Michael Liebreich is the host of the podcast Cleaning Up, focused on leadership in the age of climate change. Michael was previously the CEO and founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance. He has been involved with the organization for 20 years, still serving as a senior contributor. Michael also runs an advisory firm, Liebreich and Associates, focused on clean energy and sustainable development, and he's an advisor to the UK Board of Trade. All of this is just scratching the surface of Michael's background, which also includes having been a member of the British Ski Team and a participant in the 1992 Winter Olympics.This episode explores Michael’s accomplishments and how he came to focus on climate and clean energy topics, how he started New Energy Finance and the decision to sell the business to Bloomberg, as well as the legacy that he created with the business. Michael and Cody then cover a hit list of topics, including recent climate legislation in the US and the EU, the topic of green protectionism and Michael's “five horsemen” of big challenges the world faces as we try to decarbonize.This conversation merely grazes the surface of Michael's climate-related interests, including his deep focus on hydrogen. So, for more from Michael, you'll need to check out his conversations on the Cleaning Up podcast.In this episode, we cover: [01:58]: Michael's unique background[06:49]: Transitioning to journalism in the early internet era[08:48]: Michael's personal climate epiphany in the Swiss Alps[12:34]: Starting a data-driven media company to fill the clean energy information gap[18:05]: Pivoting to insight services[18:57]: Bloomberg's acquisition of New Energy Finance (NEF)[22:21]: Running Bloomberg NEF as CEO[25:27]: Stepping away from NEF and growing his professional network[26:53]: Paid speaking engagements and transitioning to podcasting during COVID[28:10]: Michael's approach to the Cleaning Up podcast[36:31]: The struggles and advantages of being generalists[38:34]: Europe's energy situation over the winter of '22-'23 and the urgent need to address dependence on Russian energy[40:54]: The role of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) terminals in Europe[42:58]: European response to the Inflation Reduction Act and "Green Protectionism"[48:08]: Caution around the practice of recycling and re-exporting items for credits[51:22] Michael's main concerns for clean energy deployment, including rare metals and recycling[52:38] Addressing the speed with which societies can approve and build transmission[56:43]: Limited access to capital in developing countries[01:00:41]: Resilience and intermittency issues[01:03:49]: Closing thoughts and how to follow Michael's workGet connected: Michael Liebreich Twitter / LinkedInCody SimmsMCJ Podcast / Collective*You can also reach us via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.Episode recorded on May 10, 2023 Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.Connect with MCJ:Cody Simms on LinkedInVisit mcj.vcSubscribe to the MCJ Newsletter*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Today’s guest is Emily McAteer, co-founder and CEO of Odyssey Energy Solutions, helping emerging market project developers to finance, build and operate distributed renewable energy at scale. How the Global South modernizes is the original climate justice debate that has been a key topic of global policy discussions for decades, going back to the Kyoto Protocol of the 1990s and even earlier. The crux of the conversation is that climate change has primarily been caused by the 20th century economic development of the United States, Western Europe, Japan, et cetera. And if the rest of the world were to follow the same fossil fuel enabled development path, we'd rapidly blow past emissions targets and into the worst possible climate change outcomes. So what's the rest of the world to do?The answer seems to be to leapfrog, to modernize via a network of distributed renewable energy technology as opposed to a monolithic fossil fuel-powered grid. And yet that also introduces a whole new host of questions. Emily's been working at the nexus of climate and emerging markets for just about her whole career and brings a wealth of experience into Odyssey while working on answering these questions. In this episode, Cody and Emily have a great conversation about energy access in emerging markets today, what new distributed grids will look like, how development finance institutions (DFIs) work and the role of nation states in securing financing for energy projects. We also cover how Odyssey is bringing financing, procurement, and operational solutions to market to solve the local problems inherent in this space. Emily and Odyssey just announced a seed round led by Equal Ventures that we at MCJ Collective were honored to participate in. So we’re welcoming Emily today as an MCJ Collective portfolio CEO, as well as an MCJ podcast guest. Enjoy the show! In this episode, we cover: [3:16] Emily's dedicated career in climate [10:18] Grid challenges in emerging markets [14:51] Financing gaps for small projects [17:33] The Nigeria Electrification Project case study [21:38] Profile of project developers in emerging markets [23:56] An overview of Odyssey's solution [28:38] The company's FERN platform [31:44] How Odyssey is scaling and handling projects in multiple countries [35:09] The capital they've raised thus far and what they're using it forGet connected: Cody's TwitterOdyssey TwitterMCJ Podcast / Collective*You can also reach us via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.Episode recorded on  September 21, 2022. Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.Connect with MCJ:Cody Simms on LinkedInVisit mcj.vcSubscribe to the MCJ Newsletter*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant