Climate Confident - Practical Climate Solutions That Cut Emissions

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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

Get in touch - leave me a message
What if electrification is no longer just a climate solution — but an energy security strategy?
In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Gavin Mooney, an independent energy transition advisor working across utilities, electrification, and energy markets. We look at Australia as a live test case for the energy transition: a country rich in coal, gas, sunshine, and wind, yet still exposed through imported diesel, freight, mining, agriculture, and long-distance transport. That contradiction matters. For climate tech, decarbonisation, net zero, emissions reduction, and policy, it changes the frame from “cleaner energy” to “who controls the energy system?”
You’ll hear why rooftop solar has become normal in Australia, with more than one in three homes now generating power from the roof, and why home batteries are scaling faster than many expected. We dig into how storage is changing the economics of solar, why virtual power plants are running into a trust problem rather than a technology problem, and why smart tariffs may prove more effective than utilities trying to take control of assets people bought themselves.
You might be shocked to learn how quickly diesel vulnerability can reshape thinking on EVs, electric trucking, and resilience. We also touch on India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Nepal, and Vietnam — places where the energy transition is moving in ways that rarely make the headlines, but absolutely should.
🎙️ Listen now to hear how Gavin Mooney cuts through the noise on electrification, storage, policy, 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