The Green Blueprint

Note: this is a crossover episode between The Carbon Copy and Columbia Energy Exchange.The conflict between Ukraine and Russia is intensifying. President Biden says that Putin could send troops into Ukraine any day.Some NATO countries, including the US, are sending military equipment to Ukraine. But Germany is holding back. And that is partly because of fears over gas supply.Jason Bordoff has been watching the diplomatic dance. And it is closely tied to the geopolitics of energy.It reveals the tricky dynamics between Russia and the rest of Europe. Countries like Germany have invested vast amounts of money in renewables in the hopes of cutting dependence on imported fossil fuels. But they’re still deeply tied to Russia’s gas. This week on The Carbon Copy: how a clean energy transition might actually strengthen petrostates like Russia, before finally changing who wields the power.Guest: Jason Bordoff, Director of the Center on Global Energy Policy and host of Columbia Energy Exchange. The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.The Carbon Copy is supported by Atmos Financial. Atmos offers FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts that only invest in climate-positive assets like renewables, green construction and regenerative agriculture. Modern banking for climate-conscious people. Get an account in minutes at joinatmos.com.The Carbon Copy is also supported by Climate Positive, a podcast from Hannon Armstrong, the first U.S. public company solely dedicated to investing in climate solutions. Climate Positive podcast features candid conversations with the leaders, innovators, and changemakers driving our climate-positive future. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

For the first time ever, the Winter Olympic games will rely entirely on artificial snow. It’s a reality that could become more common as the planet warms. And it has environmental experts concerned. Nearly 50 million gallons of water are being piped in to serve the Beijing games, possibly setting reserves in this water-stressed region back by hundreds of years.Meanwhile, China says this year's event is the most environmentally-sound winter games ever. But there's no system to track those claims – and some researchers say the Olympic games are actually getting worse for the environment over time.This week on The Carbon Copy: why claims about the sustainability of the Olympics are often greenwashing. Guest: Christian Shepherd, China Correspondent for The Washington Post. Read his article about the winter games here. The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.The Carbon Copy is supported by Atmos Financial. Atmos offers FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts that only invest in climate-positive assets like renewables, green construction and regenerative agriculture. Modern banking for climate-conscious people. Get an account in minutes at joinatmos.com.The Carbon Copy is also supported by Climate Positive, a podcast from Hannon Armstrong, the first U.S. public company solely dedicated to investing in climate solutions. Climate Positive podcast features candid conversations with the leaders, innovators, and changemakers driving our climate positive future. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Batteries are everywhere. In our electronics, our power tools, our electric grid, and in our cars. And almost all those batteries use a lithium-ion chemistry.To make an all-electric world possible, we're going to need a lot of lithium. Prices are up 400 percent over 2021. And demand is expected to increase fivefold over the next decade.The Imperial Valley in southern California is home to the Salton Sea, a land-locked body of water that contains vast reserves of lithium. California Governor Gavin Newsom called the region the "Saudi Arabia of Lithium." If mined, it could completely reshape the global supply chain.But locals who live near the Salton Sea – a region plagued by unemployment and pollution – worry that the rush to extract the resource won't benefit the people living there. This week on The Carbon Copy: California has ambitious plans to fuel the global EV boom with the Salton Sea’s lithium. But will the people who need it most get left behind?Guests: Independent reporter Aaron Cantú, who wrote about the Salton Sea’s Lithium industry here. And Luis Olmedo, executive director of Comité Cívico del Valle.The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.Support for Carbon Copy comes from Climate Positive, a podcast from Hannon Armstrong, the first U.S. public company solely dedicated to investing in climate solutions. Climate Positive podcast features candid conversations with the leaders, innovators, and changemakers driving our climate positive future. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Note: this is a crossover episode between The Big Switch and The Carbon Copy. If you like what you hear, consider subscribing to both.When Covid disrupted the economy and shifted energy use, it sharply brought down economy-wide carbon emissions. Many wondered: would the pandemic-related changes to our energy system help or hurt the path to a net-zero carbon economy?Two years later, we have clearer data: a new report from the Rhodium Group on how emissions from fossil fuels have shifted since the pandemic started. In some cases, they've roared back faster than expected.This week on The Carbon Copy: what the latest emissions data tells us about what has shifted -- and what hasn't -- across America's carbon-dependent economy.Guest: Melissa Lott, Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University and host of The Big Switch. The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.Support for Carbon Copy comes from Climate Positive, a podcast from Hannon Armstrong, the first U.S. public company solely dedicated to investing in climate solutions. Climate Positive podcast features candid conversations with the leaders, innovators, and changemakers driving our climate positive future. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Note: this is a crossover episode between Volts and The Carbon Copy. If you like what you hear, consider subscribing to both. Pop culture is increasingly grappling with climate change themes. And some of it is appealing to wide audiences.But Hollywood films with climate themes are often dystopic and heavy-handed. They fail to consider the forces causing it right now in nuanced ways.So when David Roberts heard about a new Netflix film last December called Don't Look Up, he figured it would be more of the same. But he was delighted when screenwriter and director Adam McKay flipped the disaster-movie premise.It worked. Don’t Look Up became one of the most popular movies ever on Netflix. And it sparked an overwhelming online response among climate scientists, culture writers, and audiences responding to the angst.This week on The Carbon Copy: a conversation between David Roberts and Adam McKay about the inspiration, themes, and impact of the film. Will it convince Hollywood to approach climate differently? Guest: David Roberts, founder of the Volts Newsletter & Podcast. Read his review of the film. Listen to the extended version of his interview with Adam McKay.The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.Support for Carbon Copy comes from Climate Positive, a podcast from Hannon Armstrong, the first U.S. public company solely dedicated to investing in climate solutions. Climate Positive podcast features candid conversations with the leaders, innovators, and changemakers driving our climate positive future. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Hawaii wants a carbon-free electric grid by 2045. First, the island of Oahu must replace a major coal plant later this year.But will there be enough renewable energy to fill the gap?This week on The Carbon Copy: we examine the delays that are causing complications with Hawaii’s transition away from coal. We’re joined by Canary Senior Reporter Julian Spector, who recently traveled to Oahu to investigate the story.Hawaii has long been a nationwide leader in solar development. In 2015, lawmakers crafted a law mandating an all-renewable grid within a few decades. And last year, they passed a bill that would end coal production.As large-scale solar and battery projects like the Kapolei Energy Storage facility break ground, Hawaii is inching closer to a fossil-free grid. But impediments to projects are causing concern that the grid will get dirtier – and maybe less reliable – when the AES coal plant shuts down. “If things don't go smoothly, it certainly could give fodder to people who say that, it's dangerous to move too fast. That would be an unforced error for the energy transition because, technically there's no reason that this shouldn't work,” explains Julian.Guest: Julian Spector, senior reporter at Canary Media. The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.Support for Carbon Copy comes from Climate Positive, a podcast from Hannon Armstrong, the first U.S. public company solely dedicated to investing in climate solutions. Climate Positive podcast features candid conversations with the leaders, innovators, and changemakers driving our climate positive future. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

President Biden wants to slash America’s carbon emissions by half in a decade. He can’t achieve that goal without passing Build Back Better, a massive social-spending bill that devotes half a trillion dollars to clean energy.Build Back Better would be the biggest American investment in climate technologies and programs ever. The stakes couldn’t be higher.But with a slim Democratic majority in the Senate, a single dissenting vote legislator threatens to derail the bill. And right before Christmas, Senator Joe Manchin declared that he will not vote for it.So are Biden’s climate ambitions dead? Not quite.There’s still hope that Senator Manchin will come around – even if it means another period of intense negotiations.This week: an insider gives an optimistic assessment of how we move ahead with America's most ambitious piece of climate legislation.Guest: Katherine Hamilton, chair of 38 North Solutions.The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.The Carbon Copy is brought to you by Oracle. Oracle unlocks the energy of everyone. With the most comprehensive technology solutions and a deep understanding of human behavior, Oracle is putting people at the center of the energy transition. Learn more about Oracle’s vision of making the distributed, people-centered grid a reality: go.oracle.com/energyofeveryone.

Every December, TIME magazine picks an individual or group of people to be the "person of the year." This year, TIME picked a guy who equally inspires and infuriates: Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Musk is a culture-shifting CEO who brought the business of climate solutions into the zeitgeist in surprising – and sometimes weird – waysHe became the wealthiest person in the world partly because he sold his mission to make climate-positive technologies a reality – even when incumbents and skeptical investors never thought it could happen.But Tesla's history is also filled with failed or missing products – or even outright lies.This week: a brief history of Tesla. Has it lived up to Musk's original vision of building a sustainable energy company to vanquish fossil fuels?Guest: Eric Wesoff, Editorial Director at Canary Media. The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.The Carbon Copy is brought to you by Oracle. Oracle unlocks the energy of everyone. With the most comprehensive technology solutions and a deep understanding of human behavior, Oracle is putting people at the center of the energy transition. Learn more about Oracle’s vision of making the distributed, people-centered grid a reality: go.oracle.com/energyofeveryone.

The term “carbon footprint” is everywhere. But it’s not rooted in the environmental movement. It’s rooted in a two-decade corporate marketing campaign created by an oil giant.Mashable Reporter Mark Kaufman recently dug into the backstory of the term. He looked at the history of how companies have used advertising to shift the burden of responsibility for industry pollution away from them, and onto us. And that brought him to BP, which launched a highly successful marketing campaign around “beyond petroleum” -- and put the carbon footprint at the center. This week: The story of how that campaign is still fooling us about the real solutions to climate change.Guest: Mark Kaufman, a climate reporter for Mashable. You can read his article about the history behind the carbon footprint here. The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.The Carbon Copy is brought to you by Oracle. Oracle unlocks the energy of everyone. With the most comprehensive technology solutions and a deep understanding of human behavior, Oracle is putting people at the center of the energy transition. Learn more about Oracle’s vision of making the distributed, people-centered grid a reality: go.oracle.com/energyofeveryone.

At the start of the year, a city councilman in Tampa, Florida crafted a resolution for 100% clean energy by 2030.The resolution was non-binding and quite common. Nearly 200 cities around America have vowed to get 100% of their electricity from zero-carbon resources. But it also included language that would set off a political chain reaction in the state: an aspiration to phase out fossil fuels.It scared the local gas and power utility, Tampa Electric, which used its lobbying power and money to launch a more aggressive counter-strike. And it spawned new Republican legislation that will restrict what cities can do about climate change.This week: what Florida tells us about the new front in the conflict over climate policy across America. Guest: Grist Reporter Emily Pontecorvo, who co-authored a story about the gas industry’s influence on Florida’s new laws. The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.The Carbon Copy is brought to you by Oracle. Oracle unlocks the energy of everyone. With the most comprehensive technology solutions and a deep understanding of human behavior, Oracle is putting people at the center of the energy transition. Learn more about Oracle’s vision of making the distributed, people-centered grid a reality: go.oracle.com/energyofeveryone.