Net Hero Podcast – With Sumit Bose

Can you look good without killing the planet? We all know the cost of fast fashion not just on resources but also on people, from child labour, to using chemical polluting dyes, it’s an industry that has come under scrutiny a lot over recent years. But there is another side to it that is perhaps less discussed, that’s the enormous carbon footprint. Clothes are generally made from natural or synthe...

Is climate change a religious topic ? Can we learn from those who believe in God when it comes to convincing us to change our ways? Is the truth that net zero is missing the heavenly touch? That’s what I discussed with Michael Pollitt Professor of Business Economics at the Judge Business School of the University of Cambridge. He’s looked at how the messages of climate change pushed out by environm...

The air we breathe is probably the biggest marker of how we feel. In parts of the world, cities are choked with smog and during the pandemic one of the clearest indications of our effect on the environment, was the sight of clear skies and fresh air, when everyone was locked down and vehicles were off the roads. From chimneys and smoke stacks, to oil flares and vehicle exhausts. We are constantly...

Well what a year it’s been. As we say goodbye to 2023, I thought I would look back on the stories I thought gave a real flavour of the state of net zero. As we end with a ‘sort’ of commitment to phase out all fossil fuels made at COP28, has it been a good or bad year for our 2050 target? Join me as I remember some of the stories and guests who made me think twice; from antibiotics gathered from th...

Water can be an untapped opportunity for businesses – and exploring it further can power energy and carbon savings. Small actions with business water can deliver wider results – and they don’t need to be high cost to see lasting impacts.   Looking more at water use at sites is critical to future business growth and success link this sentence to: https://www.futurenetzero.com/category/water-plus-ne...

Imagine having tea, in a cup, while sitting on a table, wearing trainers, that are all made from greenhouse gases! Bonkers, right? Well maybe that's around the corner. This week's guest is Mark Herrema from a company called Newlight Technologies, which has taken carbon capture into a whole new dimension, by using bacteria to absorb carbon emissions and convert them into a plastic like material. Th...

Time to cough up? If we want to get to net zero we really need to get the money side of it sorted. Join my chat with leading economist Vicky Pryce as we talk cash! This week, as COP28 continues we discuss the central issue in the whole net zero debate…. money. Vicky Pryce, Chief Economic Adviser at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, told me net zero will require significant investment...

This week I spoke to Chris Skidmore MP, the man with our Net Zero plan. As Energy Minister back in 2019 he actually wrote into law our 2050 target and it has been his passion ever since. In autumn of 2022 he set out Mission Zero his 129 recommendations for the government as a pathway to net zero. Chris will be leaving parliament at the next election to concentrate on promoting his roadmap to net z...

Can net zero be a just transition for the whole world? That's the big debating point this week on the podcast. I am joined by Anders Wijkman, Co-president of Club of Rome, a thinktank set up in the 1970s to look at the effects of business on the planet. It published a report back then asking society, politicians and businesses to think about their actions on the planet's ecosystem. Anders has held...

This week's podcast is about the global view of net zero, through the prism of a tech company working with graphene. Now we've covered graphene many times on the podcast, it's a form of carbon that many have backed to be the conduit for the net zero transition; it conducts a current, it's super strong, it can be moulded into objects and clothing and it's incredibly light. But this week I discuss t...

Monitoring data is key for businesses starting their sustainability journey. This is what John Hyde, Centrica’s Head of Sales told us. He said: ‘I think for people at the start of their sustainability journey, they should look at their data. Monitor it, identify the hotspots and the emissions and then look at what kind of new technologies would have the most impact. ‘After that, it's about getting...

I've heard many interesting tales over the course of the last two years on this podcast, yet this week's one is a corker! What if you replanted forests by seed bombing? That's right, dropping seeds like little bombs, from the undercarriage of drones, with each seed wrapped in a protective package so it doesn't smash to bits when it hits the ground. That's what a company called Morfo is doing acros...

We spoke to Justin Jacober, Managing Director of Centrica Business Solutions about enabling net zero  Sustainability has been put on the back burner.  This is what Justin Jacober, Managing Director at Centrica Business Solutions told us.  He said: ‘I think some companies are just focused on survival.   ‘Even if you’re still focused on how [you’re] going to make payroll, you still don’t want to los...

WOW. One hundred! A Century. A TON! Thanks so, so much for listening, as we celebrate the 100th Net Hero Podcast! When I started this a couple of years ago, I didn't think there would be such a response, yet here we are, one hundred different voices, people from all over the world and 28,000 downloads and counting! To mark the occasion, I've been chatting to a young woman whom I first met at the s...

We Spoke to Oliver Kruc, Sales Channel Manager at British Gas Business about the cost of the pandemic on net zero  The energy crisis is preventing businesses from going green.  This is what Oliver Kruc, Sales Channel Manager at British Gas told us.   He said: ‘When their energy bills go from one year to the next – doubling, tripling, quadrupling in some cases. All of a sudden, the presence and pre...

It’s the most abundant element in the universe, lighter than air and firey too! But is Hydrogen really going to play a big role in our net zero future? Whenever the topic of Hydrogen pops up there’s lots of furore, its detractors say it’s too expensive to make, unsustainable, impractical and limited. Its champions say Hydrogen can give us a ready made substitute for natural gas and is the key to a...

We’re not moving fast enough to combat climate change . This is what Laura Plimbey, head of partnerships and propositions for British Gas Business, told us. But businesses are making changes. Laura told us that ‘20% of businesses have switched to renewable energy contracts and a further 68% say that they plan to switch in the near future, which is promising.’ She added: ‘We’ve seen that 73% of bus...

You wake up one winter's day and your house tells you to install insulation, pop a solar panel on the roof and points out the best place to stick a heat pump! Aaagh an AI house! Well not yet but a new start up is looking at building something along these lines. SuSy.house is an app that's going to let homeowners find out just what they can do to cut emissions for their home, by explaining the pote...

A little robot gets a personality, falls in love and saves the polluted world by repopulating plant life, cheered on by obese human blobs. If you've never seen it do so, Wall-E is a pixar classic and a film I have loved watching with my kids (and without them) again and again. The premise is clear we need robots to show us the folly of treating the planet as a waste bin. Great fiction or is it? Th...

Hot air! As we get towards autumn we need lots of it to keep our homes and workplaces warm. But could the real gamechanger be under our feet? District Heating is a concept that goes back to the Romans and ancient Chinese, yet its main use has been the last century or so in America. We’ve all seen movies with steam coming out of street vents, in fact most apartments in US cities use communal heatin...

Sumit Bose speaks with Julia Hailes who advocated working with business for environmental change back in the 80s.  She co-published the Green Consumer Guide in 1988, which kick started environmental consumerism and she made the bold step to say working with business was important if we are to really protect the planet. Is Julia happy or disappointed with our progress four decades on? Does environm...

Join us in this special episode as we sit down with our former colleague and eco-warrior, Mahin Khan, for an inspiring conversation about her incredible journey towards a net-zero future in Pakistan! 🇵🇰 Mahin Khan, a true trailblazer, has taken her passion for sustainability to new heights. From our office discussions to founding her own net zero-related company, she's making waves in the environm...

Beer, ah. Homer Simpson doesn't get much right but when it comes to a nice cold or as we prefer here in the UK, warm, beer, he's spot on. But did you know your pint isn't as good for the planet as you might think? I was surprised as, after all beer is water and some kind of cereal, with a dash of yeast, all natural stuff, so I didn't consider it's carbon footprint apart from the packaging it comes...

Now this is a tricky one, ask most people and you think that a diesel car is the most polluting thing on the road. And an EV has no emissions at all. But is that the whole truth? Nick Molden runs Emissions Analytics an independent testing body, that measures not just tailpipe emissions but all the emissions coming from a car. That includes the particles from tyres to the embodied carbon needed to...