Climate Positive

Dr. Brian von Herzen is the founder and executive director of the Climate Foundation, and a champion of marine permaculture – a process that the Climate Foundation is bringing to scale to reduce carbon, improve food security and regenerate marine ecosystems.In this episode, Hilary Langer and Brian von Herzen discuss the importance of restoring balance to the ocean, how marine permaculture engages populations that depend on the ocean for food, and how his team plans to expand marine permaculture in Asia and around the world. Links Climate FoundationBrian von Herzen, PhD LinkedIn Profile2040 FilmGreenwave Regenerative Ocean Farming on Climate PositiveEpisode Recorded: January 10, 2023Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at climatepositive@hasi.com.

Every day, the alphabet soup of climate and ESG-related NGOs seems to thicken. But their respective raisons d’etre can seem like a mystery for all but the closet of insiders. To help unravel the role of each of these organizations in the broader social movement and policy push for urgent climate action, Chad Reed speaks with Ivan Frishberg, the chief sustainability officer of Amalgamated Bank and a pioneer of climate collaboration for big banks and corporates. Given his historically central and successful role in driving industry collaboration on climate action, Ivan provides key insights into the current state of this evolving landscape, delves into the hot topic of divestment versus engagement, and discusses the merits and significance—or lack thereof—of the so-called ESG backlash. Links:Amalgamated Bank 2021 Corporate Social Responsibility ReportScience Based TargetsIvan Frishberg on TwitterEpisode recorded: December 19, 2022Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at climatepositive@hasi.com.

Corals are the gems of the oceans, creating beautiful colors and shapes that form our reefs while serving many vital functions for life on this planet. With 25-40% already lost, the worldwide coral population faces incredible danger from climate change and other threats. But there is hope. On this week’s episode, Hilary and I talk with Dr. David E. Vaughan, an esteemed marine biologist and author of the new book The Secret Life of Corals: Sex, War, and Rocks that Don’t Roll.Dr. Vaughan has held aquaculture research and development positions for over 45 years. He is best known for developing the innovative restoration technique of “micro-fragmentation, which can speed up coral growth by 25 times by breaking them into tiny little pieces. He is focused on making this innovative process a scalable tool for reef restoration as the Founder of Plant a Million Corals. As you’ll hear in this conversation, David brings great clarity and joy when talking about corals and why they are so important.Links:Book: The Secret Life of Corals: Sex, War and Rocks That Don't RollWebsite: Plant A Million CoralsDr. David E. Vaughn TedX TalkNOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem OverviewEpisode recorded:  December 7, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at climatepositive@hasi.com.

In this episode, Hilary Langer speaks with Michelle Moore, CEO of the nonprofit Groundswell and author of the recently published book, “Rural Renaissance. Revitalizing America’s Hometowns Through Clean Power.” Michelle has spent her career advocating for equitable power.  Her accomplishments range from delivering programs that cut energy use by $11 billion and led to the deployment of 3.2 Gigawatts of new renewable energy production while leading sustainability for the Obama Administration; to developing LEED into a globally recognized brand as Senior Vice President of USGBC. Hilary and Michelle discuss the values that motivate her, why Groundswell is revitalizing rural areas, and how the Inflation Reduction Act will change America. Links:Order “Rural Renaissance”Michelle Moore BioGroundswellMichelle Moore on TwitterInflation Reduction Act and DOE Loan ProgramInterfaceNational Rural Electric Cooperative AssociationUS Green Building CouncilEpisode recorded:  November 9, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at climatepositive@hasi.com.

In this episode, Gil Jenkins speaks with Justin Gillis and Hal Harvey, authors of the recently published book “The Big Fix: 7 Practical Steps to Save Our Planet.” The book offers an everyday citizen's guide to the seven essential changes our communities must enact to bring our greenhouse gas emissions down to zero. Justin Gillis spent a decade as an award-winning reporter for The New York Times covering climate change, where he is a contributing opinion writer for the newspaper now and currently a fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Environment.  Hal Harvey is an acclaimed energy policy advisor and the CEO of San Francisco-based Energy Innovation, a nonpartisan energy and climate policy firm delivering research and analysis to help policymakers make informed choices.Gil, Hal, and Justin discuss the themes, industries, policies, and issues from The Big Fix and highlight the stories of people who are making those changes a reality.Links:Order “The Big Fix”Justin Gillis BioHal Harvey BioJustin Gillis on TwitterHal Harvey on TwitterEnergy Innovation WebsiteEpisode recorded:  October 12, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at climatepositive@hasi.com.

If you’re listening to this podcast, you have probably heard of Shayle Kann. Shayle has been at the frontier of climatetech research, media, and investing for over 15 years. Now a partner with the venture capital firm Energy Impact Partners (EIP), Shayle leads EIP’s Frontier Fund, which invests in revolutionary technologies to enable deep decarbonization. Of course, he’s also the host of the popular climate tech podcast from Canary Media, Catalyst with Shayle Kann.In this episode, Chad Reed and Gil Jenkins walk through Shayle’s diverse and impactful career path and dive deep into several of the Frontier Fund’s portfolio companies along with other emerging issues, including rebuilding trust in carbon markets; climatetech vs. cleantech 1.0; and the promise of the Inflation Reduction Act. Links: Shayle on TwitterShayle on LinkedInEnergy Impact Partners WebsiteEnergy Impact Partners Frontier FundCatalyst PodcastPodcast Ep: What the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 would mean for climatetech (Canary Media, August 5, 2022)TV: Alone (Netflix) Episode recorded: September 29, 2022Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at climatepositive@hasi.com.

As more and more leading companies, governments, and other large buyers of electricity pledge to procure 100% carbon-free energy (CFE), markets are in need of better, more granular information on the time, location, and emissionality of every megawatt-hour that is produced and consumed. To this end, EnergyTag – an independent, non-profit, industry-led initiative – is developing the standards and markets for Granular Certificates (GCs) that enable energy consumers to verify the source of their electricity and carbon emissions in real time. In this episode, Chad Reed sits down with Toby Ferenczi and Killian Daly, the Founder and General Manager, respectively, of EnergyTag. They discuss the cruel irony at the center of deploying more and more renewable energy on local grids, the nuances differentiating 24/7 carbon-free electricity claims from emissionality considerations, and how Granular Certificates can both drive the next generation of carbon accounting (or Carbon Accounting 2.0) as well as accelerate the growth of new markets such as green hydrogen and battery storage. Links:EnergyTagGreenhouse Gas ProtocolWattTime: Avoided Emissions / Emissionality Episode recorded: September 8, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at climatepositive@hasi.com.

Deia Bayoumi is the Vice President of Global Product Management at Bloom Energy, a San Jose-based company whose mission is to make clean, reliable, and affordable energy for everyone globally. In this episode, Deia, a global innovation executive with more than three decades of experience, discusses Bloom’s unique fuel cell and clean hydrogen solutions and the role these technologies play in addressing climate change. Bloom is changing the future of energy with its leading solid oxide platform for distributed generation of electricity and hydrogen. Its customers include many Fortune 100 companies and leaders in manufacturing, data centers, healthcare, retail, higher education, utilities, and other industries.Links:Deia Bayoumi TwitterDeia Bayoumi LinkedInBloom Energy WebsiteBloom Energy Hydrogen Fuel Cells OverviewBloom Energy Electrolyzer Overview Bloom Energy TwitterBloom Energy LinkedInPress Release: Bloom Energy Unveils Electrolyzer to Supercharge the Path to Low-Cost, Net-Zero Hydrogen  (July 14, 2021)Article: Bloom Energy officially launches clean energy Fremont factory (San Jose Mercury News, July 20, 2022)Video: The Bloom Box: An Energy Breakthrough? (CBS 60 Minutes, February 2010)Episode recorded August 23, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at climatepositive@hasi.com.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court in West Virginia v. EPA ruled that the Clean Air Act does not authorize the EPA to require a systematic shift to cleaner sources of electricity generation. Many fear this decision will be devastating to the agency’s and the executive branch’s ability to move the U.S. away from carbon-intensive energy sources and toward cleaner resources to address climate change in the accelerated timeline necessary to avoid its worst impacts. So, in this episode, Chad Reed sits down with Max Rodriguez, an attorney with Pollock Cohen and the primary author of an amicus curiae brief on behalf of 192 Members of Congress supporting the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act. Max discusses in depth the history and justiciability of the case, the major questions doctrine underpinning it, the potentially far-reaching implications of the decision and the related non-delegation doctrine for federal environmental regulations going forward, and much more.Importantly, the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed after this episode was recorded, amends the Clean Air Act to add several specific new programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide funding to the states to develop their own plans. Taken together, these provisions go a long way towards addressing the view of the 6-3 majority in West Virginia v. EPA that Congress has not been clear enough regarding the EPA’s authority to tackle climate change. However, the new law may still fall short of granting EPA the authority to revive the generation-shifting approach struck down by the Court in this case. Links:West Virginia v. Environmental Protection AgencyBrief of 192 Members of Congress as Amici Curiae in Support of RespondentsArticle: The Inflation Reduction Act doesn’t get around the Supreme Court’s climate ruling in West Virginia v. EPA, but it does strengthen EPA’s future abilities (The Conversation, August 24, 2022)Episode recorded: August 8, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at climatepositive@hasi.com.

For decades, many have called nuclear fusion the “holy grail” of energy sources. The undying hope is that fusion will someday provide very cheap, abundant, zero-carbon electricity to all – thereby both decisively addressing the climate crisis and powering economic growth across the globe. But despite decades of well-funded research and even recent technological breakthroughs, we still seem to be years away from a commercially viable fusion reactor. In this episode, Chad Reed speaks with Jim McNiel, Chief Marketing Officer of TAE Technologies, which just raised $250 million in venture financing to support the development of Copernicus – its next-generation hydrogen-boron fusion research reactor. Chad and Jim get into the weeds on the tradeoffs of competing fusion fuels, the longstanding challenge fusion must overcome to reach commercial viability, the role of fusion in our energy future, Star Trek versus Star Wars, and much more.Links:Article: TAE Technologies Exceeds Fusion Reactor Performance Goals By 250% As Company Closes $250 Million Financing Round, Totaling $1.2 Billion To Date (July 2022)Article: Nuclear-fusion reactor smashes energy record (Nature, February 2, 2022)Article: ITER fusion project preparing to outline revised timetable (World Nuclear News, July 11, 2022)Episode recorded:  July 28, 2022Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod. Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at climatepositive@hasi.com.