Net Hero Podcast – With Sumit Bose

SBTI pointless for most?

We’ve all seen the rise of Science Based Targets (SBTI) as the measure of how net zero a company is.
Lots of big companies prove their ESG credentials by signing up to the targets and measure their emissions reductions success against them. That’s all well and good if you have a department of trained specialists to track everything but what about the vast majorities of businesses?
More than 95% of businesses are SMEs and mid sized companies, who will always fail against the absolute standards of SBTI, because as they grow their net emissions often increase with turnover.
So is there a better yardstick for them? I spoke to Chris Hocknell from consultancy Eight Versa who believes carbon intensity metrics are a far better methodology for most business.
I tend to agree, listen now and please sign up to our newsletter and subscribe to the podcast.

Do or do not! Who is actually moving to net zero?

This week I speak to Dr Jan Rosenow, someone I respect very much, who has been looking for years at the state of sustainability and net zero.
He is Director at the Regulatory Assistance Project and has been studying the picture across Europe and wider, when it comes to progressing towards our 2050 target.
I put it to him there is a global divide on net zero and we explored what nations are doing to show their real commitment to cutting emissions. It's a great podcast as Jan takes me through the picture for the global south and then who's doing what in Europe, including us!
Please listen in and subscribe to our new look Net Hero newsletter with plenty of good stuff. Keep downloading and sharing.

NHP – Net Zero polarisation, will it scupper our future?

Are you net zero enough? And if not does that make you a heretic?
That’s the question that is the subject of this podcast where I speak to Marc Cortez, green energy businessman and author. Net zero has become a mainstream topic lately and there seems to be a narrative that you need to do it now and only one way, that is electrify everything using renewable power.
Anyone with any other views, however helpful in cutting emissions, is branded a fossil fuel/nuclear/hydrogen empathiser and worse. So why are we now in a world particularly in social media, where even if we have the same goal, there is such division in the net zero narrative?
Marc and I debate this and I am sure some reading this and listening in, will not agree with what’s said, however I think it’s a debate, a reasoned debate, we need to have, so please listen in!
Any thoughts get in touch nethero@futurenetzero.com

NHP - Water water everywhere lots to grow!

This week's podcast is one of the ones I love. An entrepreneur with a vision to do something radical, to help the planet and us.
Charlie Paton and his colleagues have been working for two decades on creating agricultural solutions for arid lands using seawater! Their seawater greenhouses, which can be made of canvas not just glass, use desalinated sea water to bring barren deserts into life.
The water condenses and using the desert winds evaporated over special panels, allow plants to grow using transpiration and humidity, instead of vast amounts of direct soil watering. It's brilliant stuff and deserves success.
Check the video below to see this in action and listen in to the podcast, as we discuss how water stress is the next big frontier in the net zero struggle.

NHP - Natural capital the best profit provider

Foresight Sustainable Forestry Company Plc has a mission, plant lots of trees.
 
Nothing new in that, however as its co-lead fund manager, Richard Kelly told me, timber afforestation - creating woods on disused land isn't just good for the planet but also for generating profits.
 
They have acquired 50 sites across the country, mainly low value land and are converting the sites to become timber forests which give great yields within a few years.
 
Their aim is to create a carbon market in time, based on natural capital - trees, that not only absorb carbon but provides a good renewable business model.
 
Listen now and let me know what you think of the idea.
 
Foresight Group LLP, a firm authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 198020) acts as the Alternative Investment Fund Manager to Foresight Sustainability Forestry.

NHP - Stick it in the ground!

Dirt. Earth. Soil. Salvation!
In this week's podcast I ask whether the answer to our emissions problems is literally under our feet!
Jim Mann thinks so. He's the boss of environmental carbon capture company UNDO, which is using the science of geology to use the soil to capture excess carbon. They are spreading a type of pulversied rock called Basalt, onto farmland it then reacts with the CO2 in the air to absorb the carbon and at the same time helps improve the health of the soil.
With some grant money and pilot projects already underway, could this be a natural and low cost solution to carbon capture? Listen in and find out more.
 

Wise-up with your water – with the multi award-winning experts at Water Plus

Join Jenny Collins, Key Account Manager and Susan Carstairs, TPI Business Development Manager, who were both part of the Big Zero Show 2023, as they outline key things to keep in mind when it comes to managing water better – and how thinking more about use and noting meter reads during a year, if the meter is safe to access, can help to lower energy use, lower running costs and reduce risks to supply interruptions on site pipes.
With sustainability more and more in the minds of businesses, large and small – looking at water use can also help cut carbon emissions too, reducing wider impacts for the planet.
So, listen to this podcast from the Future Net Zero official water partner and the UK’s largest water retailer, Water Plus – and see more information about easy steps to take with water, at your site, at: www.futurenetzero.com/category/water-plus-thought-leadership/
To partner with the experts at Water Plus, email hello@water-plus.co.uk and include “FNZ Podcast” in the subject heading.

NHP - Home, sweet net zero home!

Getting older often means downsizing, finding a retirement village or home. But what if it meant living a cleaner, greener, net zero life? Ian Holloway is co founder of Burnham Waters retirement village in Essex. It's a whole new concept for older life, with freehold eco homes complete with EV chargers and heat pumps, all set in plenty of countryside to offer a natural carbon sink. The homes are being built with one third of the emissions of standard built estates and with e-bikes, electric mini buses and AI powered street lighting, is it the cleanest future we can have? Listen to our chat and be inspired!  

NHP - Bigger and better Big Zero

Please listen in, as Sumit Bose looks back at and gives you a snapshot of what was discussed at The Big Zero Show 2023. Guests include Jon Butterworth from National Gas, Mayor of the Midlands Andy Street, green guru and founder of Good Energy, Juliet Davenport, Cordi O’Hara boss of National Grid  and many of the delegates who came to the show.

NHP - Total change in the air?

In the final podcast before our Big Zero Show Sumit Bose speaks with Mark Rose from TotalEnergies Gas and Power.
TotalEnergies is, like many of the gas majors, changing radically. It's setting net zero targets, divesting investments into renewable power and exploring green gas.