Wicked Problems - Climate Tech Conversations

Full show notes/bonus content at wickedproblems.earth Join host Richard Delevan on Wicked Problems as he engages in a compelling conversation with Indian journalist Rishika Pardikar . They discussed Rishika's extensive work covering environmental and land rights issues in India, including her stories from the coalfields of Central India and the impacts of major development projects on tribal lands...

For nearly a decade, a court in Hamm, Germany has been considering a case brought by a Peruvian farmer, Saul Luciano Lliuya, against the giant German utility RWE. The legal claim was novel: Lliuya said because RWE had caused a percentage of climate change because of its share of past fossil emissions, and that climate change threatened his farm by potentially collapsing a glacial lake, RWE should...

Full ep notes at wickedproblems.earth I have a confession to make. Even with a self-image as a world-weary cynic, I’m as vulnerable to manipulation as anyone else, especially for stories I grew up with. The Limits to Growth  came out the year I was born. I grew up in the US in the 80s. So we heard a lot of things like this: So even though I’m late to it, I was delighted to have come across th...

Come to wickedproblems.earth to get the full-fat version! Exit music for this episode is “ Oil Money ” by Graham Barham. Because, well, it’s a bit obvious this time, no? If insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result, global climate institutions like the annual COP meetings are definitionally loopier than Elon Musk deep down a K-hole. We spend our time arguing abou...

Get the full show notes and bonus material at wickedproblems.earth! How do things get names? Who decides? What happens if they’re contested? Does it matter? A brand, a label, a name,  the words applied to people, places, or things change how an audience  feels ,  and influences outcomes . “Call me Ishmael”, “deadnaming”, or try using the wrong place-name depending on what bank of th...

Get full show notes, bonus content, and ad-free listening at wickedproblems.earth! “More clean energy. More affordable energy. That dual mandate is the real challenge.”  In this episode, Richard Delevan talks to  Cat Clifford , senior reporter at  Cipher News , about what happens when data center demand collides with outdated policy, broken infrastructure, and an AI arms race nobody...

Full show notes and bonus content at wickedproblems.earth. In this episode we talk about climate tech in the age of AI, state failure, and the occasional aircraft powered by poop. In this episode, Canadian climate futurist and returning champion Michael Barnard joins us for a globe-spanning conversation about why he’s still cautiously optimistic — and why, if you’re only paying attention to the U....

Get bonus content at wickedproblems.earth! Mic Wright  is the madman media survivor behind one of this show’s second-favourite newsletter,  Conquest of the Useless  . So when we heard he has a new book out in a couple of weeks we were delighted he could give us a few minutes to talk meeja matters in the age of AI and climate consequences. Breaking: How the Media Works, When it Doesn...

Bonus content - wickedproblems.earth As we talked about with folk from  Carbon Technology Research Foundation  and  Robert Höglund   last week , Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) is going through some things. The Trump administration is slashing funding for Direct Air Capture (DAC) hubs, poster child CDR firm Climeworks is laying off 20% of staff and stands accused of overpromising...

Get bonus content at wickedproblems.earth! Why is it, every time the lights go out, anywhere in the world, there are ten influencers with pre-written posts about how it’s the fault of wind and solar on the grid?  Whether it’s Spain in 2025 or Texas in 2021 or the UK in 2019 or South Australia in 2016 - before the lights are even back on, never mind an investigation, there is a lightning-fast...

Full show notes and bonus content at wickedproblems.earth Join host Richard Delevan on this episode of Wicked Problems - Climate Tech Conversations as he explores the future of carbon removal technology during Carbon Removals Week. Featuring Philippa Amina and Luke Williams from the Carbon Technology Research Foundation (CTRF), the discussion delves into the challenges and opportunities in the fie...

Get all the show notes and bonus content at wickedproblems.earth. “It’ll be between a scalpel and a sledgehammer,” said Speaker Mike Johnson, describing how Republicans might gut clean energy in the Inflation Reduction Act. After last night’s vote, it looks more like a wrecking ball. In this episode, we talk to  Maeve Allsup  of Latitude Media about the damage now unfolding in Washington...

Get full show notes, bonus content, and ad-free listening at wickedproblems.earth Exploring Climate Geoengineering: An Urgent Discussion with Kelly Wanser In this episode of Wicked Problems, host Richard Delevan sits down with Kelly Wanser, CEO of SilverLining, to delve into the critical topic of solar radiation modification (SRM) and geoengineering aka "climate interventions". Amidst a backdrop o...

Extended show notes and bonus content at wickedproblems.earth. In this episode of 'Wicked Problems,' host Richard Delevan discusses the shift from climate optimism to defeatism with Jeremy Wallace, a China and climate policy expert at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). The discussion covers various factors influencing this shift, including the influence of...

We Start at the End Today’s outro track is the COVID-era reboot of a classic Peter Gabriel track , featuring Yo-Yo Ma, Angelique Kidjo, and many more. The reason will become clear. In this episode of Wicked Problems, we sat down with  Charles Perry , director of Sustainable Future for All, at the Conduit Club in London. A veteran in the climate and sustainability space, Charles has changed hi...

Conversations on Climate Solutions: Industry Adaptations and Global Impact at the Climate Impact Summit In this episode of Wicked Problems, host Richard Delevan brings discussions from the Climate Impact Flagship Summit in London. The episode features key guests like Carrie Lovelace and Chris Hayes from Visions 2030, who discuss their ambitious project aimed at fostering eco-consciousness through...

Remember. It’s darkest before…things go totally pitch black. Get all the show notes at wickedproblems.earth. Whether originating with the late Senator John McCain, Paul Newman, Mao, or John McCain quoting Mao, we love that line.  Embrace the dark. When you stop being afraid of the dark, your eyes get pretty good.  You might even spot some undead types who are back from the grave and up t...

Do you want the good news or bad news first?  Good news : here in the UK it’s a sunny Friday on the cusp of a bank holiday weekend.  Bad news : Shiz cray.  Could go either way : this is one of 3 holiday weekend episodes.  Definitely good news :  Lydia Collas  of UK think tank  Green Alliance  and  Rupert Read  of  Climate Majority Project &nbs...

Full show notes and bonus content at wickedproblems.earth Exit Music Today’s exit track is Fiesta by The Pogues - with Tunbridge Wells’ least-known and best-loved frontman, Shane MacGowan. We’re finishing a long-read and when we say long we mean LONG. But it’s our attempt to get behind the day-to-day reporting of the various machinations of what’s happening in the US and try to understand it by ex...

Get complete show notes and our newsletter, as well as ad-free listening, at wickedproblems.earth . Outro of the Day All will become clear. How F*cked Are We? NGL. It’s not great, Bob. That said, if you have even a smidge of privilege at the moment, spending a bit of your time paying attention not just to the moment-to-moment spectacle but what it means - so as to inform how you spend your future...

Get full show notes and ad-free listening at wickedproblems.earth. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that passing 1.5C would result in previously-taboo ideas like scaling carbon removals and solar geoengineering would rapidly get traction in the mainstream discourse. I know it doesn’t take a genius because I wrote that >18 months ago. And as my bank manager and inlaws will (eagerly) tell yo...

You can get all of our full show notes, newsletter, and ad-free listening at wickedproblems.earth. Do you need some Zen? I need a bit of that or something, just to get my head right. So we spoke with LaUra Schmidt, one-half of the dynamic duo of climate psychology along with her  Good Grief Network  co-founder and wife Aimee Lewis Reau, who wrote  How to Live in a Chaotic Climate &n...

Get all the shownotes, ad-free listening, and help us keep going! At wickedproblems.earth. Join Richard Delevan in this episode of Wicked Problems as he explores the recent Trump tariffs, their impact on global trade, and their parallels with mafia control tactics. He discusses historical examples of mafia extortion in Sicily with Linda Vetrano from the grassroots anti-mafia movement Addiopizzo ....

Get full notes, ad-free listening, and our newsletter at wickedproblems.earth. It feels like things are coming to a head. Here in the UK, the tensions between wanting growth and not wanting anything to change are hotting up.  Adam Bell  from Stonehaven UK joined me to talk the implications of Heathrow’s “unusual” substation fire for UK grid investments, Kemi Badenoch’s Net Zero too-cleve...

Get it all and get it ad-free at wickedproblems.earth The electricity grid is more fragile and more vulnerable than it needs to be for what we’re asking the basically 120-yr-old tech to do in 2025. Last week’s outage after an explosion at the substation nearest Heathrow, London’s busiest airport, was a reminder of that. Before founding grid tech rising star ENODA , Paul Domjan advised the US defen...