Climate Now

What will it take to get 100% of new car sales to be electric by 2030? Is it consumer demand?  Is it political pressure? How about we just increase both? The Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA) is the first industry-backed coalition advocating for 100% EV sales by 2030, and they have devised a federal roadmap for reaching that goal. Joe Britton of ZETA and Dr. Sweta Chakraborty of Pioneer Public Affairs sat down with us to outline the ZETA roadmap, with a focus on the role of public policy in incentivizing manufacturers to go electric, and the role of public messaging to increase consumer confidence in electric vehicles. Listen now to learn about the six policy initiatives needed to electrify road transportation in the U.S.Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.Contact us at contact@climatenow.comVisit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode.

Decarbonizing our global economy is critical to staying below the 1.5C threshold of warming, but so is reducing the amount of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere. By 2050, we will need to remove about ten billion tonnes of CO2 every year. Currently, we are capturing and sequestering about 40 million tonnes a year - about 0.4% of what’s needed by 2050, and less than 0.1% of the CO2-equivalent of global energy and industry emissions.For comparison, renewable electricity has ramped up to 12% of global electricity consumption. Electric vehicles now make up nearly 9% of all new car sales. These climate-friendly tech sectors are growing quickly, but carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is not keeping pace.Environmental economist Dr. Sheila Olmstead, professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, set out to discover what is holding back rapid growth in CCUS, and how to overcome those obstacles.  She sat down with Climate Now to share what she is learning.Listen now!Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.Contact us at contact@climatenow.comVisit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode.

There is a lot of focus within climate tech on how to decarbonize cars—whether that be via electric batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, or other emerging technologies—but what about eliminating the need for cars altogether?How can we better design our cities and suburbs so that they are centered around humans, not cars? Cars do not need to be the primary method of urban transportation, and alternatives such as public transportation and micromobility have benefits far beyond simply reducing carbon emissions.Listen now to our conversation with Dr. Meredith Glaser, urban mobility researcher and lecturer at the University of Amsterdam, and Dr. Kevin Krizek, professor of Environmental Design at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.Contact us at contact@climatenow.comVisit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode.

Climate policy at the federal level is integral to mitigating the climate crisis. Unfortunately, the United States has had a hard time so far passing ambitious climate legislation. Why is that?From the outside, the situation often seems hopeless. But what does it look like from inside Washington? To find out, Climate Now spoke with Alex McDonough.Alex started his career as a policy advisor for Senator Harry Reid, co-founded Clean Energy for America, and is now a policy advisor and partner at Pioneer Public Affairs, a clean energy lobbying firm.Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.Contact us at contact@climatenow.comVisit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode.

Heavy-duty, long-haul trucks - known as Class 8 trucks - account for more than 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide each year.Electrification, while a practical option for most of the trucking industry (see last week's episode), is not yet as feasible for long-haul Class 8 trucks. | What options might exist to decarbonize heavy-duty trucking in the short and medium term, if not with electrification?Climate Now spoke with two entrepreneurs whose companies are developing alternative technologies to reduce heavy-duty transport emissions: Bav Roy, co-founder and COO of Verne, a start-up optimizing hydrogen storage for fuel cell trucks; and Paul Gross, the co-CEO and co-founder of Remora, a startup that captures carbon from the exhaust pipe of trucks.Listen now as we explore the challenges and growth opportunities for these two technologies, infrastructure considerations, and more.Chapters:00:15 Heavy-duty emissions1:44 Verne Hydrogen introduction6:03 Remora Carbon Capture introduction7:14 Why it's hard to decarbonize trucking9:35 Why use fuel cells?12:23 Verne technology14:50 Remora technology22:08 Verne market timeline27:05 Remora market timeline29:35 Wrap-up discussion with hosts Darren and JamesFollow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.Contact us at contact@climatenow.comVisit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode.

In 2019, medium- and heavy-duty trucks accounted for about a quarter of U.S. transportation emissions while representing less than 4% of vehicles on the road, according to the U.S. EPA.It is clear the trucking industry must decarbonize in order for the transportation sector, and the economy as a whole, to reach net-zero emissions, but which emerging technologies will move freight vehicles into climate-friendly territory is not yet clear, though electric is making great strides.Climate Now spoke with the North American Council for Freight Efficiency's (NACFE) Executive Director Mike Roeth and Director of Emerging Technologies Rick Mihelic, as well as former RMI Senior Associate for Carbon-Free Mobility's Jessie Lund (now at CALSTART), about why electric trucks are leading the carbon-free trucking game.Chapters:2:03 What is NACFE?4:20 Current state of the trucking industry9:35 Technologies for decarbonizing trucking15:25 Are hydrogen fuel cell vehicles scalable?17: 20 Understanding total cost of ownership (TCO) for trucks - traditional, electric, hydrogen24:13 Fueling the 3-way "horse race": infrastructural requirements for electric, gas, and hydrogen trucks27:43 NACFE tested 13 real electric trucks on real roads with real drivers: here's what they found.31:04 The state of the electric trucking market todayFollow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.Contact us at contact@climatenow.comVisit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode.

Ride-sharing services currently result in 69% more emissions, on average, than the trips they displace, according to a recent study by the Union of Concerned Scientists.But, if the ride-sharing vehicles were electric, it's a whole different story. Replacing one gasoline-powered ride-sharing car with an electric vehicle (EV) has three times the climate benefit as replacing a personal car with an EV.Some companies like Cruise and Aurora go even further, developing electric autonomous fleets, which could further reduce the carbon footprint of ride-share vehicles.Climate Now spoke with Dave Rubin, Head of Policy Research at Cruise, a self-driving, ride-sharing service, to understand how electric and autonomous vehicles could help us decarbonize road transportation, and the challenges ahead for wide-scale adoption.Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.Contact us at contact@climatenow.comVisit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode.

Climate Now is kicking off our Decarbonizing Transportation series by addressing a question that looms over the electric vehicle market: how can we sustainably manufacture and recycle EV batteries?To learn about electric vehicle battery trends and challenges, we are joined by Andy Stevenson, former Special Projects Associate at Tesla and former Chief Financial Officer of Redwood Materials, a battery recycling company.Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.Contact us at contact@climatenow.comVisit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode.

The Connecticut Green Bank, the first green bank in the US, has unlocked over $2 billion in capital toward clean energy projects and other climate solutions since it was established by the state legislature in 2011.So, what is the green bank model? How does it compare to other methods of clean energy finance? And what are their impact?Climate Now speaks with Connecticut Green Bank President and CEO Bryan Garcia to find out.Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.Contact us at contact@climatenow.comVisit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode.

Earth's oceans play a key role in slowing climate change, absorbing nearly a third of anthropogenic CO2 emissions.And they could, potentially, absorb more.In this episode, Climate Now explores developing methods to enhance ocean-based carbon dioxide removal. What do we know about each technique, and what are the associated risks?Learn more in our conversation with Dr. Wil Burns, visiting professor at Northwestern University's Environmental Policy and Culture Program and emeritus co-founding director of the Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy at American University.Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.Contact us at contact@climatenow.comVisit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode.