Invested In Climate

We know that motivating homeowners to invest in energy efficiency retrofits and home upgrades is hard. Energy efficiency might not sound glamorous, but across the US, retrofits can actually cut our residential energy usage in half.  That’s why when I met Scope Zero CEO Lizzy Kolar, I was excited to learn about her company’s novel way of motivating home upgrades. What Lizzy and her co-founder...

We know that addressing climate change will take trillions of dollars of investment. According to the Climate Policy Institute, we’ll need to spend over $10 trillion annually for decades. and we only just exceeded $1 trillion for the first time in 2022.  I’ll confess, I find these big numbers hard to conceptualize and I’m always glad for more nuanced ways to break them down. That’s why when I...

At the center of climate progress are scientists. They’re developing new technologies with which we can build a new, more sustainable global economy. Moving inventions from a lab to startup companies to scaled products, however, takes more than science.  Research scientists had long lacked a support structure to help them build successful businesses. That’s where Activate came in. Founded in...

If you’re listening to this podcast you’ve probably heard of the Sierra Club . It’s one of the largest environmental organizations in the United States, with about 4 million members and a history of advocacy going back to 1892. But what do you know about the Sierra Club Foundation ? It’s a $200m organization that, as you’d guess, supports the Sierra Club. It also takes on ambitious initiatives to...

I know it’s wintertime for many of you, but that doesn’t mean we can ignore how cities around the world are heating up and how air conditioning is a growing contributor to climate change.  Air conditioning is responsible for about 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Today, about 20% of electricity used in buildings and about 10% of global electricity use comes from operating air conditione...

We all know that companies around the world are working to reduce their emissions and, hopefully, achieve net zero. But what does it take to set up a sustainability program? What are the steps in the process? What are the considerations along the way? And who are the partners one might work with?  Most of this work happens behind closed doors, but sharing insights from corporate sustainabilit...

What do you think of when you think about advertising and its role in climate change? I’ll confess the first thing that comes to mind is the fossil fuel industry’s multi-billion dollar campaign to discredit climate science, deliberately confuse the public, and delay climate action.  But, of course, like every industry, advertising has a role to play in accelerating climate progress. Advertisi...

It feels fitting to start 2024 talking about the big numbers, the big climate financing gaps we face and ways to fill them.  We know that addressing the climate crisis requires trillions of dollars of investment. It’ll need to come from government, corporations, and big finance, but there’s another stakeholder with an important contribution. Private philanthropic foundations have important ro...

Happy New Year. It is the beginning of 2024 and I am excited to work along side you to achieve a greater future for our planet. On this preview episode I give you a glimpse into the upcoming topics of 2024.

There’s a lot we can learn from nature. Processes that happen in nature keep resources in flow, by-products are used and contribute to the health of the ecosystem and there is no waste. Fallen leaves enrich the soil, photosynthesis produces oxygen for animals to breathe, and microorganisms decompose methane and carbon dioxide and produce PHP.  Oh, not so familiar with that last example? Well,...

As we all feel the impacts of climate change more and more each year, the need to invest in climate resilience becomes more and more clear. The World Bank estimates that by 2050, there’ll be more than 1 billion climate refugees. It’s not about choosing between solutions to dramatically cut emissions and investments that help communities prepare for and bounce back from climate events – we need the...

This episode focuses on impact investing and the particular approach of an impact investing firm based in Chicago named Impact Engine . Now that I’ve said the word impact four times, I should probably unpack the jargon. This class of investing aims to create direct, measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. It’s related to, but distinct from ESG investing, which does...

When it comes to big companies’ sustainability commitments, I’ve long been impressed by Salesforce . They made sustainability a core company value and pledged to put the full power of their business behind protecting the planet. Hold your skepticism for a minute – this is more than just big promises. They achieved net zero residual emissions and transitioned to 100% renewable energy for their oper...

Today we’re joined by three team members of Braemar Energy Ventures , ESG Head Lori Collins, Partner Don Tappan, a Co-Founder and Managing Partner Bill Lese. I was excited to talk to the Braemar team because their firm has been investing in energy companies for over 20 years and have backed some early category-defining pioneers like ChargePoint and EnerNOC. Since they’re investing in a wide range...

The climate transition we’re living through brings so many opportunities to rethink our infrastructure that it could easily be the entire focus of this podcast week after week. Today’s episode focuses on a handful of those opportunities: converting waste into valuable upcycled materials, renewable energy infrastructure, biomass, biofuels and more.  We’re joined by Ben Hubbard, CEO of Nexus PM...

Heat pumps have gotten a lot of attention lately. They’re one of the technologies most critical to electrifying buildings and removing our dependency on fossil fuels for heating and cooling. And, they’re a technology that’s taking off. Sales of heat pumps have grown by double digits for two years running. According to the Sustainability Trends Report published recently by Al Gore’s investment firm...

This week, we’re doing something a bit different outside of our typical interview format. This is a recap of New York Climate Week. I’ll share some of my impressions and you’ll hear from folks like Vice President Al Gore, California Senator Henry Stern, several friends, and fellow climate travelers. You’ll hear some segments from sessions I attended and sometimes it might sound like you’re actuall...

When it comes to plastics, we’re in a real bind. We have yet to develop and scale attractive alternatives to the petroleum-based plastic products we all use every day, and the plastics industry drives well over a billion tons of greenhouse gasses, that’s roughly 4% of total global emissions and plastic-related emissions are on track to double by 2060. Meanwhile, a small fraction – we’re talking le...

No matter who I talk to – whether startup founders, investors, or corporate sustainability leaders – when I ask what is needed to really move the needle on climate change, everyone always comes back to the to importance of policy change, of making climate an electoral issue and holding political leaders accountable to take bold action.  There’s no denying that in recent years one of the most...

When it comes to climate tech, there are a lot of new kids on the block, investors that have brought billions of dollars of new capital and have helped fund climate innovation we badly need.  It’s rare that you find folks who have been investing in climate tech for over a decade, let alone two decades. So I was thrilled to sit down with Neotribe ’s Swaroop Kolluri who goes by Kittu, a long-ti...

From the growing demand for climate-positive investing, new funds, new approaches for financial advisors, and entirely new platforms for managing one's investments are taking off. This is just the beginning. It's hard to imagine how different investing might be as tens of trillions of dollars transfer to younger sustainability-motivated generations. Today’s conversation is with two people working...

Fossil carbon is not just burnt for energy. It’s also used as an ingredient for millions of everyday products. But what if, rather than extracting new fossil carbon from the ground, the carbon could be sourced from waste and kept in circulation.  That’s exactly what a company called LanzaTech is doing. For almost two decades LanzaTech has been using a synthetic biology process to recycle carb...

We all know that addressing climate change means eliminating greenhouse gas emissions, but have you ever stopped to wonder how we know how much we’re actually emitting? The truth is we haven’t really known, but instead rely on estimates. These estimates fail to provide very specific data about where exactly emissions are coming from, when, and what investment and policy choices might be most effec...

The EV revolution is well underway, and we’re clearly in the midst of a massive transition away from gas-powered cars. Consumers are opting for EVs not only to end their costly dependency on fossil fuels, but also because EVs are often just better cars. For fleet managers, the calculus is different and more challenging. Switching to EVs requires not just an upfront investment, but also operational...

I love talking about food waste. It’s one of the biggest contributors to emissions and something that we all contribute to every day. Reducing how much food goes uneaten is, of course, a big part of the solution, but there’ll always be organic waste. If it sits in a landfill, it’ll emit methane and miss the chance to be used as a resource. Today’s episode focuses on an Israeli startup that sees or...