Inevitable

Leopold Spenner is CEO and Co-founder of alcemy , which is accelerating the decarbonization of cement and concrete via software.  Concrete is one of the most abundant manmade materials on earth, and it's exceedingly hard to decarbonize. Most of its emissions footprint comes from the production of cement, the materials that provide concrete with its strength. By most estimates, cement is responsibl...

This episode is part of our new Capital Series hosted by Jason Jacobs. This series explores a diverse range of capital sources and the individuals who drive them. From family offices and institutional LPs to private equity, government funding, and more, we take a deep dive into the world of capital and its critical role in driving innovation and progress.  James Lindsay is a principal on the Build...

Antti Vihavainen is the Co-founder and CEO of Helsinki-based Puro.earth , a leading crediting platform and registry for engineered carbon removal. In 2021, NASDAQ acquired a controlling stake in Puro, helping further establish its credibility in the marketplace. Puro is actively offering engineered carbon removal credits today for a few dozen projects that primarily consist of biochar and bio-cons...

This episode is part of our Skilled Labor Series hosted by MCJ partner, Yin Lu . This series is focused on amplifying the voices of folks from the skilled labor workforce, including electricians, farmers, ranchers, HVAC installers, and others who are on the front lines of rewiring our infrastructure. Christof Franzsen is head of the Apprenticeship Program at Forge , a residential construction comp...

This episode is part of our new Capital Series hosted by Jason Jacobs. This series explores various capital sources and the individuals who drive them. From family offices and institutional LPs to private equity, government funding, and more, we take a deep dive into the world of capital and its critical role in driving innovation and progress.  Irena Spazzapan is Managing Partner at Systemiq Capi...

Giana Amador is Executive Director at Carbon Removal Alliance . Carbon Removal Alliance was announced earlier this year in February 2023 as a trade organization focused on advancing policies that support a diverse set of carbon removal technologies. Its membership consists of 20 plus companies in the carbon removal space, including technology startups like Charm Industrial , Heirloom , and Noya ,...

This episode is part of our Skilled Labor Series hosted by MCJ partner, Yin Lu . This series is focused on amplifying the voices of folks from the skilled labor workforce, including electricians, farmers, ranchers, HVAC installers, and others who are on the front lines of rewiring our infrastructure. Aubrey Streit Krug is the Director of the Perennial Cultures Lab at the Land Institute in Salina,...

This episode is part of our new Capital Series hosted by Jason Jacobs. This series explores a diverse range of capital sources and the individuals who drive them. From family offices and institutional LPs to private equity, government funding, and more, we take a deep dive into the world of capital and its critical role in driving innovation and progress.  Vikram Raju is Managing Director, Head of...

Adam Minter is an opinion columnist at Bloomberg covering Asia, technology and the environment. He's written two books, Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade , and Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale .  Adam is a global expert on the circular economy, and we spend the first chunk of the conversation covering the recycling market and the role of China therein. We...

Dr. Steve Davis is the head of Climate Science at Watershed .  Watershed is a leading provider of carbon accounting software. They help large companies such as Walmart, Airbnb, Sweet Green, BlackRock, and many others measure, report, and reduce their emissions. They announced a $70 million series B financing on a $1 billion valuation co-led by Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins in February 2022. And Stev...

This episode is part of our Capital Series hosted by Jason Jacobs. This series explores a diverse range of capital sources and the individuals who drive them. From family offices and institutional LPs to private equity, government funding, and more, we take a deep dive into the world of capital and its critical role in driving innovation and progress.  Sebastian Heitmann is a partner at Extantia C...

Dr. Scott Moore is the director of China Programs at the University of Pennsylvania , and the author of the book, China's Next Act: How Sustainability and Technology are Reshaping China's Rise and the World's Future .  China is a complicated climate topic: on the one hand, China is the largest solar energy producer in the world and has the largest EV industry in the world, each of which rose from...

This episode is part of our Skilled Labor Series hosted by MCJ partner, Yin Lu . This series is focused on amplifying the voices of folks from the skilled labor workforce, including electricians, farmers, ranchers, HVAC installers, and others who are on the front lines of rewiring our infrastructure. Mark Martin is the regional director for advanced manufacturing for the Bay Area Community College...

This episode is part of our new Capital Series hosted by Jason Jacobs. This series explores a diverse range of capital sources and the individuals who drive them. From family offices and institutional LPs to private equity, government funding, and more, we take a deep dive into the world of capital and its critical role in driving innovation and progress.  Rob Day is Partner and Co-founder at Spri...

Sara Harari is the Associate Director of Innovation and Strategic Advisor to the president at Connecticut Green Bank . Connecticut Green Bank was established in 2011 and was the first Green Bank in the USA, of which there are now dozens that are live or in formulation. They look to accelerate the green economy by using public dollars to catalyze private investment into clean energy and other envir...

Anastasia Volkova is the CEO and Co-founder of Regrow , which was named Fast Company 's number one most innovative company in agriculture in 2023 . They empower the world's largest brands such as Kellogg's, Cargill and General Mills to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across their supply chains. Their product began as a data and analytics offering to agronomists and farmers to help build a localize...

This episode is part of our new Capital Series hosted by Jason Jacobs. This series explores a diverse range of capital sources and the individuals who drive them. From family offices and institutional LPs to private equity, government funding, and more, we take a deep dive into the world of capital and its critical role in driving innovation and progress.  Temple Fennell is the Co-founder and Mana...

Michael Liebreich is the host of the podcast Cleaning Up , focused on leadership in the age of climate change. Michael was previously the CEO and founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance. He has been involved with the organization for 20 years, still serving as a senior contributor. Michael also runs an advisory firm, Liebreich and Associates , focused on clean energy and sustainable development, a...

John O'Donnell is the Co-founder and CEO of Rondo Energy .  Rondo is tackling the massive emissions problem of industrial heat. Almost everything around us requires heat to be made, from chemicals, to paper, to cement, to steel, and historically, nearly all of that heat comes from burning fossil fuels. Renewable energy is now becoming cheaper to procure than fossil fuels, but as we know, it's inte...

This episode is part of our new Capital Series hosted by Jason Jacobs. This series explores a diverse range of capital sources and the individuals who drive them. From family offices and institutional LPs to private equity, government funding, and more, we take a deep dive into the world of capital and its critical role in driving innovation and progress.  Melissa Cheong is the managing partner of...

Narendra Taneja serves as chairman of the Independent Energy Policy Institute, a think tank based in New Delhi, and is a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. He presides over the World Energy Policy Summit and was president of the World Oil and Gas Assembly from 2001 to 2011. With expertise in energy policy, transition, geopolitics, governance, and energy secur...

Kate Henningsen is Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Arcadia . Arcadia is a tech company empowering energy innovators and consumers to fight the climate crisis. Arcadia started as a way for consumers to gain access to premium renewable energy credits for their home energy consumption. They now claim to be the leading manager of community solar projects in the United States. They've expande...

This episode is part of our new Capital Series hosted by Jason Jacobs. This series explores a diverse range of capital sources and the individuals who drive them. From family offices and institutional LPs to private equity, government funding, and more, we take a deep dive into the world of capital and its critical role in driving innovation and progress.  Sandy Guitar is the managing director of...

This episode is part of our new Skilled Labor Series hosted by MCJ partner, Yin Lu . This series is focused on amplifying the voices of folks from the skilled labor workforce, including electricians, farmers, ranchers, HVAC installers, and others who are on the front lines of rewiring our infrastructure. Brandon Smith is a wildland firefighter and the co-founder and CEO of the Forestry and Fire Re...

Dr. Julie Pullen is founding partner and chief scientist at Propeller , an early-stage venture fund focused on the intersection of the oceans and climate change. It recently announced that it had raised $100 million for its first fund. Coincidently, today (June 8) is also World Oceans Day, globally recognized by the UN as a day to foster public interest in the protection of the ocean and the susta...