Supercool

Mike Faherty grew up surfing the Jersey Shore, surrounded by coastal style but chasing something that felt more enduring. Even as a kid, he obsessed over fabrics—the way silk ties carried weight, how colors layered, how clothes gained character through texture. By seventeen, he had already mapped the outlines of the brand he wanted to build.In 2012, he launched Faherty with his twin brother Alex and sister-in-law Kerry—creating a clothing company rooted in surf culture, elevated by craft, and grounded in responsibility. Today, it's grown into one of the most distinctive brands in American fashion—80+ stores, hundreds of millions in revenue, and a headquarters team of just over 100 people that still moves with the urgency of a “Day One” startup.Faherty doesn’t market itself as a sustainability brand, but responsibility is stitched into its DNA. Seventy-two percent of fabrics already meet the company’s responsible sourcing standard, with a goal of 100% by 2030—all disclosed in its public Impact Report. Regenerative organic cotton from the Amazon. Recycled polyester engineered for softness. Supply chain partners chosen for shared values and trust.In this conversation, Mike, the company's Chief Creative Officer, shares how a lifelong passion for materials became a strategy for innovation—why feel matters, how responsibility shows up behind the seams, and what it takes to scale a modern American fashion brand built for lasting impact.Show NotesGuest: Mike Faherty, Co-founder & Chief Creative OfficerCompany: Faherty Brand Resource: Faherty Brand Impact Report For more low-carbon innovations now scaling—and the playbooks that drive their adoption—subscribe or follow the podcast, plus our:* Weekly Newsletter* YouTube Channel* Supercool on LinkedIn and Instagram 

Forum Mobility is electrifying how America moves freight. Every year, more than 30,000 diesel 18-wheelers haul containers in and out of California’s ports, logging over a billion miles, generating enormous carbon emissions and polluting nearby communities.Electric semis are powerful, quiet, and clean. But at $500,000 apiece with uncertain charging and maintenance, the math doesn’t work for the independent operators — often family-run businesses — who move most containers from port to warehouse, the first mile of logistics known as drayage. The technology is ready. The adoption is stuck.In 2024, Forum Mobility opened the world’s largest port-based charging depot at Long Beach. But the company’s breakthrough isn’t hardware — it’s the model: EV Trucking as a Service. By bundling trucks and charging into a predictable monthly subscription, Forum Mobility makes running electric cheaper than diesel and removes the risk that has stalled adoption.Founder and CEO Matt Leducq saw the same shift in solar, where he built his career and where financing innovation became the key to unlocking market adoption. Now he’s betting the same playbook can electrify freight.Show NotesGuest: Matt Leducq, Co-Founder & CEOCompany: Forum MobilityFor more Supercool climate solutions now scaling—and the playbooks that drive their adoption—subscribe or follow the podcast, plus our:* Weekly Newsletter* YouTube Channel* Supercool on LinkedIn and Instagram 

Most U.S. homes aren’t wired for electrified living, even though the clean energy future depends on it. Upgrading panels and wiring can cost thousands before a single new appliance is even installed.Plus, consumers aren’t demanding electrification. They want lifestyle upgrades—faster, more precise cooking, backup power in a pinch, and appliances that cost less and perform more.Copper has designed the solution. The company is building 21st-century appliances to work on 20th-century infrastructure, i.e., the aging grid we have today. No infrastructure upgrades necessary.Charlie, their first electric appliance, is a sleek, modern induction range equipped with a built-in 5 kWh battery. It plugs into a standard 110-volt kitchen outlet, cooks four times faster than natural gas, charges when renewables are on the grid, and keeps going even during blackouts.Copper’s Founder and CEO, Sam Calisch, helped shape clean energy policy incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act as co-founder of Rewiring America. Now he and the team at Copper are building battery-embedded electric appliances that install easily and perform better.The clean energy transition is cooking.Show NotesGuest: Sam Calisch, Founder and CEOCompany: CopperResource: Wall Street Journal—Maker of Battery-Powered Kitchen Stoves Raises $28 MillionFor more Supercool climate solutions now scaling—and the playbooks that drive their adoption—subscribe or follow the podcast, plus our:* Weekly Newsletter* YouTube Channel* Supercool on LinkedIn and Instagram 

Interface is a public company proving that carbon-negative is possible at scale. The billion-dollar flooring brand has more than 400 carbon-negative products on the market today and a plan to take its entire business carbon-negative by 2040. Liz Minne, Head of Global Sustainability Strategy, shares how Interface is operationalizing that ambition through product innovation, supply chain engagement, and a culture that keeps climate goals at the center of business decisions. She discusses what it means to lead as a public company, how to translate climate targets into everyday execution, and why culture may be Interface’s most important competitive edge. Interface shows that a carbon-negative future isn’t theoretical—it’s now being built in the heart of corporate America.Show NotesGuest: Liz Minné, Head of Global Sustainability StrategyCompany: InterfaceResource: "All In On Carbon" Climate CommitmentFor more Supercool climate solutions now scaling, subscribe or follow the podcast, plus our:* Weekly Newsletter* YouTube Channel* Supercool on LinkedIn and Instagram

At Amazon, speed isn’t a carbon cost—it’s a carbon advantage. The company now runs 30,000 electric delivery vehicles, delivered 1.5 billion packages on battery power last year, and has built over 600 renewable energy projects in more than 20 countries—20 gigawatts of clean energy capacity, making it the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable power.Inside that scale is a playbook for how a global business operationalizes decarbonization without slowing down. Chris Roe, Amazon’s Director of Worldwide Environment for Carbon, and Chris Atkins, Director of Worldwide Operations for Sustainability, share how speed has become a lever for lower emissions, why regionalizing the network cuts both carbon and cost, and how they’re mobilizing teams across the company to hit net zero by 2040—ten years ahead of the Paris Agreement.We cover EV fleet deployment, renewable power strategy, packaging reduction, AI-driven efficiency, and Amazon’s push to bring suppliers and competitors along through The Climate Pledge. It’s a rare inside look at a company turning massive logistics into massive carbon cuts—and inviting others to do the same.Show NotesGuests: - Chris Roe, Director of Worldwide Environment, Carbon - Chris Atkins, Director of Worldwide Operations, SustainabilityCompany: AmazonResources:- 2024 Amazon Sustainability Report- Amazon's Sustainability ExchangeFor more Supercool climate solutions now scaling, subscribe or follow the podcast, plus our:* Weekly Newsletter* YouTube Channel* Supercool on LinkedIn and Instagram

For fifty years, Brompton has been the most iconic name in urban cycling. Engineered and made in London, beloved by city riders, and still unrivaled in how fast it folds and how good it feels to ride.But in the U.S., where biking is still mostly recreational and folding bikes barely register, the brand faces a different challenge: how to scale a joy-filled, performance-driven mobility tool in a market that doesn’t know it needs it.Juliet Scott-Croxford, President of the Americas, is modernizing everything around the fold—retail, product, e-commerce, community—while keeping the company’s elite dealer network close. This is how a legacy brand retains its stature while accelerating growth—by evolving everything but the reason people love it. And why joy might be the most underrated climate signal of all.Show NotesGuest: Juliet Scott-Croxford, President of the AmericasCompany: BromptonFor more Supercool climate solutions now scaling, subscribe or follow the podcast, plus our:* Weekly Newsletter* YouTube Channel* Supercool on LinkedIn and Instagram

To scale climate solutions, you have to know how to talk about them. The companies driving climate adoption don’t just offer better solutions—they tell better stories. Stories that reframe clean energy as the smarter, cheaper, everyday choice. Stories that win customers, sway skeptics, and shift markets.Keith Zakheim has spent two decades working with climate brands to sharpen their strategy and scale their message. As CEO of Antenna Group, he’s shaped the public narrative around clean energy, circular economy, and climate tech adoption—long before those terms entered the mainstream lexicon.Keith joins Josh to unpack the new landscape resulting from the One Big Beautiful Bill, the continued surge of private investment, and why even in the Age of Adoption, the right story still determines who grabs market share—and who falters. They break down how Antenna’s new AI tool, Conscious Compass, evaluates whether a brand’s sustainability rhetoric matches reality. And they explore why messaging grounded in prosperity, security, and abundance may be 2025’s most strategic climate language.Clean energy won’t scale because the climate crisis demands it. It’ll scale because it feels as distinctly American as football in the fall.Show NotesGuest: Keith Zakheim, CEO Company: Antenna Group Article referenced: The Hill - Why the climate and sustainability economy will thrive in a Trump presidencyFor more Supercool climate solutions now scaling, subscribe or follow the podcast, plus our:* Weekly Newsletter* YouTube Channel* Supercool on LinkedIn and Instagram

Industrial hemp always had believers. What it lacked was a supply chain. Hempitecture is changing that—starting with the first commercial-scale factory in the U.S. making high-performance home insulation from hemp.Headquartered in Idaho, the company has shipped to 5,000+ customers across 48 states. It’s now the largest buyer of industrial hemp fiber in North America—proving that a crop once sidelined by regulation and volatility can power a fast-growing manufacturing business.In this episode, co-founder Tommy Gibbons shares the operational playbook: how Hempitecture proved its insulation performs, raised capital through crowdfunding when venture capital didn’t show up, and built a new distribution model in a category with no precedent. Hempitecture’s insulation cuts carbon in two ways—by lowering embodied emissions during manufacturing and reducing operational emissions once installed.Nearly a century after hemp was banned in 1937, the supply chain is finally getting built—with carbon impact to match.And this time, it’s not just legal—it’s scalable.Show NotesGuest: Tommy Gibbons, co-founder and Chief Innovation OfficerCompany: HempitectureFor more Supercool climate solutions now scaling, subscribe or follow the podcast, plus our:* Weekly Newsletter* YouTube Channel* Supercool on LinkedIn and Instagram

Consumers want the upgrades. The climate does too. But the electrical panel in the garage stands in the way.EVs, heat pumps, induction stoves—electrification is becoming more attractive. The products are faster, cleaner, cheaper to run. But nearly 48 million U.S. homes still rely on outdated 100-amp service. That means expensive utility upgrades, long delays, and a halt to progress.Arch Rao, former Tesla Energy product lead, built Span to fix the bottleneck. The Span Panel replaces the old breaker box with a connected, intelligent device that lets homeowners add electric appliances without triggering a full service upgrade. It works with solar, batteries, and EVs—and gives people visibility and control over their energy use for the first time.Span is the upgrade that makes all the other upgrades possible. And with Span Edge, utilities can manage demand house by house, neighborhood by neighborhood—without building more poles and wires.Span turns a forgotten piece of hardware into a platform for electrification—at home, and across the grid.Show NotesGuest: Arch Rao, Founder & CEOCompany: SpanFor more Supercool climate solutions now scaling, subscribe or follow the podcast, plus our:* Weekly Newsletter* YouTube Channel* Supercool on LinkedIn and Instagram

David Roberts, founder of Volts and a clean energy journalist for 20 years, discusses the precarious state of America's clean energy future. He contrasts the U.S. retreat in climate policy with the global rise of renewable investments, particularly in China. Roberts emphasizes solar energy's declining costs and its transformative potential for society. He explores the urgency of enhancing the energy grid and local energy solutions, and highlights the critical role of grassroots movements in driving the clean energy revolution.