Inevitable

Today's guest is Zack Parisa, Co-Founder & CEO of NCX. 

NCX, previously known as SilviaTerra, is a forest carbon marketplace. Developed in collaboration with Microsoft, NCX created an AI-powered forest called Basemap to connect American landowners with net-zero companies. For landowners, NCX makes it possible for them to get paid not to cut. For buyers, NCX provides greater transparency for carbon credits that has measurable and immediate impact. Built on a decade of industry-leading expertise, NCX takes a data-driven approach to democratize carbon markets in forests. 

In this episode, Zack and I discuss NCX's mission, the company's origin story, and how Zack became climate motivated. We dive into the key phases and staging of NCX, their recent collaboration with Microsoft, and what makes the company unique. We also have a lively discussion about the controversies about carbon credits, why a voluntary market can only get us so far, and what policies would most accelerate NCX's success. It was great to have a conversation with Zack and learn more about NCX.

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded June 11th, 2021

To learn more about NCX, visit: https://ncx.com/

To learn more about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/ctss-episodes/ncx

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Today's guest is Mira Inbar, Partner at ArcTern Ventures.

ArcTern Ventures is a Toronto-based climate-focused venture capital fund. They invest in early-stage climate startups across industries, energy, and agriculture mobility. 

Growing up in Southwest Florida, Mira watched as the natural habitat around her was replaced by parking lots, supermarkets, and housing developments. After graduating from Oberlin, Mira volunteered with indigenous communities replanting trees in the Urubamba River valley and worked at Forest Trends, an international conservation organization. She then jump started her career as an environmentalist in the platinum mines of South Africa. Before joining ArcTern Ventures, Mira spent over a decade launching clean energy businesses in large corporations like Dow Chemical, NRG, and Shell. 

In this episode, Mira walks me through what first motivated her to focus on climate and her career path from entrepreneurship to sustainability to venture capital. She explains ArcTern Ventures' approach to investing, how the firm tracks impact and supports its portfolio. Mira also touches on greenwashing, the viability of a carbon tax, and the energy leaders of tomorrow. Mira has a unique background and experience that make her a fantastic guest.

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded June 18th, 2021

For more information about ArcTern Ventures, visit: https://www.arcternventures.com/

For more information about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/episodes/mira-inbar

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Today's guest is Scott Clavenna, Co-Founder of Greentech Media.

Greentech Media was a leading source of integrated news, industry research, conferences, and executive councils in the clean energy economy. Wood Mackenzie, who acquired Greentech Media in 2016, announced it would close the publication earlier this year.

In 2007, Scott founded Greentech Media and served as CEO for a decade. During that time, GTM was devoted to enabling the growth of cleantech worldwide with a mix of market research, news, and events. Wood Mackenzie acquired Greentech Media in 2016, and, the following year, Scott took on a new role as Chairman of Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables. As Chairman, he contributed to the strategic guidance of Wood Mackenzie's work in the global energy transition. Since leaving Wood Mackenzie, Scott is working with Stephen Lacey's Post Script Audio to produce climate-focused podcasts. Their shows include Greentech Media's Energy Gang and The Interchange as well as A Matter of Degrees hosted by Leah Stokes and The Big Switch hosted by Melissa Lott.

In this episode, Scott takes me through Greentech Media's inception, his climate journey, and lessons learned from cleantech 1.0. We also dive into a lively discussion about the inability to uncouple policy and climatetech, why Scott is optimistic about the future, and the power of telling climate stories. Scott's unique perch allowed him to see a wide variety of climate solutions, making him a fantastic guest. 

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded June 14th, 2021

For more information about Post Script Audio, visit: https://postscriptaudio.com/

For more information about Greentech Media, visit: https://www.greentechmedia.com/

For more information about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/episodes/scott-clavenna
 

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Today's guest is Mary Powell, Clean Energy Leader & Former CEO of Green Mountain Power.

Green Mountain Power is an energy transformation company providing power and innovative products and services to three-quarters of Vermont and the first utility in the world to become a B-Corp.

Mary's career started at a fast-growing market fund. She stayed for eight years, during which time the $200 million fund grew into $3.5 billion. Her first Vermont job was as the human resources director for the state's Department of Personnel. Mary served as director under three gubernatorial administrations. Famously rejecting the position three times, in 2008, Mary assumed the role of CEO at Green Mountain Power. In 2012, Mary combined two utilities (Green Mountain Power & Central Vermont Public Service). Then she introduced Vermonters to heat pumps and the Powerwall storage battery. Mary significantly reduced Vermont's carbon footprint. She created the first B-Corp utility in the country, committing to the use of business as a force for good. In 2019 she was voted the best utility executive in the United States. Mary is the Chair of The Solar Foundation and sits on the Board of Directors for the Rocky Mountain Institute, Vermont Mutual Insurance Company, Sunrun, Energir, and Hawaii Electric.

Mary is an exceptional guest and someone I've been looking for to interviewing. Mary dives into Green Mountain Power, the work she did the transform Vermont's utility, and the role utilities play in the clean energy transition. We also discuss where government regulation fits in, the effectiveness of pricing carbon, and what we can do to accelerate just and equity clean energy adoption. This discussion is a must-listen.

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded June 8th, 2021

For more information about Green Mountain Power, visit: https://greenmountainpower.com/

For more information about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/episodes/mary-powell

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Today's guest is Donnel Baird, Founder & CEO of BlocPower.

BlocPower is a Brooklyn-based climate technology startup that is making American cities greener, smarter, and healthier. BlocPower analyzes, finances, and constructs renewable energy and energy-efficient projects on a building by building, block by block basis. BlocPower focuses on buildings in low-income communities and underserved neighborhoods throughout New York City.

Donnel has a passion for climate solutions that serve low-income communities. After graduating from Duke University, he became a community organizer and advocate for job growth that also addresses climate change. In 2007, Donnel joined the Obama For America campaign as a Regional Field Director and Constituency Vote Director. After President Obama took office, Donnel continued to work on green job creation as a consultant for the Administration and several labor unions, including Change to Win Federation and Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Donnel left the public sector in 2011 with the idea that eventually became BlocPower. He has an MBA from Columbia University and sits on the board at many New York institutes, The Sunrise Movement, and The Sierra Club. 

I was looking forward to this conversation because Donnel has been on our wishlist for a while. Donnel explains his climate journey, how he started BlocPower, and the company's mission to serve low-income communities. We talk about how best to accelerate the rapid adoption of green buildings and the psychology of paying bills. We also touch on what holds back the industry, why BlocPower's solution is unique, and the role the US plays in the climate emergency. Donnel is an incredible guest with a wealth of knowledge. This episode is a must-listen.

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded May 25th, 2021

For more information about BlocPower, visit: https://www.blocpower.io/

For more information about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/episodes/donnel-baird

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Today's guest is Jim Kapsis, Founder & CEO of The Ad Hoc Group.

The Ad Hoc Group is a focused consultancy working to help startups succeed in complex regulated markets, such as energy, mobility, and smart cities. 

Jim founded The Ad Hoc Group to help startups and investors scale innovative businesses to solve our most pressing climate and sustainability challenges. Jim has been a Senior Advisor to Sidewalk Labs, Alphabet's urban venture, and spent six years building and leading the global regulatory team at Opower. Before entering the private sector, Jim was a climate negotiator in the Obama Administration, where he helped broker the Copenhagen Climate Accord in 2009. He has experience working across governmental agencies at the State Department, Defense Department, and Congress. Jim is also the co-host of CityLab's podcast, Technopolis, about how technology disrupts, remakes, and sometimes overruns our cities.

In this episode, Jim walks me through his work in the public and private climate sectors and what motivated him to found The Ad Hoc Group. We dive into the company's mission and the bridge it's creating in the climate space. Jim also explains why policy is critical for early-stage climatetech and sustainability startups. Jim is a fantastic guest and has a wealth of knowledge for those interested in regulation, policy, and climatetech startups. 

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded May 18th, 2021

For more information about The Ad Hoc Group, visit: https://www.theadhocgroup.com/

To check out Jim's podcast, Technopolis, visit: https://www.technopolispodcast.com/

For more information about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/episodes/jim-kapsis

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

Connect with MCJ:

• Cody Simms on LinkedIn
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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Today's guest is Garry Cooper, Co-Founder & CEO of Rheaply.

Rheaply is empowering companies of all stripes to reduce their CO2e footprints by curbing internal waste. It does this by creating a circular economy of reuse, both within a company and through a marketplace of asset exchange with other companies. 

While pursuing his Ph.D. in Neural Science at Northwestern, Garry was trying to find a cure for Parkinson's Disease. Working in a lab, he noticed valuable and expensive materials that not every lab had access to. Garry started a materials sharing program at Northwestern. He realized the linear economy didn't just affect labs but affected government agencies, tech companies, and universities as well. In 2015, Garry co-founded Rheaply. Garry has served as a Google Scholar for Google for Entrepreneurs and sits on the board of 1871 and P33 Chicago. He has also been an R&D consultant at EY and Promidian. Garry is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Northwestern. 

I was excited to bring Garry onto the show and learn more about the work Rheaply is doing. Garry walks me through how he founded the company, what Rheaply does, and who they serve. We dive into the value proposition for customers and what incentivizes them to choose Rheaply. We also discuss why reuse and the circular economy are critical to addressing climate change, what's holding back wider adoption of reuse, and how Rheaply affects change. Garry is a fantastic guest, and this is a great episode for those interested in the circular economy.

The MCJ Collective has recently invested in Rheaply. To learn more, check out Our Investment in Rheaply.

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded May 17th, 2021

For more information about Rheaply, visit: https://rheaply.com/

For more information about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/episodes/garry-cooper

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Today's guest is Arch Rao, Founder & CEO of Span.

Span is reinventing the home electrical panel. The existing home electrical panel has seen very little innovation over the last 75 years. Span is a smart digital electrical panel that makes it easier to integrate renewable energy and distributed energy resources into your home.

After a few years of pursuing a Ph.D., Arch decided to drop out and work on technologies that would have a non-linear impact on our efforts towards abating climate change. Arch has spent over a decade working in clean energy. He was an energy consultant at LCG Consulting and technical advisor for The Westly Group. Arch also co-founding Verdigris Technologies and was a Founding Engineer and Direct at Joby Energy. Arch served as the Head of Products, Application & Sales Engineering at Tesla, where he focused on building the Battery Business Unit. In 2018, he left Telsa to found Span. Arch holds a B.E. in Automotive Engineering from the University of Madras and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford.

In this episode, Arch tells me about his career leading up to Span, the company's mission to electrify the home, and what makes Span unique. We have a lively discussion about why traditional electrical panels need to be innovated, what the market looks like today, and how to incentivize homeowners to make the switch to renewable energy. Arch is a fantastic guest, especially for those looking to learn more about home electrification.

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded May 5th, 2021

For more information about Span, visit: https://www.span.io/

Span is hiring! Various positions across Hardware Engineering, Legal, Operations, Product, Sales & Business Development, and Software Engineering. Check out open positions here: https://www.span.io/careers

For more information about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/episodes/arch-rao

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Today's guests are Shashank Samala, Co-Founder & CEO, and Noah McQueen, Co-Founder & Head of Research, at Heirloom.

Growing up in Southeast India, Shashank saw firsthand how climate change was impacting people. Prior to Heirloom, Shashank was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Carbon 180 and the Co-Founder & VP of Product at Tempo Automation. Before Heirloom, Noah pursued a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and currently serves as a consultant for CarbonDirect.

Heirloom is working towards a more resilient, equitable, and prosperous world for everyone. The company focuses on leveraging carbon mineralization as a climate solution with the hope of removing a billion tons of carbon from the air by 2035. Heirloom's technology enhances a natural process, called carbon mineralization, to help minerals absorb CO2 from the ambient air in days rather than years. By combining the best engineering and nature, Heirloom offers the most cost-effective and scalable Direct Air Capture solution in the world. 

In this episode, Noah and Shashank walk me through their respective climate journeys and how they founded Heirloom together. They explain what makes Heirloom technology unique, its mission, and the larger Direct Air Capture landscape. We dive into the barriers holding DAC back, the voluntary market, and why this sector of climate tech is hard to deploy at scale. We also touch on the effect of policy and regulation on climate tech. Noah and Shashank are great guests, and I enjoyed discussing Heirloom with them. This is a must-listen for those interested in learning more about DAC solutions and their importance in addressing climate change.

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

To learn more about Heirloom, visit: https://www.heirloomcarbon.com/

To learn more about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/ctss-episodes/heirloom

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

Connect with MCJ:

• Cody Simms on LinkedIn
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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Today's guest is Jimmy Samartzis, CEO of LanzaJet.

Lanzajet accelerates the global energy transition by using its leading technology to make safe, sustainable aviation fuels and diesel fuels from waste. 

Jimmy has spent most of his career focused on climate change and advancing the decarbonization of industries reliant on fossil fuels. As a senior executive with several consulting firms, including Booz Allen Hamilton, Oliver Wyman, and Slalom, Jimmy advised CEOs and senior executive teams on mergers and acquisitions, strategy and operations, sustainability, and customer experience. He also spent a decade working for United Airlines. Jimmy served in several executive roles at United, including as chief executive of a $2B business unit. In June 2020, Jimmy assumed the role of CEO at Lanzajet, where he's leading the company through a scale-up in technology and production, with renewable fuel refineries planned in multiple countries. Jimmy has Master's degrees from The University of Oxford and Johns Hopkins University.

I was looking forward to bringing Jimmy on the show because we haven't talked about Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs) as a decarbonization solution. In this episode, Jimmy explains his career path to LanzaJet, the company's mission, and how LanzaJet fits into decarbonizing aviation. We also discuss SAFs generally, what the airline industry is doing to make zero-emission flight a reality, and why aviation has been hard to decarbonize. 

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded May 4th, 2021

For more information about LanzaJet, visit: https://www.lanzajet.com/

For more information about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/episodes/jimmy-samartzis

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

Connect with MCJ:

• Cody Simms on LinkedIn
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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant