“Had a great chat with Richard Delevan about the global energy transition, critical minerals and my book, THE WAR BELOW. Have a listen, subscribe to this great podcast,” - Ernest Scheyder, Reuters senior correspondent and bestselling author
“there’s been a murder” - Dr. Matt Winning
“I rather like Richard’s climate blog” - Will Wells
“Good Lord why did you let this guy moderate that panel? Was Akshat unavailable?” - Chatham House attendee
“…romp of a read on Climate Tech…well worth subscribing to” - Peter Bellini
“delightfully unhinged” - Ryan Chilcote
“meandering word soup” - Anonymous*
Wicked Problems aims to be your business intelligence source for Climate Tech: the intersection of technology, capital, and politics that will determine what the future looks like, whether it’s one you’d want to live in, and how to be on the right side of transition risk.
It’s a great way to keep up on how climate tech innovators — in renewables, energy storage, electrification, carbon dioxide removal, climate finance, new materials, transport, biodiversity, AI, and more — are telling their stories, getting funded, dealing with a chaotic policy environment, and coping with the slings and arrows of leading the most important technology revolution of our lifetimes.
We come in two forms - our newsletter and our show, Wicked Problems - Climate Tech Conversations (now coming up to its 50th episode!) As a subscriber you’ll get ad-free editions and access to all previous episodes and our extended show notes.
Richard Delevan is a gamekeeper-turned-poacher-turned-gamekeeper whose unusual career on three continents has taken him from journalism to consultancy and startups and back again. These days he’s normally trapped in the UK but with a global perspective and an insider’s sense of the real story. He’s been shaping narratives about Climate Tech since before it was A Thing.
Richard was one of the first national newspaper business editors to initiate dedicated coverage of climate tech, a startup executive who navigated a tricky ecosystem to help his firm find a niche, and a communications strategist.
Reach him at richard.delevan@wickedproblems.uk.
He started Wicked Problems because executives and communicators working in energy and climate tech weren’t getting analysis and insights from a no-BS, insider, pro-climate tech POV. Richard continues to consult and generally avoids commenting on a client in Wicked Problems — but this isn’t his first rodeo: he doesn’t write about a client or any organisation in which he has a financial interest without full disclosure.
Why Subscribe?
Keep Score: Why what just happened matters. Who’s up, who’s down. Where things go from here.
Story > Data: Humans are wired for stories. Weirdly, not everyone understands this. We help you understand the narratives that are influencing the people you need to persuade.
No-BS: Yeah yeah, we’ve worked in comms. What we found is that people really like it when you don’t bullshit them, do your homework, and then give your honest take. Inventing the future is complicated enough without having to wade through treacle and invoice-justifying nonsense.
Blah, blah, blah: Life is too short for boring content. If you want pablum and strings of bromides there’s always ChatGPT. The reason you care about Climate Tech is because climate is the ultimate wicked problem, and comes with a deadline.
We hope you think giving clear-eyed perspectives on that is worth supporting.
*(but you know who you are).
