Podcast | Corporate Knights

Carbon Hunters Episode 4: How GHGSat tracks methane from space

CK Staff — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 12:40:02 +0000

Early last year, a microwave-oven-sized satellite hurtling along at more than seven kilometres per second detected a massive methane leak from a coal mine in southwest Siberia. The owner of that satellite was GHGSat, a Montreal-based company that works at the intersection of space and climate change. While carbon dioxide gets most of the attention when it comes to greenhouse gases, GHGSat focuses on methane – an extremely potent gas that has been responsible for an estimated 30% of the world’s warming to date.

This week, Diana Fox Carney speaks to Stephane Germain, the CEO of GHGSat, about his childhood dreams of space and the challenges of scaling up as a Canadian cleantech company. “It was a wonderful place to start our business. Where it becomes a challenge is for growth capital [and] for really scaling to a global basis, Canada frankly is a bit of a backwater,” he says. Fox Carney also talked with Clea Kolster, the head of science and a partner at Lowercarbon Capital, about how GHGSat fits into the larger cleantech picture.

Listen and subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Find earlier episodes here, here and here.

The post Carbon Hunters Episode 4: How GHGSat tracks methane from space appeared first on Corporate Knights.

Carbon Hunters Episode 3: Summit Nanotech wants to make lithium mining sustainable

CK Staff — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 14:02:51 +0000

Amanda Hall was working in the oil and gas sector when she had what she says was a bit of an existential crisis. The geophysicist wondered what the future of energy would be and set out to figure out how to mine lithium in a way that puts planet first. In 2018, this led her to found Summit Nanotech, a company that has developed a technology it says can double lithium yields over a conventional process while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and waste. Today, as demand for lithium has car companies knocking down Hall’s door, the CEO explains why getting lithium from Chile is more sustainable than digging up mined-in-Canada lithium.

This week, Diana Fox Carney speaks to Hall about her Calgary-based company, which recently raised US$50 million in a Series A2 funding round. Fox Carney also catches up with Clea Kolster, the head of science and a partner at Lowercarbon Capital, about how Summit Nanotech fits into the larger cleantech picture.

Listen and subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Find earlier episodes here and here.

The post Carbon Hunters Episode 3: Summit Nanotech wants to make lithium mining sustainable appeared first on Corporate Knights.

Carbon Hunters Episode 2: Clear Blue Technologies tracks down off-grid solutions

CK Staff — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 16:00:44 +0000

As the energy transition kicks into full swing and we electrify much of our lives, the demand on electricity grids is expected to swell. And observers say off-grid solutions will play a big role in taking strain off the traditional grid and keeping electricity affordable.

In Episode 2 of Carbon Hunters, Diana Fox Carney speaks to Miriam Tuerk, the CEO and co-founder of Clear Blue Technologies, a Toronto-based company that uses smart off-grid technology (and renewable energy) to monitor and power devices anywhere in the world – from streetlights along Bloor Street in downtown Toronto to e-Learning platforms in sub-Saharan Africa.

Listen and subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

The post Carbon Hunters Episode 2: Clear Blue Technologies tracks down off-grid solutions appeared first on Corporate Knights.

Introducing ‘Carbon Hunters,’ a podcast with Diana Fox Carney

CK Staff — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 13:33:37 +0000

As a nation, Canada has struggled to tackle the climate crisis, but scratch beneath the surface and you’ll find there are plenty of Canadian entrepreneurs and companies that are working to develop climate solutions. Welcome to Carbon Hunters, a new Corporate Knights podcast hosted by Diana Fox Carney, where you’ll meet the entrepreneurs driving some of Canada’s emissions-busting efforts and find out what their companies do.

This week, Diana speaks to Daniel Friedmann, the CEO of Carbon Engineering. In the same way that companies like McDonald’s and Subway franchise fast food restaurants, Carbon Engineering wants to franchise pulling climate-heating CO2 out of the air. “We as a society have known how to take carbon dioxide out of the air for a long time,” says Friedmann. “The issue is how do you take gigatonnes of carbon dioxide out of the air?”

Listen to Episode 1 here and subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About the host: Diana Fox Carney is a frequent webinar host and contributor to Corporate Knights. She sits on the advisory board of growth equity venture BeyondNetZero and is currently partnering with African private equity firm Helios in the establishment of an African climate growth equity venture. She is a strategic advisor with WTW’s Climate and Resilience Hub, is a senior advisor on climate at Eurasia Group and sits on the advisory boards of Canadian ag-tech company Terramera and strategic metals investment company TechMet.

The post Introducing ‘Carbon Hunters,’ a podcast with Diana Fox Carney appeared first on Corporate Knights.

PODCAST: VanCity’s Tamara Vrooman on how banks can lead us out of the current crisis

CK Staff — Fri, 01 May 2020 22:19:18 +0000

The banking sector hasn’t always been seen as particularly helpful during times of crisis. During the last financial crisis of 2008, a lot of blame was pinned squarely on banks themselves. Corporate Knights had a chance to speak with VanCity Credit Union’s CEO Tamara Vrooman about how the banking and financial sector could and should help lead us out of the pandemic-triggered economic crisis.

We had a lot of questions for Vrooman. How are progressive businesses faring during the pandemic? How does she see the role of business changing in the face of COVID-19? Are green funds weathering the economic storm better than their competitors? We also asked her how we make sure that we’re taking lessons from the pandemic to rebuild the economy in ways that make it more resilient and reduce our impacts on the earth.

Listen to the interview between our managing editor, Adria Vasil, and Vrooman, now on Corporate Knights YouTube channel. We packed a lot into 20 minutes. Definitely worth a listen.

A big thank you to Tamara for sharing your insights.

The post PODCAST: VanCity’s Tamara Vrooman on how banks can lead us out of the current crisis appeared first on Corporate Knights.