The Net Zero Life (TNZL) podcast shares the lessons, ideas, and philosophies from leaders in climate so everyone can move the world towards net zero. The podcast features interviews with climate-minded thought leaders such as scientists, founders, policymakers, authors, and everyday individuals who are working to bring about a net zero future.
The podcast answer the most basic question of Why should you care about climate change?, investigates how you as an individual can make the most impact towards a net zero future, and dives into topics such as How many times do you need to use your Hydroflask before it is better than a Poland Springs water bottle?
Clean Energy Ventures or CEV is helping founders build a cleaner future by investing in early-stage climate tech companies.
Louis Schick, Director of Investments at CEV, has more than twenty years of experience as a technologist and investor. In his investing role at Clean Energy Ventures, Mr. Schick works with deal teams to source, screen and diligence new investments, as well as support portfolio companies on technology, markets, strategy and commercialization.
Prior to joining Clean Energy Ventures, Mr. Schick was co-founder, partner and CTO at NewWorld Capital, and served as a Managing Director at Ritchie Capital. From 1997 to 2005, Mr. Schick held a variety of positions at General Electric’s Corporate Research and Energy groups. Mr. Schick facilitated GE’s entrance into both solar and wind energy, and led GE’s solid oxide fuel cell program.
Mr. Schick was trained as a physicist and co-authored papers in accelerator physics, space physics, and biophysics as well as earning ten granted US patents. He holds a BS in Physics from Union College; an MS in Physics from Cornell University.
Clearloop or ClearloopUS on most social medias is for brands that want to reclaim their #carbonfootprint & expand access to #cleanenergy by building new #solar projects in the #USA ❌🌫😷👍☀️🇺🇸
Laura Zapata is the CEO and co-founder of Clearloop Corporation, a Nashville-based startup that helps companies of all sizes—from established companies like Intuit and Vista Equity Partners to direct to consumer brands like Dropps—cut their carbon footprint and expand access to clean energy in the United States. Zapata made a career in crisis communications and reputation management having worked in Congress, political campaigns, and Uber. She’s now helping companies reach their ESG goals with tangible climate action and ensure that the environmental, health, and economic benefits of new solar projects reach communities getting left behind. Zapata is a strong believer that solar can do more if we’re intentional about the communities where we invest and is eager to work with more companies seeking to tackle their carbon footprint to tap into their growing economic power as we strive for an equitable clean energy transition. Zapata immigrated from Colombia, was raised in Memphis, Tennessee, and is a graduate of Dartmouth College.
Nori is the carbon removal marketplace that helps organizations, companies, and individuals meet their climate goals with high-quality carbon removal offsets. They are early advocates of carbon removal (as opposed to avoided carbon offsets), advocates of the intersection of blockchain technology and climate, and purveyor of regenerative agriculture projects.
Ross is a former political philosophy PhD student who decided playing with filmmaking was more fun than graduate school. He is a screenwriter, producer. He’s also worked in technology communications in the blockchain space. And he is a cofounder of Nori as well as their their Creative Editor where he leads the development of Nori’s podcasts and other types of media.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) is a global membership organization that drives the sustainable transition to a bio-based and circular economy. RSB’s sustainability framework has been developed by its multi-stakeholder membership, and is a uniquely robust and credible foundation for supporting innovative solutions to the climate crisis. RSB uses this foundation to develop projects, new knowledge and solutions that equip key decision-makers to deliver positive impacts for people and the planet.
RSB’s Executive Director, Elena Schmidt, has a strong sustainability background with a record of delivering robust product and business model innovations, serving as Head of the TÜV SÜD Certification Body for Climate and Energy before joining RSB. She has extensive experience in working with complex chain of custody settings, developing strategic business models, and managing innovation projects to establish new certification services in the private and public sector. She holds Master’s degrees in both Environmental and Political Sciences.
Jonathan is a rising sustainability leader and former Obama White House and U.S. EPA senior lawyer with over 20 years of experience and a deep background in federal regulatory policy and process. Whether as GC of a biotech startup or law firm partner, Jonathan brings a long track record advising innovative tech companies on a diverse array of topics, from GHG emissions management, to ESG disclosure, to government investigations and enforcement. Recently he finished a 6 month in-house engagement with Coinbase, where he explored the poorly understood intersection of climate policy and crypto — a rich topic on which he continues to advise clients across the here-to-stay crypto economy.
Mark R. Tercek is the former president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. He is co-author of the book Nature’s Fortune: How Business and Society Thrive by Investing in Nature. Prior to The Nature Conservancy, he was a manager director and partner at Goldman Sachs for 24 years and was a member of the faculty at New York University Stern School of Business.
Today Mark spends his time advising companies, investors, and NGOs on ambitious environmental initiatives and also writes a bi-weekly newsletter on Substack “The Instigator.” If you’d like to get in touch with Mark, you can follow him on LinkedIn or Twitter.
#26 Grand Challenges with Apoorv Sinha and Madison Savilow of Carbon Upcycling, winners of the Carbon X-Prize X-Factor Award
Apoorv is a co-founder and CEO of Carbon Upcycling Technologies (CUT), CUT is a Carbon X-Prize X-Factor award winner, an Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) Grand Challenge Semi-finalist, and has received support from various provincial and federal entities in Canada. In 2017, CUT became the youngest CO2 utilization company to commercialize a product from CO2 emissions, within 2.5 years of founding.
Apoorv is a Forbes 30 Under 30 Energy awardee (2020), a Clean 50 Honoree (2021), an alumni of the Energy Futures Lab, a 2016 Leading Change delegate, a Clean50 Emerging Leader 2016, and has served on the ACTia (Alberta Cleantech Industrial Alliance) Board of Directors (2017-19). Apoorv is also a 2018 Action Canada Alumni, Canada’s premier youth leadership training program. Apoorv has a Bachelor of Science degree from Georgia Institute of Technology in Chemical engineering (2010).
Madison Savilow is the Chief of Staff at Carbon Upcycling Technologies, a Calgary-based carbon utilization company and winner of the XFactor Award in the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE. She also started and leads the company’s consumer brand, Oco. In 2019, Madison graduated from the University of Calgary with a BComm in Accounting and a BA in Sociology with an Honours Dissertation on the effect of water insecurity on First Nations’ reservations. During her time in university, she studied at the University of Glasgow for two semesters, interned at the US Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington, DC, and had Co-operative Education placements at The City of Calgary and ATCO. Madison spoke at TEDxYouth@VictoriaPark on the importance of maintaining hope during the climate crisis. She is a member of the World Economic Forum as the Curator of Global Shapers Calgary. Most recently, Madison was listed on the 2021 Corporate Knights Top 30 Under 30 List of Sustainability Leaders.
#25 Why Net Zero Starts with the Grid with Rob Gramlich, Founder and President of Grid Strategies LLC
Rob Gramlich is President of Grid Strategies LLC, a consultancy focused on transmission and power market reforms for a low carbon grid. He is also Executive Director of Americans for a Clean Energy Grid and of Working for Advanced Transmission Technologies (WATT Coalition).
Rob oversaw transmission and power market policy for the American Wind Energy Association from 2005 through 2016 as Senior Vice President for Government and Public Affairs, Interim CEO, and Policy Director. He was Economic Advisor to FERC Chairman Pat Wood III from 2001 to 2005, Senior Economist at PJM Interconnection in 1999 and 2000. He has testified before the US Congress at the invitation of both parties, as well as the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and state regulatory commissions.
Rob has a Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree from UC Berkeley and a BA with Honors in Economics from Colby College.
#24 Sustainable Corporate Governance with Diana Birkett Rakow, SVP Alaska Airlines
Diana Birkett Rakow leads Alaska Airlines’s government affairs, ESG and sustainability, communications and community engagement with teams in Seattle, San Francisco, Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington D.C. Together, they are responsible for advancing Alaska’s business, supporting the company’s employees and local communities, and managing its environmental and social impact consistent. Diana led development of the company’s 2025 ESG goals and five-part path to reach net zero by 2040, and is responsible for Alaska’s venture arm – Alaska Star Ventures – which is focused on identifying and enabling technologies to accelerate that path. She also chairs the Board for the Alaska Airlines Foundation.
Diana joined Alaska Airlines after two decades in health care, public health, and government service. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and master’s degrees in public administration and public health from the University of Washington. She also serves on the Boards of Philanthropy Northwest, Pacific Science Center, Bay Area Council, and Seattle Metro Chamber.
#23 Hacking our way out of the climate crisis with Gavin McCormick, Executive Director of WattTime
Gavin McCormick is cofounder and Executive Director of WattTime, the not-for-profit tech startup that invented Automated Emissions Reduction (AER) technology. AER is software that causes IoT devices He is also cofounder and Electricity Co-Lead of Climate TRACE, an open collaboration between over 50 collaborating nonprofits, tech companies, and universities. Climate TRACE teams are applying computer vision and machine learning to satellite imagery and big data to monitor all major sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Gavin dropped out of a PhD program in environmental economics at UC Berkeley to found WattTime. In 2021, Climate TRACE was named a TIME Magazine invention of the year.
#22 Building a Net Zero Future Through Information with Nat Bullard, Chief Content Officer of BloombergNEF
BloombergNEF is a research group within Bloomberg LP. Their analytical services assess the tools, business models, and pathways for achieving a deep decarbonization of the global economy by mid-century. The group covers power, transportation, food and agriculture, the built environment, and the enabling technologies linking them together. C-suite executives, board members, and consultants are a small sample of the rapidly growing community of people who benefit from BloombergNEFs insights.
Nat is the Chief Content Officer of BloombergNEF, a research group within Bloomberg LP. He lives in Washington, DC and before that, Hong Kong, San Francisco, New York, Bologna, Cairo, Cambridge MA, and Decatur GA. He is one of the top thinkers around net zero topics such as the energy transition, electrification of transport, climate technology, and climate finance.
#21 Global Citizenship with Andrea Johnson, Executive Director of Green Empowerment
Green Empowerment works with rural communities and partners around the world to improve access to affordable and renewable energy, safe drinking water, sanitation systems, fuel efficient cook stoves and more. With our support, projects are designed, constructed and maintained by the communities that benefit from them to ensure long-term economic and environmental sustainability. Our projects help individuals and families pave their own pathway to prosperity.
Andrea combines her unique background and skillset to passionately advance Green Empowerment’s
mission to bring renewable energy and clean water to rural communities globally. The heart of Green
Empowerment’s model is authentic partnership. They collaborate with in-country organizations that know the local language and culture and have a long-term commitment to the region. Following their partners lead, they design systems that are built and maintained by the communities themselves and they focus heavily on training, providing technical expertise to community members and partner staff to build lasting capacity.
Andrea is a founding member of GlobalPDX and hosts the GlobalPDX Speaking Change podcast – sharing
the voices of Oregon’s global changemakers. Her experience in Oregon’s energy industry, Peace Corps
service, her beloved small farm project in Ecuador, Finca Mono Verde, international conservation and her commitment to social justice fuel her work. Andrea is a graduate of Duke University.
#20 Making Informed Consumers Purchases with Lizzie Horvitz, Founder and CEO of Finch
Finch aims to decode sustainability and empower consumers to make better purchasing decisions. Lizzie started Finch in March of 2020 to educate people on the ins and outs of sustainability by turning complex scientific facts into simple, actionable insights. Launching as a browser extension, Finch fuses expert scores on products’ environmental and social impacts with functional reviews from real people.
Lizzie has been passionate about sustainability since the age of 16 when she lived off the grid. It was there that, depending only on wind energy and rainwater, she saw the solution of climate change before fully understanding the problem. Before Finch, Lizzie worked in supply chain and sustainability at Unilever and then became Chief Operating Officer at Muuse, a startup that aims to mitigate single-use plastics in the to-go industry. She has a BA from Middlebury College and an MBA and Master of Environmental Management from Yale University.
#19 Eliminating Single-Use Plastics in Foodservice with Linda Pouliot, Co-founder and CEO of Dishcraft Robotics
Linda a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, artist and foodie who is passionate about robotics and hardware.
Similar to a linen service, Dishcraft delivers and picks up a full range of reusable foodware items and washes Dishcraft takes care of the dishes so kitchens can take care of people. Dishcraft is the only reusable foodware delivery solution that combines robotic automation, process innovation, and service to solve the environmental and labor challenges facing the foodservice industry today. Similar to a linen service, Dishcraft delivers and picks up a full range of reusable foodware items and washes them using advanced, patented technology that scrubs and inspects dishes multiple times, using cold, recirculated water. The result is a highly efficient, scalable system that conserves resources and delivers a consistent, unparalleled level of clean.
#18 Healthy and Energy Efficient Buildings with James Dean, Founder and CEO of Oxygen8
James is a clean-tech entrepreneur with a passion for innovation, product development, healthy buildings, and sustainability. He has a BaSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Waterloo, and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario. Equally committed to the environment in his personal life, James recently built West Vancouver’s first net-zero energy Passive House, which was named North America’s Most Innovative Home in 2020.
Oxygen8 is a clean energy technology company developing products that improve the health, comfort, and energy efficiency of buildings. The company has developed a Dedicated Outdoor Air System (DOAS) product line that provides healthy, fresh, and comfortable air to offices, schools and commercial buildings in an energy efficient way.
#17 Why We Need Carbon Removal (and How We Can Get There) with Nan Ransohoff, Head of Climate at Stripe
Nan Ransohoff currently leads Climate at Stripe, where her team is working to build a large-scale, voluntary market for carbon removal by pooling demand from Stripe’s 1M+ users, and then using those funds to help promising new carbon removal technologies accelerate down the cost curve. Prior to Stripe, Nan led product and business teams at Opower, Nest, UberPOOL, and Nuro. She received her BA from Harvard University and her MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
After studying climate policy and business in undergrad, Candice Ammori’s career has spanned finance, data science, VR, cloud computing, and running a local business. In 2017, she planned to devote her life to the ethics of AI and do a PhD in statistics. The 2018 IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC came out during her first semester of grad school, and she knew she wanted to commit the rest of her career to climate. After pitching a program that would bring together entrepreneurs, climate technologists, and experts across the climate landscape, from policy experts to investors, On Deck asked her to build out her vision of this climate fellowship. She has done so as the Director of the On Deck Climate Tech program, which brings together the larger climate tech ecosystem and helps talented people start impactful organizations.
#15 Zero-Carbon Wave Energy with Inna Braverman, Founder and CEO of Eco Wave Power
Inna Braverman founded Eco Wave Power at the age of 24.
Under her leadership, the company installed its first grid-connected wave energy array, secured a significant projects pipeline of 325.7MW, and became the first Israeli company to ever list on Nasdaq Stockholm. Recently the company was also listed on Nasdaq US.
Inna was recognized by Wired Magazine as one of the “Females Changing the World”, by Fast Company as one of the world’s “Most Creative People in Business for 2020” and is the winner of the United Nations “Global Climate Action Award.”
For Inna, clean electricity is a very personal journey, as she was born two weeks before the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster and suffered respiratory arrest due to the pollution in the region. Luckily, her mother, a nurse, came to her crib on time and gave her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, which saved her life.
#14 Measuring Carbon and Then Doing Something About It with Taylor Francis, Co-Founder of Watershed
Taylor is co-founder of Watershed, a software platform that helps businesses get to net zero carbon faster.
Taylor was an early organizer for The Climate Reality Project and has a background in public policy. With a keen interest in entrepreneurship, Taylor later joined Stripe where he worked on Atlas, a toolkit to help founders and businesses get started.
At Watershed Taylor spends his time working with forward-thinking companies to help them bake carbon impact into everyday business decisions. He lives in San Francisco where Watershed is based.
#13 Effective Climate Policy with Naomi Baum, COO of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE)
Naomi Baum is part of the ACEEE senior management team, addressing strategic and tactical issues across the organization. She is responsible for all aspects of the organization’s operations, including human resources, strategic finance and business management, internal communications and systems, and development. She joined ACEEE in 2012.
Naomi has more than 20 years of legislative and oversight experience and has worked on a wide range of policy issues. Before joining ACEEE, she was the executive director of the bipartisan Congressional Oversight Panel, which was established to oversee the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. She previously served as the staff director for the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Naomi earned a bachelor of arts in political science and French from Wellesley College and a master in public administration from the Kennedy School at Harvard University.
#12 Sustainability Podcasting with Peter Levin, Founder and Host of In Good Hands
Peter is the Founder of In Good Hands Media, a media venture focused on climate change-related storytelling. He hosts the climate podcast, In Good Hands, which spotlights the founders and companies taking on the climate problem set and how exactly they make money doing so.
In addition to In Good Hands, Peter is a Co-founder and Partner at Hunch Studios, a NYC-based entertainment studio that invents toys and games, including #1 best-selling game, INCOHEARENT, as well as new titles Wheel of Odds and First & Last.
#11 Nature Based Solutions with Diego Saez Gil, Founder and CEO of Pachama
Diego is the founder and CEO of Pachama, a Y Combinator-backed startup working to accelerate the flow of capital to carbon capturing projects starting with forests biomass projects. Pachama harnesses satellite images and machine learning to verify the carbon storage on forests and then connects directly project developers with carbon credits buyers in an open marketplace.
Prior to Pachama, Diego co-founded Bluesmart, an IoT company that raised $20M in venture capital in Silicon Valley and China and was acquired by industry leader TravelPro. Diego also co-founded WeHostels, a pioneering online travel marketplace which was acquired by StudentUniverse. Diego was awarded with the MIT 35 Innovators under 35 and was selected as High-impact Entrepreneur by Endeavor Global.
#10 Geothermal Heating and Cooling with Kathy Hannun, Co-Founder of Dandelion Energy
Kathy Hannun is the Co-Founder and President of Dandelion Energy, the largest home geothermal company in the United States. Before founding Dandelion, she was a Rapid Evaluator at X, Alphabet’s innovation lab, where she focused on identifying business opportunities to harness technology for large-scale climate impact. She started Dandelion as an X project and then launched it into an independent startup company in May 2017. Hannun graduated from Stanford with a BS in Civil Engineering and an MS in Computer Science.
Heirloom is removing 1B tons of CO2 from the atmosphere by leveraging natural processes to build the most cost-effective direct air capture system in the world.
Naturally occurring minerals – alongside forests, soils, and the ocean – are one of our planet’s most vital carbon sinks. Over geological timescales, carbon dioxide in the air and water chemically bind to these minerals and permanently turn to stone. Heirloom technology enhances this process, called carbon mineralization, to help minerals absorb CO2 from the ambient air in days, rather than years. The result is a high-quality, cost-effective, scalable solution to carbon dioxide removal.
#8 Sustainable Optimism with Grant Brown of Happy Eco News
Grant Brown is a clean technology entrepreneur, turned eco-activist, based in the Vancouver area of Canada. His side-hustle, Happy Eco News, provides positive news about the environment five times per day and is dedicated to helping people overcome the eco-anxiety that is so pervasive today. He hopes to inspire others to find optimism for the future and take action for themselves and the planet.
#7 Impact Snacks
In 2020, enter Impact Snacks, a 100% planet-based superfood bar with a carbon negative footprint and biodegradable wrapper. By connecting the dots between healthy snacking and the impact on the planet, we’ve created a sustainable snacking future without sacrificing convenience or taste.
The most exciting part? The best is yet to come. We’ve got some exciting new snacks launching this year- stick around to try them all! Keep snacking for change.
#6 Dan Watson, CEO and Co-Founder, SafetyNet
Dan is Co-Founder CEO of SafetyNet Technologies, a startup creating Precision Fishing technologies that use hardware and data to move closer to a world where humans and the ocean thrive together. SNTech is a profit-with-purpose company, as we believe sustainable change requires an underlying sustainable business model. We make a lot of fish puns, and help reliably feed 1/5 Earth’s human population.
Dan is Co-Founder CEO of SafetyNet Technologies, a startup creating Precision Fishing technologies that use hardware and data to move closer to a world where humans and the ocean thrive together. SNTech is a profit-with-purpose company, as we believe sustainable change requires an underlying sustainable business model. We make a lot of fish puns, and help reliably feed 1/5 Earth’s human population.
#5 Quintin Barnes, VP and Co-Founder, Allumia
Before co-founding Allumia, Quintin managed Climate Policy for the Washington Business Alliance. Prior to moving back to the Northwest, he lived in Argentina for four years where he was the Director of Latin America, and eventually also Europe, for Coastal Environmental Systems, Inc. Quintin completed undergrad at Boston College with a postgraduate degree from FLACSO Argentina, where he focused on emerging renewable energy markets and carbon pricing policy.
#4 Kelly Hering, CTO and Co-Founder, Charm Industrial
Charm Industrial is a venture-backed startup in San Francisco with a mission to reverse climate change and return the atmosphere to 280ppm CO2. First, they convert waste biomass into a carbon-containing fluid called bio-oil. Then, they inject the bio-oil into permanent, underground storage wells for carbon removal, or reform it to produce green hydrogen for fuels and industrial chemicals, or to produce syngas for green steel production.
#3 Val Miftakhov, Founder & CEO, ZeroAvia
ZeroAvia is a leader in zero-emission aviation, focused on hydrogen-electric aviation solutions to address a variety of markets, initially targeting 500 mile range in 10-20 seat aircraft used for commercial passenger transport, package delivery, agriculture, and more. Based in London and California, ZeroAvia has already secured experimental certificates for its two prototype aircraft across the US and the UK regulatory environments, passed significant flight test milestones, and is on track for commercial operations in 2023. The company’s expanding UK operations are partially supported by the grants from UK’s Aerospace Technology Institute and Innovate UK, and ZeroAvia is part of the UK Government’s Jet Zero Council.
#2 Mimi Tran Zambetti, Co-founder at Wren
Mimi is a co-founder at Wren, a Public Benefit Corporation dedicated to helping end the climate crisis. Wren is a website that lets you calculate your carbon footprint and easily fund tree planting and rainforest conservation to offset your carbon footprint. Mimi and her two co-founders launched Wren in 2019, and have since participated in YCombinator’s Summer 2019 batch.
Daniel White is a behavioral and environmental expert with extensive experience creating successful innovations to save large amounts of carbon, quickly. His company Signol, is founded upon peer-reviewed research with Virgin Atlantic, which in 8 months saved over $6m of fuel, 24,000 mt of CO2 and made pilots feel better, a unique triple bottom line. This work is quoted as the lowest ever measured cost to reduce carbon.
Dan’s first innovation ‘rappel insulation’, was his catalyst to becoming an entrepreneur, this created a new $50m industry for the UK. More recently, Dan has been at the forefront of applied behavioral science, to drive substantial, quick, and measurable changes in environmental outputs. This led to Signol, a ‘fitbit for work’, which is a unique scalable software to improve operational efficiency and motivation using rigorous behavioral economics and data analytics.
Before launching Signol, he managed the UK’s first Energy Natural Field Experiment and was previously CEO and Co-Founder of ‘The Behavioralist’, a successful USA/UK based research consultancy startup working with corporations and governments to integrate behavioral economics to solve internal challenges. Clients included Centrica, National Grid, Virgin Atlantic Airways, NATS Holdings, Castaic Lake Water Agency, and UK Local and National Government.