of the most under-discussed risks in decarbonisation: how companies talk about sustainability when regulation is tightening, public trust is fragile, and every net zero claim is being scrutinised. This matters because the energy transition will not be carried by t...

Get in touch - leave me a message Fake people. Fake comments. Real clean energy projects killed. This is what climate delay looks like in the AI era. In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Leah Qusba, CEO of GoodPower, an organisation working at the intersection of climate tech, culture, policy, and decarbonisation. We explore a hard truth about the energy transition: solar, wind, batteries, and electrification may be ready, but public trust, local permission, and disinformation ...

Get in touch - leave me a message Carbon data is no longer just something companies report. Increasingly, it may decide whether products can be sold at all. In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Stephen Jamieson, Chief Marketing Officer for SAP Sustainability, to explore why sustainability is moving from the ESG report into the systems businesses use to run supply chains, finance, product compliance, and AI-enabled decisions. We get into what this means for climate tech, decarbo...

Get in touch - leave me a message Streetlights sound boring. Until the grid fails and they’re the only lights left on. In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Liam Ryan, CEO of Streetleaf, a climate tech company rethinking one of the most overlooked pieces of public infrastructure: the streetlight. And yes, I know. Streetlights. Hardly the sexiest corner of the energy transition. But this conversation quickly becomes about something much bigger: resilience, decarbonisation, public...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if better buildings are one of the most practical climate resilience tools we already have? In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Darren Macri, Co-CEO of Wythe Windows and rising president of the Passive House Network. We talk about why passive house is not just a building standard, but a practical climate tech pathway for decarbonisation, emissions reduction, energy security, healthier homes, and a more resilient built environment. You’ll ...

Get in touch - leave me a message Jet fuel isn’t just dirty. It is astonishingly good at its job. That is what makes aviation decarbonisation so hard. In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Dan Sutton, co-founder and CEO of Syntholene Energy, a climate tech company working on clean, drop-in synthetic aviation fuel, or eSAF. We talk about one of the thorniest challenges in the energy transition: how to cut emissions from aviation without pretending long-haul flight can simply be e...

Get in touch - leave me a message Concrete alone accounts for around 7-8% of global emissions. So what happens when the real climate problem in buildings is no longer just energy, but the materials themselves? In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Alexander Sexsmith, architect and founder of Sexsmith Architects, to unpack what regenerative architecture means when stripped of the fluff. We look at the climate challenge hiding in plain sight across the built environment: embodied ...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if fossil fuels aren’t just polluting, but a standing threat to economic stability? This episode makes the case that the energy transition is now as much about security and cost as it is about climate. In this solo Climate Confident+ episode, I dig into a brutal truth too many policymakers and business leaders still avoid: fossil fuels don’t merely drive emissions, they drive volatility, fragility, and geopolitical risk. At a moment when war, price shock...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if one of the most effective climate tech moves in hospitality isn’t flashy at all, but simply wasting less food with far better data? In this episode, I’m joined by Olaf van der Veen, co-founder of Orbisk, to unpack a climate tech story that sits right at the intersection of decarbonisation, operational control, and the energy transition. We talk about food waste, but this is bigger than leftovers. It’s about hidden system failure, margin pressure, emis...

Get in touch - leave me a message Heat is becoming a business risk in plain sight. And if cooling demand is set to soar, the energy transition has a problem most people still aren’t talking about. In this episode, I’m joined by Rob Atkin, co-founder and CEO of Pirta, a climate tech company developing passive cooling coatings and additives. We dig into a part of decarbonisation and the energy transition that gets far too little attention: how we keep buildings, warehouses, data centres, and ...

Get in touch - leave me a message War doesn’t just kill people. It also blows up energy security, drives up emissions, and exposes fossil fuels for the liability they’ve always been. In this first Climate Confident+ bonus episode, available exclusively to subscribers, I unpack the unnecessary, illegal, and profoundly ill-advised war being waged by the US and Israel on Iran, and why its fallout matters far beyond the battlefield. This is not just a military crisis. It is an energy transition, ...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if voluntary carbon markets are either a vital climate tool... or a polished excuse to delay real decarbonisation? In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Dr Jennifer Jenkins, Chief Science Officer at Rubicon Carbon, to unpack one of the most contested questions in climate tech and net zero strategy: what role, if any, should voluntary carbon markets play in real-world emissions reduction? At a time when companies are under pressure to decarb...

Get in touch - leave me a message AI may be booming, but the real bottleneck to it's growth may be turbines. And if firm power can’t scale fast enough, parts of the energy transition hit a wall. In this episode, I’m joined by Brad Hartwig, Co-founder and CEO of Arbor Energy, to unpack a part of the climate tech and energy transition story that gets far too little attention: the physical machinery needed to deliver reliable, round-the-clock power. Arbor is developing modular supercritical CO2 ...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if one of the biggest climate problems in our buildings isn’t power generation, but the fact we’re still burning fuel in the basement? In this episode, I’m joined by Dan Yates, CEO of Dandelion Energy, to unpack why geothermal may be one of the most overlooked tools in climate tech today, and why building decarbonisation deserves far more attention in the wider energy transition debate. If we’re serious about net zero and real emissions reduction, we nee...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if the biggest mistake in climate action is that we’re still designing buildings for a climate that no longer exists? In this episode of the Climate Confident Podcast, I’m joined by David Sellers, principal architect at Hawaii Offgrid Architecture & Engineering. David designs net-zero and off-grid buildings on Maui, not as an experiment, but because the climate he’s designing for is already shifting. Faster than most regulations, models, or assumptio...

Get in touch - leave me a message Heating cities by opening windows is not a joke. It’s how many buildings still control temperature in winter, and it’s a climate disaster hiding in plain sight. In this episode, I’m joined by Drew Maggio, Technical Director at Highmark Building Efficiency, to unpack why buildings are one of the biggest, most underestimated levers in the climate transition, especially in dense cities like New York. Buildings account for roughly 70% of New York City’s emissions...

Get in touch - leave me a message Europe is drowning in cheap clean power, and still wasting it. The problem isn’t renewables. It’s what happens when the grid can’t cope with abundance. In this episode of the Climate Confident Podcast, I’m joined by Oonagh O’Grady, Vice President of International Origination at Hydrostor, a global leader in long-duration energy storage. We dig into one of the most under-discussed blockers of the energy transition: what happens after wind and solar scale, but ...

Get in touch - leave me a message Europe doesn’t have a clean energy problem. It has a grid problem. Solar is cheap. Batteries are scaling. Demand is exploding. The system in the middle is cracking. In this episode, I’m joined by Rob Stait, Managing Director of Alight’s behind-the-meter business, to unpack why the energy transition is now being held back less by technology and more by infrastructure, regulation, and outdated thinking. Alight develops and owns onsite solar and battery systems ...

Get in touch - leave me a message 8% of global emissions come from the material we barely talk about. Concrete. Cement. The literal foundations of modern life, and one of the hardest climate problems we face. In this episode, I’m joined by Ana Luisa Vaz, VP of Product at Paebbl, to unpack why construction is such a stubborn emissions hotspot, and what it would take to genuinely change that. Ana explains why cement emits CO₂ by design, not by accident. Half its emissions come from chemistry, n...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if the biggest barrier to decarbonising buildings isn’t technology, cost, or ambition - but sheer complexity? The built environment produces nearly 40% of global emissions, yet we still make low-carbon construction harder than it needs to be. In this episode, I’m joined by Tommy Linstroth, founder of Green Badger, to unpack why construction remains one of the most overlooked climate battlegrounds, and why that’s a mistake. We dig into LEED v5, embodied c...

Get in touch - leave me a message Most companies say they’re tackling Scope 3. Then they rely on averages and hope for the best. That’s not decarbonisation. That’s denial with spreadsheets. In this episode, I’m joined by Paul Byrnes, CEO of Mavarick AI, to dig into one of the most stubborn blockers to real emissions reduction: bad data across global supply chains. Paul brings a rare mix to the table. Deep manufacturing roots, serious machine learning expertise, and a refreshingly low toleranc...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if the biggest lever for food-system decarbonisation isn’t factories or fleets, but soil you’ll never see on a corporate balance sheet? In this episode, I’m joined by Rhyannon Galea and Kristjan Luha from eAgronom to unpack one of the hardest climate problems to solve: Scope 3 emissions in food and agriculture. This conversation was originally recorded for my Resilient Supply Chain podcast and I’m republishing it here because it cuts straight to the hear...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if the fastest way to decarbonise shipping isn’t a shiny new fuel, but the waste it’s already throwing away? Shipping moves 90% of global trade, yet it’s still one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise. In this episode, I’m joined by Nicholas Ball, CEO and founder of XFuel, to unpack why cost, physics, and adoption matter more than climate theatre when cutting emissions at scale. Nicholas leads a company turning difficult waste streams, including oily re...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if the clean energy transition depended on potato-sized rocks four miles under the Pacific, and we’ve barely started talking about it? In this episode I’m joined by Oliver Gunasekara, CEO and co-founder of Impossible Metals, to tackle one of the most uncomfortable truths in climate tech: there is no net zero without mining. We dig into how deep sea polymetallic nodules, AI-driven underwater robots and smarter policy could reshape the energy transition, e...

Get in touch - leave me a message What happens when solar stops being just “cheap” and becomes game-changingly efficient as well, pushing past 30% and reshaping global power economics? In this episode, I sit down with Aaron Thurlow, a 25-year solar veteran and commercial lead at Caelux, to unpack how perovskite-silicon tandem modules could transform not just clean energy - but the resilience, cost base, and strategic footing of every organisation betting on electrification. With AI, manufactu...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if the real disruption in solar isn’t the technology — but the business model behind it? This week I’m joined by Scott Therien, Director of Strategic Partnerships at REC Solar, to unpack one of the most important, and least discussed, shifts in the energy transition: the move from one-off construction projects to long-term, risk-bearing power-purchase agreements. It’s a change that’s quietly reshaping who owns energy infrastructure, who carries the finan...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if cutting emissions isn’t enough, and never was? And what if the real lever we’ve been ignoring is regeneration, not reduction? This week I’m joined by Chad Frischmann, co-creator of Project Drawdown and founder of Regenerative Intelligence, for a conversation that goes right to the core of what the climate movement keeps getting wrong. We dig into why stopping global warming requires more than technology, pledges, or net-zero spreadsheets. It demands a...

Get in touch - leave me a message Most people never think about industrial heat. Yet half of all manufacturing emissions come from it. My guest this week, Addison Stark, CEO and co-founder of AtmosZero, is on a mission to electrify one of the dirtiest, most overlooked pieces of infrastructure on Earth: the steam boiler. In this episode, Addison and I uncover how a technology unchanged since the 1860s can finally go clean. We talk about the hidden carbon footprint of steam, why “waste heat rec...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if business, not politics, held the real key to ending the climate crisis? In this week’s episode, I sit down with Rinaldo Brutoco, founder and CEO of the World Business Academy, to explore a radical but beautifully simple idea: that stakeholder capitalism - where companies serve people and planet, not just shareholders, can actually outperform the old profit-only model. Rinaldo’s been proving it for decades, from helping shut down a dangerous nuclear pl...

Get in touch - leave me a message What if upgrading your home to be climate-friendly was as simple as scanning it with your phone? In this week’s episode of the Climate Confident Podcast, I talk with Grant Gunnison, founder and CEO of Zero Homes - a former NASA and MIT engineer who’s now tackling one of climate tech’s toughest challenges: decarbonising existing homes. His company uses smartphone scans and digital twins to design fully-scoped, permit-ready electrification plans - no site visit...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this week’s episode of Climate Confident, I sat down with Johanna Wolfson, co-founder and general partner at Azolla Ventures, to talk about how we can rethink climate-tech investing - not as a game of chasing returns, but as a mission to fund what truly matters. Johanna’s firm takes a bold approach using catalytic capital, money that embraces higher risk to bring breakthrough technologies from lab to market. We explored why that matters right now, as parts...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this week’s episode of Climate Confident, I sat down with Christopher Carrick, founder and CTO of Lignin Industries, to explore a game-changing innovation in the fight against plastic pollution, turning waste from the paper industry into carbon-negative bioplastics. Christopher’s story starts in his kitchen, where curiosity (and a Star Wars ice-cube tray) led to a breakthrough: modifying lignin, the brown polymer in wood, so it can be melted, shaped, and b...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this week’s episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Sherie Nelson, Senior Director of Responsibility & Wellness at Elior North America, a food service company serving millions of meals daily across schools, hospitals, universities, and businesses. Sherie sits at the fascinating intersection of nutrition, sustainability, and systems change - proving that what’s good for people is, quite literally, good for the planet. We discuss how Elior has cut fo...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this week’s episode of the Climate Confident Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Gary Yohe, one of the world’s leading climate economists, long-time IPCC author, and a member of the Nobel Peace Prize, winning IPCC team of 2007. Gary has spent over four decades shaping how we understand climate change, not just as an environmental issue, but as a fundamental risk management challenge. We explore his powerful framework: abate, adapt, or suffer. These are, he argues...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this week’s episode of Climate Confident, I sit down with Emily Wilkinson, Principal Research Fellow at ODI Global and Director of the Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative (RESI), to explore one of the most pressing and least discussed frontlines of the climate crisis: small island developing states (SIDS). These 39 nations, scattered across the Caribbean, Pacific and Indian Ocean, contribute less than 1% of global emissions yet face the most exist...

Get in touch - leave me a message When people think about tackling the climate crisis, they often talk about energy, food, or transport. But what about money? In this week’s episode of Climate Confident, I sat down with Scott Ryan, founder and CEO of Investature, to unpack one of the biggest blind spots in corporate climate strategies, the financial supply chain. Scott argues that pensions, retirement savings, and even our everyday bank accounts may be the largest single drivers of greenhouse...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this week’s episode of the Climate Confident podcast I sat down with one of the true veterans of climate activism, Jonathon Porritt. For over five decades Jonathon has been a leading voice on sustainability, from his early days in the Green Party and Friends of the Earth to his most recent book Love, Anger, and Betrayal. We explored what he calls the “science–politics gap” - the dangerous disconnect between what climate science tells us and how slowly poli...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident Podcast, I sit down with Tom Day from the NewClimate Institute to unpack one of the thorniest issues in corporate climate action: credibility. Over the past few years, big tech companies and multinationals have rolled out bold net zero pledges, but how much of it is substance, and how much is smoke and mirrors? Tom argues that offsets, once seen as a solution, have become a dangerous distraction. Instead of reducing th...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this replay episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I revisit one of the most urgent and eye-opening conversations I’ve hosted - my conversation with Tzeporah Berman, Chair and Founder of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. We dig into the uncomfortable truth: while governments champion renewables and set emissions targets, fossil fuel exploration and extraction are still expanding at a pace that locks in climate chaos. Tzeporah explains...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this week’s replay episode of the Climate Confident Podcast, I bring back one of my favourite conversations from earlier this year - my discussion with Jarand Rystad, founder and CEO of Rystad Energy, about the global energy transition and whether we’re truly moving fast enough to meet climate targets. Jarand makes a compelling case that the shift to renewables isn’t just about climate, it’s driven by the simple economics of cheaper, better technologies. S...

Get in touch - leave me a message Shipping moves 90% of global trade – and yet it’s one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise. In this episode of Climate Confident, I sit down with Heikki Pöntynen, CEO of Finnish cleantech pioneer Norsepower, to explore a solution that’s both elegantly simple and radically effective: modern rotor sails. Heikki explains how Norsepower has revived and re-engineered the century-old Flettner rotor to deliver real-world fuel savings of 5–25%, with some transatlant...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of Climate Confident, I sit down with Chris Moyer, President of Echo Communications Advisors, to unpack the tension at the heart of today’s clean energy movement: how do we keep momentum when federal politics try to slam the brakes? Chris has spent nearly 20 years advising senators, campaigns, and climate leaders on shaping public narratives that drive real policy change. He brings insider perspective on what’s happening behind the headlines i...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of Climate Confident, I spoke with Ori Shaashua, Co-founder and CCO of Gigablue, a marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) company taking a radically scalable approach to the carbon challenge. Gigablue’s MCFS (Marine Carbon Fixation and Sequestration) method taps into the ocean’s natural carbon cycle by cultivating phytoplankton in floating substrates and using gravity, not high-energy processes, to sink captured CO₂ to deep-sea sediment for thou...

Get in touch - leave me a message Is climate doomism stopping us from acting? In this episode, I speak with climate economist Michael Jakob, author of The Case Against Climate Doom, about why despair is not just unhelpful, it’s inaccurate. We explore the real economic tipping points that are accelerating decarbonisation: plummeting costs for solar, wind, storage, and EVs. Michael argues that the shift to clean tech isn’t about idealism, it’s about basic economics. When renewables are cheaper ...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of Climate Confident, I sat down with Kanika Chandaria, Climate Lead at Agreena, to explore one of the most overlooked yet high-impact climate solutions: soil. We talked about why regenerative agriculture is gaining traction, not just as a nature-based solution, but as a scalable, economically viable climate strategy. Kanika broke down how soil has the potential to sequester 2–5 gigatonnes of CO₂ annually, making it a key lever for companies a...

Get in touch - leave me a message Most climate policies focus on cutting emissions. But what if the real issue is what’s being left off the table, fossil fuel production itself? In this week’s episode of Climate Confident, I speak with Tzeporah Berman, Chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, about why global climate goals are doomed if we keep expanding fossil fuel supply while trying to cut demand. Tzeporah explains how the Paris Agreement never once mentions the words ...

Get in touch - leave me a message Most people don’t think about carbon emissions when they think about the internet—let alone digital advertising. But here’s the kicker: the ad tech ecosystem is responsible for roughly the same emissions as the global aviation sector. Yes, really. In this episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I spoke with Frank Maguire, SVP of Product Marketing & Sustainability at Equativ (formerly Sharethrough), about the often-overlooked climate impact of digital ad...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I sat down with Stuart Thompson, President of ABB Electrification Service, to unpack one of the most overlooked but critical fronts in the climate transition: industrial decarbonisation. Industry accounts for around a quarter of global energy-related carbon emissions, and much of that stems from outdated infrastructure, unreliable grids, and a historic reliance on cheap fossil fuels. Stuart leads a $1.4 billio...

Get in touch - leave me a message Hi folks, Tom Raftery here. Just dropping into your feed to let you know there’s no new Climate Confident episode this week - I’m taking a short break to recharge and get ready for some brilliant conversations I’ve got lined up in the coming weeks. But don’t worry, the podcast will be back next Wednesday at 7am CEST, as always, with another inspiring story of climate action and innovation. In the meantime, if you’re missing your climate fix, remember there’s ...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I sit down with Ciaran Flanagan, who leads Siemens’ Global Data Centre business, to unpack the evolving role of data centres in our energy and climate systems. We dig into the data centre’s journey from a “sausage machine” of power-hungry servers to a potential hero in grid stability and renewable energy adoption. Ciaran shares how data centres in Ireland, despite consuming up to 20% of national electricity, a...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I sit down with Sangeeta Waldron, a communications professional and author of What Will Your Legacy Be?, to explore how our personal choices and narratives shape the climate fight. We cover a lot of ground. Sangeeta shares how her time in the Himalayas revealed the harsh realities of climate change and sparked her lifelong commitment. We also dig into how indigenous knowledge can fill crucial gaps in scientifi...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I’m joined by Angel Hsu, associate professor at UNC Chapel Hill and founder of the Data-Driven EnviroLab. We dive deep into how AI can be used to combat climate misinformation and bring real accountability to climate pledges. Angel and her team have built two domain-specific AI tools, ChatNetZero and ChatNDC, designed to help policymakers, researchers, and business leaders navigate the chaos of climate targets...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this week's episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I’m joined by Bryan Parkes, Head of Innovation Acceleration at Zespri, the world’s largest marketer of kiwifruit. Bryan shares how Zespri is taking a bold, practical approach to climate resilience through its Zespri ZAG Innovation Fund - an annual US$2 million commitment to agricultural innovation funding. We dig into why Zespri is using a venture clienting model—not venture capital—to attract global so...

Get in touch - leave me a message How do we scale nature-based carbon removal without greenwashing or over-promising? That’s exactly what I explore in this episode with Lisett Luik, co-founder of Arbonics. We all know forests are powerful carbon sinks. But turning that into credible, measurable climate action is harder than it sounds. Lisett shares how Arbonics is using satellite data, digital twins, and over 50 layers of land analysis to help landowners across Europe grow new forests or mana...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I spoke with Laura Miranda Perez, Chief Communications & Sustainability Officer at Oxford PV, about one of the most important developments in solar tech today: perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells. We unpacked how Oxford PV’s approach improves solar panel efficiency from the typical 20–22% to over 30%, and why that matters not just for land use, but also for grid capacity, system costs, and the speed of g...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I speak with Alexei Beltyukov, co-founder of Universal Fuel Technologies, about a new approach to producing Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), using a process they call flexiforming. Unlike traditional methods like HEFA or Fischer–Tropsch, flexiforming allows producers to use a much wider range of feedstocks, from mixed alcohols to naphtas and renewable waste streams, and turn them into jet fuel, renewable diese...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of Climate Confident, I speak with Alice Chun, inventor of the world’s first inflatable, origami-inspired solar light and founder of Solight Design. Alice shares how a career in material technology and a deeply personal experience with her son’s asthma led her to tackle energy poverty, disaster relief, and carbon emissions with a single, deceptively simple product: the SolarPuff™. We discuss the staggering health and environmental toll of kero...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I spoke with Ryan Schermerhorn, a US-based patent attorney who’s been helping clean tech innovators navigate the IP maze - until recently with the help of a now-suspended fast-track programme. We discussed the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program, which allowed inventors of emissions-reducing technologies to get patents approved in months rather than years...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I sat down with John Sturman, Managing Director at NatPower UK, to dig deep into the realities of grid decarbonisation and energy transition at nation scale. John pulled back the curtain on how NatPower is scaling up battery storage and renewable projects not just in the UK, but across the globe. From developing Europe’s largest battery storage pipeline to pioneering power solutions for maritime decarbonisatio...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I sat down with Faustine Delasalle, CEO of the Mission Possible Partnership (MPP), to delve into the real challenges, and opportunities, of decarbonising heavy industry and transport. Faustine and I explored the current state of industrial decarbonisation, including the progress made over the last five to six years in proving that sectors like steel, cement, and shipping can transition to low-carbon alternativ...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Sandhya Sabapathy, Global Head of Environment and Net Zero at Entain, about the evolving role of sustainability in business – and what it truly takes to make climate action effective, strategic, and inclusive. We discussed how sustainability has moved from the sidelines to the boardroom, driven not only by regulation but by clear commercial logic. Sandhya pointed to examples...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of Climate Confident, I sit down with Chris Doherty, CEO of Joulen, to discuss how data, AI, and battery storage are changing the way homes and businesses interact with renewable energy. With energy costs fluctuating and grid constraints becoming more of a challenge, the role of smart energy management has never been more important. Chris explains how virtual power plants (VPPs) allow households and small businesses to collectively act as a la...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of Climate Confident, I sit down with Jenny Morgan, author of Cancel Culture in Climate, to explore how public shaming and polarisation are holding back real progress on climate solutions. We already have the tools and technologies needed to reduce emissions, yet fear of criticism—whether from activists, media, or the public—often paralyses businesses and leaders. Jenny explains how cancel culture leads to three major pitfalls: Greenwashing – ...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of Climate Confident, I sit down with Puja Balachander, CEO and co-founder of UpGreen, to explore how commercial landlords and asset managers can accelerate energy efficiency retrofits while keeping costs down. Buildings account for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions, yet many remain inefficient due to financial and logistical barriers. UpGreen tackles this by reducing upfront retrofit costs and enabling landlords to recapture savings from ...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of Climate Confident, I sit down with Dr. Jemma Green, Co-Founder and Chairman of PowerLedger, to explore how blockchain technology is reshaping the energy sector. We discuss the shift towards peer-to-peer energy trading, how utilities can adapt to a decentralised grid, and what role blockchain-backed renewable energy certificates can play in ensuring transparency and accountability. Dr. Green explains why traditional feed-in tariff models are...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of Climate Confident, I sit down with Annalisa Bracco, a physical oceanographer and climate scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, to explore how our oceans are changing—and why it matters. The ocean is a critical carbon sink, absorbing vast amounts of CO₂, but it’s also warming at an alarming rate, driving more extreme weather events and disrupting marine ecosystems. Annalisa explains how rising sea temperatures are fuelling strong...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of Climate Confident, I sit down with Jarand Rystad, CEO of Rystad Energy, to take a hard look at where we are in the global energy transition and whether we’re moving fast enough to meet climate targets. We discuss: How disruptive technologies are reshaping the energy landscape – and why the transition would happen even without climate concerns.Why solar, wind, and battery technologies are now economically outcompeting fossil fuels.The China ...

Get in touch - leave me a message Factory farming isn’t just an animal welfare issue—it’s a major driver of climate change, biodiversity loss, and public health risks. In this episode of Climate Confident, I speak with Thom Norman, co-founder of FarmKind, to break down the true environmental costs of industrial animal agriculture and explore solutions. We discuss: ✅ How factory farming contributes up to 19% of global greenhouse gas emissions, primarily through methane, deforestation, and fert...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I’m joined by Ollie Burch, a communications strategist and co-founder of Among Equals, to dive into the thorny but crucial issue of climate communications. How can we engage more people in the fight against climate change, and why are so many efforts to do so falling flat? Ollie, with his background in behavioural science and sustainability communications, offers fresh insights into what’s gone wrong—and, more...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I’m joined by Angelo Campus, the CEO and co-founder of BoxPower, to explore the transformative potential of microgrids in building resilient and sustainable energy systems. Angelo shares his journey from growing up at the edge of the grid in rural Northern California to founding a company that develops microgrids powered by solar, batteries, and backup generators. These systems are delivering power to underser...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this week's episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I’m joined by Anders Lindberg, President of Wärtsilä Energy, to unpack the complexities of the global energy transition. Wärtsilä has a wealth of insight into how we can move towards a 100% renewable energy future—without breaking the bank. Anders and I dive into the often-overlooked need for flexibility in energy systems. While solar and wind energy have become cheaper and more widespread, integrating ...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of Climate Confident, I sit down with Charlie Angelakos, Global VP of External Affairs and Sustainability at McCain Foods, to delve into the company’s ambitious goal of achieving 100% regenerative agriculture by 2030. With a direct relationship with 3,500 farmers globally and a commitment to farming in harmony with nature, McCain is tackling the twin challenges of climate resilience and sustainable food production. Charlie provides a detailed ...

Get in touch - leave me a message This year-end episode of Climate Confident takes a deep dive into the most impactful insights from 2024. With 47 episodes of inspiring conversations, we explore the technological breakthroughs, systemic strategies, and collaborative efforts shaping climate action. Highlights include Dragonfly Energy’s game-changing battery tech, Neara’s grid optimisation solutions, and regenerative agriculture practices from eAgrinom. We also discuss collaborative initiatives...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this special episode of Climate Confident, I sit down with Stephan Müller from SAP to explore a major development in sustainability and finance – the newly launched SAP Green Ledger. Stephan, a finance expert at SAP, explains how this tool applies the same rigorous accounting principles used in finance to carbon emissions, offering companies a new level of transparency and trust in their sustainability reporting. We discuss why CFOs are increasingly being ...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident Podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Katie Anderson, Senior Director at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Katie leads efforts to drive climate action in the food and agriculture supply chain, making her an incredible resource on a topic we need to tackle urgently: methane emissions in agriculture. Methane, a potent but short-lived greenhouse gas, is responsible for a significant portion of agricultural emis...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I had the pleasure of chatting with Chris Kruger, founder of AYK Energy, a leader in marine battery innovation. Together, we delved into the exciting yet challenging world of maritime electrification and the technologies driving its growth. Chris shared insights into the evolution of marine batteries, from their humble beginnings powering communications systems to today's sophisticated propulsion applications....

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I’m joined by John Lang, Project Lead at the Net Zero Tracker and a leading figure in the fight for transparency and accountability in climate action. Together, we explore the complexities behind net zero commitments and unpack what’s needed to transform promises into meaningful results. John explains the work of the Net Zero Tracker, which monitors over 4,000 entities worldwide—including countries, companies,...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident Podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr Ana Nacvalovaite, a research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Kellogg College Centre for Mutual and Co-Owned Business. Ana brought a wealth of insight into a fascinating and complex topic: the role of sovereign wealth funds in advancing sustainability, tackling climate change, and driving equitable global development. We started with the basics—what sovereign wealth f...

Get in touch - leave me a message In this episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I chat with David Nicholson, Mercy Corps' Chief Climate Officer, about their impactful work at the intersection of climate resilience, energy access, and humanitarian action. Mercy Corps operates across 42 countries, tackling critical issues around food and water security, governance, and economic opportunity—all with a climate focus. David explains why energy access, often overlooked in climate adaptat...