Joan Michelson

Electric Ladies Podcast

Business AA ↓ 529 episodes

Engaging and enlightening interviews with women leaders on energy, climate, sustainability and corporate responsibility -- ESG, environment,social and governance issues. Business, policy and technology, money, the arts and careers. Topics include driving innovation, leadership, communications and career advice. Inspiration, trends and insights. Hosted and produced by Joan Michelson, acclaimed journalist, business leader, coach and speaker, based in Washington, DC.

Author

Joan Michelson

Category

Business

Latest episode

Jul 9, 2026

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Episodes

Critical Minerals 101 – Abby Wulf, Critical Minerals Expert, Former Head of Critical Minerals at the Dept. Of Energy, & Center for Critical Minerals Strategy 13.01.2026

"Critical minerals and materials…are essential for key economic and national security technologies that help to fuel great sectors in the United States and around the world…We're at a very interesting point in the United States for critical minerals and materials because the US Geological Survey… just released their draft version of their newly updated critical minerals list…(But) they're very dif...

Mobilizing Women's Influence – Paula Noble Fellingham 06.01.2026

"People care about the diversity because diversity makes teams stronger. And, and this is research based. And so they can say what they want, but those who know that there is strength in diversity, they'll continue on in spite of the, you know, the outcry on the other end….There's research that shows that when the lives of billions of women are improved, here's what happens. Number one, there's be...

A Creative Leverage For Good – Kate Williams, 1% For The Planet 30.12.2025

"1% for the planet…the way it works is that we have businesses who are our members, and they're actually supporting environmental partners at the level of 1% of revenues….You invest in the things that matter and the planet matters.…(to) drive impact at scale. And so, in terms of that scale, last year we certified US$100million of support going from these companies to environmental partners….When a...

How Design & Tech Are Transforming Cities – Nikki Greenberg, Real Estate of the Future, from Smart City Expo World Congress 2025 16.12.2025

"(B)efore we're even thinking about AI, it's actually thinking about how are we using our technology effectively and is it part of our processes? Does it complicate things or does it simplify things? And the advice that I always give them is like, before you start bringing in new technology and new processes and having to train people and doing their job in a different way and adding complication...

What's a 'Tech Humanist'? – Kate O'Neill, CEO of KO Insights at Smart City Expo World Congress 2025 09.12.2025

" One of the other important things about tech humanism to me is that the three-way relationship between business humans and tech is primarily about the relationship between business objectives and human outcomes and using technological capability to amplify that alignment, as opposed to using technology to amplify only the business objective side of that relationship. So really trying to think ab...

Unique Practical Urban Climate Actions – Joan's Panel of International City Innovators from Smart City Expo World Congress 2025 04.12.2025

  The World Bank reports that, "today, more than half of the world's population – over 4 billion people – lives in cities." It also estimates that this shift is going to continue, in fact to DOUBLE to nearly 70% – or 7 out of every 10 people will live in cities by 2050. That's only 25 years away. At the same time, extreme weather events are increasingly devastating cities – we have all witnesses h...

Career Advice For Difficult Times From 5 Women Leaders 18.11.2025

  " Your job isn't to know the answer. Your job is to ask all the right questions of where the business is going and…Don't be afraid…(Align) with people who could see the possibility of (your) experience…Take that stretch job and just remember you're in the room to ask different questions, and that's perfectly fine. So, take the stretch and then lean into your experience that allows you to have a...

How Climate Modeling Affects Everything – Maria Caffrey, Principal Scientist, UK's National Physical Laboratory 11.11.2025

"(C limate modelling)…it's being used in things like insurance companies. It's being used by companies for their ESG assessments. So, when you get your insurance premium at the end of the year, there is some kind of climate model that has said something about the risk of your house to flood. It has said something about your risk to fire. And so that might be driving up your insurance premium…And s...

Car Rentals Reinvented & Sustainable – with Page Motes, Chief Compliance & Sustainability Officer, Hertz 29.10.2025

" Regardless of what's happening with kind of the ESG backlash conversation here, especially in the US, our other jurisdictions are coming hard and fast on regulatory…It doesn't matter what's happening in the broader ESG backlash …The other piece is, our corporate customers that have their own set of goals and expectations have absolutely not led up on us on wanting to see us continue to progress...

Women's Trillions Drive New Economic Values – Silvia Bastante de Unverhau, LGT Private Bankers International 20.10.2025

"An estimated  $124tn is expected to change hands (globally) under the so-called 'great wealth transfer', with women set to inherit nearly 70% of that amount. Combined with rising educational attainment, stronger diversity and inclusion efforts, and ongoing progress in closing the gender pay gap, this moment signals a transformative rise in global female affluence… What does it mean to be wealthy...

America's Largest Bottler On Plastic – Ann Canela, Head of Niagara Cares, the Philanthropic Arm of Niagara Water 14.10.2025

"We were the first to lightweight our bottles. So, if you think about a typical bottle of soda, it's about 27 grams of plastic. Our bottles, this year, I think they're coming in at 6.6 grams. So it's incredibly lightweight. I always say, you know, it's a Niagara bottle if it crinkles…We've created label-less bottles so they're easier to recycle. …And, we're now running lines that are in entirely r...

Leveraging AI For Sustainability – with Mandi McReynolds, Chief Sustainability Officer at Workiva 07.10.2025

" What we're seeing is, as the new carbon economy moves forward – and this is critical to businesses to operate in the future, in the next five, 10 years – it's colliding with the digital transformation and financial transformation. And so, I think one of the essential things our customers are asking is. 'how do we bring together the Chief Sustainability Officer, the CIO and the CFO and the new ma...

Carbon Accounting 101 – with Alyssa Zucker, Senior Industry Principal in Carbon at Workiva 30.09.2025

" Essentially what carbon accounting is doing is it's using a mathematical equation to come up with a standardized unit of measure that we call a carbon dioxide equivalent of how you can, um, measure and track all of the different greenhouse gases that your business emits through various activities. There's actually seven distinct greenhouse gases that are included…So what carbon accounting is doi...

Hotel Rooms Affect Your Health & The Planet – JoAnna Abrams, Founder/CEO of MindClick 22.09.2025

" We did do a study where we shared the story of the careful thought that went into products that were better for people and the planet … Then we administered the standard guest satisfaction survey, and what we found, Joan, was 150% increase in satisfaction, loyalty numbers… Why?...They equated it to service. They said, a hotel that goes out of its way to choose products that are better for me and...

New Venture Capital Models For Women & CleanTech – Cecile Blilious, Veteran Venture Investor, Venture ESG, European Women in VC 16.09.2025

" I like to think about ESG not only as a risk management tool, but also as an opportunity. I think the, the flip side of risk is opportunity. So if we think that a diverse team is what will bring more innovation, more ideas, more, let's say different ways of looking at needs and products, then this is an opportunity….What about if we think about the way that people consume, what is the carbon foo...

Japan Embraces Climate & Sustainability – Yvonne Burton, Expert On Doing Business In Japan, at Osaka Expo 2025 09.09.2025

" The theme of the expo is 'designing society for future lives.' And it is just that from the foundations, from the buildings to the exhibits, each country showcasing what they're doing for our future, in technology, healthcare, sustainable, living energy… The Japan pavilion's exhibit…is about the circular economy and…the theme is between life and life. So the pavilion, and its circular structure,...

Artificial Intelligence (A.I) And The Climate - Stephanie Hare, Ph.D., Researcher, Broadcaster and Author of "Technology Is Not Neutral" 03.09.2025

" (A.I.) is so energy intensive as a technology, and that's the thing that we have to get, the infrastructure of AI… Right now we do not have an electricity grid that is, that is built for this purpose. There's the water requirements of it as well. And we also need to just think about the energy, the actual fuel that's being used to fire up and power the electricity grid ." Dr. Stephanie Hare on E...

Energy Efficiency Saves Money & CO2 – Paula Glover, CEO of the Alliance To Save Energy 26.08.2025

"Energy efficiency…is doing more, using less. The megawatt not used is the cheapest megawatt and there's so many things, either by using technology, old technology like insulation or digitalization, that allows us to really stretch what we can get out every single megawat, a kilowatt electron that we use. And so that's what we're talking about. If we had the kind of massive adoption that we need,...

Career Advice From 5 Women Trailblazers – Hilary Doe, Cong. Chrissy Houlahan, Zara Summers, Tensie Whelan, & Claire Seaborn 12.08.2025

"For anyone, women especially who are interested in the energy and climate space, I would say that you shouldn't feel that you need to choose between the public sector, the private sector, and the nonprofit sector. I've been able to continue to build my expertise in the energy and climate space, but from multiple different perspectives. My advice would be to just not feel that you need to pick one...

Using Captured Carbon To Make Energy – Bjork Kristjansdottir, Carbon Recycling International 06.08.2025

" Carbon Recycling International…is converting CO2 into sustainable methanol…(W)e have technology, which takes CO2 as a waste, and it takes hydrogen and turns it into methanol…and it is used today both like into chemicals. So, the chemical sector is a big consumer of methanol, which is a very large known product in the world today. …(and into) a sustainable fuel...playing a pretty big role in the...

You Can Make A Difference Where You Are – Laur Hesse Fisher, MIT's Environmental Solutions Initiative 29.07.2025

" There are those individual actions that we can take. But if I can work with my community or work inside of my company, or if I can work inside of my house of worship and we can build some community and some action that way, it will have a much bigger impact than anything that I can do as an individual… The communities that they're already a part of, whether they're residential, like in their nei...

Recycled Steel Goes Mainstream - Tabitha Stine, General Manager, Energy Solutions, Nucor Corporation 22.07.2025

"Our job is to recycle so that we can recover all of that scrap and goods that you and I are recycling in our garbage bins every week or recycling as we get new cars. And our job is to recover that because we make steel in a very clean and efficient process through what's called an electric arc furnace. So, we take all of that scrap, we melt it down, and we make new steel. It does not degrade. It...

Unlocking Capital For Women And Climate Solutions – Women Leaders In Finance And Investment, The Earth Day Women's Summit 09.07.2025

" If you cannot change the system, change the frigging system… Women, when we have our money, are more likely to start an impact fund business or something. So, we have really got to get out of our way and just take the risk. " Tracy Gray   at The Earth Day Women's Summit 2025 Innovative financing models are urgently needed to tackle the climate crisis, but significant gaps persist. Research shows...

Climate Is A Security Emergency – From A Top Climate Scientist & A Geopolitical Expert 02.07.2025

" The climate crisis has roots in fossil fuels, but at the same time, fossil fuels fund this Russian invasion to Ukraine. So it means this is a fossil fuel war. If we will actually fight against our overall actually dependency on fossil fuels in the same way we will fight against climate change." Svitlana Krakovska  o n Electric Ladies Podcast The climate emergency is a security threat, and a "thr...

Food, Fashion & Ag vs. Climate Change – Voices From The Earth Day Women's Summit 26.06.2025

" Food systems have to do with everything from production to processing, distribution, and the utilization. Then of course, end of life for food systems which includes food waste. In the United States, 40% of the food that we produce goes to waste. This means with distribution challenges that not everybody has equitable access to the kinds of foods that they need and want, at the times that they n...

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