Inevitable

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**Inevitable**

Weekly conversations with people powering the world and keeping it running, to learn what comes next. Hosted by Cody Simms. Produced by Override Ventures.

Latest Episodes:

Ep 91: Kingsmill Bond, Energy Strategist at Carbon Tracker Mar 19, 2020

Show notes

In today’s episode, we cover:

What is Carbon Tracker and what’s it role in the financial markets?
How fossil fuels and carbon emissions play into the valuation of stocks, etc.
How Carbon Tracker influence investors and their strategies
The investment risk associated with not factoring in climate change
The meaning and examples of a “stranded asset”
How the energy transition to cleaner technologies can disrupt incumbent industries to the detriment of investors
How inertia continues to drive the construction of fossil fuel infrastructure
Asset reallocation as the primary lever in Carbon Tracker’s strategies
Kingsmill’s prognosis of the fossil fuel industry
Allocating out of the “losers” than allocating into the “winners”
Kingsmill’s journey to working on energy-transition financial strategy
Fossil fuel incumbents, friend or foe to the climate change movement?

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

Carbon Tracker: https://www.carbontracker.org/
Carbon bubble: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_bubble
Unburnable carbon: https://www.carbontracker.org/terms/unburnable-carbon/
Stranded assets: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranded_asset

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@ovr.vc.

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Ep 90: Rich Sorkin, Co-Founder & CEO of Jupiter Intelligence Mar 16, 2020

Show notes

In today’s episode, we cover:

Jupiter and its mission
Rich’s journey from data analytics to climate change
Parallels between the opportunity around cybersecurity and climate change
The importance of physical climate risk
How Jupiter initially narrowed its focus on flood risk
How Jupiter develops a “peril model” to assess the risk of flooding and fires
Profile of Jupiter’s customers
How critical infrastructure companies represent a major customer
Why insurers are not the ones who bear the financial risk of worsening climate disasters
Corporate indictments as a symptom of unaddressed climate risk
The U.S.’ “armed lifeboat diplomacy”
Jupiter’s nonprofit work
Resilience planning in the face of climate-related catastrophes
The need to restrict land use in at-risk areas

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

Jupiter Intelligence: https://jupiterintel.com/
PG&E bankruptcy: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/business/energy-environment/pge-bankruptcy-newsom.html

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@ovr.vc.

Connect with Override:

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Ep 89: Jeffrey Schub, Executive Director at the Coalition for Green Capital Mar 12, 2020

Show notes

In today’s episode, we cover:

What is CGC and its mission as a nonprofit?
Why “green bank” is somewhat of a misnomer
The history of green banks in the U.S. both on the federal and state level
Where the CGC adds value in the clean tech financing ecosystem
Customers served by green banks
The role green banks have played in jump starting new markets for clean tech
Comparing green banks with for-profit investment firms (e.g. Ultra Capital, Generate Capital)
Sources of funding for CGC
Opportunities in the U.S. for green banks
How the U.S. Department of Energy loan program aids companies in getting through the commercialization gap
Jeffrey’s perspective on putting a price on carbon
Views on the impact of the 2020 presidential elections and the various positions of candidates

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

Coalition for green Capital: http://coalitionforgreencapital.com/
NY green bank: https://greenbank.ny.gov/
Generate Capital: https://generatecapital.com/
Ultra Capital: https://www.ultracapital.com/
Prime Coalition: https://primecoalition.org/
National Climate Bank Act: https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-markey-and-van-hollen-introduce-legislation-to-create-a-national-climate-bank

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@ovr.vc.

Connect with Override:

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Ep 88: Daniel Huppmann, Energy Research Scholar at IIASA Mar 09, 2020

Show notes

In today’s episode, we cover:

Role, function and mission of IIASA
The context around SR15
UN Sustainable Development Goals
Dr. Huppmann’s work on the message integrated assessment model for environmental scenario planning
Significance of selecting a decade as the timeframe for action
Unpacking the meaning of publicly stated thresholds
Implications of Dr. Huppmann’s modeling on humanity
How new research affects older predictive models
Dr. Huppmann’s view on carbon storage
Delivering sustainability via initiatives that improve quality of life
The important role of carbon taxes
Open-source climate change data movement

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

IIASA:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Applied_Systems_Analysis
SR15:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Report_on_Global_Warming_of_1.5_%C2%B0C
Message IX: https://message.iiasa.ac.at/en/stable/
UN Sustainable Development Goals: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300
European Green Deal: https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en
Fridays For Future: https://fridaysforfuture.org/
Young Summer Scientists Program: https://www.iiasa.ac.at/web/home/education/yssp/Young_Scientists_Summer_Program.html

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Enjoy the show!

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@ovr.vc.

Connect with Override:

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Ep 87: Alessandra Biaggi, New York State Senator Mar 05, 2020

Show notes

In today’s episode, we cover:

Her journey to elected office and the challenges she faced in her campaign
Her inspiration to run for state office
What she discovered about the state of Albany politics
How the campaign for state senator felt like a street fight
Her upbringing in a politically-minded family
How the existential problem of climate change underpins all other issues
What other actions concerned citizens can take beyond voting to combat climate change
The viability of bipartisan collaboration
How she would allocate $100 billion in the fight against climate change
Resources for elected officials to remain informed and develop onions about climate change
The opportunity to introduce CLCPA-inspired bills in states that don’t have climate-focused legislation

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

Senator Biaggi: https://www.nysenate.gov/senators/alessandra-biaggi
Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA): https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2019/s6599

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@ovr.vc.

Connect with Override:

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Ep 86: Zahra Hirji, Energy and Climate Reporter at Buzzfeed News Mar 02, 2020

Show notes

In today’s episode, we cover:

How Zahra landed at Buzzfeed covering climate
The Trump Administration and how its policies have affected climate
Her audience and readership
The positioning of her news room and editors
Journalism’s role
Her journey from studying geology at Brown to the world of climate journalism
What she learned at Inside Climate News
How climate change has become increasingly topical and relevant
Editorial decisions around what stories to cover
Delivering impact vs. ad revenue
Journalism’s shifting focus
Challenges faced by journalism and the rise of disinformation

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

Zahra Hirji at Buzzfeed: https://www.buzzfeed.com/zahrahirji
Inside Climate News: https://insideclimatenews.org/
George Luber, “How A Bad Boss Remade Himself As a Climate Hero”: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zahrahirji/cdc-whistleblower-george-luber-investigation
“New York Loses Climate Change Fraud Case Against Exxon Mobil”:https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/climate/exxon-climate-lawsuit-new-york.html
Yale Program on Climate Change Communication: https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@ovr.vc.

Connect with Override:

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Ep 85: David Heinemeier Hansson, Co-Founder & CTO at Basecamp Feb 27, 2020

Show notes

In today’s episode, we cover:

David’s influential career in tech
His advocacy of various causes
DHH’s view that, regardless of one’s background, one should become versed in climate change
How his attention first peaked with the California drought
How the fires near Malibu made the crisis feel personal and urgent
“The Uninhabitable Earth” by David Wallace Wells helped inform him of the catastrophe brought about by a temperature rise above 2 degrees centigrade
How it’s remarkable to think that, since Seinfeld has aired, we’ve doubled GHG
His family’s carbon budget and how it showed him how much more complicated the problem is
His belief that changes in consumer and voting behavior will only happen when people see the existential threat themselves (e.g. fires, floods, etc.)
His pessimism that things won’t change until the situation becomes more dire
Do carbon offsets inhibit decisive action?
The longer democracies fail to address climate change, the more society becomes ripe for the rise of dictators
DHH’s recommended reading: “The Divide” by Jason Hickel
His acceptance of the likelihood that he will live on an uninhabitable earth; that we’re not going to stay below 2 degrees Centigrade

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

“The Uninhabitable Earth”: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/586541/the-uninhabitable-earth-by-david-wallace-wells/
“The Divide”: https://www.jasonhickel.org/the-divide
Green New Deal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_New_Deal
Yellow vests movement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_vests_movement

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@ovr.vc.

Connect with Override:

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Ep 84: Roundtable with Shayle Kann from Energy Impact Partners and Abe Yokell from Congruent Ventures at the 1st SF MCJ Meetup! Feb 24, 2020

Show notes

In today’s episode, we cover:

• Shayle’s journey from energy transition in the market intelligence space to climate change venture capital at Energy Impact Partners (EIP)

• EIP, a VC with ~$1B in AUM whose LPs are a coalition of utilities

• The sectors EIP invests in

• Abe’s journey from Rockport Capital Partners, a cleantech private equity firm based, to cofounding Congruent Ventures in 2016

• A history of the first cleantech wave

• Lessons learned

• How the current interest in climate tech compares/contrasts with the first cleantech wave

• What types of innovation is needed in climate tech

• What types of capital are the best for for which types of innovation

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

• Energy Impact Partners: https://www.energyimpactpartners.com/

• Congruent Ventures: https://www.congruentvc.com/

• Rockport Capital Partners: http://www.rockportcap.com/

• Solyndra: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyndra

• Thin-film solar cell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin-film_solar_cell

• MiaSolé: http://miasole.com/

• Alpha: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/alpha.asp

• National Renewable Energy Lab: https://www.nrel.gov/

• Lawrence Berkeley Lab: https://www.lbl.gov/

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@ovr.vc.

Connect with Override:

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Ep 83: Harry Saunders, Managing Director of Decision Processes Incorporated Feb 20, 2020

Show notes

In today’s episode, we cover:

● The Rebound Effect and the ironic implications of improving energy efficiency

● Harry’s journey into Climate Change

● How Harry earned the moniker, “The Godfather of Rebound”

● Contention around rebound and its Climate implications

● Factoring in the welfare of those in developing countries and the plight of “energy poverty”

● The integral role of nuclear in any clean energy strategy

● Ecomodernism and the focus on GDP-driven solutions to Climate Change

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

● Decision Processes Incorporated: http://www.decisionprocessesinc.com/

● Khazzoom–Brookes postulate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khazzoom%E2%80%93Brookes_postulate

● The Rebound Effect: https://blog.ucsusa.org/peter-oconnor/energy-efficiency-what-is-the-rebound-effect-946

● Amory Lovins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amory_Lovins

● Rocky Mountain Institute: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_Institute

● Ecomodernist Manifesto: http://www.ecomodernism.org/

● Environmental Kuznets Curve: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuznets_curve#Environmental_Kuznets_curve

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@ovr.vc.

Connect with Override:

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Ep 82: Rob Hanson, Co-Founder & CEO of Monolith Materials Feb 17, 2020

Show notes

Today’s guest is Rob Hanson, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Monolith Materials, where he leads the development of next-generation technology for producing low cost, low emission hydrogen and carbon black, an important raw material used in the manufacture of rubber and plastic. Prior to Monolith, Rob served as the global director of product management for AREVA Solar, the solar division of the world’s largest nuclear company. He has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford, and has been a guest lecturer at Stanford, UNL, Foothill College and the University of Saskatchewan on topics ranging from thermodynamics to entrepreneurship. Rob also co-founded uforia studios, a 65-employee health and fitness company with locations in San Francisco and Palo Alto.

In today’s episode, we cover:

Rob’s journey from solar to the chemical sector
The dirty process of traditionally producing carbon black
How a generalist background (e.g. blending science and finance) can be positioned to make a big impact as an entrepreneur in the climate technology space
Scaling the method of cleanly creating carbon black from natural gas
The genesis of Monolith
Staggered financing model
Markets for carbon black
Importance of establishing a market “beachhead” with product-market fit
Reception of the clean “story” and value proposition among prospective customers
Opportunities Rob finds interesting outside Monolith’s focus
The opportunity and importance of education in addressing Climate Change

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

Monolith Materials: https://monolithmaterials.com/
Carbon Black: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_black
Areva: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areva
Imperative Science Ventures: https://imperative.vc/

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Enjoy the show!

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@ovr.vc.

Connect with Override:

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

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