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**Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate Change**

Once a week, Michael Liebreich and Bryony Worthington have a conversation with a leader in clean energy, mobility, climate finance or sustainable development. Informative, inspiring and fun!

Latest Episodes:

Small Modular Reactors: Nuclear's Next Act? - Ep116: Tom Samson Feb 08, 2023

Show notes

This week on Cleaning Up, Michael welcomes Tom Samson, CEO of Rolls-Royce SMR. Rolls-Royce SMR are among a raft of new companies innovating in the field of Small Modular Reactors, hoping to provide nuclear energy in smaller, more repeatable modules at a lower price point than traditional gigawatt-scale reactors.

Michael had questions for Samson on nuclear’s “desperately poor track record” for price control, the practicalities of factory-building a nuclear reactor, and the feasibility of nuclear finding a role in an energy landscape full of increasingly cheap renewables.

Like, subscribe and share for more insights and in-depth interviews from the front-line of the net-zero transition.

Links and Related Episodes:

Learn more about Rolls-Royce SMR: https://www.rolls-royce-smr.com/about-us

Watch a walkthrough of Rolls-Royce SMR’s nuclear technology here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jmp-z5bzmE

Watch Cleaning Up Episode 5 with Kirsty Gogan, “Fighting for Nuclear”: https://www.cleaningup.live/episode-5-kirsty-gogan/

Watch Cleaning Up Episode 94 with Julia Pyke, “The Fight for GW Nuclear”: https://www.cleaningup.live/ep94-julia-pyke-the-case-for-gw-nuclear/

Watch Cleaning Up Episode 74 with Francesco Starace: https://www.cleaningup.live/ep74-francesco-starace-europes-clean-power-leader/

Watch Cleaning Up Episode 97 with Julio Freidmann: https://www.cleaningup.live/ep97-julio-friedmann-the-carbon-wrangler/

Guest Bio

Tom Samson is the CEO of Rolls-Royce SMR Limited. He has over 30 years of experience in the power industry in various senior level executive positions in the UK and internationally. Samson joined Marubeni Corporation in 2009, where he undertook a number of CEO and Board-level assignments in the UAE and USA. Samson was appointed Chief Operating Officer for ENEC in the UAE in 2012, where he helped establish Nawah Energy as the operator of Barakah, the first nuclear power plant in the region. Samson was appointed CEO and Board member at NuGeneration Ltd in 2015, which was responsible for developing a new nuclear power station at Moorside in Cumbria. In early 2020 Samson joined Rolls-Royce to lead their SMR Consortium and is a Board Member of Rolls-Royce SMR Limited.

Samson holds a degree from Edinburgh Napier University in Energy Engineering. Samson began his career as a Chartered Engineer at GEC Alstom designing combined cycle gas-fired power plants.

Europe's Hydrogen Pusher - Ep115: Jorgo Chatzimarkakis Feb 01, 2023

Show notes

This week, Michael invites Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe, to debate the importance of hydrogen in powering Europe and the world towards a decarbonized economy.

Hydrogen Europe is an industry association of more than 400 members that promotes the role of hydrogen in reaching carbon neutrality in Europe. Chatzimarkakis holds hydrogen to be the miracle molecule of the transition, while Michael’s Hydrogen Ladder has a far narrower view of its likely uses on the path to net zero.

What follows is a comprehensive, robust – and at moments, fierce - discussion of hydrogen in the transition, covering electrolyzers, fertilizers, freight, transportation and heating, as well as following the “pots of money” behind hydrogen infrastructure and lobbying in Europe.

Spark more healthy debate around net zero pathways by liking and sharing the episode, and don’t forget to subscribe.

Relevant Guest & Topic Links:

Learn more about Hydrogen Europe: https://hydrogeneurope.eu/

HE’s Hydrogen Act (2021) lays out a roadmap for a ‘European Hydrogen Economy’: https://hydrogeneurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021.04_HE_Hydrogen-Act_Final.pdf

HE’s Clean Hydrogen Monitor (2022) provides an overview of the European hydrogen market: https://hydrogeneurope.eu/clean-hydrogen-monitor2022/

Explore Michael’s Hydrogen Ladder here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/clean-hydrogen-ladder-v40-michael-liebreich/

President von der Leyen’s speech at the European Parliament Plenary on December 15th 2022: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/fi/speech_22_7727

Watch Cleaning Up Episode 111 with Dan Yergin here: https://www.cleaningup.live/ep111-daniel-yergin-the-worlds-most-influential-energy-analyst/

Watch Episode 88 with Patrick Graichen here: https://www.cleaningup.live/ep88-patrick-graichen-germanys-secretary-of-state-for-the-energiewende/

Guest Bio:

Chatzimarkakis was a Member of European Parliament from 2004 until 2014 for Germany’s Free Democratic Party (FDP), serving on the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy among others. From 1999 to 2004, Chatzimarkakis was Managing Partner at Polit Data Concept, a public affair consultancy, and served as a Science Policy Officer at Germany’s Bundestag from 1995 to 1998. Chatzimarkakis holds an MA from the University of Bonn in Political Science. He has held positions as a lecturer at University Duisberg Essen and Saarland University.

Disrupting Manufacturing with Laser Printing - Ep114: James DeMuth Jan 25, 2023

Show notes

This week on Cleaning Up, Michael is joined by James DeMuth. James is co-founder and CEO of Seurat Technologies, a specialist in 3D metal printing, or Additive Manufacturing. With their own licensed laser technology, their aim is to decarbonize traditional, emissions-intensive manufacturing processes by competing with them, and ultimately, displacing them. Relevant Guest & Topic

James is evangelical about the potential of Seurat’s technology to transform the manufacturing industry for the better:

“Our goal is to make hardware production as simple to do and as cheap to produce as it is to write code and software... I don't think we have any concept, at all, for the explosion in applications that we would see when that happens.”

Relevant Guest & Topic Links:

Area Printing Explained https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llAcqwD2TBY

Seurat Technologies Inc. https://www.seurat.com/

The Economist on Seurat and Additive Manufacturing https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2022/03/19/a-new-type-of-3d-printing-may-bring-it-into-the-mainstream

On Seurat’s 2024 plans for a 100,000-square-foot factory https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/10/06/business/local-3d-printing-startup-build-new-factory-mass-production/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_LatestStories

A comprehensive look at Seurat’s approach to additive manufacturing https://issuu.com/inovar-communications/docs/metal_am_spring_2022/141?fr=sN2VjNjQ3NDg2NTg

Why the name? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmzUHwFGKtI

Guest Bio:

Since co-founding Seurat in 2015, DeMuth has served as the company’s CTO, and as of 2020, their CEO. DeMuth spent six years at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, as a Research Associate, then as a Mechanical Engineer working in Advanced Manufacturing and Fusion Energy. At LLNL, DeMuth worked on power generation, additive manufacturing technologies, and the Laser Inertial Fusion Energy (LIFE) Engine.

DeMuth holds a BSc from Santa Clara University in Mechanical Engineering, and an MA from Stanford University in Mechanical Engineering.

Checkpoint 2023: Energy Efficiency Investment - Ep113: Jonathan Maxwell Jan 18, 2023

Show notes

This week’s episode of Cleaning Up sees the return of Jonathan Maxwell, Founder and CEO of Sustainable Development Capital Limited (SDCL), one of the world’s biggest investors in energy efficiency. Jonathan is back for the first in a series of 'checkpoints' on Cleaning Up, as we invite guests back to the show to give an update on their sector or specialism on the path to net zero.

Guest Bio:

investment trust investing exclusively in energy efficiency - Sustainable Energy Efficiency Income Trust (SEEIT). Jonathan chairs the Trust’s Investment Committee.

Jonathan has over two decades of experience in the financial sector – he spent early days of his career at HSBC Infrastructure and led the IPO process of HICL Infrastructure Company (formerly HSBC Infrastructure Company) – one of the biggest infrastructure funds listed on the London Stock Exchange.

In 2007 he founded Sustainable Development Capital (SDCL), a boutique investment firm specializing in clean energy, energy efficiency and decentralised energy infrastructure projects. He has led the company ever since as the CEO. Jonathan holds a degree in Modern History from Oxford University.

View: Relevant Guest & Topic Links:

Find out more about SDCL: https://www.sdclgroup.com/

Explore LLNL's flowcharts, or Sankey diagrams: https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/

See last year's flowchart's produced by BEIS detailing UK energy use: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/energy-flow-chart-2021

SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust PLC's listing on the LSE: https://www.londonstockexchange.com/stock/SEIT/sdcl-energy-efficiency-income-trust-plc/company-page

BEIS in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement, including the pledge to establish an Energy Efficiency Taskforce: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/beis-in-the-autumn-statement#:~:text=Energy%20Efficiency%20Taskforce&text=The%20taskforce%20will%20support%20a,billion%20provided%20in%20this%20Parliament.

Watch: Related Episodes:

Watch Jonathan's first appearance on Episode 14 of Cleaning Up in 2020: https://youtu.be/Wqrtr2lePM8

Watch Episode 111 with Dan Yergin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QIh4U3Vgjc

Watch Episode 110 with Adair Turner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P2JgeOXp9w

Watch Episode 109 with Ion Yadigaroglu and Dipender Saluja: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUTPkszXs_Y

Watch Episode 84 with Mark Carney: https://youtu.be/HtA5ufMzKAU

Climate Risk, Financial Returns - Ep112: Bob Litterman Jan 11, 2023

Show notes

This week on Cleaning Up, Michael hosts Bob Litterman, founding partner at Kepos Capital and Chairman of the Kepos Capital Risk Committee. Litterman spent 23 years at Goldman Sachs, during which time he became a partner and established himself as an outstanding authority on financial risk. Since co-founding Kepos and joining the boards of the World Wildlife Fund, Ceres and the Climate Leadership Council, among others, he has become a leading voice on climate policy and risk as it relates to climate change and the transition.

From this unique vantage, Litterman is acutely aware of the time-sensitivity of climate risk:

“We have to create incentives globally to reduce emissions, and we have to do it very quickly. One thing I like to tell people is when you're managing risk, time is a scarce resource. If we have enough time, we can solve almost anything. When you're managing risk and you run out of time, a risk management problem becomes a catastrophe.”

Guest Bio:

Prior to founding Kepos Capital, Litterman had a 23-year career at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he served in research, risk management, investments and thought leadership roles. Litterman became a partner at Goldman Sachs and head of the firm-wide risk function in 1994, and head of the Quantitative Resources Group in 1998. Litterman is the co-developer of the Black-Litterman Global Asset Allocation Model, a key tool in investment management.

Litterman serves on a number of boards, including the Niskanen Centre, Ceres, World Wildlife Fund, and the Climate Leadership Council, where he serves as co-chair of the Board. Litterman also chairs the CFTC Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee, which published its report, Managing Climate Risk in the U.S. Financial System in September 2020.

Litterman holds a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Minnesota, and a B.S. in Human Biology from Stanford University. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Litterman taught at MIT and worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

View: Relevant Guest & Topic Links:

Read Managing Climate Risk in the US Financial System: CLICK HERE

Find out more about Kepos Capital: CLICK HERE

Watch: Related Episodes:

Cleaning Up Episode 49 with Johan Rockstrom: CLICK HERE

Cleaning Up Episode 48 with Nick Stern: CLICK HERE

Cleaning Up Episode 109 with Dipender Saluja and Ion Yadigaroglu: CLICK HERE

The World's Most Influential Energy Analyst - Ep111: Daniel Yergin Jan 04, 2023

Show notes

Cleaning Up begins the new year and its eighth season in conversation with Daniel Yergin. Yergin, Vice Chairman of S&P Global, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and one of the world’s leading authorities on energy.
Alongside discussing the latest edition of his best-selling book, The New Map, Yergin also provided some fascinating predictions for the future of global energy supply and demand, its international nuances, and its historical echoes.
Daniel Yergin is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of a trilogy of books on energy and is seen by many as America’s foremost energy expert. He was co-founder of Cambridge Energy Research Associates and currently serves as Vice Chairman of S&P Global, one of the world’s largest research and information companies.
Yergin is the author of several bestselling works of history, most notably The Prize: the Epic Quest for Oil Money and Power (1990), which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and has been translated into 20 languages. His latest book is The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations (2020). Yergin’s other work includes The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World (2011), and Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy (1998).
Yergin holds a BA from Yale University and a PhD from Cambridge University, where he was a Marshall Scholar. Yergin has served on the US Secretary of Energy Advisory Board under the last four presidents.

View: Relevant Guest & Topic Links:

On the energy crisis: CLICK HERE

On copper in the energy transition: CLICK HERE

On Putin and winter in Europe: CLICK HERE

Watch: Related Episodes:

Nobuo Tanaka, Former Head of the International Energy Agency: CLICK HERE

Julio Friedmann, Chief Scientist at Carbon Direct: CLICK HERE

It's a New Year - Time to Face Reality - Cleaning Up Audioblog Episode 9: Dec 30, 2022

Show notes

This week, it's a special, bonus episode of Cleaning Up. Michael has some essential messages to keep in mind at the dawn of the new year:

1. Climate action is neither doomed nor a sure thing.

2. People who disagree with you may share your goals, but put facts and priorities in a different order.

3. We will never get to declare victory over climate change.

The original version of It’s A New Year And Time To Face Reality can be found here:

https://medium.com/@MLiebreich/its-new-year-and-a-good-time-to-face-some-facts-c610f3aa579e

Follow or Subscribe to Cleaning Up:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MLCleaningUp

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cleaning-up-with-michael-liebreich/

Lord of the Net Zero Transition - Ep110: Adair Turner Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

Adair Turner, Baron Turner of Ecchinswell, is Chair of the Energy Transitions Commission, a global coalition of major companies, investors and experts identifying pathways to limit global warming to well below 2˚C by 2040.

From 2008-2013, Lord Turner chaired the UK’s Financial Services Authority. He was Director General of the Confederation of British Industry (1995-2000); Chairman of the UK Pensions Commission (2003-2006); and was the first Chairman of the UK Climate Change Committee (2008-2012). From 1982-1995 Lord Turner worked at McKinsey, and was Vice-Chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe from 2000-2006.

Lord Turner authored Between Debt and the Devil (Princeton: 2015), and Economics after the Crisis (MIT: 2012). He became a cross-bench member of the House of Lords in 2006, and holds a degree in History and Economics from the University of Cambridge.

The Energy Transition Commission

https://www.energy-transitions.org/

Download the Commission's latest report, Degree of Urgency: Accelerating Actions to Keep 1.5°C on the Table

Degree of Urgency: Accelerating Actions to Keep 1.5°C on the Table

The Unbearable Lightness of Hydrogen - Cleaning Up Audioblog Episode 8: Dec 14, 2022

Show notes

This week's episode is a recording of Michael's latest blog post for BloombergNEF:

https://about.bnef.com/blog/liebreich-the-unbearable-lightness-of-hydrogen/

Our thanks to BloombergNEF for allowing us to record it and share it with our Cleaning Up audience.

Technology Investment and the US Inflation Reduction Act - Ep109: Ion Yadigaroglu and Dipender Saluja Dec 07, 2022

Show notes

Dipender Saluja and Ion Yadigaroglu are Partners at Capricorn Investment Group. Capricorn is a sustainable investment group, one of the largest mission-aligned investment firms in the world, and our sponsor on Cleaning Up.

Dipender Saluja is a Partner of Capricorn Investment Group, and a Managing Director of Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund. Prior to Capricorn, Saluja was Chief of Staff at Cadence, a global market leader in electronic design. Prior to Cadence, he worked at Data General (EMC), Honeywell, ROLM (IBM), and the GF Energy Research Center. Saluja is an electrical engineer by training, and attended UND, University of Minnesota and Stanford University.

Ion Yadigaroglu has been Managing Partner at Capricorn Investment Group since 2004. Prior to Capricorn, Ion was Director of Business Development with Koch Industries, and a Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Bivio, a software startup in Colorado. Yadigaroglu was a research fellow at Columbia University and holds a master’s in physics from ETH Zürich in Switzerland and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Stanford University. Yadigaroglu was a founding member in 2007 of GIIN, the Global Impact Investor Network.

Capricorn was born from the desire to demonstrate the huge investment potential that resides in breakthrough commercial solutions to the world’s most pressing problems, and as such is one of the original impact investors.

Ion appeared on Episode 89 of Cleaning Up: https://www.cleaningup.live/ep89-ion-yadigaroglu-pioneering-impact-investor/

Take a closer look at Capricorn's portfolio: https://capricornllc.com/technology-impact-fund/

Watch Episode 84 with Mark Carney here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtA5ufMzKAU

Watch Episode 48 with Lord Stern here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O5Ge_wRmPA

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Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate Change

From this unique vantage, Litterman is acutely aware of the time-sensitivity of climate risk:

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