Decarb Connect

Will Gardiner has been a key architect of Drax Group's strategy to create a flexible, low-carbon, customer-focused power company. Alex and Will talk about the results from COP26, but also what’s needed next to keep the goal of 1.5 alive. They explore a little of what’s needed from international policy, how Drax’s global operations are expanding to meet the decarbonization opportunity and Will’s th...

With governments and markets taking different approaches to industrial decarbonization around the world, Nick Fulford joins Alex Cameron to talk about the different challenges those approaches are yielding and how the US/Canadian approach is unfolding.    They explore the North American focus on market forces, the impact of 45Q and other incentives and also look at how business models could emerge...

Craig Golinowski of Carbon Infrastructure Partners discussions the need for other tech to balance out renewables so that we avoid further energy crises and allow for a full transition. Is CCUS the radical middle ground?      Summary: Craig Golinowski joins Alex to talk about the concept of the carbon paradox, and what role CCUS needs to play in the energy transition. Find out about the concept of...

 Listen in and explore the momentum being seen right now, with more than 70% of global GDP covered by a net zero target, and the routes critical industries are taking to decarbonize. You’ll hear thoughts on the innovative mechanisms that global capital markets and policy are developing, and you’ll get his insights on the urgent need for huge amounts of zero carbon electricity and infrastructure to...

Join Alex and Ben for part two of their conversation exploring how Origen’s Zero Carbon Lime technology is being applied at a plant in the UK. You’ll explore the tech itself, the project timeline and hear about the short and long term co2 offtake plans. You’ll also explore the way in which zero carbon lime could be used as a carbon capture tool in future.  Links:  https://origencarbonsolutions.com...

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...

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 w...

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 it...

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 fo...

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...

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 stat...

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...

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 val...

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 observin...

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 f...

Join Ben Moens, Managing Director of Sustainability Solutions at Engie Impact, as he talks with Alex about the real predictors of decarbonisation success. How can companies graduate from pilot/single-project thinking to systems transformation? What could a shift from ROI thinking to Total Cost of Ownership reveal? What kinds of partnerships and collaborations are the most effective decarbonizers a...

Andrew Smith of Greenbackers joins Alex to explore their success in matching investors to the right decarbonisation tech with true commercial potential. They talk about how to reverse engineer net zero by 2050 and how much of it requires new business models vs new tech. They also explore the role that CVCs, VCs & PE play best. Listen in to find out about the characteristics of strong start up...

With CCUS projects emerging across Europe and around the world, the role of carbon capture in industrial decarbonisation is gaining pace. Join Alex and Aniruddha for a discussion that covers both his hopes and expectations for COP26 and the emerging CCaaS business model, as well as exploring the company’s established and more nascent projects. Links:  https://decarbconnect.com/events/   (click for...

Claes Fredriksson, CEO of Liquid Wind, joins Alex to talk about the work they are doing to develop at-scale production of green methanol from biogenic co2. They explore the development of green fuels projects at scale and how they piece together the key partners & technologies. A great opportunity to hear about the project development of at-scale projects and the reuse of co2.    Links:  https...

Carl Weatherell, CEO of Canada Mining Innovation Center, joins Alex to talk about the enormous value of setting much more aspirational goals (Zero waste, Zero emissions) and applying a radical innovation approach that leverages coopetition, collaboration and co-development across the mining sector.    Plenty of big ideas here for other energy-intensive sectors to learn from, as well as specifics o...

Ravi Gurumurthy, CEO of Nesta, joins Alex Cameron to talk about decarbonising domestic heat and the urgent changes needed to achieve net zero in the UK. Nesta is the UK’s innovation agency for social good and in March, Nesta published it’s ambitious 10 year strategy which aims to improve the  lives of millions through mission-led innovation. Ravi Gurumurthy talks with Alex about how Nesta  drives...

Emily Reichert, CEO of Greentown Labs and Pat Sapinsley, Managing Director of Cleantech Initiatives at the NYU Urban Future Lab, join Alex to talk about their joint C2V initiative, an accelerator taking the first carbon to value cohort through a program to drive scale and commercial opportunity in this cutting edge category of climate tech.    We define carbontech as any technology or business mod...

Nico Girod of Clear Blue Markets talks with Alex about the hot and growing market for voluntary offsets. We explore their roots and factors that are driving their growth, we also talk about the difference between high quality offsets and those that carry more reputational risk.  We look at the questions corporates bring to discussions of offsets, the change participants in the market and look ahea...

Dr Bryony Livesey leads the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge (IDC), which forms part of the UK’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF).  IDC is a £170m programme with £261m match funding from industry, designed to deploy low carbon technologies and enabling infrastructure in heavily industrialised regions of the UK.    Bryony and Alex talk about the significant program of work that is ongo...

Join Alex and Joe Raia for a discussion about how Abaxx’s exchange launch presents an opportunity to create carbon neutral and offset trading products for commodities traders managing portfolios of hard to abate products.    We talk about the rapid movement of global markets towards practices and policies that support ESG initiatives and investments and look at the physical commodities and futures...