Épisodes

  • Textile Dyeing Emissions: EverDye's Cold Chemistry Cuts Energy by 90%
    Jun 25 2026

    Textile dyeing is one of the most polluting stages in fashion, and one of the least visible. It accounts for a large share of the sector's carbon emissions and around a fifth of global industrial water pollution. In this episode, Dominic Shales speaks with Philippe Berlan, CEO of EverDye, the French green-chemistry company rethinking how fabric is coloured.


    Berlan explains why conventional dyeing depends on energy-hungry petrochemical chemistry, and how EverDye's bio-based alternative bonds colour to fibre at room temperature instead. The result is up to 90% less energy use, lower water consumption, and a process that runs on existing factory equipment. He talks through which fibres the technology covers, the challenge posed by polyester, and how the company verifies its emissions claims with life-cycle assessment.


    The conversation widens to the industry itself: why brands have tackled their own offices and shops while leaving manufacturing emissions largely untouched, why the sector is so resistant to new technology, and what role regulation and consumer transparency could play. Drawing on three decades in retail, including a spell running La Redoute, Berlan offers a pragmatic view of how a slow-moving industry actually changes.


    A clear, practical look at where fashion's emissions really sit, and what it takes to cut them.


    Guest: Philippe Berlan, CEO, EverDye

    EverDye: https://everdye.fr

    LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/philippeberland

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    30 min
  • While the Market Soured on Hydrogen, Schroders Capital Kept Investing
    Jun 19 2026

    Green hydrogen has had a punishing few years, with cancellations, cost overruns and demand that arrived late. So why did Schroders Capital keep investing while others retreated?


    Holly Turner and Duncan Hale join Climate Solutions News ahead of Reset Connect London 2026 to explain the firm's approach. Duncan walks through the Barrow Green Hydrogen Project in Cumbria, which will supply hydrogen to a Kimberly-Clark factory making Andrex and Kleenex, and the subsidy model borrowed from wind and solar.


    Holly maps where climate capital flows next, the growing case for adaptation and resilience, and how European regulation is reshaping what counts as a sustainable investment.


    A conversation about sticking to your convictions, delivering energy transition projects and where the next phase of the transition gets funded.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    35 min
  • 'We Don't Trust It, We Control It': One Click LCA Uses AI to Cut Embodied Carbon
    Jun 15 2026

    How is AI changing the way we measure the carbon cost of what we build? One Click LCA founder and CEO Panu Pasanen joins the Climate Solutions News podcast to explain.


    Life cycle assessment counts the full environmental cost of a product or building, from raw material to disposal. It is rigorous work, and traditionally slow. Pasanen explains what the discipline involves, why embodied carbon is so much harder to act on than the energy a building uses, and how his company cuts an assessment that once took weeks down to something that fits the pace of a live project.


    He also looks ahead to AI that proposes whole low-carbon design options, with the human expert steering rather than building. On whether that output can be trusted, his answer is blunt: control, not trust. The platform monitors its AI constantly, tests it against large datasets, and grades the confidence of every proposal.


    Recorded ahead of Reset Connect London, 23 and 24 June 2026, where Pasanen is speaking on supply chain decarbonisation and Climate Solutions News is a media partner.


    Read more at https://climatesolutions.news/sectors/we-dont-trust-it-we-control-it-one-click-lca-uses-ai-to-cut-embodied-carbon

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    22 min
  • Britain's Retrofit Gap: Progress at a Tenth of the Pace It Needs
    Jun 11 2026

    Britain retrofits fewer than 100,000 buildings a year. To hit net zero it needs between one and 1.5 million.


    Andrew Spencer, Energy and Carbon Services Director at Equans UK and Ireland, joins Dominic Shales to explain the gap and what closes it.


    The conversation covers the 200,000 to 500,000 skilled workers the industry lacks, the £10-20 billion annual funding requirement, and the policy instability that stops the supply chain investing. Spencer argues retrofit should be treated as national infrastructure rather than a construction problem, and explains the place-based model behind the UK's first net zero neighbourhood in Brockmoor, Dudley.


    Read more at climatesolutions.news.


    00:00 "We're not meeting our targets."


    06:27 "We need something in the region of 400,000 people."


    09:49 "I am optimistic about the UK."


    12:53 "Every place is different."


    Chapters


    00:00 Introduction to Retrofit and Equans


    03:07 The Urgency of Scaling Retrofit


    06:05 Workforce Challenges in Retrofit


    09:12 Place-Based Decarbonisation Explained


    11:54 The Role of Local Authorities


    15:02 Networking and Future Outlook

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    21 min
  • Solving the Money Problem Holding Back Carbon Removal
    Jun 8 2026

    UNDO Carbon can prove its science works. The harder problem is paying for the years between spending on deployment and earning the carbon credits back, and that financing gap, more than the chemistry, is what now decides how fast enhanced rock weathering can grow.


    Dominic Shales speaks with Alex Bury, head of finance at UNDO, about the economics of scaling carbon removal. They discuss why enhanced rock weathering leans on existing mining and farming infrastructure rather than expensive capital equipment, the move from upfront payments to payment on delivery, and UNDO's debt deal with the Inlandsis Fund alongside a Microsoft offtake. Bury also covers carbon removal insurance, the significance of Farm Credit Canada's investment, the measurement challenge behind lender confidence, and what it takes to bring a first-time buyer like Barclays into the voluntary carbon market.


    UNDO was a winner in the $100 million XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition. Its buyers include Microsoft, Barclays, British Airways and McLaren Racing.


    More at https://climatesolutions.news

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    24 min
  • AI Takes the Controls: Gigaton Raises $26m To Optimise Heavy Manufacturing
    Jun 3 2026

    Heavy industry produces the materials that the modern world runs on. It also produces around a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. Cement alone accounts for roughly 8% of global CO₂, a share that has barely moved in decades. Most of the plants responsible are old, complex, and still running on control systems that were never built for the world they operate in today.


    This week, Dominic Shales speaks with Buffy Price, co-founder of Gigaton, the AI company replacing control software in energy-intensive industries. Formerly known as Carbon Re and spun out of the University of Cambridge and UCL, Gigaton has just announced a $26 million Series A led by Plural, taking total funding past $35 million.


    Buffy explains how Gigaton's self-learning platform takes autonomous control of industrial processes, delivering up to $3 million in annual operational savings per plant for customers including Adani Cement, Heidelberg Materials, and Holcim. She talks through the journey from recommendation dashboards to direct plant control, the rise of dark factories in China, and the company's plans to expand from cement into steel, glass, and petrochemicals.


    They also discuss what it takes to raise a Series A in the current climate investment market, how CBAM and ETS are shifting producer incentives, and why carbon capture and AI process control are complementary rather than competing solutions.


    Find climate tech news, analysis, and interviews at Climate Solutions News.


    Chapters:


    00:00 The Impact of Heavy Industry on Climate Change


    03:02 Gigaton's Mission and Ambitions


    06:11 Funding and Financial Viability in Tough Times


    08:48 Automation and AI in Cement Production


    11:54 Cultural Shifts in Industry and AI Adoption


    15:11 Global Expansion and Market Strategy


    17:57 Policy Impacts on the Cement Industry


    21:10 Expanding into Other Hard-to-Abate Industries


    23:53 Buffy's Journey and Vision for the Future

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    27 min
  • The New Geography of Climate Capital | Climate Solutions News
    May 27 2026

    The headlines say climate investment is in retreat. Duncan Reid is not convinced.


    In this episode of the Climate Solutions News podcast, Dominic Shales sits down with the chief executive of Reset Connect, the green investment event that anchors London Climate Action Week. Reid has spent 25 years in events and now watches climate capital up close, with investors, founders and corporate buyers gathering under one roof each June.


    His argument is that the money has changed hands and crossed borders, away from the loudest US funds. Large managers have stepped back as Washington unwinds its climate incentives. Yet pension funds and institutional investors keep allocating, because their obligations stretch across decades. As Reid puts it, "if the UK is all on fire or underwater, people don't need pensions."


    The conversation turns to the war in the Gulf and the rise of energy sovereignty, the maturing of the sector since 2022, the long struggle to fix the grid, and why Reid believes the economics of clean power now win whatever the politics.


    Read the article here.


    Reset Connect London returns to Excel on 23 and 24 June 2026, as the flagship event of London Climate Action Week. Entry is free.

    Listen, follow and share.


    Climate Solutions News covers the people and ideas driving the climate transition. More at climatesolutions.news

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    23 min
  • From Carbon to Protein: Industrialising Photosynthesis
    May 21 2026

    What if the carbon dioxide coming out of a factory could go straight into growing protein? That is the logic behind Arborea's BioSolar Leaf technology, and it is attracting serious interest from some of the world's largest food companies.


    Dominic Shales speaks with Dr Kaly Chatakondu, Global Commercial Director at Arborea, about the London-based startup that has spent a decade industrialising photosynthesis to cultivate microalgae at commercial scale. Kaly brings more than 30 years of senior food industry experience and a chemistry doctorate from the University of Oxford.


    He explains how the BioSolar Leaf system works, why its economics and contamination profile solve problems that have held back the microalgae sector for decades, and how Arborea is building its first full commercial factory in Portugal while quietly assembling a portfolio of offtake agreements with major multinationals.


    The conversation covers the AB InBev collaboration in Mexico, the regulatory landscape for novel food ingredients, and what a global rollout via joint ventures and technology licensing could look like.


    Takeaways


    • The food system accounts for a third of global greenhouse gas emissions.
    • Arborea's BioSolar Leaf technology industrializes photosynthesis.
    • Microalgae can be cultivated on non-fertile land.
    • The process is carbon negative and environmentally friendly.
    • Spirulina is a key product due to its high protein content.
    • Arborea collaborates with major food companies for product development.
    • The technology can utilize CO2 from various industrial processes.
    • Regulatory hurdles exist but are manageable for approved microalgae.
    • Arborea's approach overcomes limitations of previous microalgae production methods.
    • Global expansion plans include partnerships and licensing opportunities.


    Sound Bites


    00:00 "What if protein could be grown from CO2?"


    03:27 "It's photosynthesis on steroids."


    09:49 "Microalgae are superfoods."


    15:26 "This is completely unique technology."



    Chapters


    00:00 Introduction to Climate Solutions and Protein Production


    01:09 Transitioning to Arborea and BioSolar Leaf Technology


    03:56 Understanding BioSolar Leaf: The Process of Industrial Photosynthesis


    05:30 Environmental Benefits and Carbon Negative Process


    06:41 Product Focus: Spirulina and Its Versatility


    08:13 Collaborations with Major Food Companies


    10:03 Industrial Partnerships and Future Plans


    12:07 Navigating Food Regulations in Europe


    14:21 The Importance of Regulation in Food Safety


    15:04 Arborea's Unique Approach to Microalgae Production


    17:13 Global Expansion Plans and Market Strategies


    19:06 Funding and Investment Strategies


    20:51 Conclusion and Future Outlook

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    22 min