Carbon Conversations

Suzanne Allaire has been working in environmental science for about 30 years with a bachelor degree in agriculture, a master in waste recycling and PhD on contaminant transport in porous media.

She has collaborated with a wide range of industries, private companies, government agencies and research institutions to reduce the impact of humans on the environment by adding value to residues, protecting soils, and improving carbon budget; the last 20 years being mainly on biochar and pyrolysis of residues. She has worked as a full professor at Laval University in Canada for more than 16 years, then started GECA Environnement.

As owner and CEO of GECA Environnement, she works with her team as an expert on derisking and accelerating pyrolysis and biochar project development, including prefeasibilities, pyrolysis products and their markets, product design, technology selection with the Product and Process Teams at GECA. Her Carbon team completes LCAs, feasibilities and develops complete projects of biochar carbon credits in addition to broker the credits for her clients. GECA’s team supports private companies, organizations, and governments of all sizes around the world (in 30 countries over the last 5 years) in various aspects of pyrolysis/gasification of wastes.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/geca-environnement/

Sebastian Manhart is a climate advocate, leveraging his skills and experiences to support policymakers in making better decisions for our planet.​

He is currently the Senior Policy Advisor of Carbonfuture,  the world's leading provider of high-integrity, durable carbon removal. In this role, he focuses on promoting policies to help scale durable carbon removal in Europe, the United States, and beyond.

Sebastian previously spent a decade as a tech entrepreneur, including being Chief Operating Officer at Simprints, the world’s only nonprofit biometrics company. He also advised Angela Merkel’s Chancellery and worked with governments globally through the World Bank.

Sebastian is an economist with a BA from UCL, an MPhil from Cambridge University, and an ExecEd from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

You can follow Sebastian on LinkedIn, where he shares daily insights with his 25k+ followers.

For Sebastian's Newsletter (sign up here, last version here).

Nathan Létourneau is a Chartered Financial Analyst and the Senior Director of Finance for Ground Up Investing (GUI). In his role, Nathan performs investee due diligence, GUI portfolio analysis and forecasting, and financial oversight of GUI and the wholly owned subsidiaries Mountain Harvest and Farmers Market Brands.

Over the last decade, Helena Wasserman has worked for the Clinton Foundation, Big Data for Humans, Techstars and Top Tier Impact. She helps climate founders unlock sales, fundraising as well as being bolder leaders. She is on a mission to empower 1M climate founders to build scalable solutions to fix climate change.

On this episode we chat with Martin Freimüller, the founder and CEO of Octavia Carbon, the Global South’s first Direct Air Carbon Capture company. As such, Martin leads the company’s efforts to design, build and deploy machines in Kenya that filter CO2 from the air to reverse climate change and end the fossil fuel age.

Prior to Octavia, Martin worked in strategy consulting at Dalberg, where he was the global content expert for carbon removal and carbon markets for 2 of his 3.5 years there. Martin holds an M.A. from the University of Cambridge with majors in Politics, Social Science, and Management Studies.

Kimon is an experienced multidisciplinary engineer specialising in developing new technologies and products, bringing together and leading teams or collaborators as necessary.  He brings an exceptional analytical and intuitive understanding of physical systems.  For the last 20 years he has worked mainly in consultancy and Cambridge SMEs, with clients from TetraPak via wireline and Formula 1 to medical devices, holding roles including Chief Scientist, Operations Director, Chief Research Officer and Head of R&D. He has also for example advised VCs on technology investments and carried out technology audits, as well as preparing business plans and pitching to VCs for funding – and been on the other side. participating in Angel investment rounds.  Most recently, as well as medical device work, he’s increasingly working on projects relating to carbon saving (grid load shedding, home insulation diagnostics from smart meter data, etc), as well as working as a Domain Expert with the Carbon Thirteen venture accelerator.  He studied at Cambridge, taking final year papers in electrical, mechanical, control and structural engineering, and holds a “double first” degree and a PhD.  He previously held academic positions in Cambridge (fellowship),  Bristol (lectureship), and at the EPFL in Lausanne (equivalent).

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimonr/

About Planboo

Simon Bager is the Co-founder and Chief Impact Officer at Klimate.co. In his role at Klimate, Simon is tasked with overseeing the company's carbon removal offerings. He is instrumental in the development of products tailored for clients and the selection of projects and technologies to engage with. His work involves a collaborative effort with suppliers, partners, and clients to procure the most effective carbon removal projects. These projects are then incorporated into Klimate's carbon removal asset management platform, which is utilized by companies to handle carbon removal credits essential to their sustainability endeavors.

Holding a Ph.D. in Science from Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium, Simon's research centered on the promotion of sustainable land use by private companies via their supply chains, with a specific focus on sustainability initiatives and commitments. His academic qualifications also include an M.Sc. in Environmental Management and Policy from the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University, along with an M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Geography from the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management at the University of Copenhagen.

Simon’s professional prowess is exclusively centered on sustainability, underpinned by an extensive knowledge base in climate change and mitigation practices, with a particular emphasis on both nature-based and technological carbon removal solutions. His consulting experience is far-reaching, encompassing policy analysis, assessments, and sustainability project implementations for a diverse range of public and private sector clients across Europe, Africa, and Latin America.

Furthermore, Simon's career is marked by significant management experience, acquired in his present and past positions. He has also served on various boards and advisory roles with a sustainability focus, underscoring his commitment and expertise in the field.

[email protected]

Bian Li is an award-winning thought leader, futurist and educationist, and a champion of building startups for sustainability, long before Covid-19 accelerated the global shift in this direction. Her work breathes life into world-changing ideas at the intersection of technology, social innovation and entrepreneurship. 
Bian founded The Hungry Lab to Reshape, Re-imagine and Re-build a better, Regenerative Future in the face of daunting global challenges. Founded in California with presence across South and Southeast Asia, The Hungry Lab is an education, incubation and research platform for impactful ventures at the nexus of FrontierTech, Future of Work and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in emerging markets. The Hungry Lab provides insights, curriculum, innovation training and startup incubation support to universities, corporates, accelerators, investors, research organizations and international development agencies. The Hungry Lab also incubates and invests in its own portfolio of startup cohorts, and also houses a series of thought leadership initiatives such as “Startups to Save the World™ Global Innovation Roundtable Series” and “The Hungry Talks Forum for the Future Series”. As part of The Hungry Lab's ReThink Tank™, she is leading Operation EARTH - Exponential Augmented Regenerative Tech for Humanity, a global collaboration exploring holistic, systems-based tech applications for UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 
Bian speaks globally on topics such as the Future of Work, the Future of Education, FrontierTech for SDGs and the Transformative Power of Youth. She is a multiple time TEDx speaker, and has presented at various global conferences, including the Tetouan Mediterranean Forum on UN SDGs, the Asian Development Bank, the UN FAO- IFPRI Summit, IFAMA Global Leadership Forum, and the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, among others. 
She is a 2019 REX Karmaveer Gold Chakra Award Winner and Global Fellow in India and 2019 40 Under 40 in Orange County, California. Her work is frequently covered in the media and on Medium. She is also a popular podcast, radio and television guest and often contributes to academic books, publications and trade reports. 
An avid champion of ocean conservation, Bian is also a certified rescue diver, and when she is not working on land, you will most likely find her enjoying life underwater. 

You can connect with Bian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beebianli/

Mart de Bruijn is an Environmental Economist with a passion for the emerging market dynamics and policies that shape the Carbon Economy. He is particularly fascinated by biochar, a subject close to his heart. As Co-Founder of Dutch Carboneers, Mart is at the forefront of innovative environmental solutions, combining his expertise and love for the field in his ongoing endeavors.