Steel is the world’s most used metal, and enables the construction of everything from buildings to wind turbines. Unfortunately, steel manufacturing is incredibly carbon intensive, contributing to approximately 8% of global green house gas emissions. As CEO of InventWood, Josh Cable envisions a future where the demand for steel can be satisfied with a renewable resouce: fast growing woods like Poplar. By densifying wood, Josh Cable’s team produces a fire-resistant product that is stronger, lighter and cheaper than steel. The final product, MettleWood is actually carbon negative.

In this episode, Hilary Langer and Josh Cable discuss InventWood’s foundational technology, its early partnership with the University of Maryland, and its new 89,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Frederick, Maryland.

Links:

Josh Cable on LinkedIn

DOE Award to InventWood

Liangbing Hu makes wood stronger than steel (acs.org)

Fast Company profile of InventWood innovations

Episode recorded April 10, 2024

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod.

Disclosure. Disclosure. Disclosure. In early March, the SEC issued final climate-related disclosure rules for U.S. public companies. Designed to enhance standardization and in response to increasing investor demand, the new rules mandate companies disclose material climate risks they face and greenhouse gas emissions they generate as well as other material climate-related information. While not as comprehensive as existing mandatory climate disclosure regimes in the European Union or California, the rules represent a groundbreaking step forward in climate disclosure across the United States.

In this episode, Chad Reed discusses the new rules, their implications and their detractors with Steven Rothstein, managing director at the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets. Steven and his colleagues at Ceres over two decades have been instrumental in building a large and powerful investor coalition in support of greater climate disclosure and provide crucial insights on this complex and significant public policy issue.

Links:

SEC Adopts Rules to Enhance and Standardize Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors

Letter from Jeffrey W. Eckel (then CEO and now Executive Chair of HASI) to U.S. SEC (June 15, 2021)

Ceres: Get ready for standardized climate disclosure

Episode recorded March 29, 2024

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod.

In this episode, Gil Jenkins sits down with Akshat Rathi, a senior climate reporter at Bloomberg News and the host of Bloomberg Green's Zero podcast, to discuss his new book, "Climate Capitalism: Winning the Global Race to Zero Emissions and Solving the Crisis of our Age," which was released on March 12 in the U.S.

"Climate Capitalism" takes readers across five continents, tracking the unlikely heroes driving the fight against climate change. The stories within the book reveal how people, policy, and technology are converging to create a green economy that is not only possible but profitable.

Akshat and Gil explore key chapters from the book, touching on stories like that of Wan Gang, a Chinese bureaucrat who played a pivotal role in the rapid expansion of electric vehicles in China. They also discuss India's significant progress toward solar power since 2015, the transformative influence of the International Energy Agency, and the UK's legally binding decarbonization commitments, among other topics.

Links:

• About the Book
• Akshat on X
• Akshat on LinkedIn
• Zero Podcast

Episode recorded March 8, 2024

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hasi.com or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod.