Wicked Problems - Climate Tech Conversations

Welcome back to Wicked Problems. Did we bite off more than we could chew this year? Ask us after the Chouchou and mince pies are gone.

Our attempts to try out some Icelandic did not go well - so in this conversation with ENSO Tyres founder and Earthshot Prize finalist Gunnlaugur Peter Erlendsson, we respected his wishes and probably avoid prosecution in Iceland by just calling him “G”.

In this conversation with Richard Delevan, G:

• discusses the importance of open-heartedness and inclusivity in shaping a positive future.
• reflects on his experiences at Earthshot Week and, highlighting the value of speaking from the heart in decision-making. He even takes us behind the scenes during the process.
• discusses Prince William’s nomination of ENSO for the Earthshot Prize for the company’s work on reducing air pollution and the significance of that recognition.
• drops hints on whether he might be lured to sunny California by the IRA.
• emphasizes the power of connecting with people genuinely and openly, advocating for courage and openness in tackling global challenges.

G’s Catalysts:

* Earthshot Prize

* Halla Tómasdóttir, CEO of The B Team - “she taught me something extremely valuable … to speak from the heart”

G Was Ready for His Closeup

At G’s suggestion - and look at that hair and those pecs, how could he not - we recorded video. You can find a video of our conversation here:

Merry Christmas

Happy holidays from the whole team at Wicked Problems. And it’s not too late to support the Elves in the Wicked Problems workshop by giving a gift subscription to a friend at news.wickedproblems.uk.

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Welcome to Wicked Problems. While other climate tech shows are winding down, we’re still pumping out the content about an issue - let’s be honest - you’re going to be thinking about over the break. Because that’s the sort of person you are.

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In co-host Richard Delevan's conversation with John Hartley of Levidian, we cover:

Levidian's Mission and Technologies

* Introduction to Levidian and its role in decarbonizing waste gas.

* The technology behind converting methane into hydrogen and graphene.

Impact of Methane Transparency on Business

* John Hartley's insights on how increased transparency in methane monitoring aids Levidian's business growth.

* The importance of political will in setting the market-making rules in climate tech.

Decarbonization Trends in Industrial Sectors

* Discussion on how different industries are moving towards decarbonization independently of climate conferences.

* The role and impact of Levidian's LOOP units in decarbonizing waste gas.

John Hartley's Catalysts:

* A fascinating study of hydropower dams and what that taught him about

* WhenToPlugIn - the National Grid ESO app

* The Week Junior - The kids’ version of news about climate and the world that provides.

Thanks for listening. Back soon.

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Welcome back to Wicked Problems. The climate tech show not afraid to ask the big questions. Like, what last-minute gifts should climate nerds ask Santa to bring them?

We asked Ben Cooke, who writes about climate tech and the environment at The Times, to talk through his recommended books of the year:

The Deluge, by Stephen Markley

A climate thriller that goes much faster than its 900 pages might suggest. “It's really, it's really worth it”.

Avocado Anxiety, by Louise Gray

Climate Capitalism, by Akshat Rathi

Five Times Faster: Rethinking the Science, Economics and Diplomacy of Climate Change, by Simon Sharpe

Definitely one for the policy wonks.

The Last Drop: Solving the World’s Water Crisis, by Tim Smedley

And one that is on our pre-order list:

Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet, by Dr. Hannah Ritchie

Defusing the Hydrogen Bomb

We also spoke about his coverage of the UK government decision to drop a hydrogen home heating trial in Redcar, and his reactions to the agreement in Dubai after having attended COP28.

Thanks for Listening

We’ll be back with more episodes before the end of the year:

* John Hartley, Levidian CEO (Thursday)

* Gunnlaugur Erlendsson, CEO of ENSO Tyres (Saturday)

* Ciaran Cuffe, Green Party Member of the European Parliament for Dublin (26 Dec)

And plenty more in store for the new year.

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Welcome back to Wicked Problems. The climate tech show and newsletter that was so early walking out of COP before it was cool.

Things look bleak at a deadlocked #COP28 in Dubai right now - so we thought this was a good time to share this optimistic conversation Claire Brady and Richard Delevan had with Hannah Scott, CEO of Oxfordshire Greentech. We talk about Hannah’s experiences in building one of the world’s most exciting climate tech clusters, where innovation isn’t just talked about but brought to life, and look forward to the Climate Solutions Conference she’s leading in March of next year.

Read more:

* Oxfordshire Greentech Climate Solutions Conference - 13th March, Said Business School

* Get your Earlybird Tickets

* Oxfordshire Greentech

* Climate Tech Supercluster

* Subscribe to our newsletter - news.wickedproblems.uk

Hannah’s Catalysts:

Daring Greatly, by Brené Brown

Playing Big, by Tara Mohr

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Welcome back to Wicked Problems. The climate tech podcast and newsletter that while not at Climate Coachella in person has spent enough time at Expo City in Dubai to wonder if COP28 kept the Irish pub on site.

Wicked Problems is a listener-supported show. To receive new shows to your inbox and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber at news.wickedproblems.uk.

Serious work was continuing at COP in between Siberian Jurassic Park Wooly Mammoth exhibitions and unalloyed trade show booths - including the pledge to #3xRenewables by 2030. That’s been the planned positive headline for this COP since January. And while it would be good news, is the grid ready for that? Or will too much of the wind and solar built using trillions in (mostly private) investment find itself curtailed - aka wasted - rather than replacing old fossil fuel generating plants and meeting new demand?

Gerhard Salge is Chief Technology Officer of Hitachi Energy and is one of the world’s foremost experts on power grid technologies. He sat down with Richard Delevan to talk about the implications of a 3xRenewables world on the grid.

Gerhard's LinkedIn article.

Gerhard’s Catalysts:

Redefining Energy, with Laurent Segalen and Gerard Reid

Michael Liebreich, founder of BloombergNEF, commentator, and host of Cleaning Up with Michael Liebreich

Michael Barnard, chief strategist at TFIE, Forbes and Cleantechnica contributor and once (and future?) guest on Wicked Problems

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Thanks for listening.

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Welcome back to Wicked Problems. The climate tech show and newsletter with dogs that remind us that even the end of the world can’t take priority over a timely walk.

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Andy Reisinger is a respected climate scientist who just published a new paper arguing that the gap between “staying under 1.5” and what the science says is likely means it’s time to talk seriously about managing overshoot.

He spoke to in a personal capacity - and in that same capacity he published the paper:

Temporary overshoot: Origins, prospects, and a long path ahead (1 Dec 2023)

The paper - that link above provides free open access for 50 days, cherished subscriber, so don’t say we never get you anything - seeks to start a serious discussion about Overshoot and what to do about it.

We discuss

* nature of overshoot and why now

* the role and needed scale of carbon removals (CDR) in the overshoot scenarios

* going being Net Zero - and the burden-sharing dilemmas among sectors and countries

* urgency of reducing other forcing GHGs, especially methane

It feels taboo to even discuss, and getting back below 1.5 is something that both Andy and other scientists stress is going to be extremely difficult, extremely costly, and difficult to even discuss because it will inherently involve deciding between really bad options. Who pays? How much will those responsible be willing to pay to bring the world back under 1.5?

Andy also references:

Overconfidence in Overshoot - (29 Nov 2023)

“Professor Joeri Rogelj, Director of Research at the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment, argues that the risks of climate overshoot are dangerous and underappreciated”

Andy Reisinger:

LinkedIn

BlueSky

We also discussed Solar Radiation Management, prompted by a presentation from Thelma Krug from the IPCC:

Thanks for listening.

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Welcome back to Wicked Problems. The climate tech podcast and newsletter that Al Gore agrees with - like we told you yesterday, do not mess with Mary Robinson.

Elizabeth Thompson and Chris Hayes of Visions2030, a project that seeks to bring to harness the creative imagination of all of us to envision a future less Blade Runner’s Cyberpunk and more Wakanda’s Solarpunk.

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DeZeen coverage of Lumisphere from Visions2030

Visions2030

LinkedIn

Instagram

Elizabeth - [email protected]

Chris - [email protected]

Catalysts

Massivechangenetwork.com - Bruce Mau

Climate.gov

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

Thanks

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If you liked this conversation, consider sharing it with a future Solarpunk enthusiast.

Thanks for listening.

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Welcome back to Wicked Problems. The climate tech show and newsletter that knows better than to mess with former president of Ireland Mary Robinson.

In this episode, Richard Delevan is joined by Dr. Sugandha Srivistav of the Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. Sugandha rediscovered the story of George Cove, a forgotten inventor who may have stumbled on a working photovoltaic cell - whose “sun-ray machine” gained the equivalent of tens of millions in investment dollars and worldwide media attention. In 1909, decades before Bell Labs in the 1950s started to pick up where he left off. Why have we never heard of him? It might have something to do with his claim that he was kidnapped and told he’d be released if he accepted a payoff and stopped his research. Two years later his company disappeared.

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Srivistav applied Wright’s Law to imagine what would have happened if Cove’s work had led to other innovations in solar PV - and reckons that solar would have become the cheapest source of electricity at least 20 years earlier.

How else could the world be different? Would we be having a climate crisis at all?

Read her October 2023 report: Lost potential: how the kidnapping of a solar energy pioneer impacted the cost of renewable energy and the climate crisis

And her article in The Conversation.

Sugandha’s Catalysts:

The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904), by Ida Tarbell

The Current War (2017), starring Benedict Cumberbatch

Titan, The Life of John D. Rockefeller (1998), by Ron Chernow

You can also find this episode on

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and anywhere you get podcasts.

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If you liked this conversation, consider sharing it with your favourite solar entrepreneur, before they get kidnapped.

Thanks for listening.

Thank you for reading Wicked Problems. This post is public so feel free to share it.

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Welcome back to Wicked Problems - the climate tech podcast and newsletter that’s less stressful for King Charles than a fountain pen. As things heat up at COP28 in Dubai, and world leaders discuss how to agree to stop putting carbon dioxide up into the atmosphere, what do we do with the 1000 Gigatons of CO2 we’ve already stuck up there?

Cara Maesano of RMI (formerly known as the Rocky Mountain Institute) speaks with co-hosts and about RMI’s new comprehensive 400-page applied innovation roadmap on Carbon Removal. It analyses 32 different carbon removal pathways and is aimed at policymakers, investors and other funders to identify the gaps in R&D needed for a “silver buckshot” approach towards scaled solutions for pulling CO2 out of the air to get us down from whatever the level above 420 ppm we’ll be if and when we reach Net Zero emissions.

RMI: Applied Innovation Roadmap for CDR

Cara’s Catalysts:

Ministry for the Future, by Kim Stanley Robinson

Climate Reparations: The Case for Carbon Removal, by David Wallace-Wells

You can also find this episode on

Apple Podcasts

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and anywhere you get podcasts.

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If you liked this conversation, consider sharing it with someone who hasn’t yet done the math about why CDR is not sufficient, but will be necessary.

Thanks for listening.

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Welcome back to Wicked Problems. Ulrich Seitz has worked in climate tech for 15 years - as an entrepreneur, a venture investor, and as an advisor. And he thinks a boom in investment in climate adaptation technologies that face the consequences of climate change is right around the corner, even while not giving up on mitigation efforts.

Ulrich Seitz

Co-hosts Richard Delevan and Claire Brady talk with Ulrich about his views on the most investable sectors in adaptation, like water management and soil conservation. He talks about his Climate Adaptation Project, which aims to increase awareness and identify investment opportunities in adaptation. They discuss how extreme weather events and natural disasters are raising public awareness about climate change and the urgent need for adaptation strategies. Seitz emphasizes the significance of value creation in entrepreneurship and shares how dealing with smart individuals in his first company inspired his career path.

Ulrich’s Catalyst: Be Useful, by Arnold Schwarzenegger

• Ulrich on LinkedIn
• Climate Adaptation Project
• Adaptation Gap Report 2023, UN Environment Programme
• UK Climate Change Committee on Barriers to Adaptation Finance
• PwC on Adaptation
• Richard on BlueSky and LinkedIn
• Claire on LinkedIn and BlueSky

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