Welcome back to Wicked Problems. The climate tech newsletter and podcast that, based on last week's byelection results in the UK, looks more likely than a lot of conservative MPs to be around this time next year.
It’s a bonus edition - a companion to our conversation with CEO Jim Mann from UNDO in episode 2.
Until the rise of tech-based carbon removal, carbon offsets have been the foundation of voluntary carbon markets, but have withered under scrutiny from John Oliver to the Guardian. Can that market be fixed? Or will it always be hot air?
Tech policy brains at the UK's Startup Coalition and finance brawn of the City of London launched the Carbon Markets Innovation Forum, bringing together 12 climatetech startups to help future governments see how technology could bring more integrity and transparency. Including UNDO.
Catherine McGuinness, Councillor and former Carbon Markets Policy Chair at City of London Corporation, described the effort in CityAM Friday: https://www.cityam.com/more-than-just-hot-air-the-uk-should-be-the-home-of-a-carbon-market-that-actually-works/
Richard Delevan spoke with two of the key players organising the effort:
Valerio Magliulo, CEO of carbon procurement and intelligence platform Abatable
Charlie Mercer, deputy policy director of Startup Coalition
Catalysts:
The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells (Charlie)
The Case for Nature: Pioneering Solutions for the Other Planetary Crisis by Siddarth Shrikanth (Valerio)
Climate Capitalism by Akshat Rathi
“Sustainability geek” Claire Brady joins us in her second episode as co-host! Follow her on LinkedIn and subscribe!
ICYMI - catch up on the companion conversation in our previous episode:
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Can Carbon Markets Be More than Hot Air? (BONUS)