Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate Change

This episode was originally broadcast in February 2024 Bryony returns with Bonny Simi, President of Operations at Joby Aviation, where she's working on bringing to market a new civilian electric VTOL (eVTOL) aircraft. Prior to joining the team at Joby, Bonny held several operational and strategic roles at JetBlue Most notably, she founded and led JetBlue Technology Ventures, investing in improving the travel, hospitality, and transportation industries. As a pilot, Bonny has commanded Boeing, Airbus and Embraer aircraft at both United Airlines and JetBlue Airways. She is also an Emmy-nominated sports reporter and a 3-time Olympian in the sport of Luge.  She holds a BA in Communications, a MS in Management and a MS in Engineering, all from Stanford University, as well as a MS in Human Resources from Regis University.  Links and more: Watch the full video of this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldy_NC-Doi4 First Piloted eVTOL Air Taxi Flight Between Two Public Airports: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDNo3VYiOcs Joby's website: https://www.jobyaviation.com  Read about Joby's partnership with the US DoD here: https://www.jobyaviation.com/news/joby-delivers-first-evtol-edwards/  Hear Bonny talk more about her lessons from competing in luge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj9Ey6fdnT0  Listen to the theme song from Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (the title inspiration for this episode!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPgS26ZhqZs

This episode was originally broadcast in April 2022 Alex Honnold is one of the world’s best rock climbers, famous for his free solo ascents of big walls, including his 2017 first free solo of El Capitan in Yosemite. Alex began studies in engineering at the University of California-Berkeley but dropped out to pursue his passion for climbing, living out of his van. He first attracted attention within the climbing community in 2008 when he became the first climber to free solo Half Dome in Yosemite. In 2012 he established the speed record for the Yosemite Triple Crown, climbing three big walls in under 19 hours. With Hans Florine, Alex climbed the popular Nose of El Capitan, a nearly 3,000-foot granite wall, in a record time of two hours 23 minutes and 51 seconds – a feat National Geographic described as perhaps " the greatest feat of pure rock climbing in the history of the sport." Alex has been profiled by 60 minutes and the New York Times, appeared on the cover of National Geographic and starred in numerous adventure films. In 2015, together with professional climbing writer David Roberts, he authored Alone on the Wall, the story of seven of his greatest climbing feats up to that year. In 2012 Alex founded the Honnold Foundation to provide solar power to some of the disadvantaged communities he was coming across in his climbing career. In 2021 the Foundation supported 44 communities across 17 countries with its brand of community-centered innovation catalysed by solar energy. Links and more: Watch the video of this episode: https://youtu.be/MwmQf0mhHkE Honnold Foundation: https://www.honnoldfoundation.org/ Free Solo Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urRVZ4SW7WU Free Solo website: https://films.nationalgeographic.com/free-solo The Ascent of Alex Honnold – CBS special report with Lara Logan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1jwwagtaQ Eduro Corner: The most exposed move of Alex’s Free Solo climb of El Capitan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blfR33DUqsg Project Bo: https://www.projectbo.org/ Project Bo, lessons learned: https://www.liebreich.com/project-bo-saving-lives-in-sierra-leone-with-solar-batteries-and-twitter/

What if the energy transition isn't a race, but a steady march toward the end of fossil fuel usage? Do we need to move more like the tortoise, and less like the hare? And in a world of competing narratives, who gets to define "pragmatism"? In this season finale of Cleaning Up, hosts Michael Liebreich and Bryony Worthington unpack these questions as they review Season 15's most compelling conversations about energy transformation, and celebrate five years of Cleaning Up.  They dissect the current political landscape, particularly the challenges facing clean energy in the United States, and Bryony grills Michael on his recent Bloomberg essay on the "Pragmatic Climate Reset." This is the final episode of Season 15 of Cleaning Up, join us in September for the start of Season 16. Leadership Circle:  Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its founding members: Actis, Alcazar Energy, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP of Portugal, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit https://www.cleaningup.live. Links and more: Watch all the episodes in Season 15 of Cleaning Up: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe8ZTD7dMaaB2B4gQpVBd34bjcF1w0BpP&feature=shared See our archive of over 200 episodes at https://www.cleaningup.live/

In February, veteran fossil industry advisor Dan Yergin and two co-authors published a piece called The Troubled Transition. In it they dismiss the idea that there is or can ever be an energy transition, anchored on the fact that fossil fuels contributed 85% to so-called primary energy in 1990 and still contribute 80% today.  Needless to say, their argument has been widely amplified by the oil and gas industry. They conclude with a demand for a new approach – which they call a “pragmatic path”.  Pragmatism is needed, but not the pragmatism of defeat. Not the ‘pragmatism’ of believing fossil fuels hold the key to further human progress. Not the ‘pragmatism’ of addressing climate change only if it suits the interests of fossil-fuel companies. What is needed is the pragmatism of robust but affordable climate action.  This week on Cleaning Up, Michael Liebreich debunks narratives that trumpet the alleged failure of climate action, and explains why a pragmatic climate reset is needed. Leadership Circle:  Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its founding members: Actis, Alcazar Energy, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP of Portugal, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit https://www.cleaningup.live.  Links and more:  Read the full article on BNEF: https://about.bnef.com/insights/clean-energy/liebreich-the-pragmatic-climate-reset-part-i/ Tony Blair Institute Climate Reset Report: https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/the-climate-paradox-why-we-need-to-reset-action-on-climate-change Michael Cembalest 15th annual Eye On The Market: https://am.jpmorgan.com/content/dam/jpm-am-aem/global/en/insights/eye-on-the-market/heliocentrism-amv.pdf Dan Yergin et al, The Troubled Transition: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/troubled-energy-transition-yergin-orszag-arya Generative AI – The Power and the Glory: https://about.bnef.com/insights/clean-energy/liebreich-generative-ai-the-power-and-the-glory/ Five Superheroes of the Transition: https://about.bnef.com/insights/clean-energy/liebreich-net-zero-will-be-harder-than-you-think-and-easier-part-ii-easier/ Tony Blair on Cleaning Up: https://youtu.be/Ko90KbFKBnI Dan Yergin on Cleaning Up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QIh4U3Vgjc