Zero: The Climate Race

Denmark’s Vestas has been making wind turbines exclusively since 1989 — well before the notion of an energy transition was commonplace. But that foresight hasn’t made for smooth sailing: When Henrik Andersen joined Vestas in 2013 as a board member, the company was deep in debt and shareholders were worried. A decade later, Andersen is CEO and has pulled Vestas out of trouble yet again, just as wind power is starting to play a critical role in the global energy transition. Andersen describes some of the government policies that have hindered or helped the growth of this sector, and describes the innovations making wind harvesting even more efficient.  Explore further: Listen to last week’s episode on the wind industry’s struggle and how one big player remains bullish. Read about how the wind industry is breaking free of European bureaucracy. Listen to an earlier episode on how to make the renewable energy industry profitable in developed and developing countries. Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producers are Mythili Rao, Sommer Saadi and Magnus Henriksson. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim and Will Mathis. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you've paid much attention to the wind industry lately, the news isn’t great. Building new projects is getting more expensive and getting government permission to do it is taking longer than ever. Even major players like Orsted, Vestas and Siemens are struggling.  But it's not all negative — there are still big players winning in wind. One of them is Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. This week, Bloomberg Green senior reporter Akshat Rathi speaks with CIP founder and managing partner Jakob Baruël Poulsen to understand how the industry is dealing with its many challenges, why CIP is still profitable and what will be needed for wind deployment to keep pace with climate goals.  Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producers are Tiffany Tsoi, Sommer Saadi and Magnus Henriksson. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim and Will Mathis. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Clean energy technologies saw a record influx of investment last year: $1.7 trillion in total. But that still falls short of what’s needed to meet climate goals. With venture capital investment now falling, it’s increasingly difficult for startups to gain traction.  Claire Curry, global head of technology, industry & innovation at BloombergNEF, follows the journeys of many young companies in the clean-tech space. On this week’s Zero, Curry tells Akshat Rathi about the kinds of innovative pathways that have proven successful. LanzaTech, for example, a nine-year-old carbon recycling technology company, works with Chinese steel companies looking for low-emissions solutions. H2 Green Steel also scaled quickly, in part through agreements reached with Mercedes Benz, IKEA and other big brands looking to access low-carbon steel. Curry explains how these approaches could be replicated by other startups. Listen to Zero’s episode about green-iron startup Electra. Listen to Switched On’s episodes on clean-energy investments and plastic recycling. Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producers are Mythili Rao, Magnus Henriksson, and Sommer Saadi. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When the UK’s Climate Change Committee was formed in 2008, it both signaled the country’s seriousness about its environmental goals and gave other nations a template for setting their own climate policy. More recently, though, the UK appears to be backpedaling: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has approved new oil and gas licenses and pushed back a ban on fossil fuel cars. To understand how we got to this contentious moment, and how the UK can reclaim leadership, Zero host Akshat Rathi sat down with the CCC’s chief executive, Chris Stark.  Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producers are Mythili Rao, Sommer Saadi and Magnus Henriksson. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim and Jessica Nix. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The plastic problem is everywhere: in our oceans, communities, even inside our bodies. Plastic is abundant and very cheap, and the amount we produce is expected to triple by 2060 from 430 million tons a year to 1.2 billion tons, according to the OECD. The large amount of plastic could produce four billion tons of greenhouse gases, so a fix is becoming increasingly necessary. This week, Bloomberg Green senior reporter Akshat Rathi sat down with Inger Andersen, head of the UN’s Environment Program, to talk about an upcoming treaty that tackles increasing levels of plastic. You can read the transcript of this conversation here. Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd and our senior producer is Christine Driscoll. Special thanks to Kira Bindrim, Leslie Kaufman and Tiffany Tsoi. Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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When Brookfield Asset Management launched a $15 billion fund to expand clean energy in 2021, it was the largest private fund of its kind in the world. Now Brookfield is starting a second fund with billions from Alterra, which is backed by the United Arab Emirates. Zero host Akshat Rathi sat down with Brookfield Renewable Partners CEO Connor Teskey to talk about making climate finance work. You can read the transcript of the conversation here.  Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producers are Tiffany Tsoi, Sommer Saadi and Magnus Henriksson. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim and Jessica Nix. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It is now cheaper to save the world than destroy it. But is capitalism up to the challenge of preventing the climate crisis?  In his new book Climate Capitalism, Zero host Akshat Rathi introduces a dozen people who are already steering capitalism to solve the climate crisis: from the engineer who shaped China's electric car policies and the politician who helped make net-zero a UK law to the CEO who fought off a takeover attempt so he could stick with a sustainability strategy. Akshat argues that not only is capitalism capable of taking on the climate crisis, but harnessing it is the only way to solve the climate crisis in the time we have available.  And yet while some improvements have been made over the past few years, the world is off track to meet its 2050 climate targets. So today on Zero, Bloomberg’s Greener Living editor Kira Bindrim sits down with Akshat to discuss his new book, and asks him: If climate capitalism is so doable, why does it seem so difficult?  Read more:  Order Akshat’s new book, Climate Capitalism Listen to the interview with Fatih Birol that Akshat mentions  Hear Akshat and Kira talk about the reality of carbon footprints Read a transcript of this episode Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd and our senior producer is Christine Driscoll. Special thanks to Anna Mazarakis, Gilda di Carli and Kira Bindrim. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit bloomberg.com/green. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Kerry is the Forrest Gump of climate. The guy you’ll find at every important turn in history doing something impactful. For the last three years, he has been the US special presidential envoy for climate and tasked with restoring the US’s global credibility on climate action. In a conversation with Akshat Rathi, Kerry reflects on those efforts, his frustrations and what still keeps him going at 80. Read Bloomberg Green's feature looking at Kerry's work in the envoy role. Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producers are Tiffany Tsoi, Sommer Saadi and Magnus Henriksson. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim and Jen Dlouhy. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Deal, hosted by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly, features intimate conversations with business titans, sports champions and game-changing entrepreneurs who reveal their investment philosophies, pivotal career moves and the ones that got away. From Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals, The Deal is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, Bloomberg Carplay, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch The Deal on Bloomberg Television, and Bloomberg Originals on YouTube.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tom Steyer is a hedge-fund billionaire who made his money investing in distressed assets, including fossil fuel projects. He’s also an avowed climate activist and a major donor to US politicians seeking to tackle climate change. After a short-lived run for president, Steyer in 2021 set up Galvanize Climate Solutions, a firm that invests in companies and technologies promising emissions reductions this decade. It recently raised $1 billion.  Zero host Akshat Rathi spoke with Steyer at COP28 in December, to ask why he got out of fossil fuels, the consequences of bad carbon accounting, and what the return of Donald Trump would mean for global climate ambitions.  Read more:  Tom Steyer Launches New Climate Tech Investment Fund With $1 Billion - Bloomberg Greening US Apartments Is New Project of Billionaire Tom Steyer - Bloomberg   Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd and our senior producer is Christine Driscoll. Special thanks to Kira Bindrim, Tiffany Tsoi. Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This January, Davos will once again host the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting and bring together the world's business and political elite. In recent years, climate change has climbed ever further up the agenda at this high-altitude event. How did it happen? Akshat Rathi talks to Gail Whiteman, one person responsible for it. Gail is the founder of the Arctic Basecamp, and since 2017 has camped out for the week of Davos to deliver the urgent message about climate risks and the immense dangers it poses to the world economy. Read more about the state of snow in Davos and why the business elite are starting to care. Read a transcript of this episode, here. Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd and our senior producer is Christine Driscoll. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Are fossil fuel companies needed in a clean energy future? Is the UK really backsliding on climate progress? And how can you find out more about solar? In the last episode of Zero for 2024, host Akshat Rathi and producers Oscar Boyd and Christine Driscoll talk about some of their favorite statistics that show people taking action on the climate crisis. Read more:  World Energy Employment 2023 – Analysis - IEA  Annual North Sea oil and gas licences - Energy Live News The Godfather of Solar Predicts Its Future - Bloomberg How to Quit Your Job for the Climate How to Crisis-Proof Climate Action Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd and our senior producer is Christine Driscoll. Special thanks to Kira Bindrim. Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit bloomberg.com/green.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we're sharing an episode from another climate podcast that you might like, Drilled. Zero’s host Akshat Rathi was a guest on Drilled earlier this year talking about his book, Climate Capitalism, and we’re dropping that episode in the feed today. If you like what you hear you can follow Drilled wherever you get your podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we’re sharing an episode from another climate podcast that you might like. It’s The Anti-Dread Climate Podcast from KCRW. If you like what you hear, check them out wherever you get podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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COP28 comes to a close. 200 countries came together, 100,000 people flew in, and what did they produce? A piece of text. But sometimes that piece of text can have real world consequences. In this week’s episode Akshat speaks with producer Oscar Boyd about what is in the final COP28 text and the significance of agreeing to transition off of fossil fuels. Read More:  COP28 Nations Reach First-Ever Deal to Move Away From Fossil Fuels Climate Fight Takes Aim at Food in First Ever Net-Zero Plan Sign up to the Green newsletter Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd and our senior producer is Christine Driscoll. Special thanks to Kira Bindrim. Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Four billion people live in countries where climate change-related disasters are becoming more severe and frequent. Spending money to adapt, known as “climate adaptation finance” is a fraught topic. Who will pay for those adaptations and how, as well as a global goal on adaptation are all being discussed at COP28. To find out more, Akshat speaks with Patrick Verkooijen, head of the Global Center on Adaptation about the history of climate adaptation finance, what negotiations are taking place, and why the money promised still hasn’t arrived.Read More: A quick Q&A with Patrick Verkooijen at COP28 A UN report shows that the climate adaptation gap is growing  Sign up to the Green newsletter Fill out Bloomberg Green's climate anxiety survey Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd and our senior producer is Christine Driscoll. Special thanks to Kira Bindrim. Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former US Vice President Al Gore has been going to COP summits since the beginning. But he’s much more than a COP-goer. Many of today’s climate activists say that Gore’s climate documentary An Inconvenient Truth was the reason they became activists. The movie won an Academy Award in 2007 and also bagged him that year’s Nobel Peace Prize alongside the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Gore has become the de facto spokesman for climate change. In recent years and especially before COP28, he’s become much more vocal in calling out the villains. He has castigated the role of petrostates and oil companies who shape the COP agenda, saying they’ve “taken the disguise off” and are not good faith partners. Bloomberg Green senior reporter Akshat Rathi spoke with Al Gore at the Bloomberg Green Summit at COP28 in Dubai to ask him how to break the stranglehold petrostates have over COP, why tackling climate change solves many other major problems, and why big emitters can no longer hide.  Read more:  Al Gore Wants to Weaken Petrostates’ Power Over Global Climate Decisions — Bloomberg Akshat Rathi's book of essays about climate activists inspired by Al Gore Sign up to the Green newsletter Fill out Bloomberg Green's climate anxiety survey Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd and our senior producer is Christine Driscoll. Special thanks to Kira Bindrim. Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tripling renewables is one of the goals the COP28 discussions are circling around. It sounds good, but what will meeting it actually entail? Jenny Chase of BloombergNEF joins Akshat to break down where more investments are needed and why decarbonizing energy is the easy part.  Listen to our previous episode with Jenny Chase on solar's explosive growth Sign up to the Green newsletter Fill out Bloomberg Green's climate anxiety survey Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd and our senior producer is Christine Driscoll. Special thanks to Kira Bindrim. Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.