Climate Positive

The automotive industry is undergoing a major transformation, with electric vehicles poised to dominate the future of transport. But this transition requires more than just building great EVs; it demands a comprehensive approach to ensure our electric grid can reliably support the demand from millions of new EVs . In this episode of Climate Positive, host Guy Van Syckle speaks with Apoorv Bhargava, CEO of WeaveGrid, a company at the forefront of electric vehicle deployment and grid reliability. WeaveGrid helps utilities integrate EVs into our grid at scale, with a focus on elevating the EV driver experience and keeping charging affordable. Their platform also enables better charging alignment with renewable energy availability and broader decarbonization. Guy and Apoorv explore how WeaveGrid has built an AI software platform to transform EVs from a grid liability into a valuable grid asset, developing key partnerships with both automakers and utilities.

In this episode of Climate Positive, hosts Gil Jenkins and Daniela Shapiro sit down with Tom Hunt, CEO, and Bret Labadie, CFO, of Pivot Energy—a Colorado-based renewable energy provider and IPP that develops, finances, builds, owns, and manages solar and energy storage projects. As an ECP portfolio company and Certified B Corporation, Pivot Energy seeks to leverage its renewable expertise to deliver innovative solutions that help businesses and communities achieve meaningful decarbonization. Tom and Bret discuss Pivot Energy’s growth, the rapidly evolving community solar market, innovative financing strategies, and the power of corporate partnerships. They also explore the expanding role of distributed solar in the clean energy transition and what lies ahead for the industry.

In this episode of Climate Positive, hosts Gil Jenkins and Guy Van Syckle chat with Zeyneb Magavi, Executive Director of HEET, a Massachusetts-based non-profit focused on designing a strategic evolution of aging gas systems into bidirectional ambient thermal grids, with the aim of driving rapid and equitable decarbonization of heating and cooling in urban areas. The enlivening conversation centers around the networked geothermal, a novel technology gaining traction nationwide that utilizes underground thermal energy systems to provide efficient and sustainable heating and cooling. Magavi breaks down how this innovative neighborhood-scale decarbonization solution works, highlights the business case, policy drivers, the benefits for communities, utilities, workers, and more.

Growing demand requires growing supply. With more and more data centers and industrial facilities coming online, the United States will likely need 40 GW of incremental peak power generation – requiring hundreds of billions of dollars of related investment – just over the next few years. As large corporate buyers of power seek to meet their climate goals, they are increasingly looking at nuclear power as a scalable and cost-effective option. In this episode, Chad Reed chats with Brandon Oyer, Head of Americas Power and Water at Amazon Web Services (AWS). They discuss Amazon’s recent efforts to contract with existing large-scale and new small modular nuclear reactors, the benefits and risks associated with nuclear power, growing bipartisan support for nuclear development and much more.

With rising investor demand and regulatory pressure in certain jurisdictions, company disclosure of their exposure to climate risks and their environmental impact has emerged as an expectation with tangible economic benefits. Increasingly, companies can improve their access to lower-cost capital by disclosing their exposure to climate risks and opportunities. Indeed currently over 23,000 companies now report through CDP, underscoring growing investor and customer demand for environmental data. In this episode, CDP CEO Sherry Madera joins hosts Chad Reed and Al Jacobs from the biodiversity-focused COP16 in Colombia, to explore the competitive advantages climate disclosures provide companies who proactively measure and manage their environmental impact and the role CDP plays in driving better carbon accounting practices.