Incredible job seekers are struggling to break into climate while Climate Tech companies are totally overwhelmed with huge numbers of high quality, AI supported applicants. Skander Garroum’s solution: if you want to break through, give away your best ideas. Seriously! We desperately need to move as many of the best people as we can to work into climate. If you’re one of these people and you want to know how to make this happen, stick around and find out. 

We discuss:

- Why and how the current process is failing job seekers and Climate Tech companies.

- How to craft a great challenge that puts you on the radar and why it’s so effective.

- The three kinds of challenges you can put together.

Where to find Jordy:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordygold/

Where to find Skander:

Climate Drift Substack:https://climatedrift.substack.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skandergarroum/ 

In this episode of Off the Record, Skander Garroum reports back on what surprised him the most at The Drop - Europe's leading climate tech conference. In the lead up to the event, all anyone seemed to talk about was AI, and yet, upon arrival the discussions went in a totally different direction. The China discussion dominated the Climate Tech space with competing factions trying to figure out how best to engage. Finally, given the Climate Tech funding ice age, various VC’s are beginning to panic leading to all kinds of unexpected decisions. Jordy Gold and Skander connected on September 25, 2025 to talk about how everything went down this year at The Drop.

We discuss:

How to engage with China on Climate Tech - compete, collaborate or give up altogether.

AI is huge, and yet, so far, it’s missing in action when it comes to Climate Tech.

Limited Partners - those who provide capital for funds - are pulling back causing VC’s, venture capitalists, to panic.

VC doesn’t work for Climate Tech, full stop. Are new blended financing models the way to go?

Where to find Jordy:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordygold/

Where to find Skander:

Climate Drift Substack:https://climatedrift.substack.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skandergarroum/ 

Skander Garroum knew China was leading in Climate Tech infrastructure, manufacturing and products offerings, but was totally blown away during his recent trip when he went to go and see their edge first hand. Until you’re on the ground and have access to everything the country is developing, and until you experience what regular Chinese people see and do every day, you just can’t imagine how far ahead they are. This leads us right back to the same question: What do we in the West do now? Skander thinks he has the answer. Today we cover the highlights from his trip and where the West could go next.

We discuss:

1. How did China become the major player in Climate Tech controlling essential resources?

2. Building really big: China’s infrastructure buildout vs. the West’s approach

3. No one sells ‘eco’ in China – they’ve got something better

4. What the West could and should do next in Climate Tech

Where to find Jordy:

LinkedIn

Where to find Skander:

Climate Drift Substack

LinkedIn

2025 was a total rollercoaster for Climate Tech and 2026 is shaping up to be no different. We never imagined that by the end of 2025 we’d be ‘winning’ on the climate front and now we have a whole new batch of surprises of what to look forward to for this new year. Skander Garroum walks us through what’s expected, big concerns, crazy predictions and finally, what he hopes to see play out. Reindustrialization is happening in the west, AI and power production continue taking centre stage, and you’re not going to want to miss what he says about the AI bubble and robotics. Big things are coming, maybe sooner than you realize.

We discuss:- Where does the AI, data centres and power production story go next?- Reindustrialization gets real.- Physical AI and Robotics are coming sooner than you think.- The AI bubble is real and it will burst in exactly….- The big stories we’ll be discussing in 2026

When you look back on 2025, what stands out? Let us guess: AI. Yes, AI, power production and data centres were huge and deserve a lot of attention. But there was so much more.

If you think back to January 2025 everything climate and Climate Tech looked like a car wreck playing out in slow motion, with big sweeping policy changes in the US on the horizon and global economic concerns.

And yet, somehow, we finished off the year in a totally different, unexpected place. If you want to remember how things began, the major twists and turns - some for the better and some for the worse - and where things might go next in 2026, you’re going to want to check this out.

We discuss:

* Despite all of the turbulence, is Climate Tech actually winning?

* How everything in 2025 felt like two steps forward, one step back.

* You can’t discuss 2025 without looking at AI, power production and data centres.

* The clean energy generation boost.

* Initial 2026 predictions.

Where to find Skander:

Climate Drift Substack

LinkedIn

Where to find Jordy:

LinkedIn