Climate Positive

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.

In this episode, Gil Jenkins speaks with internationally renowned economist, author, and activist John Perkins. John Perkins was formerly chief economist at a major consulting firm, where he advised the World Bank, United Nations, Fortune 500 corporations, and the U.S. and other governments—though much of this was a part of his previous work as an economic hit man he later denounced and became a whistleblower on, as he detailed in his New York Times Bestselling memoir, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. John talks about his earlier life as an economic hitman — including his profound awakening around the evils of this work and his journey to becoming a crusader for transforming our failing Death Economy that destroys its own resources and nature itself into a flourishing Life Economy that renews itself. In the conversation, he shares a simple exercise in the form of five key questions we can all ask ourselves to shift our perceptions and move toward this Life Economy as he describes it.John also discusses his involvement with the Living Earth Movement—a collection of leaders in theology, business, science, activism, and academia passionate about combating climate change and preserving life as we know it. The Living Earth Movement was started around a righteous call for the U.S. and China to work together on climate. John’s next book, out in February 2023, focuses on the U.S.-China relationship. John and Gil also discussed Russia’s war on Ukraine and how that has dramatically changed geopolitical dynamics, focusing on energy and climate.Links:John Perkins WebsiteJohn Perkins on FacebookJohn Perkins on TwitterThe Living Earth Movement WebsiteDr. John Cobb's (of the Living Earth Movement) Letter to Presidents Biden and Xi (October 2021)Episode recorded:  July 22, 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.

This week we’re presenting a special bonus episode where Gil Jenkins joined fellow podcasters for the most recent edition of the Cleantech Podcasters Quarterly Roundtable, hosted by Tigercomm & SunCast Media.We covered topics such as the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on EPA power plant regulations, the implications for energy markets due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the escalating attacks by pro-fossil fuel pundits, and a whole lot more. Please note that we recorded this conversation before Senator Manchin’s surprise and welcome support for climate provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. In the show notes, we’ve linked to all the terrific podcasters included in this roundtable. Please give them a follow when you have a chance. We hope you enjoy this rich, one-hour discussion on the top clean energy trends, developments, challenges, and opportunities ahead of us. Other podcasters included in this roundtable (you can find them wherever you listen to podcasts): Mike Casey – Scaling Clean Podcast Emily Chasan – The Energy Gang Nico Johnson – SunCast PodcastTim Montague – Clean Power HourBill Nussey – The Freeing Energy PodcastJoshua Porter – The Solar Coaster PodcastEpisode recorded: July 21, 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.

As CEO of GridPoint, Mark Danzenbaker believes that energy efficiency can be harnessed to make the power grid more sustainable and resilient.  GridPoint does this by installing energy optimization hardware in mid-sized commercial buildings that are often overlooked by efficiency programs. GridPoint works with corporations that have many sites across the country and provides real time data on savings and energy consumption for a client’s portfolio of buildings.  As their reach has expanded, the network of buildings GridPoint serves has become an important way to partner with utilities to manage energy demand during heat waves and other periods of high energy use. In this episode, Hilary Langer talks with Mark about how GridPoint engages clients both in front of and behind the meter to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable grid.  Links:GridPointMark Danzenbaker LinkedInCanary Media: “Goldman Sacs and Shell bet $75M that chain stores can boost grid resiliency” Episode recorded: July 6, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at climatepositive@hasi.com.

With the meteoric rise in net-zero commitments and “green” capital raises by corporations and financial institutions, investors and consumers are wondering if these statements are credible. Do “green” labels actually accelerate the flow of capital to companies and projects seeking to improve our climate future? In this episode, Chad Reed sits down with Desiree Fixler (former chief sustainability officer at DWS), Tim Mohin (chief sustainability officer at Persefoni), and Erik Becker (senior vice president of corporate development at Arcadia) at the GreenFin22 Conference in New York City to discuss why “green” financial products and labels are ineffective and why actually counting carbon levels the playing field for investors and consumers alike. Links:GreenFin: The Premier ESG Event Aligning Sustainability and Capital MarketsArticle: Deutsche Bank, DWS Raided Over Allegations of Greenwashing (Bloomberg, May 31, 2022)Article: The ESG Mirage (Bloomberg, December 10, 2021)Article: The Secret Diary of a ‘Sustainable Investor’ – Part 4 (Epilogue) (Tariq Fancy, June 2022)Article: Supreme Court Strips Federal Government of Crucial Tool to Control Pollution (The New York Times, June 30, 2022)Article: Re: File No. S7-10-22: The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors (Jeffrey W. Eckel, June 17, 2022)Episode recorded: June 28, 2022 Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at climatepositive@hasi.com.