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Building more renewable generation is not enough if the grid cannot carry the electricity to where it is needed. Curtailment, connection queues and delayed infrastructure are turning grid capacity into a climate and competitiveness constraint.

My guest today is Niklas Persson, CEO of Grid Integration at Hitachi Energy, with nearly three decades in electrification. We look at what happens as industry, transport and data centres demand more clean power while transmission infrastructure, permitting and grid connections struggle to keep pace.

We examine why the grid may need to arrive before demand is certain, how interconnectors can reduce the cost of resilience, and whether energy independence could actually require greater cross-border interdependence. We also explore HVDC, the 600 MW ELMED link between Tunisia and Italy, and a harder policy question: when grid capacity is scarce, who should get connected first?

Listen now to understand why electricity generation is only half the decarbonisation challenge, and what has to change if clean power is actually going to reach the businesses, vehicles and communities that need it.

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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.

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I help executive audiences understand the technologies, trends, and decisions shaping the low-carbon transition. 

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And a quick note before you go: I’ve started a new Reddit community for serious, evidence-led discussion on climate solutions, clean energy, decarbonisation, policy, technology, and what actually works in practice. 

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Solar, batteries and EVs are moving fast enough to change the risk calculus for energy investment. The bigger mistake may now be assuming today’s system, and its customers, will still be there tomorrow.

I speak with Professor Ray Wills, Managing Director of Future Smart Strategies, who has been modelling technology adoption curves for years. We examine what accelerating clean-energy deployment means for capital allocation, electricity prices, new gas infrastructure and industrial competitiveness.

We look at how batteries can reshape power-market economics before they dominate annual generation, why conventional forecasts may struggle with nonlinear adoption, and what China’s scale in solar, batteries and EVs tells Western leaders about where competitive advantage is moving. The harder question is no longer simply how fast these technologies can grow, but how costly it becomes to plan as though they won’t.

Listen now to understand how rapidly changing energy economics could alter the investment decisions businesses and policymakers are making today. 

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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

And a quick note before you go: I’ve started a new Reddit community for serious, evidence-led discussion on climate solutions, clean energy, decarbonisation, policy, technology, and what actually works in practice. 

If you’d like to suggest future guests, challenge ideas from the show, or share climate reports and solutions worth discussing, join us at r/ClimateConfident

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Long-duration energy storage is increasingly ready to deploy. The harder problem is that electricity markets still struggle to value what duration actually provides - flexibility, reliability and power when the sun sets, the wind drops and demand peaks.

My guest is Julia Souder, CEO of the Long Duration Energy Storage Council. She works across the policy, finance and deployment questions shaping this market, and brings a useful view of what is already happening in places such as China, Australia, the UK, Ireland and the US.

We look at why storage is becoming an infrastructure and investment question rather than simply a technology question; what changes when markets pay for four hours of capacity but the grid increasingly needs eight, 12 or 24; and why revenue certainty may now matter more than another technical breakthrough. We also examine what China appears to be getting right about deployment, and why long-duration storage matters for data centres, industrial heat and renewable-heavy grids.

Listen now to understand what is really holding back long-duration energy storage at scale, and what could shift the economics, policy and investment case.

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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

And a quick note before you go: I’ve started a new Reddit community for serious, evidence-led discussion on climate solutions, clean energy, decarbonisation, policy, technology, and what actually works in practice. 

If you’d like to suggest future guests, challenge ideas from the show, or share climate reports and solutions worth discussing, join us at r/ClimateConfident

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Two million hectares of avoided deforestation is not a theoretical climate benefit. It is what Priscillia Moulin says can happen when companies stop treating supply-chain risk as somebody else’s problem. ClimateEpisode291.srtSRT

Priscillia is Director of Strategy at MosaiX, working on deforestation-free commodity supply chains across palm oil and other high-risk materials. Her work sits at the intersection of traceability, satellite monitoring, supplier engagement and EUDR — where corporate commitments have to survive contact with real plantations, real contracts and real communities.

What struck me most was how much leverage buyers can have once they know where products actually come from. We look at why satellite data still needs human verification, how a confirmed deforestation case can sometimes be stopped within days, and why simply dropping a non-compliant supplier may protect a brand while doing very little for the forest. We also challenge the habit of reducing forests to carbon alone.

Listen now to understand how traceability and commercial pressure can turn deforestation policy into measurable change on the ground.

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

And a quick note before you go: I’ve started a new Reddit community for serious, evidence-led discussion on climate solutions, clean energy, decarbonisation, policy, technology, and what actually works in practice. 

If you’d like to suggest future guests, challenge ideas from the show, or share climate reports and solutions worth discussing, join us at r/ClimateConfident

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At John Sisk & Son, up to 98% of company emissions sit in the supply chain. That changes the decarbonisation problem completely: the biggest levers are often not on the construction site, but in what gets bought.

I speak with Keith O’Flynn, Group Supply Chain Sustainability Manager at Sisk, about what that means in practice for one of Ireland’s largest contractors. When concrete and steel dominate purchased-goods emissions, procurement decisions become climate decisions — but thin margins, imperfect carbon data and established standards can slow change.

We examine why low-carbon concrete can deliver major embodied-carbon reductions yet still struggle to scale, what makes cleaner steel harder to source, and why spend-based Scope 3 accounting can give companies a dangerously fuzzy picture of their footprint. We also look at the tension between commercial reality and the growing demand from clients for demonstrably lower-carbon projects.

Listen now to understand where construction’s Scope 3 emissions really sit — and what has to change if companies are serious about cutting them.

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

And a quick note before you go: I’ve started a new Reddit community for serious, evidence-led discussion on climate solutions, clean energy, decarbonisation, policy, technology, and what actually works in practice. 

If you’d like to suggest future guests, challenge ideas from the show, or share climate reports and solutions worth discussing, join us at r/ClimateConfident

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Soil health is starting to look less like an environmental side issue and more like infrastructure. The real question is whether regenerative agriculture can improve resilience and economics without asking farmers to absorb years of financial pain.

My guest is Tim Weaver of Holganix, working at the intersection of soil health, regenerative agriculture and measurable environmental outcomes. We look at the pressures farmers and companies already recognise: volatile fertiliser costs, water scarcity, supply-chain risk, and the growing demand for credible soil carbon claims rather than estimates and greenwash.

We examine what changes when soil outcomes can be measured using cores, probes, farm equipment data and satellite imagery; why AI still depends on having enough reliable data underneath it; and whether water may ultimately matter more than carbon. We also challenge the assumption that regenerative agriculture necessarily means lower profitability before the benefits arrive.

Listen now to understand why soil is moving from the sustainability conversation into the risk, finance and infrastructure conversation, and what that could mean for farmers, companies and investors.

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

And a quick note before you go: I’ve started a new Reddit community for serious, evidence-led discussion on climate solutions, clean energy, decarbonisation, policy, technology, and what actually works in practice. 

If you’d like to suggest future guests, challenge ideas from the show, or share climate reports and solutions worth discussing, join us at r/ClimateConfident

Get in touch - leave me a message

Cheap solar, batteries and EVs are no longer merely cleaner alternatives. Their falling costs are undermining fossil-fuel economics, and leaders may be misjudging the speed of that shift.

My guest is Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University and a long-time IPCC contributor whose work has focused on cities, transport and automobile dependence. We examine how China’s manufacturing scale is turning clean technology from a policy ambition into mass-market competition, while tariffs and legacy planning risk slowing adoption elsewhere.

We look at why cities are the decisive arena: where renewable power, transit, density and affordable housing either reinforce one another or remain disconnected. We also challenge the assumption that EV charging will remain the infrastructure problem, and ask when petrol and diesel networks themselves become the constraint.

Listen now to understand how clean-technology economics is changing fossil-fuel risk, and what cities, businesses and policymakers need to get right before the shift accelerates. 

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

And a quick note before you go: I’ve started a new Reddit community for serious, evidence-led discussion on climate solutions, clean energy, decarbonisation, policy, technology, and what actually works in practice. 

If you’d like to suggest future guests, challenge ideas from the show, or share climate reports and solutions worth discussing, join us at r/ClimateConfident

Get in touch - leave me a message

Carbon accounting can send companies straight at the wrong problem. A visible sustainability initiative may feel productive while the real emissions hotspot sits in raw materials, product design or the supply chain.

My guest is John Beath, CEO and Chief Technical Director of John Beath Environmental, whose work in lifecycle assessment helps companies test assumptions before they commit money, engineering effort or supplier changes. The stakes are practical: get the system boundary wrong, and a product carbon footprint can misdirect investment rather than improve it.

We examine why Scope 3 emissions so often dwarf what happens inside the factory, why bio-based or recycled materials are not automatically the lower-carbon choice, and what leaders miss when durability, reverse logistics or avoided emissions are left out. We also unpack the solar-panel case where the presumed hotspot was silicon—but the decisive intervention was elsewhere.

Listen now to understand how better lifecycle assessment can expose the carbon decisions that matter most—and stop your organisation spending heavily on fixes that barely move the needle.

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

And a quick note before you go: I’ve started a new Reddit community for serious, evidence-led discussion on climate solutions, clean energy, decarbonisation, policy, technology, and what actually works in practice. 

If you’d like to suggest future guests, challenge ideas from the show, or share climate reports and solutions worth discussing, join us at r/ClimateConfident

Get in touch - leave me a message

Battery storage is getting cheaper, but the data used to trade and operate it may be badly wrong. When forecasts miss, penalties stack, warranties get messy, and returns can quietly unravel.

My guest is Ash Vats of 3E, who works on battery intelligence for utility-scale assets. We look at the gap between what a battery management system reports and what the hardware can actually deliver - a gap with direct consequences for grid reliability, revenue and asset life.

We examine why some battery sites show faults before day one, how state-of-charge estimates can be materially wrong, and why operators - not traders alone - need to shape commercial decisions. We also unpack what changes when owners, asset managers and traders stop working from three different versions of the same asset.

Listen now to understand what is really limiting battery storage returns, and how better operational intelligence can recover capacity, reduce commercial risk and improve long-term performance.

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

And a quick note before you go: I’ve started a new Reddit community for serious, evidence-led discussion on climate solutions, clean energy, decarbonisation, policy, technology, and what actually works in practice. 

If you’d like to suggest future guests, challenge ideas from the show, or share climate reports and solutions worth discussing, join us at r/ClimateConfident

Get in touch - leave me a message

Heavy machinery can waste three quarters of the energy fed into it. The battery may not be the real electrification bottleneck.

In this episode, I speak with Hiten Sonpal, CEO of Rise Robotics, about a neglected part of the energy transition: the hydraulic systems inside construction, mining, and port machinery.

You’ll hear why conventional hydraulics are only around 25% efficient, how that forces manufacturers to install larger batteries, and why electric heavy equipment can become commercially unviable before it reaches the market.

We dig into how Rise Robotics’ beltdraulic systems replace oil and pressure with belts and pulleys - cutting battery size, charging demand, downtime, maintenance, and hydraulic leaks. Hiten also explains how drive-by-wire creates the data needed for teleoperation, digital twins, and autonomous machinery.

You might be shocked to learn that better efficiency can matter more than better batteries. That shift could reduce costs across the machine, charging network, and grid, while accelerating decarbonisation, emissions reduction, and progress towards net zero.

We also examine where adoption may happen first, from mining and ports to marine and food production, and why policy alone cannot solve this industrial transition.

🎙️ Listen now to hear how Hiten Sonpal and Rise Robotics are turning overlooked climate tech into cleaner heavy industry.

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

And a quick note before you go: I’ve started a new Reddit community for serious, evidence-led discussion on climate solutions, clean energy, decarbonisation, policy, technology, and what actually works in practice. 

If you’d like to suggest future guests, challenge ideas from the show, or share climate reports and solutions worth discussing, join us at r/ClimateConfident

Get in touch - leave me a message

AI isn’t weightless. Every model, token, and workflow sits on land, water, power, heat, and governance choices.

In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Sophia Mendelsohn, who leads SAP’s Global Sustainability Platform. We look at AI not as abstract software, but as physical infrastructure with real consequences for climate tech, decarbonisation, the energy transition, policy, and the businesses racing to use it.

You’ll hear why data centres now sit at the centre of the sustainability conversation. Treat AI as “just software” and you defer the hard questions: where the power comes from, how water is used, how communities respond, and who is accountable when emissions reduction promises meet infrastructure reality.

We dig into how sustainability teams can move beyond PDFs and carbon accounting, and into procurement, supplier data, financial planning, and board-level AI decisions. Scope 3 comes up too - including the awkward truth that asking suppliers for data does not mean you’ll get usable answers.

You might be shocked by how AI could shift the balance of power: from waiting for disclosures to calculating baselines, testing assumptions, and making better net zero decisions before systems lock in.

🎙️ Listen now to hear how Sophia Mendelsohn and SAP are thinking about sustainable AI, emissions reduction, and 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

And a quick note before you go: I’ve started a new Reddit community for serious, evidence-led discussion on climate solutions, clean energy, decarbonisation, policy, technology, and what actually works in practice. 

If you’d like to suggest future guests, challenge ideas from the show, or share climate reports and solutions worth discussing, join us at r/ClimateConfident