The Earth Set Podcast

This week’s bonus episode comes from South by Southwest London, where Earth Set and the Blue Earth Summit hosted a live discussion exploring one of the most overlooked dimensions of the plastics crisis: human health. Guest names: Sian Sutherland - Host, Founder of A Plastic Planet Saabira Chaudhuri - Author of Consumed Laura Harnett - Founder, Seep Amir Afshar - Founder, Shellworks Professor Richa...

This week’s episode comes from Octopus Energy HQ where Amy Rennison is joined by Phil Cohen , Patrick Matthewson , Rachel Fletcher , and Aruna Ramsamy . The conversation explores a growing tension at the heart of the UK’s industrial strategy: the push to decarbonise heavy industry is running directly into some of the highest industrial electricity prices in the OECD. Across steel, chemicals, manuf...

This week’s episode takes a step back from individual topics to look at the bigger picture: a Q1 2026 review of the climate and energy stories that have defined the year so far — and what they mean for what comes next. Hosted by Amy Rennison , the conversation brings together three returning perspectives spanning analysis, politics and capital. Lucy Shaw , energy analyst and advisor, breaks down t...

This week’s episode comes from Octopus Energy HQ, where Amy Rennison hosts a live Earth Set conversation on one of the most contested — and least clearly defined — ideas in the transition: the “just transition”. She’s joined by three perspectives spanning community, policy and capital. David Powell from the Local Storytelling Exchange brings a grounded view from communities across the UK, explorin...

This week’s episode comes from the Eden Project in Cornwall, where Amy Rennison and Fiona Howarth speak to two very different — but equally important — voices in the transition. First, Augusta Grand , CEO of Eden Geothermal, shares the story of bringing geothermal energy to the UK — from early resistance to wind power through to the realities of drilling, financing and scaling a new energy source....

Behind every climate solution lies a human challenge. A challenge not just of technology or capital, but of people — the skills, training and pathways needed to turn ambition into reality. In this episode, Fiona Howarth sits down with Rich Tyrie , CEO of GoodPeople , to explore the growing green skills gap and what it will take to close it. From building talent pipelines to connecting local commun...

Behind every breakthrough climate technology lies a quieter, more fragile moment. The point where innovation has been proven, but scaling it into the real world becomes uncertain, expensive and deeply complex. In this episode, Amy Rennison sits down with Sarah Macintosh of Cleantech for UK and Jim Totty of Virdis Capital to explore one of the most critical — and least understood — challenges in th...

Behind every electric car sits a far older and more complex story. A story about minerals, mining, geopolitics and a global race to control the materials that power the energy transition. In this episode, Fiona Howarth sits down with Henry Sanderson , Financial Times journalist and author of Volt Rush , to explore the hidden history of electric vehicles and the critical minerals that make them pos...

What if one of the most important industries for solving climate change barely exists today? The world is getting better at reducing emissions. Renewable energy is scaling. Electrification is accelerating. Efficiency is improving. But even in the most optimistic climate scenarios, billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide will still need to be removed from the atmosphere every year. In this Earth Set c...

If two thirds of the public believe climate change is real, support renewables, and want government action… why does it feel like net zero is suddenly on shaky ground? At February’s Earth Set Live, we took on one of the most consequential shifts in the transition right now: the rise of climate opposition inside mainstream politics. This was a serious look at what’s actually driving the backlash. E...

What actually happened in UK climate tech investment last year? At our second live recording of Season Two, hosted at HSBC Innovation Banking during the Blue Earth Investment Forum in January, we brought the data to the table. No anecdotes, no gossip. Just numbers, trends and a candid look at what they mean for 2026. Amy was joined by Sarah Mackintosh, Director at Cleantech for UK, and Sammy Fry,...

Coal feels like history. Steam engines. Sooty faces. Museums and memorial plaques. And yet it still generates around a third of the world’s electricity and accounts for roughly 37 percent of global carbon emissions. Every year, we burn close to one tonne of coal per person on Earth. In this live recording from Octopus Energy & Octopus EV HQ, Fiona Howarth unpacks why coal refuses to fade quiet...

Earth Set is back! Can you believe we're on season 2 already?! We can't! Season 1 started as an experiment. A few live conversations. A microphone in the room. A question about whether the climate transition could be discussed with more depth and less theatre. Ten episodes later, it became clear there was an appetite for honest conversations about how the green transition actually happens. Season...

Environmental destruction is often framed as harm, oversight, or bad practice. But what if we started calling it what it really is. Crime. In this season finale of the Earth Set podcast, we are joined by Dr Julia Shaw , criminal psychologist, author, podcast host, and presenter, for a conversation that reframes how we think about crimes against the planet. Julia is the author of Green Crime , a gl...

In this episode we continue our Green Skills audio only series. Fiona speaks with Mat Ilic , CEO of Greenworkx , an organisation building the workforce needed to deliver the transition. Mat’s work sits at the intersection of industry, social impact and public policy, and he brings one of the clearest views on what the UK must do to avoid a skills bottleneck that could slow climate progress for yea...

In this live recorded episode, Amy sits down with Michael Liebreich — founder of New Energy Finance, CEO at Liebreich Associates, co-managing partner at EcoPragma Capital, adviser to governments and industry, and host of Cleaning Up — to explore his call for a Pragmatic Climate Reset . Michael argues that the climate conversation has drifted into extremes. Doom on one side. Techno-optimism on the...

What if the biggest story of the net zero transition isn’t technology, policy or investment, but jobs ? Jobs that disappear, jobs that transform, and millions of jobs that don’t exist yet. In this episode, Fiona sits down with ⁠ Julian Critchlow ⁠ , advisory partner at ⁠ Bain & Company ⁠ , former Director General for Energy Transformation & Clean Growth in UK government, and one of the arc...

In this bonus episode, we step behind the headlines of the latest UN climate talks with writer, editor, and climate activist Grace Pengelly — collaborator on the late Peter Betts’ remarkable book The Climate Diplomat: A Personal History of the COP Conferences . Recorded in the immediate aftermath of the most recent COP, this conversation digs into what really happened, why the negotiations felt pa...

In this powerful live episode filmed at Bain & Company London, Earth Set co-founder Fiona Howarth sits down with Neil Shearing , Group Chief Economist at Capital Economics and author of The Fractured Age , to unpack one of the biggest economic shifts of our time: the end of globalisation as we’ve known it . From the rise of China to the role of semiconductors, rare earths, green tech, and the...

Recorded live at the Blue Earth Summit 2025 , this episode captures the energy, optimism, and innovation driving climate action today. Join hosts Amy Rennison and Fiona Howarth as they speak with founders, thinkers, and changemakers across the event — from the Internet of Energy to plastic-free design , community power , steward ownership , and climate tech for good . You’ll hear from: Dan Travers...

In this live Earth Set founder session, Fiona Howarth , Founder and Director of Octopus Electric Vehicles , joins her Earth Set co-founder Amy Rennison to share how a simple idea—and one Google search—grew into a business that’s helped thousands make the switch to electric. From setting up a leasing company during lockdown to raising over £1.4 billion in finance for EVs, Fiona’s story is a masterc...

In this live Earth Set conversation, we check back in on the UK’s journey to net zero — one year on from our first climate progress panel — to find out who’s winning, who’s lagging, and what it will really take to hit our 2030 and 2050 targets. Our guests bring the data, the context, and the challenge: Emily Nurse , Head of Net Zero at the Climate Change Committee Dave Jones , Co-founder and Globa...

Welcome to Earth Set , the podcast where the people accelerating a net positive future come together to share ideas, challenge assumptions, and build real-world solutions. In this episode, hosts ⁠ Amy Rennison ⁠ and ⁠ Fiona Howarth⁠ sit down with James Arbib — investor, futurist, and co-author of Stellar: A World Beyond Limits — and How to Get There . James argues that we’re standing at the edge o...

Welcome to Earth Set , the podcast where the people accelerating a net positive future come together to share ideas, challenge assumptions, and build real-world solutions. In this trailer, hosts Amy Rennison and Fiona Howarth introduce the vision behind Earth Set and what listeners can expect each month, from live events to in-depth conversations with the changemakers shaping a regenerative econom...