Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate Change

Meredith Adler is Executive Director of Student Energy, a global youth-led organization empowering young people to accelerate the sustainable energy transition.Adler has served as Executive Director of Student Energy since 2015, during which time the organization’s network has expanded to comprise 50,000 young people in 120 countries. Adler was Global Community Manager at Student Energy before commencing her directorship.Prior to joining Student Energy, Adler was Communications Coordinator at Clean Energy Canada, and has held positions at Great Basin Water Network and the Student Conservation Association.Adler holds a degree in Geography from the University of British Columbia, and is a keen climber.https://studentenergy.org/https://studentenergy.org/program/space-for-youth/https://studentenergy.org/program/guided-projects/https://www.cleaningup.live/ep83-alex-honnold-free-solar/  

David Cebon is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Cambridge, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight, and a founding member of the Hydrogen Science Coalition. Prof. Cebon leads Cambridge University Engineering Department’s Transport Research Group and the Department's research theme 'Energy, Transport and Urban Infrastructure'.Prof. Cebon’s research covers the mechanical, civil, and materials aspects of road transport engineering.  He has authored or co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed papers on the dynamics, safety, and environmental performance of heavy-goods vehicles. He has a strong current focus on vehicle energy consumption and decarbonisation. Prof. Cebon is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.The Centre for Sustainable Road Freighthttps://www.csrf.ac.uk/blogs/Hydrogen Science Coalitionhttps://h2sciencecoalition.com/Our episode with Simon Morrish, CEO and Founder of Xlinkshttps://www.cleaningup.live/ep92-simon-morrish-650-leagues-of-hvdc-under-the-sea/Prof. Cebon's blogpost on hydrogen versus heat pumps for heatinghttps://h2sciencecoalition.com/blog/hydrogen-for-heating-a-comparison-with-heat-pumps-part-1/

Ordered as referenced during the show:Meet the Shell Scenarios team | Shell GlobalAfter Ukraine – The Great Clean Energy Acceleration | BloombergNEF (bnef.com)Liebreich: Peak Emissions Are Closer Than You Think – and Here’s Why | BloombergNEF (bnef.com)Ep97: Julio Friedmann "The Carbon Wrangler" | Cleaning Up. Leadership in an age of climate change.Ep105: Nobuo Tanaka "The Race for Clean Energy Dominance" | Cleaning Up. Leadership in an age of climate change.World Energy Outlook – Topics - IEAEp98: Bill McKibben "Writer, Activist & Constructive Disruptor" | Cleaning Up. Leadership in an age of climate change.Ep99: Dev Sanyal "In the Engine Room of the Transition" | Cleaning Up. Leadership in an age of climate change.

Yanis Varoufakis is an academic economist and politician. He’s a member of Greek Parliament, Founder and Secretary-General of MeRA25, a left-wing political party, and famously served as Minister for Finance in Greece in 2015. He subsequently wrote a book about the experience called Adults in the Room (2017), about how the EU stymied his attempts to renegotiate Greece’s debts in the aftermath of the financial crisis.Varoufakis was elected to Greek parliament and appointed Finance Minister in January 2015 by Alexis Tsipras, in the midst of the Greek government-debt crisis. Varoufakis led negotiations over Greece’s bailout conditions with the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank, but failed to agree terms. Varoufakis resigned from government and parliament in August 2015, despite a referendum indicating popular support for his stance.Varoufakis founded MeRA25 in 2018, under whose banner he returned to parliament in 2018. Varoufakis has authored numerous books on the Financial Crisis, austerity and debt, including The Global Minotaur (2011), And the Weak Suffer What They Must? (2016), Talking to my Daughter about the Economy (2017) and Adults in the Room (2017), as well as primers on modern economics and Game Theory.Varoufakis holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Essex, has held posts at the University of Cambridge and the University of Sydney among others, and was Professor of Economic Theory at the University of Athens. Varoufakis is a self-described ‘erratic Marxist’.Watch Episode 32 of Cleaning Up with Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9kHNMyH7bwRead Yanis' response to Michael's takeaways from the episode here: https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2022/11/01/should-electricity-markets-be-reformed-or-disbanded-my-debate-with-michael-liebreich-on-cleaning-up/And Michael's response to Yanis' response (!) here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ra5-C56VYqfkTI9ylkPtOkcpFncOsTYG/view

This week's episode is a recording of Michael's latest blog post for BloombergNEF: https://about.bnef.com/blog/after-ukraine-the-great-clean-energy-acceleration/ Our thanks to BloombergNEF for allowing us to record it and share it with our Cleaning Up audience. 

Dr Silvia Madeddu is a scientist and expert in decarbonisation strategies for energy-intensive industries. Dr Madeddu has a particular area of expertise in industrial heat, and is at the cutting edge of research hoping to transform the energy transition in Europe and beyond. Dr Madeddu is Senior Sustainability Consultant at Schneider Electric as of August this year. In her previous role, Dr Madeddu was part of the Global Energy Systems modelling group and was Senior Scientist on Industry Decarbonisation at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (2018-2022). At PIK, she helmed research into the potential of direct electrification of heat supply for reducing industrial CO2 emissions. Prior to joining PIK, Dr Madeddu served as Chief Scientist at Cambridge Carbon Capture, developing new Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) technologies. Dr Madeddu holds a PhD from the University of Sheffield in Materials Science and Engineering, and a master’s in Science and Technology from the University of Padua. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abbd02/meta https://www.cleaningup.live/ep49-johan-rockstrom-pushing-planetary-boundaries/ https://energy-nest.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwhY-aBhCUARIsALNIC05b1bO9rqQnHHS4SZrSiHDL3Xrmanh0OTZ1bUG5HWn6dIff_EnA_BQaAr3-EALw_wcB https://rondo.com/how-it-works?gclid=Cj0KCQjwhY-aBhCUARIsALNIC07G3jH4EuvDh8k1WrW98KNGf_Zobyhz81isIsSkv_yQkHtjrxOkfZwaAhGcEALw_wcB

Professor Chris Rapley CBE is Professor of Climate Science at University College London’s Department of Earth Sciences. He served previously as Director of the British Antarctic Survey and of the Science Museum, and is a passionate and plain-speaking advocate for Climate Science. Professor Rapley is a Fellow of UCL and of St Edmund's College, Cambridge, a member of the Academia Europaea, Chair of the European Science Foundation’s European Space Sciences Committee, Member of the Advisory Board of the UK government’s Clean Growth Fund, Patron of the Surrey Climate Commission, a member of the Science Advisory board of Scientists’ Warning, and a member of the UK Parliamentary and Scientific Committee. His previous posts include Directorships of the Science Museum and British Antarctic Survey, Chair of the London Climate Change Partnership, President of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, and founder and Head of UCL's Earth Remote Sensing Group. He was Instrument Scientist on astrophysical and solar sounding rocket payloads, of the Bent Crystal Spectrometer on NASA’s Solar Maximum Mission, assisted JPL with the Cassini RADAR instrument, and led numerous ESA studies on the use of radar altimeters to study the Earth. He was Chair of the International Planning Group for the International Polar Year 2007-2008 and Chair of the ESA Director General’s High-Level Science Policy Advisory Committee. In 2014 Prof Rapley and the playwright Duncan Macmillan wrote the acclaimed play ‘2071’ which Prof Rapley performed at the Royal Court theatre and in Hamburg and Brussels. More recently Prof Rapley was the Science Consultant on BBC1’s ‘Climate Change – The Facts’ presented by Sir David Attenborough, and the three-part BBC1/PBS series on Greta Thunberg. In 2003 Prof Rapley was appointed CBE by Her Majesty the Queen. In 2008 he was awarded the Edinburgh Science Medal for having made 'a significant contribution to the understanding and wellbeing of humanity'. Prof Rapley holds a PhD. from UCL in X-ray astronomy, an M.Sc from the University of Manchester in Radio Astronomy, and an MA from Jesus College, Oxford in Physics.

Jonathon Porritt has been on the front line of environmental campaigning for more than 45 years. He has worked tirelessly to promote the solutions to today’s converging environmental crises – including as Director of Friends of the Earth (1980s), co-chair of the Green Party (1980-83), of which he is still a member, Trustee of WWF-UK (1991-2005), Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission (2000-2009), and Chancellor of Keele University (2012-2022). Jonathon is Co-Founder of Forum for the Future – the UK’s leading sustainable development charity – and President of Population Matters and The Conservation Volunteers. His work as author, broadcaster and commentator on sustainable development has had a huge impact over the years, and he is involved in the work of many NGOs, charities and campaigning organizations as Patron, Chair or Special Advisor. His latest book, ‘Hope in Hell’, a powerful call to action on climate change, was published in June 2020. His other recent books include ‘The World We Made’ (2013), ‘Capitalism As If The World Matters’ (Earthscan, revised 2007), ‘Globalism & Regionalism’ (Black Dog 2008) and ‘Living Within Our Means’ (Forum for the Future 2009).Jonathon received a CBE in January 2000 for services to environmental protection.http://www.jonathonporritt.com/https://www.forumforthefuture.org/

Dr. Jennifer Holmgren is CEO of carbon recycling company, LanzaTech. Prior to joining LanzaTech, Dr. Holmgren was VP and General Manager of the Renewable Energy and Chemicals business unit at UOP LLC, a Honeywell Company. Dr. Holmgren is the author or co-author of 50 US patents and more than 30 scientific publications. In 2003, she was the first woman awarded the Malcolm E. Pruitt Award from the Council for Chemical Research (CCR). In 2010, she was the recipient of the Leadership Award from the Civil Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI) for her work in establishing the technical and commercial viability of sustainable aviation biofuels. In 2015 Dr. Holmgren and her team at LanzaTech were awarded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Presidential Green Chemistry Award and she was awarded the BIO Rosalind Franklin Award for Leadership in Industrial Biotechnology. Sustainability magazine, Salt, named Dr. Holmgren as the world’s most compassionate business woman in 2015. In October 2015, Dr. Holmgren was awarded the Outstanding Leader Award in Corporate Social Innovation from the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago. Dr. Holmgren was named as #1 of the most 100 influential leaders in the Bioeconomy by Biofuels Digest for 2016-2017.She currently serves on the board of The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Biofuels Advisory Committee. Dr. Holmgren is also on the Governing Council for the Bio Energy Research Institute in India. The institute has been set up by the DBT (Department of Biotechnology, Indian Government) and IOC (Indian Oil Corporation).Dr. Holmgren holds a B.Sc. degree from Harvey Mudd College, a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from the University of Chicago.