Climate Confident - Stories And Strategies That Cut Emissions

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Fake people. Fake comments. Real clean energy projects killed.
This is what climate delay looks like in the AI era.
In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Leah Qusba, CEO of GoodPower, an organisation working at the intersection of climate tech, culture, policy, and decarbonisation. We explore a hard truth about the energy transition: solar, wind, batteries, and electrification may be ready, but public trust, local permission, and disinformation are now decisive barriers to getting projects built.
You’ll hear why Leah believes fossil fuel dependence is becoming harder to defend as “secure energy”, especially when oil and gas volatility keeps spilling into bills, food prices, business costs, and household budgets. We dig into why clean energy should be framed less as sacrifice and more as protection: protection from price shocks, geopolitical risk, climate impacts, and the charming little habit fossil fuels have of making everything more expensive.
We also get into GoodPower’s research on what actually changes minds. Their storytelling work has reached tens of millions of people and, in tested campaigns, shifted audiences from NIMBY to YIMBY by 11%. Leah explains why the right messenger can matter more than the perfect message, why rural voices can unlock rural support, and why creators in food, fashion, gaming, cars, comedy, and culture may be more effective climate communicators than traditional climate voices.
And yes, we talk about AI-generated disinformation in permitting decisions, fake public pressure, and why pre-bunking false claims before they spread may become essential for emissions reduction, net zero delivery, and climate policy that survives contact with reality.
🎙️ Listen now to hear how Leah Qusba and GoodPower are helping accelerate real-world climate action.
Sign up to Climate Confident+ for deep dive analysis of the major climate and energy stories of the day.
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Podcast subscribers
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's amazing subscribers:
Anita Krajnc
Cecilia Skarupa
Ben Gross
Jerry Sweeney
Andreas Werner
Stephen Carroll
Roger Arnold
And remember you too can Subscribe to the Podcast  - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent Climate Confident episodes like this one, as well as give you access to the entire back catalog of Climate Confident episodes.

🎤 Looking for a keynote speaker on climate, energy, AI, or sustainability?
I help executive audiences understand the technologies, trends, and decisions shaping the low-carbon transition. 
Download my Speaker Pack: https://tinyurl.com/spkrpck

Contact
If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - get in touch via direct message on LinkedIn. 
If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover the show.

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Carbon data is no longer just something companies report. Increasingly, it may decide whether products can be sold at all.
In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Stephen Jamieson, Chief Marketing Officer for SAP Sustainability, to explore why sustainability is moving from the ESG report into the systems businesses use to run supply chains, finance, product compliance, and AI-enabled decisions. We get into what this means for climate tech, decarbonisation, policy, emissions reduction, net zero, and the wider energy transition.
You’ll hear why product carbon footprints, digital product passports, CBAM, ESPR, and Scope 3 reporting are pushing companies towards far more granular, decision-grade climate data. Stephen explains why relying on averages will not be enough when carbon insights start shaping market access, investor confidence, supply chain resilience, and commercial competitiveness.
We also dig into AI’s double edge. AI agents could change the economics of sustainability by scaling product-level analysis across thousands of items, but only if carbon, water, recycled content, and other sustainability factors are embedded in core business decisions. Otherwise, AI may simply optimise the wrong things faster. 
Listen now to hear how Stephen Jamieson and SAP Sustainability are helping move climate data from reporting theatre into real-world business action.
Sign up to Climate Confident+ for deep dive analysis of the major climate and energy stories of the day.
Support the show
Podcast subscribers
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's amazing subscribers:
Anita Krajnc
Cecilia Skarupa
Ben Gross
Jerry Sweeney
Andreas Werner
Stephen Carroll
Roger Arnold
And remember you too can Subscribe to the Podcast  - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent Climate Confident episodes like this one, as well as give you access to the entire back catalog of Climate Confident episodes.

🎤 Looking for a keynote speaker on climate, energy, AI, or sustainability?
I help executive audiences understand the technologies, trends, and decisions shaping the low-carbon transition. 
Download my Speaker Pack: https://tinyurl.com/spkrpck

Contact
If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - get in touch via direct message on LinkedIn. 
If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover the show.

Get in touch - leave me a message
Streetlights sound boring. Until the grid fails and they’re the only lights left on.
In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Liam Ryan, CEO of Streetleaf, a climate tech company rethinking one of the most overlooked pieces of public infrastructure: the streetlight. And yes, I know. Streetlights. Hardly the sexiest corner of the energy transition. But this conversation quickly becomes about something much bigger: resilience, decarbonisation, public safety, emissions reduction, and how we build communities that keep functioning as extreme weather puts more pressure on the grid.
You’ll hear why the real cost of streetlighting often isn’t the electricity at all. It’s trenching, wiring, maintenance, utility control, copper theft, repair delays, and infrastructure that can take far too long to fix. Liam explains how solar-plus-battery streetlights can avoid much of that mess while helping cities, developers, and communities move closer to net zero.
We dig into how Streetleaf’s lights performed during hurricanes, why three to five days of battery backup matters, how monitoring changes maintenance, and why policy can help but won’t replace cost and performance. You might be shocked to learn that in some cases, utilities can delay streetlight repairs for months while the customer keeps paying. Delightful system design, if your goal is public frustration.
This is a practical episode about climate tech that works in the real world: faster installs, fewer wires, lower emissions, better uptime, and infrastructure that earns its keep when conditions get ugly.
🎙️ Listen now to hear how Liam Ryan and Streetleaf are helping turn streetlights into part of the climate resilience toolkit.
Sign up to Climate Confident+ for deep dive analysis of the major climate and energy stories of the day.
Support the show
Podcast subscribers
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's amazing subscribers:
Anita Krajnc
Cecilia Skarupa
Ben Gross
Jerry Sweeney
Andreas Werner
Stephen Carroll
Roger Arnold
And remember you too can Subscribe to the Podcast  - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent Climate Confident episodes like this one, as well as give you access to the entire back catalog of Climate Confident episodes.

🎤 Looking for a keynote speaker on climate, energy, AI, or sustainability?
I help executive audiences understand the technologies, trends, and decisions shaping the low-carbon transition. 
Download my Speaker Pack: https://tinyurl.com/spkrpck

Contact
If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - get in touch via direct message on LinkedIn. 
If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover the show.

Get in touch - leave me a message
What if better buildings are one of the most practical climate resilience tools we already have?
In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Darren Macri, Co-CEO of Wythe Windows and rising president of the Passive House Network. We talk about why passive house is not just a building standard, but a practical climate tech pathway for decarbonisation, emissions reduction, energy security, healthier homes, and a more resilient built environment.
You’ll hear why buildings can cut heating loads by up to 90% through airtightness, better insulation, mechanical ventilation, thermal bridge-free design, and high-performance windows. We dig into how this shifts passive house from a niche green design idea into something far more urgent: infrastructure that helps people stay safe during outages, heatwaves, storms, and fires.
You might be interested to learn how leaky buildings can make wildfire damage worse, how poor windows contribute to mould, noise, asthma, and energy poverty, and why retrofitting existing building stock may matter even more than making new builds cleaner. Darren also explains why adoption is often blocked less by technology than by training, policy, codes, business habits, and fragmented construction practices. Imagine that: the physics works, but humans still need meetings.
We also cover affordability, net zero, the energy transition, local manufacturing, and why better buildings can reduce bills while improving comfort and health.
🎙️ Listen now to hear how Darren Macri and Wythe Windows are helping turn passive house into real-world climate action.
Sign up to Climate Confident+ for deep dive analysis of the major climate and energy stories of the day.
Support the show
Podcast subscribers
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's amazing subscribers:
Anita Krajnc
Cecilia Skarupa
Ben Gross
Jerry Sweeney
Andreas Werner
Stephen Carroll
Roger Arnold
And remember you too can Subscribe to the Podcast  - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent Climate Confident episodes like this one, as well as give you access to the entire back catalog of Climate Confident episodes.

🎤 Looking for a keynote speaker on climate, energy, AI, or sustainability?
I help executive audiences understand the technologies, trends, and decisions shaping the low-carbon transition. 
Download my Speaker Pack: https://tinyurl.com/spkrpck

Contact
If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - get in touch via direct message on LinkedIn. 
If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover the show.

Get in touch - leave me a message
Jet fuel isn’t just dirty. It is astonishingly good at its job. That is what makes aviation decarbonisation so hard.
In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Dan Sutton, co-founder and CEO of Syntholene Energy, a climate tech company working on clean, drop-in synthetic aviation fuel, or eSAF. We talk about one of the thorniest challenges in the energy transition: how to cut emissions from aviation without pretending long-haul flight can simply be electrified into submission.
You’ll hear why synthetic fuel has struggled to scale, why hydrogen cost is often the defining economic bottleneck, and how Syntholene is betting that geothermal heat, solid oxide electrolysis, and captured carbon can shift the maths. We also dig into why cheap, baseload clean energy matters far more than glossy net zero pledges. Funny how physics remains stubbornly unimpressed by marketing decks.
Dan also makes the case that fossil fuels carry a supply chain risk we still underprice: political volatility, fragile routes, and exposure to regions that can quickly turn energy security into an economic headache. We explore mandates, project finance, policy, the role of Iceland’s geothermal resources, and whether synthetic aviation fuel can become cost-competitive without relying forever on subsidies.
This is a practical, challenging conversation about climate tech, emissions reduction, aviation, infrastructure, and what it will really take to make clean fuels commercially credible.
🎙️ Listen now to hear how Dan Sutton and Syntholene Energy are tackling one of the hardest problems in decarbonisation.
Sign up to Climate Confident+ for deep dive analysis of the major climate and energy stories of the day.
Support the show
Podcast subscribers
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's amazing subscribers:
Anita Krajnc
Cecilia Skarupa
Ben Gross
Jerry Sweeney
Andreas Werner
Stephen Carroll
Roger Arnold
And remember you too can Subscribe to the Podcast  - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent Climate Confident episodes like this one, as well as give you access to the entire back catalog of Climate Confident episodes.

🎤 Looking for a keynote speaker on climate, energy, AI, or sustainability?
I help executive audiences understand the technologies, trends, and decisions shaping the low-carbon transition. 
Download my Speaker Pack: https://tinyurl.com/spkrpck

Contact
If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - get in touch via direct message on LinkedIn. 
If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover the show.