Google has one of the most ambitious climate targets in the tech world, but what happens if it falls short of its goals? How does the company balance innovation with environmental responsibility? And can AI really help reduce emissions? 

This week on Cleaning Up, Bryony Worthington sits down with Kate Brandt, Google's Chief Sustainability Officer, to unpack these critical questions. Brandt offers an insider's view of how one of the world's most influential companies is tackling the climate crisis, from tackling its own emissions to the impact of misinformation on its platform. Brandt has a fascinating background, having spent time in both the Pentagon, and advising President Obama on energy security and sustainability issues. In her current role, she oversees the team working to reduce Google's environmental impact. 

Google has set itself an ambitious company-wide climate goal of halving their 2019 emissions by 2030 but their latest sustainability report showed that they were off track, as the company has grown and increased their investment in energy-hungry artificial intelligence. As providers of curated information at a global scale, Google has a unique intersection with the climate problem. Primarily, their impact comes from the electricity they buy, but they're also able to guide customers' decisions through the provision of information and through their parent company Alphabet. 

They've made some pretty bold investments in innovative, disruptive companies, so measuring their impact is arguably more than the sum of their Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. Nevertheless, missing a clear target can't be very comfortable. Brandt discusses the company’s ambitious yet challenging emissions reduction targets, the transformative potential of AI in environmental solutions, and the innovative clean technologies that might just help us reimagine our energy future. 

From predicting floods and reducing aircraft emissions, to molten salt batteries and grid optimization technologies, this conversation reveals how Google thinks about innovation and the climate.

Leadership Circle:

Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its founding members: Actis, Alcazar Energy, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP of Portugal, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit https://www.cleaningup.live. 

Go deeper:

• 2024 Environmental Report - Google Sustainability
• Google X
• How AI Can Speed-Up Climate Action | BCG
• The Year Energy Woke Up To AI — Audioblog 14: Generative AI – The Power and the Glory
• Malta Inc.

The UK is an extraordinary case study in how to cut greenhouse gas pollution successfully. Since 1990, the country has more than halved its greenhouse gas emissions, while the economy has grown by over 80%. 

The Climate Change Act, passed in 2008, has helped steer the UK towards its net-zero goals, setting five yearly carbon budgets that are specifically designed to be ambitious but flexible, with lots of options available to the government to meet the targets. 

Joining this week’s episode of Cleaning Up is Emma Pinchbeck, the new CEO of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), the organisation which advises the government on the route it should take to net zero. 

Emma spent close to a decade leading the UK’s energy sector trade association, and is now responsible for producing advice on the UK's final three carbon budgets. In February, the CCC published the seventh carbon budget, which covers the period centred around the year 2040. 

Emma joins Bryony Worthington to talk about the progress the UK is making in meeting its carbon targets, the challenges ahead, and why it's so important the UK holds the course, even if others have chosen to abandon their climate ambitions.

Leadership Circle:

Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its founding members: Actis, Alcazar Energy, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP of Portugal, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit https://www.cleaningup.live. 

Links:

• The 7th Carbon Budget: https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/the-seventh-carbon-budget/
• Emma’s previous appearance on Cleaning Up: https://youtu.be/66flrmMEmso

How does Europe get cheap energy again? Are climate goals at odds with the need to remain economically competitive? Are we about to see an empowered and emboldened Europe, ready to take on China and the US?

Barely five years into the 2020s, this decade is already shaping up to be one of the most turbulent since the Second World War. As we record this episode, the US has just slapped 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, prompting swift retaliation from Europe and Canada.

The energy landscape is just as volatile. While the US seems set on spending the next four years as a semi-rogue petrostate—acting as if climate change were an afterthought—China is seizing the moment. It’s doubling down on EVs and electrification at home, tightening its grip on clean energy supply chains, and dominating global exports of solar panels, batteries, EVs, wind turbines, and even cables. In doing so, Beijing is cementing its status as the world’s premier electro-state.

This leaves Europe at a crossroads. How does the EU tackle sky-high energy prices while reducing its reliance on US LNG and Chinese clean tech? Can it craft a compelling narrative to counter the rising tide of populism that’s circling ever closer to the Berlaymont building in Brussels?

To help us unpack these critical questions, we’re joined by Nikos Tsafos, Greece’s recently promoted Deputy Energy Minister. His portfolio spans energy and emissions, and he collaborates with policymakers across transport and industry—not just in Greece, but throughout the EU.

Thank you to Nikos Tsafos for providing the graphs showing Greece’s energy transition.

Leadership Circle:

Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its founding members: Actis, Alcazar Energy, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP of Portugal, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit https://www.cleaningup.live. 

Links:

• Nikos Tsafos' Website: https://nikostsafos.com
• Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ letter to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen regarding the EU energy market: https://www.primeminister.gr/en/2024/09/13/34887
• Energy System of Greece: https://www.iea.org/countries/greece
• Yanis Varoufakis: Power, Markets & Power Markets - Ep104: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLbm8fg08hc
• Audioblog 14: Generative AI – The Power and the Glory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwZ2iNh133A

As the U.S. swings a budgetary axe at the federal government, one of the biggest casualties is climate science. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) faces a brutal 20% workforce reduction—jeopardizing critical research just when we need it most. So, what’s really at stake? And is Donald Trump Making America Dumb Again?

This week on Cleaning Up, host Bryony Worthington takes us deep inside the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where scientists are on the front lines of tracking our planet’s most urgent environmental challenges.

Meet Ralph Keeling, the scientist carrying forward his father’s legendary legacy—the Keeling Curve, the definitive record of our atmosphere’s rising carbon dioxide levels. His decades of meticulous measurements lay bare the stark truth about climate change and why these long-term observations are more vital now than ever.

And that’s not all. We also sit down with Professor Ray Weiss, the atmospheric detective who played a key role in saving the ozone layer. His work helped drive the Montreal Protocol—one of humanity’s greatest environmental victories.

With climate science under attack, what lessons can we learn from past successes? And what happens if we stop listening to the data?

Leadership Circle:

Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its founding members: Actis, Alcazar Energy, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP of Portugal, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit https://www.cleaningup.live. 

Links:

• Scripps Institution of Oceanography: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/
• The Keeling Curve: https://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/
• The Keeling Curve Foundation: https://www.keelingcurve.org/
• AGAGE (The Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment): https://www-air.larc.nasa.gov/missions/agage/
• History of the Montreal Protocal: https://www.unep.org/ozonaction/who-we-are/about-montreal-protocol

In February, Germany elected a new government. Friedrich Merz emerged as the new leader, but what are his energy and climate policies, and will Germany remain a climate leader in Europe and beyond?

Joining Cleaning Up this week is Patrick Graichen, a former Energy and Climate minister in the last government, representing the Green Party. Prior to entering government, Patrick ran the think tank Agora Energiewende, working on energy from 2001 to 2012. With his deep expertise Patrick offers unique insights into the evolving political landscape and its potential impact on Germany, Europe, and beyond. 

Patrick has witnessed how shifting public opinion can stall progress, and was responsible for a highly contested policy to phase out gas boilers and phase in heat pumps, which ultimately caused him to quit government. Bryony Worthington asks Patrick what he learned from that phase, and digs into the big questions surrounding the German car industry, nuclear power and the future of gas. 

Leadership Circle

Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its founding members: Actis, Alcazar Energy, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP of Portugal, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit https://www.cleaningup.live. 

Links

• Agora Energiewende:  https://www.agora-energiewende.org
• Patrick's Previous Appearance on Cleaning Up: https://youtu.be/MBCX7aZcRWI 
• Episode 154 with Kensa CEO, Tamsin Lishman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TpHa-uU6lc 
  
   

How can the U.S. government bridge the gap between clean energy innovation and large-scale deployment? Will the Trump administration accelerate progress or put up roadblocks for clean tech? And how can the U.S. stay competitive with China, which already holds a commanding lead in the sector? 

Jigar Shah joins Cleaning Up fresh from his four-year tenure as Director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office (LPO). Appointed in 2021, Shah transformed the once-obscure office into a clean-tech commercialization powerhouse, committing more than $100 billion in loans to U.S.-based companies. But with a new administration implementing sweeping cuts to the federal workforce, is all his work at risk? Or will market forces and the very real risk of blackouts keep clean energy innovation moving forward?

In this conversation with Michael Liebreich, Shah shares how he turned the LPO into a driving force for clean technology deployment, and what lessons can be learned by policymakers, investors and entrepreneurs. He also offers a candid assessment of the opportunities and challenges across key sectors—from advanced nuclear to sustainable aviation fuels. 

Leadership Circle

Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its founding members: Actis, Alcazar Energy, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP of Portugal, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit https://www.cleaningup.live. 

Links and more

• DoE Liftoff Reports: https://liftoff.energy.gov 
• Episode 9 with Jigar Shah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJhhinSeh9I
• Episode 193, Mike Headroom's AI Audioblog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwZ2iNh133A

How can climate activists be more successful in 2025? And where have they gone wrong? 

Kumi Naidoo has a storied career as an activist. At just 15 years old, he started out as an anti-apartheid campaigner and organiser in South Africa, before fleeing the country and attending Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, where he received a PhD for his research into the resistance movement in South Africa. 

After Nelson Mandela was freed, he returned home to help organise Mandela’s campaign to become President, and later became the head of both Greenpeace and Amnesty International. 

Naidoo has turned his energy to a new campaign, one that focuses specifically on the phase out of fossil fuels: the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. The Initiative, founded by former Cleaning Up guest Tzeporah Berman, seeks to establish a binding agreement amongst the most ambitious nations to phase out fossil fuels. So far, it has been endorsed by 16 nation states and 131 subnational governments and cities. 

Naidoo joins Bryony Worthington to talk about what he's learned from 45 years of campaigning, from hunger strikes to occupying oil rigs in the Arctic, where he thinks activism needs to go from here, and why he believes the Fossil Fuel Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative is the path forward. 

Leadership Circle

Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its founding members: Actis, Alcazar Energy, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP of Portugal, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit https://www.cleaningup.live. 

Links and more:

• Canada's Controversial Queen of Green
• The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty

The global south needs to build out vast amounts of clean energy, and requires hundreds of billions of dollars annually to do. And yet, only a fraction of the investment going into clean energy and the net-zero transition is flowing into those growth markets. So why are so few investing?

Lucy Heintz is partner and head of energy infrastructure at Actis, whose most recent Energy Fund represents over $6 billion of investable capital. She is a driving force behind the small slice of investment which does address clean energy in growth markets. 

Lucy joins Cleaning Up to unpack Actis' approach to investing in critical clean energy infrastructure projects across the Global South. From assembling renewable energy platforms to managing foreign exchange risks, Lucy shares the strategies that have historically allowed Actis to succeed in markets that many consider to be too risky. 

The Acronym Corner:

• BII - British International Investment; the UK's development finance institution. https://www.bii.co.uk/en/
• LP - Limited Partner, the capital provider for fund
• DFI - Development Finance Institution, e.g. BII
• DISCO - A distribution company, in places like India and Pakistan. Responsible for distributing energy from producers to consumers.
• DNO - Similar to a DISCO but UK focused, a company licensed to distribute electricity.
• PPA - Power Purchase Agreement — A long term contract between an electricity producer and a customer, that guarantees electricity be bought and sold at a pre-negotiated price for the period of the agreement.
• MIGA - The World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. Its mandate is to promote cross-border investment in developing countries by providing guarantees (political risk insurance and credit enhancement) to investors and lenders. See: https://www.miga.org/about-us

Leadership Circle: 

Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its founding members: Actis, Alcazar Energy, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP of Portugal, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit https://www.cleaningup.live. 

Links and more: 

• Actis Energy Infrastructure Fund: https://www.act.is/about-us/sectors/energy/
• Inside the World's Biggest Investor - Ep138: Carine Smith Ihenacho
• The Bridgetown Initiator - Ep145: Prof Avinash Persaud
• Enabling Africa's Green Energy Revolution - Ep120: Ana Hajduka
• Actis 2024 highlights film:
• Intro to Actis film:
• IPE: Generating alpha returns in energy infrastructure
• Infrastructure Investor: Shining a spotlight on emerging markets
• New Private Markets, De-risking transition investments in emerging markets
   

Disclaimer:

The statements made by Actis executives are as at February 2025 and are not necessarily representative of the views of executives of portfolio companies in which Actis has invested, and Actis assumes no obligation to update the information herein. Please refer to the following link for further important information in relation to this podcast: https://www.cleaningup.live/a-clean-energy-playbook-for-the-global-south-ep196-lucy-heintz/

Just a few short years ago, sustainable finance and sustainable investing were all the rage. The Glasgow Financial Alliance For Net Zero (GFANZ) boasted financial players controlling $140 trillion. 

Things have not been quite as smooth since: There's been extensive pushback, starting from the red states in the US, but spreading from there against ESG. And of course, sustainable finance and sustainable investing are firmly in the crosshairs of the new Trump administration. 

David Blood is the co-founder and senior partner at Generation Investment Management, and he's been a driver behind a number of the most substantial sustainable finance initiatives. He's built a very substantial asset management firm around the concept that sustainable investing will not just do the right thing for the planet and its people, but also provide superior returns. 

David joins Michael on Cleaning Up to argue the case for sustainable investing in 2025 and explain why there's been such a backlash to it. 

Leadership Circle 

Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its founding members: Actis, Alcazar Energy, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP of Portugal, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit https://www.cleaningup.live. 

Links and more

• Generation Investment Management Website
• Inside the World's Biggest Investor - Ep138: Carine Smith Ihenacho 
• How China Became a Green Finance Superpower - Ep160: Dr. Ma Jun

Aviation accounts for around 2-3% of global emissions, and is showing no sign of decreasing. There has been a lot of focus on replacement fuels, but no real paradigm shift in the industry. Anders Forslund has a plan to change that. 

Anders is the CEO of Heart Aerospace, the Swedish airplane developers who've recently established an R&D facility in California to develop their 30 seater hybrid-electric plane. Later this year, their all-electric prototype will take to the skies in its first test flight. 

While there are a number of companies innovating in the aerospace sector, including Joby Aviation, featured in Episode 156 of Cleaning Up, Heart is targeting larger planes and longer routes. They already have orders to buy hundreds of planes, most notably from United Airlines, and have received early investment from Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures. 

This episode was recorded at the Heart Aerospace facilities in El Sugundo, Los Angeles. 

Leadership Circle:

Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its founding members: Actis, Alcazar Energy, EcoPragma Capital, EDP of Portugal, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit https://www.cleaningup.live. 

Links:

• The Heart Aerospace website
• A Magnificent Woman And Her Flying Machines - Ep156: Bonny Simi