It’s a sad truth that many companies are struggling or failing to meet their sustainability targets. Sensitive to anti-ESG pressure, interest rates, and other macro factors, many are also holding back from making new commitments. Currently, less than 10% of the Fortune Global 500 has a net zero commitment in place.

Amidst this context, it's all the more important to shine a light on the companies that have made ambitious targets and that are working hard to achieve them.

IBM is one such company. They began disclosing their CO2 emissions 30 years ago, and since 2010, they’ve cut emissions by nearly 70%. That’s not to say their path is without challenges. They’ve made a big bet on AI, which of course drives up energy usage dramatically.

To understand IBM’s sustainability strategy and progress, I was pleased to sit down with IBM Chief Impact Officer Justina Nixon-Saintil. Justina is a member of NationSwell, the executive membership network where I work. We talked about Justina’s background and role, the main focus areas for sustainability at IBM, some of their successes and challenges, how AI factors into the mix, their sustainability accelerator program, and much more.

If you’re interested in how big companies think about the climate crisis and how they can make a difference, there’s a lot to enjoy this episode. Here we go.

• [3:23] Justina’s background & what led her to her current role at IBM
• [6:06] Justina’s role, responsibilities & things she’s thinking about everyday
• [8:59] The pillars & priorities of IBM's sustainability strategy
• [10:29] The approach to influencing those stakeholders
• [12:46] Challenges being faced and the gap between companies & their targets
• [14:36] Challenges in reaching your decarbonization goals
• [16:19] AI & sustainability
• [19:31] IBM Sustainability Accelerator: Focus areas & what’s new
• [22:44] Organizations that have joined the accelerator & how they’re benefiting
• [25:07] The struggles & challenges that organizations are facing
• [27:23] Other climate tech spaces where Justina sees an opportunity for AI
• [28:09] IBM SkillsBuild: About the program & priorities
• [32:25] Advice for addressing climate change & other environmental challenges today

• IBM Impact: Environment
• IBM Sustainability Accelerator
• IMB SkillsBuild

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Hedge funds aren’t exactly known for contributing to climate progress or other ESG goals for that matter. So I was surprised to learn about Corbin Capital, a firm that aims to leverage the activist strategies of hedge funds not just to generate market-exceeding returns for their clients, but to advance environmental and social objectives.

There are trillions of dollars invested in hedge funds that can make a difference in this all-hands-on-deck moment. So why not think about how hedge fund tools can help accelerate decarbonization and other environmental priorities?

To learn more about this opportunity and how Corbin Capital is pursuing it, I sat down with their Director of Sustainability Courtney Birnbaum. I learned a lot about hedge fund tactics, and the opportunity to invest in transition commodities, carbon markets and more. Lots to learn through this one – enjoy!

• [2:47] Courtney’s path to working on climate & sustainability
• [4:37] Corbin Capital & Courtney’s role there
• [7:59] What is a hedge fund & how is it different than other investment vehicles
• [9:23] The history of hedge funds & factors that have made them successful
• [11:27] Why today is a good moment for hedge fund investing
• [13:18] Uncertainty creating opportunities for hedge fund investing
• [15:31] Influencing transformational change through hedge funds
• [17:52] Examples of success stories
• [20:29] Thinking about criticisms around lack of transparency
• [22:13] What makes Corbin unique
• [23:19] Climate opportunities for Corbin investors & the impact they’re aiming to have
• [25:59] Litigation finance
• [27:23] How hedge funds can play a role in decarbonization
• [28:16] How hedge funds can play a role in the carbon markets & carbon credits
• [30:28] Short selling as a strategy for improving corporate sustainability
• [33:57] How do finance needs to change to better tackle today's climate crisis

• Corbin Capital

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We know we need to be investing trillions of dollars annually into the climate transition. Venture capital is just a small slice of the pie, but there’s simply no time to slow down its contribution to advancing climate solutions.

In 2023, however, climate tech venture funding dropped 30% to $32 billion. Whether this was a temporary slowdown caused by high interest rates and the macro environment, or the new normal, will make a big difference.

Recently, I’ve been thrilled to start hearing about funds that are closing new and significantly bigger rounds.

One such firm is Clean Energy Ventures. They just raised their second fund, which is three times the size of their first, and I was pleased to get to hear the details from Clean Energy Ventures’ Co-Founder and Managing Partner Temple Fennel. Temple’s been investing in climate tech since 2017 and has held fast to focusing on companies that can reduce emissions by multiple gigatons. In today’s conversation, we hear how Temple got started in climate tech investing and what he seeks in an investment. We hear about some of his portfolio companies, the changes he’s seeing in climate investing and much more. Lots to learn in this one – enjoy.

• [03:02] Temple’s path & how he decided to focus on climate investing
• [7:54] Clean Energy Ventures’ investment thesis & what makes them unique
• [11:38] Expectations, assumptions & surprises from the first fund
• [14:25] Rebound Technologies, their business potential & climate mitigation opportunity
• [17:40] Aqua Membranes & why Clean Energy Ventures invested
• [19:51] Other examples of what Clean Energy Ventures is interested in
• [23:03] The second fund & the focus this time around
• [25:52] The Simple Emission Reduction Calculator: Emissions reduction & the causality for financial return
• [27:33] The process of raising capital today
• [30:42] The current state of the capital market for climate
• [32:36] Change in SBTI rules around offsetting & talk on decarbonization mandates
• [34:49] What needs to happen to get company leadership onboard for making near-term commitments to technologies that will drive their decarbonization
• [36:11] How investors are acting differently & outlook
• [37:45] Other interesting investment areas with opportunity

• Clean Energy Ventures
• Rebound Technologies
• Aqua Membranes
• OXCCU
• Noon Energy
• Clean Energy Ventures’ Simple Emissions Reduction Calculator
• S2G Report: The Missing Middle: Capital Balances in the Energy Transition

• Connect with Temple on LinkedIn

• On LinkedIn
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After two years of waiting, the SEC finally came out with its new climate disclosure rules. As expected, it was met with a mix of celebration, disappointment, criticism, and lawsuits. The suits came from those who felt the rules went too far and from those who felt they don’t go far enough.

Disclosure rules are critical to ensuring companies are taking climate change seriously. They ensure investors can consider a company’s climate risks as well as their progress in cutting emissions.

Beyond the SEC, Europe and California’s rules are also influencing corporate action in profound ways.

To understand what’s been happening and what’s likely to happen next, I caught up with Steven Rothstein. Steven is the Managing Director of the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets. He’s been working for years to align financial markets to climate goals and is a well respected expert on this topic. We talked about the history of disclosures, why they matter, the recent SEC rule change, the reaction it sparked, what’s coming next, and much more. I always learn a lot from talking to Steven and I’m sure you will too. Enjoy.

• [03:07] Stephen's role at Ceres accelerator
• [03:25] The Accelerator’s work & capital market change
• [05:02] History of early climate reporting
• [06:58] Disclosure requirements in Europe and CSRD
• [10:29] California law coverage of private companies
• [11:06] Ceres' role in California climate laws
• [13:23] Why SEC rule took two years
• [15:07] The importance of Scope 3 SEC inclusion
• [16:29] SEC rule may evolve over time
• [18:00] Legal challenges to rules and regulations
• [20:47] Continuing climate preparations
• [23:15] Balancing reporting and climate action
• [27:19] The importance of interim targets
• [29:56] Election impact on climate progress
• [31:45] Developing transition plans and data analysis
• [35:13] Actions listeners can take

• Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets

• Connect with Steven on LinkedIn

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If you think of Mastercard as simply a piece of plastic that enables you to buy stuff, you’re not seeing their vast network of businesses, their billions of customers, or the potential influence they have on consumer behavior.

There have been countless efforts over the years to encourage consumers to shop more sustainably, but when it comes to the reach and data savvy that Mastercard brings, it’s a whole different ballgame.

I’ve known Mastercard’s Chief Sustainability Officer Ellen Jackowski for many years, and I was delighted to sit down with her to understand Mastercard’s sustainability strategy.

We talk about Ellen’s background and approach to leadership, the current moment in sustainability, Mastercard’s effort to encourage sustainable consumption at scale, how they’ve spread sustainability goals across their entire company, and much more.

Ellen is a widely respected thought leader in corporate sustainability and this conversation offers a peek inside an ambitious and very challenging effort to create real impact. Mastercard is a NationSwell member and we’ll soon share a summary of this conversation as part of NationSwell’s Sustainability Next series. Enjoy!

• [02:13] Ellen’s background & passion for sustainability
• [04:14] Ellen’s role at Mastercard
• [06:13] Present moment in sustainability - trends & concerns
• [08:13] The reach of Mastercard’s network
• [10:58] Sustainable consumption as a systems problem
• [12:29] Areas of opportunity & challenge
• [14:00] The Priceless Planet Coalition video drop
• [15:32] Mastercard’s carbon calculator
• [16:50] Influencing large emitting purchases
• [17:32] Promoting sustainable consumption around the world & US
• [18:52] The biggest challenge in reaching net-zero goals
• [21:00] Best ways to organize sustainability leaders
• [23:24] Tackling Scope 3 emissions
• [26:08] Mastercard’s Priceless Planet Coalition
• [27:53] Mastercard’s Community Pass Platform
• [29:21] Mastercard’s Start Path in Solidarity
• [30:52] How Ellen’s thinking in leadership has evolved
• [33:18] Resources to stay informed on sustainability
• [34:22] What else needs to change

• Mastercard: Priceless Planet Coalition
• NationSwell: Next Series
• Mastercard: Carbon Calculator
• Mastercard: Community Pass
• Mastercard: In Solidarity
• Outrage and Optimism
• Project Drawdown

• Connect with Ellen on LinkedIn

• On

Earthshot Ventures isn't just any climate tech venture firm. Having grown out of the Elemental Excelerator, one of the biggest and best-reputed accelerators in the industry, Earthshot is deeply rooted in the early-stage ecosystem. And it turns out there's something else that sets them apart.

Managing Partner Mike Jackson has a knack for coaching founders on what he thinks of as the art and science of fundraising. We're joined today by Mike and Earthshot Partner Ramsay Siegal to hear about their firm, approach, portfolio, and outlook on the market. We dive deep into Mike's insights to helping founders raise money. We talked about non-dilutive project financing and hard-to-abate sectors, the opportunities AI is bringing to climate tech, several of their portfolio companies, and much more. If you're interested in early-stage climate investing, or startups, there's lots to learn in this one. Hope you enjoy. Here we go.

• [02:47] Mike’s background & experience
• [04:52] Ramsey’s background & expertise
• [07:51] The relationship between Earthshot VC & Elemental Excelerator
• [09:39] Earthshot’s investment thesis, what they’re interested in & what sets them apart
• [12:22] Earthshot’s network
• [14:13] Mike’s approach to fundraising & coaching the portfolio
• [17:54] Fundraising tips and tricks for founders
• [22:17] Earthshot’s success stories
• [24:38] How is AI showing up
• [30:41] Investing in hard-to-abate sectors and Kanin Energy
• [33:06] Kanin Energy's business model and non-dilutive funding
• [38:15] Earthshot’s commitment, DEI & tips for achieving a diverse portfolio
• [42:38] Outlook & opportunities for climate tech investing

• Earthshot Ventures
• Elemental Excelerator
• Mitra Chem
• Kanin Energy
• Generate Capital
• Westly Group

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• Connect with Ramsay on LinkedIn

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We know that motivating homeowners to invest in energy efficiency retrofits and home upgrades is hard. Energy efficiency might not sound glamorous, but across the US, retrofits can actually cut our residential energy usage in half.

That’s why when I met Scope Zero CEO Lizzy Kolar, I was excited to learn about her company’s novel way of motivating home upgrades. What Lizzy and her co-founder realized is that our homes are now workplaces.

And, with employers having to account for emissions for remote workers, they now have an incentive to help homeowners invest in upgrades. Enter the Carbon Savings Account (CSA). Modeled after FSAs and HSAs, the CSA can scale quickly and help millions of homeowners across the US to begin investing in upgrades they’ve been putiing off.

In this episode, we hear about Lizzy’s background, the founding story of Scope Zero, the problems they’re trying to solve, the best home upgrade investments, how the home upgrade ecosystem has been evolving, and much more. This is a fast and to-the-point episode. Hope you enjoy it.

• [03:02] Lizzy’s background, what sparked her interest in climate & founding Scope Zero
• [05:50] Key needs that Scope Zero is addressing
• [07:17] The HSA model & how it works
• [08:24] How the HSA model translates to climate action
• [09:20] How someone might use the money they put in a Scope Zero account
• [10:15] What holds homeowners back from making investments
• [11:40] Evidence that consumers will invest in CSAs
• [12:23] The benefits of government incentives - Inflation Reduction Act
• [12:53] What home upgrades should be prioritized
• [14:43] The benefits of a Scope Zero CSA for employers
• [16:34] ROI for employers
• [17:53] CSAs in practice & the response
• [18:27] How far along is Scope Zero & the growth plan
• [19:44] Scope Zero’s total addressable market & opportunity
• [20:27] Quantifying impact in terms of emissions reduced & environmental benefits
• [21:06] Tracking the impact of CSAs using dashboards & data
• [21:44] Customers’ access to a partner vendor network
• [22:14] How the ecosystem surrounding home upgrades is evolving
• [23:08] How Scope Zero is financed & raising funding
• [23:47] Opportunities for aligning interests & motivating change

• Scope Zero
• TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy - Stanford
• Caltech Rocket Fund
• Collaborative Fund

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We know that addressing climate change will take trillions of dollars of investment. According to the Climate Policy Institute, we’ll need to spend over $10 trillion annually for decades. and we only just exceeded $1 trillion for the first time in 2022.

I’ll confess, I find these big numbers hard to conceptualize and I’m always glad for more nuanced ways to break them down. That’s why when I saw Oxford’s Climate Tech Initiative’s recent report, I reached out to one of its authors Jamil Wyne. The Oxford report builds on recent climate finance data by asking almost 150 climate investors, entrepreneurs, and policymakers what they're seeing. It's a snapshot from inside climate tech that identifies gaps, promising opportunities, and five recommended changes for climate finance. In this interview, Jamil and I cover all that and more. We go far beyond just talking about the numbers and I think you’ll appreciate the global perspective and ability to zoom in and out that Jamil and the Oxford report brings. Enjoy.

• [01:15] Introduction to the Oxford Climate Tech Initiative’s report & Jamil
• [02:31] Jamil’s portfolio & what's been energizing
• [04:19] How Climate Tech Initiative’s report got started
• [06:20] Growth & breakdown of climate finance investments
• [10:02] The mismatch in climate investing
• [12:43] Investor interest in transportation
• [15:20] Under investment in heavy industry, built environment & adaptation
• [17:41] The best investment opportunities within the energy sector
• [20:39] Overview of recommendations from the report
• [22:31] Growing climate funding recommendation
• [23:06] The role of governments & corporations
• [25:27] Building talent & workforce pools for climate
• [28:27] Focusing on solutions for vulnerable communities
• [30:30] Funding for adaptation
• [33:20] What is Riffle Ventures
• [36:08] Climate Tech Boot Camp, who it’s for & how it’s changed
• [41:27] Future projects & initiatives

• Oxford’s Climate Tech Initiative
• The Climate Tech Opportunity Report
• Riffle Ventures
• Climate Tech Bootcamp

• Connect with Jamil on LinkedIn

• On LinkedIn
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