In today’s episode, we cover:

• What is Elemental Excelerator
• Dawn’s journey to climate change
• Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative
• Applying the startup accelerator model to energy and clean tech
• Investing focus and criteria
• Holistic support for portfolio companies
• Geographic focus for its projects
• Sources of funding for Elemental Excelerator
• Purpose of pilots
• Coaching support

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

Elemental Excelerator: https://elementalexcelerator.com/

Emerson Collective: https://www.emersoncollective.com/

Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative: http://www.hawaiicleanenergyinitiative.org/

CarbonCure Technologies: https://www.carboncure.com/

Zero Mass Water: https://www.zeromasswater.com/

Cyclotron Road: https://www.cyclotronroad.org/

Trove (f.k.a. Yerdle): https://www.trove.co/

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

In today’s episode, we cover:

• What is Carbon Tracker and what’s it role in the financial markets?
• How fossil fuels and carbon emissions play into the valuation of stocks, etc.
• How Carbon Tracker influence investors and their strategies
• The investment risk associated with not factoring in climate change
• The meaning and examples of a “stranded asset”
• How the energy transition to cleaner technologies can disrupt incumbent industries to the detriment of investors
• How inertia continues to drive the construction of fossil fuel infrastructure
• Asset reallocation as the primary lever in Carbon Tracker’s strategies
• Kingsmill’s prognosis of the fossil fuel industry
• Allocating out of the “losers” than allocating into the “winners”
• Kingsmill’s journey to working on energy-transition financial strategy
• Fossil fuel incumbents, friend or foe to the climate change movement?

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

• Carbon Tracker: https://www.carbontracker.org/
• Carbon bubble: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_bubble
• Unburnable carbon: https://www.carbontracker.org/terms/unburnable-carbon/
• Stranded assets: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranded_asset

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

In today’s episode, we cover:

• Jupiter and its mission
• Rich’s journey from data analytics to climate change
• Parallels between the opportunity around cybersecurity and climate change
• The importance of physical climate risk
• How Jupiter initially narrowed its focus on flood risk
• How Jupiter develops a “peril model” to assess the risk of flooding and fires
• Profile of Jupiter’s customers
• How critical infrastructure companies represent a major customer
• Why insurers are not the ones who bear the financial risk of worsening climate disasters
• Corporate indictments as a symptom of unaddressed climate risk
• The U.S.’ “armed lifeboat diplomacy”
• Jupiter’s nonprofit work
• Resilience planning in the face of climate-related catastrophes
• The need to restrict land use in at-risk areas

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

• Jupiter Intelligence: https://jupiterintel.com/
• PG&E bankruptcy: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/business/energy-environment/pge-bankruptcy-newsom.html

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
• Visit mcj.vc
• Subscribe to the MCJ Newsletter

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

In today’s episode, we cover:

• What is CGC and its mission as a nonprofit?
• Why “green bank” is somewhat of a misnomer
• The history of green banks in the U.S. both on the federal and state level
• Where the CGC adds value in the clean tech financing ecosystem
• Customers served by green banks
• The role green banks have played in jump starting new markets for clean tech
• Comparing green banks with for-profit investment firms (e.g. Ultra Capital, Generate Capital)
• Sources of funding for CGC
• Opportunities in the U.S. for green banks
• How the U.S. Department of Energy loan program aids companies in getting through the commercialization gap
• Jeffrey’s perspective on putting a price on carbon
• Views on the impact of the 2020 presidential elections and the various positions of candidates

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

• Coalition for green Capital: http://coalitionforgreencapital.com/
• NY green bank: https://greenbank.ny.gov/
• Generate Capital: https://generatecapital.com/
• Ultra Capital: https://www.ultracapital.com/
• Prime Coalition: https://primecoalition.org/
• National Climate Bank Act: https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-markey-and-van-hollen-introduce-legislation-to-create-a-national-climate-bank

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

In today’s episode, we cover:

• Role, function and mission of IIASA
• The context around SR15
• UN Sustainable Development Goals
• Dr. Huppmann’s work on the message integrated assessment model for environmental scenario planning
• Significance of selecting a decade as the timeframe for action
• Unpacking the meaning of publicly stated thresholds
• Implications of Dr. Huppmann’s modeling on humanity
• How new research affects older predictive models
• Dr. Huppmann’s view on carbon storage
• Delivering sustainability via initiatives that improve quality of life
• The important role of carbon taxes
• Open-source climate change data movement

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

• IIASA:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Applied_Systems_Analysis
• SR15:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Report_on_Global_Warming_of_1.5_%C2%B0C
• Message IX: https://message.iiasa.ac.at/en/stable/
• UN Sustainable Development Goals: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300
• European Green Deal: https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en
• Fridays For Future: https://fridaysforfuture.org/
• Young Summer Scientists Program: https://www.iiasa.ac.at/web/home/education/yssp/Young_Scientists_Summer_Program.html

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.

Enjoy the show!

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
• Visit mcj.vc
• Subscribe to the MCJ Newsletter

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

In today’s episode, we cover:

• Her journey to elected office and the challenges she faced in her campaign
• Her inspiration to run for state office
• What she discovered about the state of Albany politics
• How the campaign for state senator felt like a street fight
• Her upbringing in a politically-minded family
• How the existential problem of climate change underpins all other issues
• What other actions concerned citizens can take beyond voting to combat climate change
• The viability of bipartisan collaboration
• How she would allocate $100 billion in the fight against climate change
• Resources for elected officials to remain informed and develop onions about climate change
• The opportunity to introduce CLCPA-inspired bills in states that don’t have climate-focused legislation

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

• Senator Biaggi: https://www.nysenate.gov/senators/alessandra-biaggi
• Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA): https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2019/s6599

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
• Visit mcj.vc
• Subscribe to the MCJ Newsletter

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

In today’s episode, we cover:

• How Zahra landed at Buzzfeed covering climate
• The Trump Administration and how its policies have affected climate
• Her audience and readership
• The positioning of her news room and editors
• Journalism’s role
• Her journey from studying geology at Brown to the world of climate journalism
• What she learned at Inside Climate News
• How climate change has become increasingly topical and relevant
• Editorial decisions around what stories to cover
• Delivering impact vs. ad revenue
• Journalism’s shifting focus
• Challenges faced by journalism and the rise of disinformation

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

• Zahra Hirji at Buzzfeed: https://www.buzzfeed.com/zahrahirji
• Inside Climate News: https://insideclimatenews.org/
• George Luber, “How A Bad Boss Remade Himself As a Climate Hero”: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zahrahirji/cdc-whistleblower-george-luber-investigation
• “New York Loses Climate Change Fraud Case Against Exxon Mobil”:https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/climate/exxon-climate-lawsuit-new-york.html
• Yale Program on Climate Change Communication: https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/

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
• Visit mcj.vc
• Subscribe to the MCJ Newsletter

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

In today’s episode, we cover:

• David’s influential career in tech
• His advocacy of various causes
• DHH’s view that, regardless of one’s background, one should become versed in climate change
• How his attention first peaked with the California drought
• How the fires near Malibu made the crisis feel personal and urgent
• “The Uninhabitable Earth” by David Wallace Wells helped inform him of the catastrophe brought about by a temperature rise above 2 degrees centigrade
• How it’s remarkable to think that, since Seinfeld has aired, we’ve doubled GHG
• His family’s carbon budget and how it showed him how much more complicated the problem is 
• His belief that changes in consumer and voting behavior will only happen when people see the existential threat themselves (e.g. fires, floods, etc.)
• His pessimism that things won’t change until the situation becomes more dire
• Do carbon offsets inhibit decisive action?
• The longer democracies fail to address climate change, the more society becomes ripe for the rise of dictators
• DHH’s recommended reading: “The Divide” by Jason Hickel
• His acceptance of the likelihood that he will live on an uninhabitable earth; that we’re not going to stay below 2 degrees Centigrade

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

• “The Uninhabitable Earth”: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/586541/the-uninhabitable-earth-by-david-wallace-wells/
• “The Divide”: https://www.jasonhickel.org/the-divide
• Green New Deal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_New_Deal
• Yellow vests movement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_vests_movement

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
• Visit mcj.vc
• Subscribe to the MCJ Newsletter

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

In today’s episode, we cover:

• Shayle’s journey from energy transition in the market intelligence space to climate change venture capital at Energy Impact Partners (EIP)

• EIP, a VC with ~$1B in AUM whose LPs are a coalition of utilities

• The sectors EIP invests in

• Abe’s journey from Rockport Capital Partners, a cleantech private equity firm based, to cofounding Congruent Ventures in 2016

• A history of the first cleantech wave

• Lessons learned

• How the current interest in climate tech compares/contrasts with the first cleantech wave 

• What types of innovation is needed in climate tech

• What types of capital are the best for for which types of innovation

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

• Energy Impact Partners: https://www.energyimpactpartners.com/

• Congruent Ventures: https://www.congruentvc.com/

• Rockport Capital Partners: http://www.rockportcap.com/

• Solyndra: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyndra

• Thin-film solar cell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin-film_solar_cell

• MiaSolé: http://miasole.com/

• Alpha: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/alpha.asp

• National Renewable Energy Lab: https://www.nrel.gov/

• Lawrence Berkeley Lab: https://www.lbl.gov/

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
• Visit mcj.vc
• Subscribe to the MCJ Newsletter

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

In today’s episode, we cover:

● The Rebound Effect and the ironic implications of improving energy efficiency

● Harry’s journey into Climate Change

● How Harry earned the moniker, “The Godfather of Rebound”

● Contention around rebound and its Climate implications

● Factoring in the welfare of those in developing countries and the plight of “energy poverty”

● The integral role of nuclear in any clean energy strategy

● Ecomodernism and the focus on GDP-driven solutions to Climate Change

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

● Decision Processes Incorporated: http://www.decisionprocessesinc.com/

● Khazzoom–Brookes postulate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khazzoom%E2%80%93Brookes_postulate

● The Rebound Effect: https://blog.ucsusa.org/peter-oconnor/energy-efficiency-what-is-the-rebound-effect-946

● Amory Lovins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amory_Lovins

● Rocky Mountain Institute: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_Institute

● Ecomodernist Manifesto: http://www.ecomodernism.org/

● Environmental Kuznets Curve: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuznets_curve#Environmental_Kuznets_curve

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
• Visit mcj.vc
• Subscribe to the MCJ Newsletter

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