Inevitable

Building planner Chris Higgins discusses Vancouver's journey to achieving 100% renewable energy by 2050. Topics include the development of energy-efficient building codes, the process of mandating zero-emission heating systems in new buildings, and the use of incentives to incentivize a shift to renewables. The podcast also explores the similarities and differences between US and Canadian markets in shaping policy and incentives.

Tom Ferguson, founder and managing partner of Burnt Island Ventures, discusses the importance of water in the context of climate change and the need for infrastructure upgrades. He explores the different water tech categories and the role of software and hardware in water tech solutions. Tom also highlights the need for improved storytelling and lobbying efforts in the water industry, as well as the challenges and opportunities faced by entrepreneurs in the water tech industry.

Sedron Technologies aims to revolutionize waste processing by eliminating disposal costs, eradicating pathogens, and capturing valuable energy and water resources. They work in dairy and animal agriculture, wastewater treatment, and distillery waste. They developed a product that creates electricity and clean drinking water from human biosolids. Sedron collaborates with Generate Capital to build waste processing systems on dairy farms. The podcast explores the dairy industry's structure, environmental challenges, and the importance of incentivizing solutions. It also discusses the market-led theory of change for waste management and explores alternative resources from waste treatment plants and dairy cows.

Tisha Schuller, a former CEO of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, shares insights on navigating the energy transition in the oil and gas industry. She discusses the importance of a shared vision for the future, breaking down silos, understanding different mindsets, divestment debates, the future energy mix in the US, aligning lobbying dollars with long-term vision, and collaborative approaches to climate solutions.

Cameron Halliday, CEO and Co-founder of Mantel, discusses their point source carbon capture solution that can capture emissions from industrial equipment operating at high temperatures. They explore the controversy around point source capture and the goal of achieving net zero emissions. They also discuss the use of molten borate as a solution and the challenges of working with molten salts. Cameron shares his journey from academia to entrepreneurship and the urgency of taking action on carbon capture.

John Melby, CEO at Xpansiv, discusses environmental commodities, registries, commodity marketplaces, and financial incentives for promoting environmental outcomes. Xpansiv operates the largest carbon offset exchange, covering 40% of the voluntary carbon market volumes. They also provide infrastructure for trading various environmental commodities. The podcast covers topics such as offset standards, buyer preferences, standardized contracts, market efficiency, pricing offsets, institutional customer base, traders, voluntary vs compliance markets, double counting prevention, and startup trading strategies.

Guest Betony Jones, appointed by President Biden, discusses the US Department of Energy's strategy for creating a sustainable energy workforce. They talk about energy jobs, the focus on manufacturing and construction, the elements of high-quality jobs, and the importance of unions. They also cover talent shortage, frustrations of small businesses, discovering passion for climate change, the role of unions in the workplace, forming and empowering unions in the clean energy transition, and private sector investments in skilling for a sustainable workforce.

Dr. Carlos Nobre, a top climate scientist in Brazil and Nobel laureate, discusses the progress and challenges of decarbonization, the risks of global insecurity, Brazil's unique emissions profile with deforestation as the main contributor, and his roadmap to halt deforestation. He also shares his vision for Amazonia 4.0, focusing on policy and infrastructure development for sustainable growth.

Chris Tolles is the CEO and Co-founder of Yard Stick PBC, which stands for Public Benefits Corporation. Yard Stick is aiming to be the measurement backbone for soil carbon. Their handheld hardware enables onsite measurement of soil carbon in agricultural fields, and their software package provides data and analytics that help stakeholders in a soil carbon project to measure and track progress. As Chris tells it, the Yard Stick co-founders got to know one another in the MCJ member community during the pandemic lockdowns in 2020. MCJ is a proud multi-time investor in Yard Stick. Even so, we still learned a ton from Chris during this conversation. Chris highlighted that while MRV technologies are often associated with carbon credit sales, the voluntary carbon market is just one avenue for soil carbon project development. Another that is seeing strong early traction is insetting, where food and agriculture companies are beginning to measure an attempt to reduce the carbon intensity of their own agricultural supply chains. They aren't selling credits; rather, they're starting to make progress on directly reducing the emissions of how their food is grown, which is great news. Chris charts his background and experience and then explains what soil carbon is and why it matters, helping to put the efforts that Yard Stick is making into the context of the broader global carbon cycle. Episode recorded on Oct 13, 2023 (Published on Dec 7, 2023)In this episode, we cover: [02:38]: Chris's background and pivoting from consumer products to climate[08:43]: Origins of Yard Stick in the MCJ Community[11:59]: How Chris and co-founders came to focus on soil organic carbon[14:43]: Cristine Morgan's research background as Yard Stick CSO[18:50]: Overview of soil organic carbon and key drivers of soil carbon stock losses[27:46]: Issues with how claims have been measured historically[33:39]: Why remote sensing technology is insufficient[35:29]: Yard Stick's technology and approach[42:50]: The company's business model[46:00]: Addressing criticism of soil carbon and other nature-based solutions[51:49]: Soil carbon support in Inflation Reduction Act and future policy[56:00]: Yard Stick's $18 million grant from the USDA[58:19]: Their recent $12M Series A round led by Toyota Ventures[01:00:00]: Reckoning with racial injustice and land theft in agriculture[01:02:04]: Encouraging climate companies to address complex social issuesResources mentioned:Demo Carbon Stock Report“Yard Stick lands 10.6M Series A to measure soil carbon” (TechCrunch) Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.Connect with MCJ:Cody Simms on LinkedInVisit mcj.vcSubscribe to the MCJ Newsletter*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Shashank Sane, EVP for Transmission at Invenergy, discusses the importance of transmission in the energy transition and the challenges and opportunities it poses. They explore the need for updated infrastructure to connect renewable energy plants and the resiliency of the US power grid. The shift to distributed power production and the regulation of transmission projects are also discussed, along with the value of an interconnected grid and the need for federal policy to drive it.