Decarb Connect

Sitting right at the heart of hard to abate sectors is Lime production – a process that yields materials used in construction and food industries (as well as others). The 400 million tonnes of lime produced annually produces 400m tonnes of co2 from the high heat and energy-intensive chemical process. But there is a positive side to this story – if producers can develop zero carbon lime, there are major opportunities not only in their current end use markets – but also in carbon capture markets.  Join Alex for the first of a two part conversation with Ben Turner of Origen to learn about the challenges for this ‘invisble’ industry and to learn about how Origen’s technology leads to zero carbon product. Ben also talks more specifically about how they are building a business model in the US market in partnership with Vault, a sequestration partner.  Join us to learn about the market opportunities for zero carbon lime and how it can be achieved.  Show links: https://origencarbonsolutions.com/www.decarbconnect.com If you’re interested in decarbonising hard to abate sectors, join us at our international festival directed at industrials, investors, tech and those supporting the energy transition in the more energy intensive sectors:  https://decarbconnect.com/events/decarb-connect-global-festival/Thanks to Janno Media for all your help with the series.

CCUS is a broad term and yet often is applied narrowly to projects focused on underground storage. Aeroborn is one of a number of exciting disruptors with CCUS-tech that allows for the transformation of CO2 into other products… products that are usable whilst also storing the CO2 permanently. In the case of Aeroborn, it is converted to sustainable carbon black materials. Join Alex as she talks with Anna Douglas, the co-Founder and Chief Science Officer for Aeroborn as they talk about the need for reuse of CO2 in products that have high demand, the specific approach they are applying to CO2 transformation and also the way in which they are working with industrials to minimise CO2 output.  Links: https://www.aeroborn.com/www.decarbconnect.comThanks as always to Janno Media for their help and support.

Kicking off our month of focus on innovation, join Alex and Jan Skjoldhammer of NoviOcean to talk about their wave energy tech and the role of wave power in the renewables mix. In this conversation they look at the current instability in the energy market and how new forms of energy could play into it.You’ll also explore the business model and infra around wave energy plus the current costs vs its fossil fuel and renewables competitors… find out what needs to happen to bring this to parity so that it is a cost effective as well as sustainable choice.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR1nl9b5cF8https://noviocean.energy/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-g-skjoldhammer-8807996/ Want more stories and insights on energy transition and how industrials can forge a path to Net Zero? Join us for the Decarb Connect Festival (in London and also online):  https://decarbconnect.com/events/decarb-connect-global-festival/Thanks to Janno Media for their partnership on our journey.

Join one of the Decarbonisation Leaders Network’s council members, Geoff Mackey, for a discussion about his experiences at COP26, the value of carbon literacy, and the core activities underpinning BASF’s sustainability activities.   Throughout the conversation, one of the recurring themes is the power of knowing your CO2 baseline and rooting your strategy in this. We also talked about the need for corporates to both take action but also communicate clearly the challenges that need unpicking on the way to net zero. Always high energy and always engaging - hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did! Links: https://bit.ly/BASF_carbon_management - details from BASF’s site about their approach to co2 managementhttps://decarbconnect.com/decarb-leaders-network/ - join Geoff in our decarbonisation networkwww.decarbconnect.com - find out about our reports, webinars and eventsThanks to Janno Media for their podcast production expertise.

How does a gas utility transition to a clean energy network? Chris Kroeker, Emerging Technology Program Manager of NW Natural, joins Alex to discuss how his company (a gas utility based in Oregon) is transitioning from natural gas to hydrogen.   The conversation explores the need for any transition to deliver economical decarbonization in order to keep industrial clients and jobs in state – and we look at the roadmap to NW offering hydrogen at scale. Find out how NW looks at the opportunities and the challenges around blue and green hydrogen, and the range of plans and resources needed to deliver it. Explore how the business model for hydrogen could work and hear about the step by step approach Chris and his organisation is taking.  Show Links: www.NWNatural.comwww.decarbconnect.com  Thanks to Sassy at Janno Media for production on this epsiode. 

Neil Chatterjee was, until August 2021, the member of the commission at FERC and now is a senior advisor at Hogan Lovells. With a background in policy, legislation and regulation he joined Alex to look at his work with the commission at FERC and what he thinks is needed in the US energy market to make progress to lower carbon energy smooth – specifically his thoughts on the need for congruent state-by-state carbon pricing. We also talk about his expectations of COP26 and future energy transition needs.Links:https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/chatterjee-neilhttps://www.utilitydive.com/news/fercs-chatterjee-questions-clean-energy-standard-says-carbon-pricing-coul/605155/https://ihsmarkit.com/research-analysis/us-ferc-finalizes-carbon-pricing-policy-statement-with-biparti.htmlwww.decarbconnect.comThanks to Janno Media for all their help and support.

Global construction projections point to a massive growth over the next couple of decades which equates to building something the size of New York City every month. Think about that… the steel… the cement… the co2 that is produced as a result. So all we need are green materials, right? In the short term the challenge lies in the “green premium” and how quickly the price for carbon negative or low carbon materials can be brought down by market forces.  Governments around the world buy as much as 25% of steel and 40% of cement for infrastructure and building programs, so green public procurement has the potential to be an incredibly powerful lever.  Rana Ghoneim, Chief of the Energy Systems and Infrastructure Division at the UN’s Industrial Development Organization, talks with Alex about the work she and her organisation are doing to drive green public procurement. Through their Industrial Deep Decarbonisation Initiative, they are signing up big government buyers of the co2-intensive materials to make pledges on procurement that can spark a global green market for critical materials. Join the discussion and find out about what the ‘right’ targets are, how to set standards for green products that create a healthy market and how to unpick institutional barriers to green procurement. The ultimate goal? Major buyers and a healthy market to drive further industrial decarbonisation.  Show links: The UN IDO’s Green Public Procurement Report: https://www.industrytransition.org/insights/target-setting-for-green-public-procurement-programmes/ The UN IDO’s paper on green cement and steel procurement: https://www.industrytransition.org/insights/industry-transition-through-green-public-procurement-how-to-guide-cement-steel-sectors/ Link to the Industrial Deep Decarbonisation Initiative: https://www.unido.org/IDDI Link to Decarb Connect and our work in industrial decarbonisation: www.decarbconnect.comThanks as ever to Sassy at Janno Media for her expertise and input.

This podcast is taken from one of Decarb Connect Europe’s fireside chats. Join Cate Hight, Chief Operating Officer of the Mission Possible Partnership, and Thorsten Hahn, CEO of Holcim in Germany, to explore how Holcim's global science based target is being applied at the national level. Thorsten shares his thoughts on the low hanging fruit of co2 reduction as well as how they intend to create value from emissions. Cate and Thorsten also look at tracking the value in avoided CO2 as well as captured/abated emissions. Thanks to Janno Media for their podcasting expertise.Links: https://decarbconnect.com/events/decarb-connect-europe/https://www.holcim.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIh6Lt_-mw8wIVwoBQBh0qjAZDEAAYASAAEgKcpfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds 

As with all climate-related activities, attention on voluntary disclosures is gaining momentum. With the prospect of mandatory disclosures on the horizon - how are different stakeholders expectations going to change and what will this mean for industry and corporates? David Lammers, Deputy Director of Corporate Engagement at CDP Europe joins Alex to explore the changes and trends they are observing.  David is one of 50+ speakers at Decarb Connect Europe, October 5-7 2021 – join us there or at one our events or network meet ups. Links: https://www.cdp.net/enwww.decarbconnect.comhttps://decarbconnect.com/events/decarb-connect-europe/Thank you to Sassy and the team at Janno Media for their podcasting expertise.

In this episode we explore how the MIDDEN project in the Netherlands collects data that ensures industrial groups can accelerate decarbonisation. Using data from across Dutch industry (energy usage, material flows, greenhouse gas emissions) the MIDDEN project offers publicly available insights and data that help hard to abate sectors make the right decarbonisation decisions.  Join Dick Van Dam from PBL (the Dutch environmental assessment agency) and Silvana Gamboa from TNO (an independent, applied research organisation) to learn about the Dutch industrial landscape and how MIDDEN is helping better decision making. The data and reports are publicly available – an invaluable resource whether you’re based in the Netherlands or not.  Hear more about how industrials are driving decarbonisation – follow the link below for more info on Decarb Connect’s upcoming events. We’ve also included MIDDEN’s project link:  Show links: middenweb.nl - follow this link to find the MIDDEN data set and reports into key sector activities in decarbonisationwww.decarbconnect.com - Decarb Connect’s global network hub for info on decarbonisation of hard to abate sectorshttps://bit.ly/DCEU-podlink -  Download the programme for our EU-focused event - October 5-7 2021 Many thanks to Sassy and the team at Janno Media for their support in producing the Decarb Connect podcast.