Net Hero Podcast – With Sumit Bose

Big Zero Briefing - Food for thought...literally

The food we eat. You are what you eat. Eat well be well.
So many phrases revolve around our fundamental need to shove something in our mouths but should there be a new phrase?
Eat for the planet?
In our Pathway to Net Zero sessions at the Big Zero Show, we will be exploring exactly that concept. I spoke to Tom Maidment from Hilton Foods, who will be speaking about the footprint of food used by your business and why it's often ignored by many of us, when looking at our emissions footprint.
However, it can not only be sigificant but also something you can affect directly.
Want to know more, listen in and come along on July 2nd.

Big Zero Briefing - Grabbing carbon the natural way

In this week's briefing I chatted to Simon Manley from UNDO, who will be taking us on a journey through carbon removals when he speaks at the Big Zero Show in July.
If you've not heard of carbon removal, it's a bit similar to carbon capture but often involves passive natural resources to grab the carbon out of the air, in the case of UNDO they are using rocks and natural weathering to do the job.
Check out this quick intro into the topic and why it can be a tool used by businesses of all sizes today, to help them on their pathway to net zero.
Catch Simon in person on day One of the show.
 
 

Big Zero Briefing - Finance

This week we start the first in our series of Big Zero Briefings, where I chat with one of the speakers from the Big Zero Show.
In this episode I chat to leading economist Vicky Pryce as she reveals how financing and your net zero credentials are increasingly interconnected. Vicky will be guiding you through what you can do to find funding for your net zero projects, how policies will affect you and why banks may soon give you a carbon based credit rating!
Don't miss her talk at the show, get your free ticket now.
 

Tootbus the green tourist treat!

Can tourism ever be green?
It's one of those double edged swords, tourism brings wealth and changes lives often in some of the poorest parts of the world, yet the effect of tourists can be damaging to the environment.
London is a world tourism hub with more than 2.5 million international visitors last year, let alone the thousands of Brits who visit the Capital from around the UK. One of the must do things is to jump on a sightseeing bus and cruise the streets and one company, Tootbus, aims to make that tourist experience as low carbon as possible.
I joined Gavin Brooking, the MD of Tootbus on a tour of the city aboard an EV bus and explored his desire to retrofit old buses and make them all low emission, watch and listen and don't forget to subscribe.
Oh and you can see the Tootbus in action at the Big Zero Show grab your free ticket now!
 

A wonderfuel way to clean up things...

Now it's great when you the audience get in touch to tell your net hero story.
That's exactly what Robert Johnson, of Arigna Fuels did and what a tale he has to tell. It's all about solid fuels especially for the rural market in Ireland, where Arigna is based.
Being very open and honest, he explained how they were still selling coal but trying to clean up their solid fuel offering, by moving into something called biochar - a biomass based brickquette which burns almost as well.
In rural Ireland, they have thousands of customers using solid fuels who have no other option and cannot afford to replace their burners with solar panels or heat pumps. But Robert is leading work to try and offer a cleaner fuel with a much lower carbon footprint and fewer emissions.
So is this a waste of energy and resources as we all know we shouldn't be burning stuff? Or is it the right approach to help those who cannot afford to change infrastructure, clean up their emissions?
I admire what they are doing and think it's based on pragmatism and reality, what's your view? Listen in, comment and follow us on social media. And like Robert if you want to feature on the podcast drop me a line.
 

Sky high farming ?

Vertical farming, or farms in the sky, sounds well sexy doesn’t it, conjuring up images of sci-fi clean rooms growing everything from ginger to grapes.
The truth is a little bit less sci-fi but maybe more net zero. Vertical farming allows, in general, salad crops (lettuce, rocket, kale etc), to be grown without soil, in vertical trays up to 6m in height.
As the plants are in a controlled environment there is no need for fertilisers or pesticides and they can be grown all year round.
In this episode I spoke to Jack Farmer from LettUs Grow, who have been using aeroponic (soil free) warehouses to grow crops with on average a 70% increase in yield.
He explained how vertical farming could help developed nations reduce emissions from agriculture and if some of this science can be used in hotter more arid environments.
Listen in an subscribe and don’t forget to share on social media.

Cooking without the chops!

Now time for that great debate... is meat compatible with a net zero future?
Globally we consume more meat now than at anytime in human history. In the UK alone a billion chickens a year make it onto our plates in some form. Add to that about a million pigs slaughtered monthly and you can see that there is a lot of appetite out there!
In terms of net zero, we are told we need to reduce meat consumption due to the amount of emissions associated with the sector, from cow burps, pig poop, water, land use, let alone slaughtering and packaging.
Then of course there is the moral argument. Suffering and welfare and of course the environmental effects, have seen vegetarian and vegan options become commonplace on menus.
But is there something that could satisfy our desire for meat but cause less emissions and suffering? That's the topic I discuss with Che Connon, an academic and managing director of BSF Enterprise. They have created lab grown pork from cells, with the same taste and texture and properties of real meat.
They are also experimenting on tissue engineering to create a lab grown leather and other bio products, with the aim of reducing the emissions and suffering of animals.
I really enjoyed this chat, let me know what you think and do subscribe and share the podcast.
 

How green is green energy?

James Turner joins Future Net Zero on their latest PODCAST to discuss our renewable options, how green is green energy and the importance of traceability.

Bring back the mammoth for a net zero future?!

Ok it had to happen. For dinosaurs, substitute the Dodo and the Mammoth. For a theme park, substitute the more altruistic goal of combatting climate change.
Yep, that’s right. A company called Colossal Biosciences from America is trying to bring back extinct species in a bid to rebalance the natural carbon cycle as well as fight the extinction of endangered species.
Their plan is to create the first Woolly Mammoth since the Ice Age, as co-founder Ben Lamm explained, as he believes the giant elephants reintroduced to the arctic could help stablise the climate.
Sounds like something right out of a sci-fi novel or movie but they are doing the science and believe the first mammoth calf could be born within the next two years.
So is this a vanity science project or real conservation work to help combat our effects on the environment. Listen in and make up your mind, don't forget to subscribe!

Will your net zero home be made of mushrooms?

The humble shroom. You can have it on your plate and it’s a delicacy. You can see it growing on your walls and it’s a pest. You can see it on trees and it’s a natural composter.
 
But could fungi be the thing your home of the future is made from?
 
They have amazing properties and can be made into materials like insulation board or blocks and new research is showing they can literally ‘eat’ hard to recycle plastics or other toxic materials.
 
In fact, their abilities are unknown but Ehab Sayed, founder of a company called BIOHM, thinks they are our greatest natural allies in the fight against climate change.
 
Listen to our chat, where Ehab outlines the possible uses of fungi, from making sustainable leather to cleaning up our oceans, let alone changing the face of construction.
 
Let me know your thoughts and do subscribe to the podcast and our net hero newsletter.