Energy vs Climate: How climate is changing our energy systems

LIVE from the Montreal's Climate Solutions Prize Festival 2025  Na'im Merchant , Executive Director of Carbon Removal Canada and the host of The Carbon Curve podcast, and Grégoire Baillargeon , President of BMO Quebec and Vice Chair of BMO Capital Markets join Ed Whittingham for a panel discussion exploring how Canada can become a global leader in carbon removal.  With two podcast hosts...

David & Ed chat with Dr. Rose Mutiso about the tension between energy, climate, and economic development in Africa and the global south.  They touch on many topics to do with sub-Saharan Africa, including energy production & consumption, electricity and power grids, and the vast economic inequity that still exists between the global north & south. About Our Guest: Dr. Rose M. Mutiso is...

Ed and David chat with special guest Andreas Malm, author of How the World Surrendered to Climate Breakdown and How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire .  They discuss Malm’s critiques of climate inaction—how liberal democracies, fossil capital, and the Global North have collectively abandoned meaningful efforts to stop climate breakdown—and what comes next for movement str...

Ed Whittingham & Roger Thompson discuss Upton Sinclair's classic novel - Oil! We're sharing another episode of Ed's occasional podcast, Climate Book Reviews, this time discussing the book that was the inspiration for the critically acclaimed 2007 movie, There Will Be Blood, starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Ed and co-host Dr. Roger Thompson (Associate Dean and Professor of Writing and...

Energy expert Amy Myers Jaffe returns to EvC to chat with Ed about Energy and Artificial Intelligence.  Nearly every aspect of the economy seems to be impacted by the stunningly rapid development of AI. Energy is no exception. Ed and Amy have a wide-ranging discussion that covers a lot of ground and touches on several hot topics, including:  How AI is transforming the production, distribution, and...

There’s something in Carbon Removal for everyone — are we building enduring relationships to advance the sector? A bonus EvC episode - on February 27, 2025, EvC co-host Ed Whittingham hosted a panel discussion at Carbon Removal Canada 's Carbon Removal Day in Ottawa. They cover a number of topics including the changing political headwinds in the US, efforts to bolster investment in Canada, an...

David & Ed chat with Dr. Holly Buck about Conspiratorial-Environmentalism’s connection to climate & geoengineering; the anti-vax movement; and what it tells us about mainstream environmentalism & climate politics. (03:08) Skip Intro (09:12) David's personal experience with Conspiratorial-Environmentalism (27:15) Social Media and monetization (38:58) What do we do when environmenta...

Host Ed Whittingham closes out Season 1 by examining the case against Direct Air Capture by one its harshest critics, Al Gore, followed by the counterarguments of supporters. Will DAC live up to its hype and potential to help cool a warming planet?  Guests include:  Greg Nemet, professor at the University of Wisconsin Klaus Lackner, professor at Arizona State University David Keith, professor at t...

Host Ed Whittingham delves into the early days of another pioneering Direct Air Capture (DAC) company, Switzerland’s Climeworks, and its innovative modular approach to deploying its technology. Ed also looks into the developing synergy between the tech sector and carbon removal.  Guests include:  Jan Wurzbacher, co-founder of Climeworks Lucy Hargreaves, Corporate Affairs and Climate Policy at Patc...

Host Ed Whittingham continues the story behind the development of Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology and its potential role in helping to fight climate change. Ed explores the early days of Canadian cleantech company Carbon Engineering, and how it drew the attention of both Bill Gates and Occidental Petroleum.  Guests include:  Ken Caldeira, senior scientist at Breakthrough Energy David Keith, pr...

Jesse Jenkins, David Keith, and Ed Whittingham break down the key policy reversals, their impact on U.S. emissions, and the broader geopolitical and economic consequences—for Canada and beyond. Plus, audience questions! Full Show notes with links to references on our website About Our Guest: Jesse D. Jenkins is an assistant professor and macro-scale energy systems engineer at Princeton University...

EvC co-host Ed Whittingham's new series on Carbon Dioxide Removal Host Ed Whittingham dives into the world of Direct Air Capture (DAC), a technology that extracts carbon dioxide directly from the ambient air. Ed explores the early history of carbon dioxide removal, why it could be useful in fighting climate change, and challenges the technology has faced along the way.  Guests include:   Klau...

The race to remove carbon is on. This is the inside story. 🌎 Scrubbing the Sky: Inside the Race to Cool the Planet drops early March 🌎  This narrative podcast series takes listeners through one of the most ambitious climate efforts ever attempted: removing carbon from the atmosphere. Join EvC's co-host Ed Whittingham as he uncovers the story behind carbon removal —the companies racing to sc...

Ed chats with four movers & shakers in Canadian climate philanthropy. On Nov. 13, 2024, nine prominent Canadian family foundations, including EvC's David Keith’s, announced a combined pledge of $405 million , all dedicated to accelerating Canada’s shift to a low-carbon economy. They touch on:  Why this financial commitment occurred and why now  The challenges facing climate advocacy today...

Join David & Ed for a special end-of-2024 Ask-Us-Anything episode dedicated to your questions. Thanks to everyone who sent in your questions - we couldn't do it without you! Also, thanks to the Pembina Institute for help with an answer at 22:00 (reference link - Meeting the emissions cap-A feasible pathway for the oil and gas ). More show notes  on our website. About Your EvC Co-Hosts: Da...

𝘿𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙙 & 𝙀𝙙 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩-𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝘿𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙙 𝙒𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚-𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨. It's a wide-ranging discussion covering everything from the potential fallout of the US election, shifting global interests and priorities, climate activism, China's role in climate and green energy technology, and as usual - listener questions for our guest.  (01:27) US election fallout (09:33) Where...

Support Energy vs Climate on #GivingTuesday Energy vs Climate is a labour of love – we hosts don't draw a salary from the show because we feel strongly about the public service benefit of the project. But, we still have production costs. So, we're asking one last time for you to please consider making a one-time or monthly donation in our only annual donation campaign . Thanks in part to...

Climate Book Reviews is co-hosted by EvC's own Ed Whittingham and his friend Roger Thompson, Associate Dean and Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at Stony Brook University in New York.  Each episode highlights some climate related books worth knowing about. This episode is an interview with New Zealand author Kirsten McDougall about her novel, She’s a Killer . At times hilarious and at other...

David & Ed chat with University of Chicago's Michael Greenstone .   Show Notes: (02:52) Engineering the Planet (03:25) The future of the Temperature–Mortality Relationship (04:48) Valuing the Global Mortality Consequences of Climate Change (07:36) Climate Damages and Adaptation Potential Across Sectors of the US (09:35) Heat Exposure & Poverty (11:30) Seasonality of Mortality Under Cl...

𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀: 𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱 𝗞𝗲𝗶𝘁𝗵 & 𝗘𝗱 𝗪𝗵𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗵𝗮𝗺 David and Ed hit the stage at the Energy Disruptors: UNITE 2024 summit in Calgary to discuss solar geoengineering, a major focus of David's academic research. Together, they unpack the technical and non-technical dimensions of solar geoengineering, including global governance and decision making. (00:45) Start of live...

Rethinking EV Charging A commonly held belief by new or prospective EV owners is that purchasing one requires the installation of a “level 2”, or 240 volt, home charger. Sara and Ed chat about recent University of Calgary research that challenges this assumption. They discuss considerations that might go into choosing which option is best for EV owners and people considering EVs, as well as the pr...

We have a special climate politics focused show to open the new season. It's a time of elections here in Canada and the U.S. As multiple campaigns heat up, we’re asking, where does climate fit in as an issue?   David Keith and Ed Whittingham chat with political strategist and co-host of The Strategists podcast, Stephen Carter , to understand where climate fits as a priority issue for voters....

A personal message from EvC co-host Sara Hastings-Simon. You can find more information on cancer screening in Canada at the Canadian Cancer Society website . Send us a text (if you'd like a response, please include your email) Follow us on: LinkedIn Bluesky X/Twitter Instagram Energy vs Climate relies on the support of our generous listeners Donate to keep Energy vs Climate going Produced by B...

Introducing Climate Now:   Today, we are excited to bring you an episode from the Climate Now podcast. Climate Now , hosted by James Lawler , and accessible wherever you listen to podcasts as well as on their website - climatenow.com - is a podcast and newsletter that explores and explains the ideas, technologies, and policies we need to address the global climate crisis. The episode we’re sharing...

Energy vs Climate is available wherever you get your podcasts. Produced by Amit Tandon Send us a text (if you'd like a response, please include your email) Follow us on: LinkedIn Bluesky X/Twitter Instagram Energy vs Climate relies on the support of our generous listeners Donate to keep Energy vs Climate going Produced by Bespoke Podcasts