The Stream (with Will & Tom)

Closing out this season on water and nature, in this episode, we welcomed Professor Newsha Ajami, the Chief Development Officer for Research at the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

After 18 months of collaboration among water leaders, the Aspen National Water Strategy was launched. The ambitious 56-page document explicitly reframes water security as economic infrastructure, tying it to job security, competitiveness and growth – not just environmental protection.

Newsha talks through the thinking behind the strategy, who was involved and what it hopes to achieve across the US. It was an honour to welcome Newsha back on to the podcast.

We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream.

🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes. 

We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream.

Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.

And our charity partner, Frank Water.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

In this episode, Will and Tom welcomed Professor Fiona Regan, founder & director of the DCU Water Institute, which recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary of research, innovation and impact in water science.

In the episode she speaks about environmental DNA, otherwise known as eDNA, and how this links to water quality around the coastal Ireland.

She also speaks about an oyster reef restoration project on the East Coast. Around 18,000 oysters were introduced more than two centuries after they were wiped out. By feeding on nitrates and plankton, they are helping to clear algae to improve coastal biodiversity and marine habitat.

It was an honour to welcome Fiona back onto the podcast, especially hearing her inspiration for the institute, including a passage from James Joyce’s Ulysses on water – we’re going to share this on our socials so make sure to check it out!

🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes. 

We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream.

Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.

And our charity partner, Frank Water.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

In this episode of The Stream, Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg sit down with Tom Quigley, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Superorganism, the first venture firm dedicated exclusively to biodiversity-focused startups.

It’s a timely conversation. Just this week, Tom and his co-founder Kevin Webb announced Superorganism’s first venture fund, exceeding $25 million, marking a major milestone for nature and biodiversity investing.

Before launching Superorganism, Tom spent years working in the field across Australia, Madagascar, and the Cayman Islands, earning a reputation as a coral reef conservationist turned start-up operator and investor. That experience now shapes how Superorganism approaches early-stage investing in nature tech.

We explore why biodiversity has lagged climate in venture capital, how that is beginning to change, and how Superorganism plans to deploy capital across three core areas:

• Industries driving biodiversity loss
• The overlap between biodiversity and climate
• Enabling technologies that unlock new ways to protect and restore nature

It was an honour to speak with Tom about building the fund, the partners, how experience with start-ups will help and the link between biodiversity loss and water.

🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes. 

We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream.

Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.

And our charity partner, Frank Water.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

In this episode of The Stream, Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg are joined by Sebastián Goldschmidt, founder of Nilus, to explore an unexpected climate solution: rebuilding ice to secure water.

Named by Forbes as one of Chile’s Sustainable Minds, Sebastián is working with high-altitude communities across Latin America to develop artificial ice reservoirs, a nature-based, engineered approach inspired by ancestral techniques from the Ladakh region, often known as the Guardians of the Himalayas. The idea is simple but powerful: store water in solid form during winter, then release it gradually during the dry season when it’s needed most.

While much of the climate narrative focuses on melting glaciers and disappearing ice, this conversation looks at what it might mean to regrow ice reserves, and why doing so could play a critical role in water security, ecosystem resilience, and climate adaptation.

Sebastián also shares what it takes to scale a nature-based solution at thousands of metres above sea level, and how Nilus is partnering with organisations including Orica Impact Fund and Coca-Cola as part of the 100+ Accelerator programme.

This is a thoughtful discussion on water, climate, Indigenous knowledge, and innovation, and a reminder that some of the most effective solutions are rooted in both ancient wisdom and modern engineering.

🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes. 

We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream.

Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.

And our charity partner, Frank Water.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

In this episode, we welcomed Nicole Richards, CEO of US firm Allonnia, a company that promises to enzymes and microbes to degrade environmental contaminants.

Now the topic of PFAS, per and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as forever chemicals, is getting a lot of attention.

Known for their unbreakable bonds, they’re used in pretty much everything, from non-stick saucepans through to waterproof jackets, and military firefighting foam applications. Following a regulatory limit introduction by the US Environmental Protection Agency, as well as corporate fines to chemical companies responsible for PFAS pollution, there has been almost a space race of start-ups in this space promising destruction techniques.

It was great to get Nicole’s perspective because Allonnia is quite unique. It was launched out of Ginkgo Bioworks Ferment Consortium with a $40 million Series A funding round, which was then boosted by another $15 million funding round from DARPA, the Defense Advanced Projects Agency.

Now, $55 million for a start-up is ana extremely rare position to be in! Nicole discusses this, as well as making the leap from almost 30 years in chemical engineering over to the start-up world.

There’s a lot of discussions on PFAS, the impact on human health, and how technology innovation will help to solve this problem. Nicole comes at it from an interesting perspective of how synthetic biology will play a role.

🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes. 

We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream.

Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.

And our charity partner, Frank Water.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

How do you invest $1 billion dollars to accelerate climate and water solutions? 🌍

In this episode of The Stream Podcast, we speak with Ida Hempel from Galvanize Climate Solutions, the investment platform co-founded by Katie Hall and Tom Steyer, former hedge fund manager, climate philanthropist, and 2020 U.S. presidential candidate.

In September 2023, Galvanize closed its $1B Innovation & Expansion Fund, one of the largest climate venture funds ever raised. Ida takes us inside the fund’s three strategies, from venture & growth to global equities and real estate, and shares how water infrastructure improvements are being integrated into their decarbonisation playbook.

We also dive into Ida’s experience at Tesla, where she witnessed pivotal moments in the company’s history, and explore what large-scale climate investment really looks like in practice.

If you’re curious about the future of climate finance, water innovation, and scaling sustainability, this episode is for you.

🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes. 

We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream.

Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.

And our charity partner, Frank Water.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

How do you plant 12.5 million trees and mobilise over 40,000 local and Indigenous people across six South American countries? 🌎

In this episode of The Stream, we sit down with Florent Kaiser, Executive Director of Global Forest Generation and co-founder of Acción Andina, a grassroots movement restoring high Andean forests.

A past Earthshot Prize winner and recognised by the UN as one of the World Restoration Flagships, Florent shares:

• Why the next phase of Acción Andina is called “the path of water.” 💧
• How restoration ties directly to water stewardship, climate resilience, and community livelihoods.
• New financial models shifting from corporate to local finance.
• The role of Indigenous leadership in linking global sustainability ambitions with local action.

We first met Florent at London Climate Action Week, and his vision left a lasting impression. Tune in to hear how a movement rooted in local action is reshaping global water and nature restoration.

🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes. 

We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream.

Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.

And our charity partner, Frank Water.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

Season 9 kicks off with a deep dive into nature finance, water, and market innovation, with Guy Thompson, MD at EnTrade.

After more than a decade advising the UK government at Natural England, Guy Thompson made a bold leap into the private sector. In this episode, he shares why he had to scratch the itch of building something new, and how that led him to co-found EnTrade, a pioneering platform driving market-based solutions for nature.

We unpack how EnTrade evolved from a Wessex Water incubator into an independent company, and how it’s forging unlikely partnerships, from start-up thinkers to giants like Arup, to link farmers, utilities, and developers in innovative new ways.

From biodiversity net gain in the UK planning system to bridging the £44 billion nature finance gap, Guy shares use cases from Somerset and beyond, showing how we can harness the power of water markets to deliver outcomes for nature, water quality, and climate.

We also reflect on the recently published Cunliffe Review, what’s working (and what’s not) in policy, and why EnTrade is looking to shake things up.

👉 If you're curious about the intersections of biodiversity, policy, water, and finance: this one’s for you.

🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes. 

We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream.

Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.

And our charity partner, Frank Water.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

This special episode of The Stream takes you inside Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival 2025, where this year’s theme, Regeneration, inspired bold ideas and brilliant collaborations.

Tom sits down with five founders and innovators in water, sustainability, and infrastructure. From 3D-printed concrete and microbial electrolysis cells to citizen-powered AI and leakage detection, these conversations shine a light on the future of the industry, and the minds building it.

Featured guests:

• John Marsden, Origin Tech – Detecting and fixing leakage through satellites
• Natalie Wadley, Changemaker3D – Reinventing concrete and enabling 3D printed infrastructure regeneration.
• Kapil Singhal, Vyntelligence – Using AI and citizen science to streamline water operations.
• Pavlina Theodosiou, MetZero – Advancing circular wastewater treatment through microbial electrolysis.
• Sigga Siguroardottir, Veitur – Bringing Icelandic innovation spirit to the UK.

We hope you enjoy this special episode of The Stream on the road. Keep an eye out for Season 9 coming soon. 

🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes. 

We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream.

Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.

And our charity partner, Frank Water.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

In this episode, we closed the season with Brendan Tierney, the head of water and wastewater and Raymond James.

Brendan joined us to catch up on a whole host of things, including reflecting on the latest season of The Stream and our conversations with water ‘Legends’. This conversation went many different directions, from views on the pickleball craze, through to current political headwinds and impact on water.

What a great conversation to close out this season! 

🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes. 

We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream.

Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.

And our charity partner, Frank Water.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.