Decarb Connect

Nico Girod of Clear Blue Markets talks with Alex about the hot and growing market for voluntary offsets. We explore their roots and factors that are driving their growth, we also talk about the difference between high quality offsets and those that carry more reputational risk.  We look at the questions corporates bring to discussions of offsets, the change participants in the market and look ahead to predictions around volume and type of offsets entering the market. 

If you’re interested to understand the opportunity, or have questions around the risks of offsets, listen in. Find out when peak-offset is likely to occur and use the discussion to flesh out questions and approaches of your own. 

Show Links: 

https://www.clearbluemarkets.com/  - sign up for their meaty weekly newsletters of activities in regulated and voluntary carbon markets. 

www.decarbconnect.com 

Dr Bryony Livesey leads the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge (IDC), which forms part of the UK’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF).  IDC is a £170m programme with £261m match funding from industry, designed to deploy low carbon technologies and enabling infrastructure in heavily industrialised regions of the UK. 

Bryony and Alex talk about the significant program of work that is ongoing to help develop world class industrial clusters in the UK and how these commercial projects can both decarbonise at scale – but also feed valuable lessons and knowledge back to other parts of the industrial landscape.

Whether you’re UK based or live and tackle co2 elsewhere in the world, this is an invaluable discussion about how government can support large scale projects - you’ll hear Bryony’s thoughts on why industrial clusters are proving so essential and how other industrial sites and groups can make use of these massive projects. Don’t miss the discussion’s additional point of value here – the social impact and benefits of these large scale projects. 

Show Links: 

https://idric.org/the-industrial-decarbonisation-challenge/

www.decarbconnect.com

Join Alex and Joe Raia for a discussion about how Abaxx’s exchange launch presents an opportunity to create carbon neutral and offset trading products for commodities traders managing portfolios of hard to abate products. 

We talk about the rapid movement of global markets towards practices and policies that support ESG initiatives and investments and look at the physical commodities and futures-based trading perspective on this. 

We also discuss the view point that LNG and Green LNG  might be “bridge hydrocarbons” on route to carbon neutrality - what does this mean and is it a strong argument? 

Show Links: 

https://www.abaxx.exchange/

https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2021/02/11/2174054/0/en/Abaxx-advances-ESG-and-carbon-markets-strategy-by-leading-Series-A-Financing-in-AirCarbon-Exchange.html

www.decarbconnect.com

Andrew Smith of Greenbackers joins Alex to explore their success in matching investors to the right decarbonisation tech with true commercial potential. They talk about how to reverse engineer net zero by 2050 and how much of it requires new business models vs new tech. They also explore the role that CVCs, VCs & PE play best. Listen in to find out about the characteristics of strong start up leadership teams, what industrials need to ensure they bring to early stage projects and the role for policymakers in supporting market adoption of new tech.

Links:
https://greenbackers.com/
26ForCOP26 Cleantech investment program: https://bit.ly/26-for-COP26
www.decarbconnect.com - find out more about our global decarbonization network & platform

Many thanks to Sassy Clyde at Janno Media for her support and expertise in the edit and production of our series. 

Simon Ighofose talks with Alex about building technology and a new business out of a passion for supporting off-grid communities. We look at the pyrolisis tech that is the heart of PyroGenesys' business, and we talk about the scale of the market opportunity for both developed industrial markets as so-called "bottom of the pyramid" off-grid communities. The technology is about to go into a pilot phase at a facility in the north west of england and will be proving its capabilities in thermal separation - ultimately enabling crops like cassava (or any waste material) to convert to high value products including kerosene and other fuels in wide use across Africa.

If, like us, you like to hear about the innovations that are getting ready to scale and which offer solutions for circular economy/decarbonization then this episode is for you.

Links:
https://pyrogenesys.com/ 
https://pyrogenesys.com/portfolio/ppa/
www.decarbconnect.com - find out more about the hosts of the podcast series and their global decarbonization network

Many thanks to Janno Media for their support and expertise in the edit and production of our series. 

Rich Powell talks with Alex about the work ClearPath does to drive policies in support of the energy transition in the US. While much is made of the democrat agenda in this space, we talk about conservative support for the energy transition and the types of programs of work and policies that they are driving to support it. We also touch on the bi-partisan support for certain aspects of clean energy policy and Rich's own views on what needs to be done. From the Clean Energy Act of 2020 to the relaunch of US export credit, from the need for policy that drives investment to the goal of creating a strong export market for US cleantech that can drive energy transition affordably in developing countries - we cover a lot of ground in the discussion about what is needed to achieve global net zero.

Links:
https://www.clearpath.org/
http://www.decarbconnect.com - find out more about the hosts of the podcast series and their global decarbonization network

Many thanks to Janno Media for their support and expertise in the edit and production of our series. 

With lots of change in the market for investments in clean tech, Caroline Abramo (Chief Investment Officer of Pana LCE Investments) joins Alex to talk about how private equity can invest in cleantech and decarbonization solutions in a way that really drives the right outcome. Listen in to a discussion about the fiduciary duties investors have to their clients and how to balance these with achieving real impact - and also responses to some of the criticisms being levelled at ESG focused funds and investors. With the Biden administration ramping up support for climate investments as the backdrop, the conversation is a great review of how this current cleanteach investment revolution is different to those that have come before and how investors can be change agents whilst driving great returns.

Links:
https://panalce.com/
www.decarbconnect.com

If the goal of ESG is to support & drive the corporate transition to net zero/better climate stewardship, is it working? Massive growth is being seen in these funds and there are plenty of bold statements about what they can achieve - but with few simple answers for hard to abate sectors, are ESG strategies simply going to lead to more cost and more barriers to decarbonization? Find out about Will's recent report, get some insight on the questions that industrials and investors need to layer on top of ESG screening and find out how we can make better use of the inflow of capital seeking climate impact as well as great returns. 

Links:

https://info.massifcap.com/download-failure-to-impact-are-esg-funds-delivering-on-investors-ambitions

www.decarbconnect.com

Renewables, industrial efficiency, CCUS & hydrogen are all up for discussion - as is the analysis that points to  nature-based solutions being the a key route to deliver ing net zero. Whatever your interest in decarbonisation, settle in for different perspective and (sometimes) controversial insights. We talk carbon pricing, technology readiness and the value of patent/IP analysis in determining the right rout forward. 

Catch up with Rob or join his newsletter list at www.ThunderSaidEnergy.com.

To volunteer to join a podcast episode, or to find out more about the work we do, go to www.decarbconnect.com

Many thanks to Janno Media for all their help in producing this podcast. www.jannomedia.com

Whether you're new to the Decarb Connect podcast or looking for an assessment of North American policy and opportunities, join Jeff Rissman and Alex Cameron to look at the cross-cutting technologies as well as industry-specific tools that could define industrial decarbonization. We look at both energy-related emissions as well as process-related emissions - invaluable to those just starting to develop or deploy their roadmaps.

Jeff works with industry and policy makers and that experience shines through as we map out the supports (policy, funding etc) as well as the tools that industry can put to use. We also talk about Jeff's own simulator tool (open source and free to use) that can help both industrials and policy makers model the impact of different approaches.

Links: 

• The policy and tech simulator: https://energypolicy.solutions/
• https://energyinnovation.org/ 
• www.decarbconnect.com