Climate Now
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
The role of microgrids in the energy transition
05 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A micro-grid is a local grid. That means that energy generation occurs locally (no giant transmission lines) to support local energy demand, and it ha...
Battery power: the future of grid-scale energy storage
28 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Is the battery revolution here? Or have we already been living in it for three decades?Renewable energy sources - wind and solar - have become the che...
What is the future of carbon capture technology?
21 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Since its founding in 1952, the mission of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been to meet urgent national security needs through scien...
The financial value of healthy ecosystems
14 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How many crises can we address at once?In October of this year, headlines broke that the global animal population in 2018 is 69% smaller than it was a...
Making buildings smarter, greener and healthier
07 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The side benefit of reducing building emissions? Increasing quality of life.Building operations (heating, cooling and electrification) account for 27%...
Making waves with marine carbon capture
24 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The global shipping industry emits ~1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, about as much as the sixth highest emitting nation in the world. In h...
An electrifying look at the future of steel
17 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For some sectors of our economy, electrification as a decarbonization strategy is a whole lot easier said than done. Take the steel industry - which i...
The solarcoaster: adoption curves and business models
03 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mitigating climate change is a race against time, requiring “rapid, far reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society,” according t...
Follow the carbon trail: quantifying a corporate carbon footprint
19 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Calls for transparent information on the carbon footprint of a product, service, company or government are getting louder from consumers and investors...
What’s in the Inflation Reduction Act for climate?
06 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into U.S. law by President Joe Biden on August 16th, might be the biggest climate investment in history, but...
Can oceans save us? Part III: The laws of the sea
23 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
International waters don’t belong to anybody, but everybody is connected to them. Like the global burden created by greenhouse gas emissions from an...
Can oceans save us? Part II: The tricky science of ocean carbon capture
22 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know plastic bags were originally intended to be an environmental solution? The idea was to replace paper bags in an effort to reduce deforest...
Can oceans save us? Part I: Using oceans to pull more CO2 from the air
22 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
More than 4 billion years ago, when Earth was still in its infancy, the atmosphere held more than 100,000 times the amount of CO2 it does today. Ever ...
Understanding EPA v. West Virginia: How will the Supreme Court’s ruling impact GHG regulation?
09 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On June 30, 2022, the United States Supreme Court handed down a decision on the case “EPA v. West Virginia,” ruling in a 6-3 vote that the EPA exc...
Do we need nuclear power to solve climate change? Amory Lovins says no
25 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 2017, the V.C. Summer Nuclear Plant expansion - meant to hail the renaissance of nuclear power in the US - came screeching to a halt. The project, ...
How can you save money while decarbonizing your building?
11 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Heating, cooling and electrifying buildings produces nearly one fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions, but by employing existing energy efficient t...
Is there a profitable approach to carbon capture and storage?
20 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the international carbon offset market, the average price of removing one tonne of CO2 from the atmosphere is still below $15 USD, nowhere near eno...
Concrete, steel and plastics: Paths to a greener industrial sector
13 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Each year, we produce about 30 billion tonnes of concrete globally. That’s nearly 10,000 pounds, or more than 2 entire cars-worth of concrete, per p...
Are we undervaluing energy efficiency as a decarbonization strategy?
06 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Are we underestimating the potential of increased efficiency? It wouldn’t be the first time.In 2021, the International Energy Agency and the U.S. En...
Financial innovations for climate and clean energy impact
31 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“Inertia is a hell of a thing. Inertia is there, and there is very little motivation for an incumbent to change course. So you have to have that dis...
How to meet electricity demand while greening the grid
23 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Princeton University, and the IPCC have all published proposed climate mitigation pathways: strategies for economical...
Will the clean energy transition be cheaper than we thought?
16 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For years we’ve been hearing that the clean energy transition is going to be expensive. But the recent working paper, Empirically grounded technolog...
Diluting dependence on Russian oil: How renewable energy can defund a war
09 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Among the top importers of Russian oil are the EU, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, and France. The EU accounted for 71% of oil imports from Russia 2 ...
The bottom line on sustainable shipping: Can the shipping industry reach zero emissions?
02 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If the international shipping sector were a country, it would be the sixth largest CO2 emitting nation in the world. Every year, 11 billion tons of go...
Buried treasure: Unearthing the power of the soil carbon bank
25 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Soil - that mixture of degraded bedrock, decomposing organic matter, and microorganisms, that nourishes the root systems of plants and trees - already...
How can water reuse help solve the global water crisis?
19 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today, 26% of the global population - about 2 billion people - live without reliable access to safe drinking water. And, as climate change worsens, ...
Explaining the SEC's proposed climate disclosure rules
12 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission wants to standardize climate disclosures for publicly traded companies. What does that mean?On March 21, 2...
Can ammonia or wind propel carbon-free shipping?
29 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the race for decarbonization, the shipping industry faces major challenges. Fuel is cheap, almost half the price of gasoline. And, most ships last ...
How the electricity grid works
22 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most efficient ways to get to a net-zero economy is to generate electricity from renewable sources, and then make as many things run on ele...
A venture capitalist’s perspective on the evolution of green transportation
08 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 2021 alone, more than $32 billion dollars were invested in green-technology startups, a four-fold increase from five years earlier. But how far w...
Can We Achieve 100% Electric Car Sales by 2030?
22 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What will it take to get 100% of new car sales to be electric by 2030? Is it consumer demand? Is it political pressure? How about we just increase b...
How to Scale Up Carbon Capture and Storage
18 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Decarbonizing our global economy is critical to staying below the 1.5C threshold of warming, but so is reducing the amount of carbon dioxide already i...
Is micromobility the future of urban transportation?
08 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There is a lot of focus within climate tech on how to decarbonize cars—whether that be via electric batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, or other emergin...
An insider's perspective on advancing US climate policy
01 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Climate policy at the federal level is integral to mitigating the climate crisis. Unfortunately, the United States has had a hard time so far passing ...
Re-imagining Heavy-Duty Trucking with Hydrogen and Carbon Capture
25 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Heavy-duty, long-haul trucks - known as Class 8 trucks - account for more than 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide each year.Electrif...
The trucking industry needs to go green. Are electric trucks the answer?
18 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 2019, medium- and heavy-duty trucks accounted for about a quarter of U.S. transportation emissions while representing less than 4% of vehicles on t...
Why all ride-sharing should go electric. And autonomous, with Dave Rubin
11 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ride-sharing services currently result in 69% more emissions, on average, than the trips they displace, according to a recent study by the Union of Co...
The sustainability conundrum of electric vehicles: Making and recycling EV batteries, with Andy Stevenson
04 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Climate Now is kicking off our Decarbonizing Transportation series by addressing a question that looms over the electric vehicle market: how can we su...
Green banks: How they unlock funding for climate solutions, with Bryan Garcia
21 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Connecticut Green Bank, the first green bank in the US, has unlocked over $2 billion in capital toward clean energy projects and other climate sol...
Ocean-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal and Geoengineering, with Wil Burns
17 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Earth's oceans play a key role in slowing climate change, absorbing nearly a third of anthropogenic CO2 emissions.And they could, potentially, ab...
Unpacking COP 26: Are we on track to solve the climate crisis, with Megan Darby
14 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In November 2021, representatives from around the world gathered to update their climate commitments at the 26th United Nations Framework Convention o...
Scaling wind energy: What it will take to reach global net-zero, with Simon Watson
10 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Wind energy is one of the cheapest sources of energy today, but it accounts for only ~6% of global electricity generation.To limit global warming to 2...
Adaptation in North America: What's happening and what needs to happen, with Beth Gibbons
30 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Much of the focus surrounding climate action is on mitigation: how do we reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and avoid cat...
How to Ensure Climate Impact Investing Actually Has an Impact with Amit Bouri
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
"The [investment market] we have in place now is not working for people, it's not working for the planet, and it's actually not working...
Water Strategy and Climate-Induced Drought: How to mitigate and prepare with Will Sarni
16 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A growing population, groundwater depletion, poor water infrastructure, overuse, and water waste threaten our global freshwater supply.Throw climate c...
Improving Climate Models with Machine Learning with Laure Zanna
02 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Most climate models in use today are based upon large-scale, well-understood physical relationships that drive global temperature and precipitation tr...
Trash to treasure: One man's journey to make CO2 waste a usable product
26 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What does it take to turn an idea that could help fight climate change into a self-sustaining business? We often hear the glamorous stories of startup...
Pricing carbon around the globe: Why it's so difficult
19 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How do we finance the cost of mitigating climate change, while discouraging continued use of fossil fuels? The largest public statement of economists ...
Do you get what you pay for? Monetizing Forests via Carbon Credits
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A rapidly expanding list of companies have announced plans to go "carbon neutral" or "net zero". Often, these plans include at lea...
Climate impacts profits: How businesses should report climate risk
24 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For businesses, a changing climate is not just about worsening weather patterns. Businesses must be prepared for what is likely to be an era of rapidl...
Measuring CO2 from space: the science of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory missions
17 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the first episode of our two-part series, we learned how NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory made it to space despite overwhelming odds from Da...
Measuring CO2 from space: a journey of perseverance, heartbreak, and scientific breakthrough with David Crisp
14 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On the 24th of February, 2009, David Crisp was in the control center at Vandenberg Air Force base counting down the seconds for the Orbiting Carbon Ob...
Saving two birds with one stone: tackling biodiversity and climate together
10 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Many climate change mitigation proposals are land-use intensive. Are these proposals feasible without negatively impacting biodiversity? Can we develo...
Calculating Climate Financial Risks with Tory Grieves
07 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The climate crisis has myriad effects on American businesses, from where properties are located and their likelihood of encountering extreme weather, ...
Building stars on Earth: the potential of nuclear fusion
03 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Is there such a thing as "perfect" energy? With nuclear fusion, the answer is maybe.Fusion energy would be safe to human health, environment...
Nuclear Energy: What are the real risks? with David Keith
27 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Despite being a reliable, zero-emissions alternative to energy derived from fossil fuels, nuclear energy remains mired in controversy.Opponents often ...
Investing in the Energy Transition with Salim Samaha
20 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Transitioning to a sustainable energy economy will require significant input of investment capital. But how do investors decide which companies and te...
Optimizing reforestation to mitigate climate change with Susan Cook-Patton
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Trees are an incredible resource for mitigating climate change, with myriad environmental benefits - not least their ability to remove carbon dioxide ...
Will China reach net-zero emissions by 2060?
13 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
China currently produces more greenhouse gas emissions than the next three biggest emitters - the United States, European Union, and India - combined,...
Carbon Dioxide Removal with Roger Aines
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How do we reach global net-zero emissions by 2050, when there is almost no chance of completely ending our dependence on fossil fuels by that time? Th...
Carbon Sequestration with Julio Friedmann
06 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, we must (in addition to reducing emissions) capture carbon and permanently store it where it ...
Clean Aviation Fuel with Steve Csonka
03 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What incentives are needed for airlines to adopt sustainable aviation fuel (#SAF) and decarbonize air travel? How does SAF get tested and approved for...
What's Wrong with Carbon Offsets? with Mark Trexler and Derik Broekhoff
30 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As the climate crisis worsens, more and more companies are committing to go "net-zero". Most of these commitments include the purchase of ca...
Hydrogen Electrolysis with Ben Wiley
27 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Declining renewable energy costs have sparked a renewed interest in green hydrogen, which has the potential to decarbonize sectors that are harder to ...
Bioenergy Conversion with Jerry Tuskan
20 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How exactly are plants converted into liquid transportation fuel? And what obstacles does bioenergy need to overcome in order to displace fossil fuels...
Biomass Availability with Matthew Langholtz
13 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Bioenergy is a renewable energy for its carbon neutrality - plants absorb CO2 during photosynthesis and emit the same amount when combusted for energy...
Climate Modeling with Joeri Rogelj
09 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Climate impact assessment models carry significant weight when developing mitigation and adaptation strategies. So, what climate models exist, and wha...
Climate Policy with Danny Richter
06 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
National governments are best-suited to provide the bold, swift action required by the climate crisis through policy. But which policies, exactly, sho...
Net-Zero by 2050 with Eric Larson
29 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What are the possible paths and necessary steps to achieve net-zero emissions in the United States by 2050? Which energy sources could sufficiently de...
Carbon Capture 101 with Howard Herzog
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
According to the IPCC's 2018 report, carbon capture and storage - in addition to a significant reduction in emissions - will be necessary in orde...
The US Housing Market's Exposure to Climate Risk with Amine Ouazad
11 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sea levels are rising, storms are worsening, and flooding is consistently exceeding FEMA's 100-year floodplain maps. Yet, an increasing percentag...
Climate Projections with Sergey Paltsev
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Sergey Paltsev, Deputy Director of MIT's Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, spoke with Climate Now hosts James Lawler ...
The Cost of Climate Change with Ian Bolliger
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Ian Bolliger, Climate Data Scientist at Rhodium Group and affiliate of the Climate Impact Lab, joins Climate Now podcast hosts Katherine Gorman an...
Government's Role in Climate Action with Caroline Spears
25 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hosts Katherine Gorman and James Lawler discuss how politicians can create climate campaigns and what role regional, state, and the federal government...
Social Cost of Carbon with Tamma Carleton
11 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How do we determine the real cost of a ton of carbon? Listen to find out.Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.Contact us at contact...
Sea Level and Social Cost of Carbon with Bob Kopp
27 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hosts Katherine Gorman and James Lawler interview Dr. Bob Kopp, Climate Scientist at Rutgers University and Director of the Institute of Earth, Ocean,...
Climate 101 with Kerry Emanuel
20 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Kerry Emanuel, professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT and co-founder of the MIT Lorenz Center discusses how we can solve climate change.Follow us...
Climate Now Introduction
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hi and welcome to the Climate Now podcast, hosted by Katherine Gorman and James Lawler! Climate Now is a multi-platform resource on the science of cli...