Mission Shunya

How can cities enable shared electric mobility services? Are 15 minute cities a reality?  Why behaviour shift is essential to make shared transit system in cities a success? All this and more is discussed in this episode where Venkatesh Gopal, Partnerships & Business Development manager at Movmi joins Girish Shivakumar for a conversation.  To find out more about Venkatesh & Movmi –  https:...

What does it take to build a successful cleantech business?  Are the new age leaders in cleantech different from the conventional business leaders? What do the investors look for when they evaluate a cleantech start-up?  All this and more is discussed in this episode where Girish Shivakumar interviews David Hunt, CEO of Hyperion Executive Search and the host of ‘Leaders in cleantech’ podcast. To f...

Did you know that water that is treated well can be reused? Water treatment as a service is now available where you pay for every litre of water reused from treatment. What's more, it also meets your requirements in terms of local government compliance.  The Boson White Water System involves a 11 stage treatment process where the output is pure drinking water All your questions on how to get start...

What is Mobility as a Service (MaaS) all about? How can MaaS help cities reduce car ownership? What are the emerging global trends around MaaS? Can we combine housing rents with mobility subscription? All your questions on this and more answered on this episode where Sampo Hietanen, CEO of MaaS Global is in conversation with Girish Shivakumar.  To find out more about MaaS Global https://whimapp.co...

How has deregulation of electricity markets given more power to the consumers?  How can technology help developing countries leapfrog in the energy transition? What can we learn from the Texas electricity grid crisis of 2021? All your questions on this and more answered on this episode where Jesson Bradshaw, CEO of Energy Ogre is in conversation with Girish Shivakumar.  To find out more about Ener...

Is refreezing the arctic a viable climate action? What are the pathways for deep and rapid emissions reductions? What are the nature based solutions for greenhouse gas removal? All your questions on this and more answered on this episode where we discuss Climate action backed by scientific research and robust evidence with Dr Shaun Fitzgerald OBE from Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge (CCRC)...

How did Greta Thunberg inspire climate action around the world? How did a company that started off as a provider of carbon footprint assessments grow into a MNC that is offering businesses an end-end transparent climate action strategy? All you need to know about ClimatePartner's 5 step process for climate action is on this episode. Girish Shivakumar is joined by Tristan A. Foerster, Managing Dire...

Can buildings be turned into carbon sinks? What are the best use cases of carbon capture? All this and more covered on this episode featuring Soletair power.  Soletair Power turns buildings into carbon sinks, that lower the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. The captured CO2 is converted into synthetic renewable fuel. Petri Laakso, CEO & Partner joins Girish Shivakumar on this conversatio...

How are companies manufacturing plastics undergoing a sustainability transformation?  What do we know about the plastics industry and what should we know to be more aware of the product we use daily? What are the roles of financing options like green bonds and are they really adding value to the decarbonisation strategy of the plastic industry? All your questions on the plastics industry, the valu...

What’s holding us back from adopting electric mobility in a big way? When can India see an increased uptake of EVs? How did the Nordic region get there? On this episode, Awadhesh Kumar Jha joins Girish Shivakumar to discuss this topic in detail particularly covering three points  What is it about the mind set of people that is required to enable the shift to personal electric mobility?  The narrat...

International Energy Agency released a landmark report, ‘Net Zero by 2050: a Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector’ this past week. The net zero roadmap is aimed to be a “how to guide” for the world’s decision makers to get to their targets. So, what are the highlights from the study? | What are the recommendations? | What are the critics saying about this study? Girish Shivakumar provides a summar...

What is Rainwater Harvesting? Why is it essential for megacities and how can you get one done? All your questions answered on this episode.  Bengaluru in India is a water stressed city but there are innovative projects that are coming up which aims to reduce the water stress and recharge the ground water. Ganesh Shanbhag an avid enthusiast who designed his own system joins Girish Shivakumar to sha...

Everyone is talking about Net-Zero transitions, why is it important, why should you be involved and how can you be involved? All questions answered on this episode.     Girish Shivakumar also shares the brief 2 year old journey of Mission Shunya podcast and what to expect in the future.   The net zero tracker - https://eciu.net/netzerotracker   Without the hot air - https://www.withouthotair.com/...

What is Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS)? How does it work? Is direct air capture an efficient solution? All your questions on CCUS answered on this episode. Joining Girish Shivakumar is the CTO of Aker Carbon Capture Jim Stian Olsen, who shares the story of how Aker started developing its technical expertise around carbon capture. Also, how is it building its first CCUS plant in the...

Will we run out of Lithium for EV batteries? Is Cobalt ethically sourced? How much of metals can we extract through recycling? All your questions on the sustainability of material extraction, global supply chains and circular economy answered on this episode.  Tom Van Bellinghen (VP, OEM Value Chain & Marketing) and Kedar Rele (Country General Manager & Director, India) from Umicore join G...

Is urban farming really sustainable? Is it the same throughout the world? Why should look at it holistically?  Shalini Patwal, an infrastructure development consultant passionate about climate change and sustainability, particularly in the context of water joins Girish Shivakumar on this episode to share her views on the impact of urban farming on the water infrastructure.  Follow Shalini Patwal:...

Do you want to know what it takes to build a career in cleantech? What should you consider if you are planning to turn an entrepreneur? On this special episode Rajesh Bhat joins Girish Shivakumar and shares his experience of witnessing the global cleantech transition and how young professionals can brace up to the challenge.  Key insights on what you need to excel in this sector, what is the reaso...

Help Us Green has pioneered the art of converting flower waste into a useful product recreating the fragrance as it upcycles the waste or called flowercycling. In the process they have created an ecosystem helping women in rural India earn a livelihood and respect within the community.  Karan Rastogi, the Co-Founder joins Girish Shivakumar to share the story. Follow Help Us Green: https://twitter....

UK set the ball rolling for countries to commit to a transition towards a zero carbon economy. Recently UK announced the 10 point plan for a green industrial revolution, the first major piece of strategy providing a context of what it intends to achieve across sectors.  On this episode, Dr David Reiner, a political scientist and a senior lecturer at the Judge Business School, University of Cambrid...

How does climate change impact renewable energy generation? New evidence on how marine temperature rise and the unseasonal cyclonic events caused the variance in wind generation is here. On an average there was 5-11% across India with a few regions accounting for about 15% variance in India on a yearly basis.  Asim Ahmed from REConnect Energy joins Girish Shivakumar on this episode to share his fi...

Kevin Houston , co-founder of Carbon Masters joins Girish Shivakumar on this episode to share his entrepreneurial journey. The product, Carbonlites is India's very first compressed biogas brand and it is used for cooking and transportation. The output slurry is also used as an organic fertilizer. Their latest solution of getting Bio CNG through sewage treatment could be a game changer in terms of...

How can you reach your net zero goals if you can’t directly invest in a project? Carbonfund.org enables businesses and individuals go carbon neutral.  Brian McFarland, Senior Vice President of Carbon Offset Projects joins Girish Shivakumar on this episode to share the story of Carbonfund.org More information on Brian & CarbonFund: https://carbonfund.org/   Subscribe and listen on Apple Podcast...

Vishal Pandya, co-founder of REConnect Energy, an entrepreneur who has built India’s leading energy analytics platform joins Girish Shivakumar to share the REConnect story. It’s a very a candid and engaging conversation on entrepreneurship in clean-tech sector and the 10 year journey of REConnect Energy. Subscribe and listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2LFBCVw   Other platforms: http://bit...

On this episode Girish Shivakumar is joined by Sagar Gubbi, Managing Partner at Ecoforge Advisors, who shares the story of Ecoforge and how they are working to enable access to technology and capital in the developing world to combat the impact of Climate Change. Ecoforge works in the developing countries with investors and aid agencies in delivering sustainability projects and ‘forging’ relations...

“We want to eliminate single-use plastic bags” reads a statement on the website of Solubag, a company based out of Chile.  Roberto Astete, Co-Founder joins Girish Shivakumar on this episode to share the story of conceptualising alternative products to single use plastics. The products from Solubag are soluble in warm and cold water distinctively.  Interested to know more? https://bit.ly/3omSgIR Su...