Wicked Problems - Climate Tech Conversations

Gil Michel-Garcia is co-founder of EVelution Energy, which is building a solar-powered cobalt processing facility in Yuma, Arizona that could supply enough material for 1 million EV batteries a year to US auto manufacturers. And how competition for critical mineral supplies between China and the West will shape his sector as well as a lot of the politics of the next decade.Cobalt is one of those minerals that has seen wild price swings over the past couple of years: We spoke just as US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with her Chinese counterpart and US President Joe Biden is expected to meet with President Xi Jinping this week, to deescalate recent tensions over among other things those critical minerals vital to the energy transition, and where a tit-for-tat trade dispute over them threatens to either temporarily disrupt supply chains or reconfigure the world into ever more decoupled trading blocs. Gil talks with Richard Delevan about how the sector is being shaped at this moment, and whether he’s worried about how next year’s elections could affect his business and those like it.Subscribe at news.wickedproblems.uk to get this and other episodes with co-host claire bradyAlso find us on:BlueSky - Delevan.bksy.socialAppleSpotifyYouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbds-IoMme638pxF0OLHPfwThanks for listening. See you soon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Wicked Problems - the climate tech podcast that has to be as good as other podcasts, but backwards and in heels.Richard and Claire chat through Akshat Rathi’s new book, Climate Capitalism.They also reflect on their reactions to the new research that says staying under 1.5C of warming might be out of reach, their conversations with Ketan Joshi and Susan Joy Hassol. And the answers to the question, what should we be saying about the 1.5C target in light of their new research - from Leo Hickman of Carbon Brief, asked by James Murray at the BusinessGreen Net Zero Festival, and Akshat Rathi of Bloomberg and Solitare Townsend of the consultancy, Futerra.Subscribe at news.wickedproblems.uk to get more episodes, and our newsletter.Some of the episodes and resources we reference:* Climate Capitalism, by Akshat Rathi - tl;dl - It’s great and you should buy multiple copies.Other episodes we reference: Ketan Joshi, Susan Joy Hassol, BusinessGreen Net Zero Festival, Alastair Campbell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Climate scientist Susan Joy Hassol discusses new research on climate models and the urgency of immediate action in combating the climate crisis. She emphasizes the importance of storytelling, phasing out fossil fuels, and creating a better world through climate technologies. Hassol shares her final thoughts on telling a positive story about the future and provides further resources.

Exploring the feasibility of achieving the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal. Discussing the recent reports by the IEA on fossil fuel peaking and renewable energy targets. Emphasizing the importance of communication and motivation. Recommending climate tech and climate change resources. Discover where to find the guest's work and upcoming episodes in the series.

Welcome back to Wicked Problems. It’s been quite a week and we’re not even halfway through yet. So on Halloween, for a treat, Richard Delevan did some reporting at Day One of the BusinessGreen Net Zero Festival. This episode offers you some excerpts of some of the best conversations from the day, as well as some chats with those intrepid folks working the booths. You’ll hear from James Murray, editor of BusinessGreenLucy Siegle, writer, broadcaster and environmentalistAlex Scott, E3GSolitaire Townsend, Chief Solutionist at FuterraLeo Hickman, editor of Carbon BriefJake Dubbins, MD of Media BountyPamela Stathaki, DentsuMatt Winning, environmental economist and stand-up comicand Alastair Campbellwe also caught up with * Paul Bains, supply lead at The Felix Project* Paul Gosling - director of Sustainability & Environment at Hays Recruitment, who mentioned his Sustainable Futures - Career Conversations pod* Julie from the Woodland Trust, who hooked us up with a very cool VR tour of woodlands* Faye from the Community Massage Project (communitymassageproject.co.uk). If you’re hearing this on your way to Day Two of the Net Zero Festival do go check them out. We also caught the moment when an Extinction Rebellion protestor crashed one of the panel discussions and was calmly and respectfully handled by James Murray. You can have a look at the whole exchange:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pem0d919cJg Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

IEA's World Energy Outlook, COP28, Hydrogen hopium, CCUS, predatory delay, HVDC, electrification, LDES, Michael Liebreich, and MPs "with the STEM background of illiterate newts"Subscribe to our newsletter at news.wickedproblems.uk, and get new #climatetech conversations first with co-hosts Richard Delevan and Claire Brady.Michael Barnard is a Forbes and Cleantechnica contributor, chief strategist at The Future is Electric, and climate futurist advising global corporates and financial institutions on decarbonisation scenarios with 80-year horizons. And woe be unto you if you turn up in his LinkedIn comments without receipts. This week the IEA released its 2023 World Energy Outlook, an updated Michael Liebreich Hydrogen Ladder 5.0, and #COP28 is only a month away - making it the perfect time to check in with the most unfiltered energy and climate tech strategists around. He comprehensively out-nerds host Richard Delevan in this episode of the Wicked Problems Podcast. Michael’s Catalysts: Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters by Richard Rummelt - a key for understanding Barnard’s ruthless focus on what’s real.Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order by Ray Dalio Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy by Kishore Mambabani - The Eminence Grise behind Singapore’s Lee Kwan Yew Co-hosts Claire Brady (LinkedIn) and Richard Delevan will be back soon with another epsiode. Send your feedback and ideas for guests and topics at info@wickedproblems.uk and subscribe at news.wickedproblems.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Richard Delevan gives you an audio read of today’s Wicked Problems newsletter with some bonus content. For links to all the content mentioned, do check out the newsletter - https://wickedpr0blems.substack.com/p/will-new-disclosure-rules-or-cop28-force-more We talk through IPCC Chair Jim Skea’s maiden interview on BBCRadio 4, and look at the slow quiet march of the rule makers in California and Brussels that might have more lasting impact - and climate tech opportunity - than COP28.Some other great links we do mention: John Reynolds’ exclusive interview in The Currency with Energy Impact Partners on their plans for Irish climate tech.Congrats to Niall Mac Dowell on his new Xiron Globalconsultancy with some super-smart collaborators out of Shell, the UK Civil Service and the US DOE. Good time to get some beachfront property 25 miles from the current shoreline, thanks to Antarctic ice sheet collapse.Check out THAT Bassem Youssef/Piers Morgan interview. And the real-world 1909 kidnap and extortion plot to kill solar PV research, uncovered by an Oxford post-doc. Leave us feedback and subscribe to our newsletter at wickedproblems.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Until the rise of carbon removal, carbon offsets have been the foundation of voluntary carbon markets, but have withered under scrutiny from John Oliver to the Guardian. Can that market be fixed? Or will it always be hot air?Tech policy brains at the UK's Startup Coalition and finance brawn of the City of London launched the Carbon Markets Innovation Forum, bringing together 12 climatetech startups to help future governments see how technology could bring more integrity and transparency. Including UNDO - their CEO Jim Mann spoke to us in Episode 2.Catherine Macguinness, Councillor and fmr Carbon Markets Policy Chair at City of London Corporation, in CityAM Friday: https://www.cityam.com/more-than-just-hot-air-the-uk-should-be-the-home-of-a-carbon-market-that-actually-works/Richard Delevan spoke with two of the key players organising the effort:Valerio Magliulo, CEO of carbon procurement and intelligence platform AbatableCharlie Mercer, deputy policy director of Startup CoaltionCatalysts:The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells (Charlie)The Case for Nature: Pioneering Solutions for the Other Planetary Crisis by Siddarth Shrikanth (Valerio)Climate Capitalism by Akshat Rathi“Sustainability geek” Claire Brady joins us in her second episode as co-host! Follow her on LinkedIn and subscribe at https://wickedpr0blems.substack.com .  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With 40 days until COP28, expect to be hearing a lot more about carbon removal. We spoke with one of the UK’s leading founders in the space - Jim Mann of UNDO, the UK-based pioneer in enhanced rock weathering. Jim tells Richard Delevan why we can’t just plant a trillion trees to draw down CO2, whether carbon removals creates a moral hazard that gives oil and gas a longer license to operate, and the challenges of scaling. Subscribe to our newsletter at wicked problems.uk.Jim’s Catalysts:Al Gore’s An Inconvenient TruthThe New Climate War by Michael E. MannClimate scientist Katherine HayhoeSome additional resources from UNDO:Scaling our Community and Carbon Removal SolutionStakeholder engagement statementUNDO is also a founding member of the recently signed Reykjavik Protocol. According to its statement, the Protocol is “a set of principles that governs how [nature-deployed carbon credit] suppliers can responsibly bring their solutions to market.”Claire Has Entered the Chat“Sustainability geek” Claire Brady joins us in her debut episode as co-host! Follow her on LinkedIn and subscribe. We’ll be back tomorrow with a companion episode to this chat with Jim Mann - featuring Abatable CEO Valerio Magliulo and Charlie Mercer from the Startup Coalition. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Christian Hernandez tells Richard Delevan what it takes to be a successful climate tech founder and what’s surprised him in climate tech investing since setting up 2150; why interest rates matter; where he sees opportunities going forward; and who from the “Facebook mafia” and old-skool VC he’s seen make the pivot to climate tech.Christian’s Catalysts: The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells - and do check out his NY Times guest hosting on Ezra Klein’s show.How to Avoid a Climate Disaster; The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need, by Bill Gates - which gave Christian “techno-optimism” about solutions after having the “living daylights” scared out of him by Wallace-Wells.Speed and Scale; An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now, by John Doerr.Blue Frontier, a 2150 portco rethinking air conditioning, which recently was named one of 15 Climate Tech Companies to Watch by MIT Tech Review.Christian also gave shoutouts to people from his old tech days that have made the pivot to climate tech like Joshua March, co-founder of Sci-Fi Foods, and Michelle You, co-founder of Supercritical. And some VCs who also made the pivot: Daniel Waterhouse at Balderton; Albert Wenger at Union Square Ventures Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.