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Top 10 Climate, Energy & CleanTech Podcasts of 2026

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Cleaning Up1 hr 5 min

The Scandal at The Heart of The Energy Transition | Ep275: Jan Rosenow

Around two-thirds of the energy we put into today’s energy system ends up as rejected heat. So are we measuring the energy transition all wrong? Professor Jan Rosenow joins Michael Liebreich to unpack the “primary energy fallacy”: why focusing on the energy going into the system can obscure the useful energy we actually get out. They explore why electrification can dramatically reduce energy demand, and what genuine systems thinking means for efficiency, waste heat and infrastructure. They also examine hydrogen versus electrification, including Jan’s review of more than 60 independent studies on hydrogen for heating, why hydrogen continues to attract support despite its disadvantages in many end uses, and how incumbent industries resist technological change. Key topics discussed: The primary energy fallacy Why useful energy matters The hidden inefficiency of fossil fuels Electrification and shrinking energy demand Rethinking energy efficiency through systems thinking Making better use of waste heat Why energy statistics can misrepresent the transition Hydrogen vs electrification for heating Why incumbent technologies resist change Leadership Circle Cleaning Up is proud to be supported by its Leadership Circle. The members are Actis, Alcazar Energy, Arup, Climate Imperative Foundation, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Cygnum Capital, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP, Eurelectric, KKR, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, Schneider Electric, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please IIASA: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 07:34 Primary Energy Fallacy 15:14 Fossil Fuel Inefficiency 24:44 Rethinking Energy Efficiency 27:05 Using Waste Heat 35:00 Misleading Energy Statistics 43:12 Hydrogen vs Electrification 49:48 Resisting Technological Change 58:00 Hydrogen Europe 01:03:14 Outro

Climate Cowboys1 hr 2 min

#293 Why the "Green Premium" Is Dead (And What’s Actually Winning Right Now) | Chad Rickaby (ClimateDoor)

The "climate" label might be under pushback, but the demand for energy, critical minerals, and resource security is skyrocketing. In this episode, Chad Rickaby from ClimateDoor breaks down how successful climate tech companies are reframing their value proposition around national security, capital efficiency, and supply chain resilience to close multi-million dollar deals. Chad unpacks ClimateDoor’s acquisition of Standard Demand Partners, why AI investors are pivoting to energy, and how to build custom "company brains" to transform B2B sales—ditching cold email spam in favor of high-value human relationships. 🎧 Highlights Climate as National Security: Why baseload power, data center energy needs, and critical minerals are driving the next wave of VC. The "Show Me" Environment: What investors and enterprise buyers demand today (LOIs, traction, and unit economics over eco-narratives). AI-Powered Sales: How to use custom LLM workflows to research markets and uncover "warm paths" without automated email spam. Dual-Use & Sovereign Capital: Leveraging capital at the intersection of defense, energy security, and frontier tech. ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 — Winning in a market where the "climate" label is under attack 04:00 — ClimateDoor's Standard Demand Partners acquisition 09:19 — The Canadian advantage: Government funding & raw resources 12:52 — The shift from "tell me" to "show me" for VC investors 18:12 — Resource security as the new national security 25:16 — European supply chain vulnerabilities & waste-to-value 29:03 — The winning formula: Clear value props & capital efficiency 37:49 — Dual-use defense capital & Arctic sovereignty 45:54 — AI in B2B sales: Replacing email spam with a "Company Brain" 58:33 — Why Canadian founders lead in pragmatic innovation 🔗 Links & Sponsors Guest: Chad Rickaby | ClimateDoor Host & Show: Silas | Climate Cowboys Lehmann’s Terms: Executive media and pitch training for high-stakes investor moments. Save 50% on recruiter fees at Roosevelt Talent . Disclaimer: For informational purposes only. Not investment advice. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes,

The Energy Gang31 min

Power under pressure: Can energy security, affordability and net zero still move together? | From Climate Week NYC

A fresh shock to global energy markets has pushed an old question back to the center of the climate debate: When supplies tighten and prices rise, do governments double down on the transition, or reach for the fastest fossil fix? From the Strait of Hormuz to rising demand for cooling, the pressure is no longer just about fuel availability. It is about whether power systems can stay secure and affordable while demand keeps climbing and decarbonisation deadlines get closer. In this special Climate Week NYC episode, host Ed Crooks is joined by Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, Kayte O’Neill, chief executive of the UK’s National Energy System Operator (NESO), and David Calabrese, Executive Vice President at Daikin US Corporation. Together, they test whether efficiency, electrification and long-term system planning can offer a credible response to a crisis that is global, political and increasingly shaped by both AI and air-conditioning demand. Damilola argues that the discussion cannot be reduced to a rich-world debate about prices and reliability. Nearly 600 million people still lack access to electricity, and 2.4 billion do not have access to clean cooking. In that context, the real risk is not simply a temporary return to fossil fuels in advanced economies, but a much larger lock-in of diesel and petrol generation across emerging markets. Her case is that energy access and energy transition have to move together, supported by integrated national plans, targeted finance and more support for clean distributed systems such as solar, storage and inverters. Kayte makes the case that decarbonisation and system reliability are not competing goals if the grid is planned properly. She points to the UK’s progress in moving away from coal, its high share of renewable generation, and the growing importance of demand flexibility as new loads arrive. With data centres and cooling demand reshaping power curves, the question is not only how much new generation gets built, but how intelligently demand can respond. David brings that argument down to the appliance level, arguing that heat pumps, inverter compressors and more efficient cooling systems can cut energy use while also helping the grid by acting as flexible load rather than blunt spikes in demand. What ties the discussion together is a shared insistence that the short term cannot be separated from the long term. Crisis management that relies only on more supply risks entrenching the very vulnerabilities the energy transition is supposed to solve. But a clean system will not build itself: it needs policy support, workforce training, flexibility, and capital that reaches the places where future demand growth will be greatest. That is the real stakes question for policymakers now, not whether to choose between security, affordability and net zero, but whether they can still design systems that deliver all three. This episode of Energy Gang is brought to you by ENGIE, the smarter energy supplier. ENGIE doesn't just provide the power to run your business — they supply the energy to move it forward, with reliable, flexible solutions built for what's next.

Volts1 hr 6 min

Do small residential batteries make sense?

If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, A company called Pila is selling small (1.6 kWh) batteries that simply plug into a normal electrical socket. They can serve as backup for a refrigerator or other appliance in the event of a blackout, but they can also “mesh” with one another to form a network, pair with rooftop solar, or participate in VPP programs. CEO Cole Ashman explains the value proposition. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 02:26 Lessons from Powerwall and Span 05:33 What Pila is and how it works 07:14 How long a fridge runs on one battery 09:28 Fire risk, LFP chemistry, and New York City 16:02 Why the price went up, and cost per kilowatt hour 19:55 Who is actually buying Pila 23:00 Financing models and free batteries 27:04 Do the bill savings add up? 32:05 Why utilities want small batteries in VPPs 36:58 Pilots with Holy Cross Energy and Brooklyn SolarWorks 41:09 Solar pairing and the Pila mesh network 47:14 Camping batteries and built-in storage 54:19 Utilities and visibility at the grid edge 55:58 Bidirectional outlets and the next five years 1:00:10 Clean energy as invisible infrastructure

Open Circuit52 min

Trump’s coal crusade is failing

The biggest story in Washington is President Trump's rejection of AI safety regulation. But the White House is waging an equally consequential regulatory battle against carbon regulations. This month, the EPA finally rolled back the Biden-era carbon rule for power plants, arguing that the agency does not have the authority to regulate heat-trapping gases. It's setting the stage to block any future administration from writing new rules. At the same time, the Trump Administration is forcing old coal plants to stay open under a Depression era wartime statute. But a federal court told the Energy Department’s efforts to keep a Michigan coal plant open was heavy handed and legally unfounded. This week, we’ll revisit Trump’s efforts to save the coal industry. Will any of these efforts change the trajectory of the power sector? Or are they just symbolic? Then, we’ll look at some new polling from Heatmap and Embold Research on what messaging moves Americans on climate and clean energy. Turns out, almost no one likes the word “crisis.” Credits: Co-hosted by Stephen Lacey, Jigar Shah, and Caroline Golin. Produced and edited by Stephen Lacey, Sean Marquand, and Anne Bailey. Join Latitude Media on October 14-15 in Austin for Flex Summit 2026 , a two-day, in-person conference on distributed capacity, grid-edge flexibility, and the AI demand economy. Our podcast listeners get a 10% discount on this year’s conference using the code PODS10 . Register today here ! Open Circuit is brought to you by FischTank PR, an award-winning climate and energy tech, renewables, and sustainability-focused PR firm dedicated to elevating the work of both early-stage and established companies. Open Circuit is brought to you by New Mexico Women Lead, an organization dedicated to empowering women, elevating communities, and leading New Mexico forward. Explore how New Mexico is advancing energy production, research, and innovation at the state’s official energy data platform,.

Columbia Energy Exchange50 min

Erica Downs and Michal Meidan on China's Oil Shock That Wasn't

This week, Chinese President Xi Jinping travels to Washington for a state visit with President Trump, their second face-to-face meeting this year. Energy is likely to be high on the agenda, particularly the fallout from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. One of the more surprising developments since Iran largely closed off the Strait of Hormuz has been how little damage it's done to China's economy. Analysts widely expected the disruption—given China's heavy reliance on Gulf crude—to hit hard. The data tells a different story. What happened? How much of this outcome is owed to the country's careful planning, diverse energy sourcing, or demand reduction? And what does all of this say about the ways energy security is shifting—and perhaps being redefined—in China? Today on the show, Bill Loveless speaks with Erica Downs and Michal Meidan about how China has responded to the biggest oil shock in history, and what it reveals about the future of energy security. Erica Downs is a senior research scholar at CGEP, where she focuses on Chinese energy markets and geopolitics. Michal Meidan leads China Energy Research at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Read their post, How China Is Managing Lower Oil Imports , on the Center on Global Energy Policy's blog, Energy Explained. Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Dara Diamond, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.

Redefining Energy30 min

247. AI powered EMS behind the meter - Sep26

In our series: How AI is revolutionising Energy, Laurent and Gerard dive deep into the intricate corner of Energy Management system for large industrial clusters. You would believe that legacy providers such as Siemens, Schneider Electric or Hitachi would provide such solutions. They are not. Indeed, they provide legacy Scada systems which are hardware linked and bottom up. There is no glue to optimise them as a group and deliver access to Energy markets. Two young Belgian engineers have decided to address this blind spot and come up with a new generation of software: AI powered EMS. That is what Companion Energy has achieved. We bring in its CEO Thomas Vyncke. Most of the European energy conversation still focuses on front-of-the-meter flexibility: batteries, renewables and other assets participating in wholesale and balancing markets. Thomas’ thesis is that an equally important — and much less developed — opportunity sits behind the meter, inside large industrial and commercial companies. The problem is complexity. Every enterprise site is different: different tariffs, contracts, generation assets, batteries, EV fleets, boilers, industrial processes, grid constraints and operating requirements. The opportunity therefore isn't simply to buy cheaper electricity or optimise one battery. It is to continuously optimise the entire energy system of the site against its operational and financial reality. That is what Vyncke and co-founder Jonas Verstraeten are building with Companion, founded in 2022. The platform provides transparency on energy costs and automates optimisation across complex behind-the-meter environments. The company says it currently optimises more than €500m of energy spend and 350+ MW of assets across Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Romania, working with companies including Proximus, TotalEnergies and Port of Antwerp-Bruges. It recently raised a €7.8m seed round to support international expansion. And it is just the beginning… With the energy industry's largest proprietary dataset, world-class experts and decision-grade models, all powered by Synoptic AI, Wood Mackenzie delivers Intelligence Connected across the energy and natural resources landscape.

Catalyst with Shayle Kann23 min

AMA: Fuel cells, geopolitics, and the solar growth curve

As we head into the final quarter of this pivotal and dramatic year for the energy sector, Catalyst host Shayle Kann takes stock of 2026 so far – and considers what’s to come – in this AMA-style episode. He discusses the year’s biggest stories, the trends that have surprised him the most, and his hot takes on the current energy landscape. Shayle dives into topics including: - The data center backlash and why it has become more bipartisan than he expected - The impacts of the war in Iran on global EV adoption, and how the rollback of U.S. tax credits has countered that momentum - Why fuel cell maker Bloom Energy is flourishing amidst the rush for behind-the-meter generation - Tariff innovations: How big data centers could subsidize retail electricity rates in small utility territories - Why Shayle thinks predictions of a flattening U.S. solar market are underestimating massive growth potential - Hot take: why Shayle thinks massive grid capacity is about to hit the system - Catalyst : What comes after the data center backlash? - Catalyst : Can AI revolutionize grid operations? - Catalyst : Why C&I storage is finally taking off - Catalyst : Enter the electric supercycle - Catalyst : Inside the global fertilizer crunch Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. Peak season puts every grid to the test — and the utilities that pass are the ones that built flexible capacity before they needed it. EnergyHub works with more than 170 utilities to coordinate 2.5 million devices and 3.4 gigawatts of dispatchable flexibility through a single platform designed to perform when it counts most. Bloom Energy fuel cells deliver affordable, ultra-reliable onsite power for hospitals, utilities, and data centers – at speed and at scale. ENGIE doesn't just provide the power to run your business — they supply the energy to move it forward, with reliable, flexible solutions built for what's next.

Zero37 min

Inside China’s $7 trillion green finance market

When it comes to green tech, China is a list of superlatives. It produces more solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and batteries than anywhere else in the world. But is finance the real climate hero? This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi is joined by Ma Jun, chairman of the Hong Kong Green Finance Association and former chief economist of China’s central bank. They discuss how the country became a green-finance superpower and how other nations can speed up their own transitions. Explore further: The Hong Kong Green Finance Association website China’s $6.8 Trillion Green Finance Boom Seen Advancing Further - Bloomberg Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green . Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Sommer Saadi and Alyssa McDonald. Thoughts or suggestions? For more coverage of climate change and solutions,

Climate Rising40 min

Amazon’s Climate Pledge Friendly Program: Can Sustainability Labels Change How Consumers Shop?

How can companies make sustainability information useful to consumers at the moment they make a purchase? Justine Mahler and Cameron Westfall of Amazon join Climate Rising to discuss Climate Pledge Friendly, Amazon’s sustainable shopping program. They explain how Amazon uses third-party certifications to identify products with sustainability attributes, how the company evaluates which certifications qualify, and how it translates complex standards into information consumers can quickly understand. The conversation also explores what Amazon has learned about consumer behavior since launching the program in 2020. Cameron shares research showing a sales lift for products after joining Climate Pledge Friendly, while Justine explains why the environmental impacts that matter most differ across product categories. They also discuss how customer feedback, experimentation, and evolving sustainability science continue to shape the program.