Today on the podcast I’m speaking with Manuel Pinuela, co-founder and CEO of Cultivo. a company focused on unlocking capital to regenerate nature.

Unlocking capital is investment dollars spent on restoring land to its “original” state or at the very least improving its biodiversity through ecosystem growth. Regenerative capital is investment dollars that are put towards improving degraded land and creating improved outcomes for nature.

In the episode, we discuss Manuel's lengthy journey to Cultivo, his understanding of land degradation and what can be done about it, and some of the ecosystems he hopes to one day restore.

You can keep up with Manuel on LinkedIn and Twitter, and you can follow Cultivo's newest at their aptly named website, cultivo.land.

Keep up with the show by following The Net Zero Life onTwitter and Instagram (@thenetzerolife). You can also get in touch at www.thenetzerolife.com or via email at nathan@thenetzerolife.com.

Today on the podcast we hear from Manik Suri, Founder and CEO of Therma, a technology startup whose mission is to help protect our food, health and planet.

Manik had storied careers as an investment banker working on Wall Street, then as a Harvard trained lawyer working on Capital hill and yet he pivoted from New York and DC to join the ranks of Silicon Valley founders in order to fight climate change.

Manik founded Therma in 2019, to eliminate food waste, improve energy efficiency and reduce refrigerant emissions, three critical aspects of a net zero future. If these concepts sound foreign and unrelated to your daily life, fear not we get into them in detail, during the show.

On the flipside, companies you’ve likely heard of companies that work with Therma to reduce their emissions. Namely, McDonalds, Starbucks, NOW Foods, 7-Eleven and Marriott Hotels.

Manik’s pivot from a trajectory destined for the met gala to the chewing on glass life as an entrepreneur is one example of many where individuals are making career altering decisions to help move the world closer to net zero emissions. Manik pulls back the curtain on the “why” behind his move and at the same time this episode puts a spotlight on an emission area that is significantly less well known, “cold chain emissions.”

You can keep up with Manik on LinkedIn and Twitter, and you can follow Therma's newest Research and Impact at their website.

Keep up with the show by following The Net Zero Life onTwitter and Instagram (@thenetzerolife). You can also get in touch at www.thenetzerolife.com or via email at nathan@thenetzerolife.com.

Climate change is a relatively new science. The impacts of that scientific research can have massive impacts on how governments, companies, and even individuals can think about their role in preventing climate change. Yet distilling that knowledge requires a pair of skills few people have: first, the ability to comprehend the science and second, the skills to distill it to an understandable level for a non-expert.

Our guest today, Dr. Akshat Rathi, Senior Report for Climate at Bloomberg News, has made it his mission to do just that. Through his weekly newsletter and podcasts, Akshat covers physical and human solutions to the challenge of a global net zero transition. He is careful to cover the companies and people who are making a real impact.

During the episode we discuss Akshat’s unique pivot from a PHD in Organic Chemistry to journalism, his keys to writing accurate and accessible climate coverage, and how he measures the impact of his work on his readers and listeners.

You can keep up with Akshat on LinkedIn and Twitter, and you can find his work in his newsletter and podcast. Keep up with the show by following The Net Zero Life on Twitter and Instagram (@thenetzerolife). You can also get in touch at www.thenetzerolife.com or via email at nathan@thenetzerolife.com.

As part of the flow of capital in investments such as stocks and bonds, investment vehicles are rated by trusted services to help investors make informed decisions. This creates more opportunities for innovators and entrepreneurs by encouraging more capital flowing across global financial markets.

The same must happen to carbon markets to build a net zero future, and today I’m speaking with Ted Christie Miller, Head of Carbon removal at BeZero Carbon, about the role of Global Carbon Ratings and how they facilitate greater trust and transparency in carbon markets.

To close any remaining gap between emission reductions and a net zero future, we need to build a massive carbon market. According to the IPCC, we need to be sequestering as much as 10 BILLION tons of CO2 across the globe by 2050 to reach net zero. And the key ingredient to expand these voluntary and regulatory carbon markets from millions to billions of tons is trust.

Companies, governments, and even individuals need to trust that their carbon credit, offset, or removal purchases are accomplishing the thing they claim to do: namely, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Our guest today, Ted Christie Miller, is an expert in carbon removal and carbon markets. He is currently the Head of Carbon Removal at BeZero Carbon where he leads research, ratings and partnerships team for engineered carbon removal for the BeZero Carbon Markets platform. The Be Zero Markets Platform grades carbon offset and removal projects on their likeliness to reduce emissions. This streamlines companies and governments decisions as they look to reduce their carbon output outside their operations.

You can keep up with Ted on LinkedIn and Twitter, and you can check out BeZero Carbon on Twitter for updates on their work. Keep up with the show by following The Net Zero Life on Twitter and Instagram (@thenetzerolife). You can also get in touch at www.thenetzerolife.com or via email at nathan@thenetzerolife.com.

Other show notes:

Ted's Suggested Readings

• Net Zero: How We Stop Causing Climate Change by Dieter Helm
• Climate Change and the Nation State: The Case for Nationalism in a Warming World by Anatol Lieven
• Business Green
• Carbon Brief
• NoahPinion (Noah Smith on Substack)

Ted's Suggested People/Companies to Check Out

• Richard Howard
• Na’im Merchant
• Joss Garman
• Open Air
• Planetary Tech
• Captura

In the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, President Biden asked energy companies to pump more oil, drill more wells and overall increase fossil fuel production at the behest of the American public.

Energy companies have built the existing infrastructure, provided critical resources, including meeting energy demand, and they want to protect what they built. At times that has come at a cost to the climate, the speed at which we will achieve net zero emissions, and public trust. Nonetheless it’s important to identify good partners, and today’s guest, Bryan Trudel is one of those partners.

Bryan is the CFO and Co-founder of Avatar Innovations, a venture studio focused on energy innovation towards net zero. Reality has moved the goalposts for energy companies, and now they have to focus on a net zero future—both to save the planet and to make a profit. In service of this vision, Avatar incubates new energy companies that include net zero in their strategic business plan.

On today's episode, we discuss how and why he got to this point, as well as how his work is helping change the minds of other players in the energy space in the episode.

You can keep up with Bryan on LinkedIn and follow Avatar on Instagram for updates on their work. Keep up with the show by following The Net Zero Life on Twitter and Instagram (@thenetzerolife). You can also get in touch at www.thenetzerolife.com or via email at nathan@thenetzerolife.com.

Other show notes:

Bryan's Suggested Readings

• How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom by Matt Ridley
• How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need by Bill Gates
• The Hard Thing about Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
• Arc Energy Ideas Podcast

Three and a bit seasons into The Net Zero Life we finally have our first climate scientist on the pod. Today on the podcast we hear from Professor Kimberly Nicholas from Lund University on perspectives from a climate scientist.

In conjunction with her research in sustainability, Kimberly is the author of the book Under the Sky we Make, and We Can Fix It, a monthly newsletter informing individuals on how to deliver the impacts humanity needs to reach net zero emissions.

Kimberly began her study of climate science and the impacts of human induced climate change on the environment in 2003 when, in her words, climate change was a problem for future generations. In the nearly 20 years since, she has navigated both a warming world and new expectations for academics.

Where previously, Kimberly and her peers solely communicated among themselves, they no longer have that luxury. Confronted with the current impacts of climate change, communicating her research with diverse groups of stakeholders is just another part of Kimberly’s job as a sustainability expert.

She has published over 55 articles on climate and sustainability in leading peer-reviewed journals; writes for publications such as Elle, The Guardian, Scientific American, and New Scientist. In her book, Under the Sky We Make, Kimberly navigates this new world, writing for academics and consumers alike .

You can keep up with Kimberly on Twitter, @KA_Nicholas. Sign up for her monthly newsletter We Can Fix It here and buy her book Under The Sky We Make here.

Keep up with the show by following The Net Zero Life on Twitter and Instagram (@thenetzerolife). You can also get in touch at www.thenetzerolife.com or via email at nathan@thenetzerolife.com.

Other show notes:

Kimberly's Suggested Readings

• New York 2140 and The Ministry For The Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math by Bill Mckibben | Rolling Stone

Kimberly's Suggested Organizations to Check Out

• Climate Outreach
• Yale Center for Climate Communications
• 350.org
• Climate Action Network

In the fight to ensure we maintain livable conditions on this planet, carbon gets most of the spotlight, however water is the key ingredient that enables life on this beautiful world. And yet, according to the World Health Organization, 2 BILLION people don’t have access to clean drinking water at their home. We’ve covered this topic in light detail with Andrea Johnson of Green Empowerment, but today on the show, I’m speaking with Neil Grimmer about water and how ensuring every person has access to clean water is a massive part of a net zero future.

Imagine you live in a desert, off the grid, and not connected to a public source of water. Instead of walking or driving miles to the neatest water source, you can use Hydropanels, to collect water out of the air right outside your house. This is one of Source Global’s many projects, and the one we’re going to talk about with Neil.

As co-founder and CEO of Plum Organics, Neil built one of the fastest-growing organic food brands in the U.S. and revolutionized a dormant and commoditized category. In 2013, he sold PlumOrganics to Campbell Soup Company, where he served as a senior executive for more than five years.

You can keep up with Neil on LinkedIn and at https://www.source.co/.

Keep up with the show by following The Net Zero Life on Twitter and Instagram (@thenetzerolife). You can also get in touch at www.thenetzerolife.com or via email at nathan@thenetzerolife.com.

Other show notes:

Neil's Suggested Readings

• Raising the Bar: Integrity and Passion in Life and Business: The Story of Clif Bar Inc. by Gary Erickson

Neil's Suggested Organizations to Check Out

• Taxa Outdoors

Today on the show we have Dr. Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of the most important carbon recycling company in climate tech, LanzaTech. LanzaTech takes CO2 and turns it into useful materials like clothing (think Zara), jet fuel (sustainable aviation fuel), and shoes (including with the popular Swiss shoe company On).

Climate tech companies like LanzaTech often have two distinct types of problems to solve: physical and financial. We’ve covered a range of physical hurdles climate tech companies face on the show previously, but for the first time on the net zero life we cover the financial hurdles.

That’s what makes this episode so special and why LanzaTech’s $500M capital raise is so important. Because they are in the midst of crossing that financial valley of death and if they succeed, they will build the path for others to follow.

Jennifer was the first woman awarded the Malcolm E. Pruitt Award from the Council for Chemical Research . In 2010, she was the recipient of the Leadership Award from the Civil Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative for her work in establishing the technical and commercial viability of sustainable aviation biofuels.

Jennifer currently serves on the board of The National Renewable Energy Laboratory Biofuels Advisory Committee. She holds a B.Sc. degree from Harvey Mudd College, a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a MBA from the University of Chicago.

You can keep up with Jennifer on Twitter, @TodaDogs and LanzaTech too, @LanzaTech. If you prefer email, you can reach Jennifer at Jennifer@lanzatech.com, and you can keep up with everything LanzaTech at LanzaTech.com.

Keep up with the show by following The Net Zero Life on Twitter and Instagram (@thenetzerolife). You can also get in touch at www.thenetzerolife.com or via email at nathan@thenetzerolife.com.

Other show notes:

• 1491 - Charles C. Mann
• Sir David King
• Solyndra
• Cradle to Cradle - William (Bill) McDonough