CONVERSATIONS ON CLIMATE

Human beings are social animals. We love – we need – to communicate. 
But when we don’t agree (which, let’s face it, is all the time!) then it’s the how of communication that matters. 
That’s where negotiation really shines; and in the words of our guest, negotiation is the ultimate problem-solving technology. 
To sharpen up your negotiation skills and really SHIFT your communication impact, you need to listen to this Conversations on Climate episode, with Professor Kathleen O’Connor.
Kathleen is Clinical Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School, where she also directs the Executive Education programme. 
An expert in negotiation and conflict management, she has worked with corporate clients from Deutsche Bank to the World Economic Forum. She personally teaches a Women in Leadership course and is an advocate of gender equality across firms.
 
Here’s a brief rundown of this incredible conversation:
* Understanding the 21st-century technology of negotiation
* Why women don’t need to ‘wait for permission’ in business
* Power imbalances, collusion & climate responsibility – how do we get ‘cooperative  wins’ at COP? 
*Would a more gender-diverse global leadership be better at solving climate? 
*When women do better (and worse) in negotiations
*The secret sauce of becoming an effective negotiator: it’s nothing to do with toughness…
*Impasses at the global level: is a reset necessary to avoid historic spirals? 
*When quotas and meritocracy are complimentary;
*What can allyship mean for climate advocacy, in the face of inequality;
*The SHIFT model of negotiation
'...negotiate more... life really is about negotiating, negotiating not to win, but to better understand where someone else is coming from... ..it's taking another person's perspective, understanding what their interests are, and then using your creativity to come up with something that will work for both of us.And so negotiation not as kind of a bludgeon - bludgeoning the other side to make concessions to you - but really to understand what's at issue in that kind of insight into the other side's interests...what separates really good solutions... sustainable solutions from other kinds of agreements.'
 
REFERENCES:
http://kathleenoconnor.co.uk/
https://www.london.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-profiles/k/kathleen-oconnor
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/standing-out-while-fitting-in/
 
Conversations on Climate is a podcast produced by United Renewables in association with the London Business School Energy Alumni Club. 
It brings together the best minds from academia and business, to offer their experience and expertise in the face of climate change –from game theorists to corporate diplomats, and oil industry veterans to micro-algae entrepreneurs. 
For more top-quality interviews with our incredible guests, subscribe to our youtube channel or follow us on twitter. We’d love to have you join us!
Don’t forget to share with your colleagues, friends and family. We would love to hear your opinions and feedback, so please leave your comments on our platforms.
Throughout season 1, we talk about how the scope of the challenge before us is beyond that of any one individual or any one solution. We talk to thinkers, researchers, policymakers, and business leaders. They discuss a diversity of ideas and solutions to global climate and environmental issues and why they matter.
Season 1 is presented by Chris Caldwell and produced by UNITED RENEWABLES in association with LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL, ALUMNI ENERGY CLUB.
For more information visit: https://www.unitedrenewables.co.uk/resources
Please visit our YouTube channel, where all of our Conversations are available for you to enjoy.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL HERE: https://bit.ly/3GZpd7R 
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Treeapp is the brainchild of our guests Godefroy Harito and Jules Buker (along with their co-founder Leo Ng) You could say that Treeapp's USP is that it lets anyone plant a tree, for free, every single day.  
In doing so, it is bringing together eco-conscious individuals with green businesses, and regenerating ecologies and communities around the world at the same time. It is both simple and rigorous in its approach to tackling climate, even as it raises fascinating questions about moral license, consumer responsibility, sustainable ad models and green imperialism in today’s digital economy.  
This was an intriguing conversation with a pair of brilliant Gen-Z founders, with moments of both thoughtful reflection and passionate mission. 
 
 ...I feel like there's more and more people that are going towards entrepreneurship and it's just great to see that some sectors, for example, like climate tech, have been, have been getting so much interest because, we need more startups in this space, we need more solutions. And entrepreneurship is the way to go...
...with the sort of long term view and five years from now, what we're really hoping for is for tree up to be in the hands of millions of people worldwide so that really anyone can have an impact everyday...what we really want to do is also enable businesses to integrate tree planting, carbon offsetting and in mitigation at the core of what they do...
REFERENCES:
https://www.thetreeapp.org/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/julesbuker/?originalSubdomain=uk
https://www.linkedin.com/in/godefroyharito/?originalSubdomain=uk
https://www.london.edu/news/forbes-30-under-30-europe--award-given-to-treeapp-for-social-impact-2039
Conversations on Climate is a podcast produced by United Renewables in association with the London Business School Energy Alumni Club. 
It brings together the best minds from academia and business, to offer their experience and expertise in the face of climate change –from game theorists to corporate diplomats, and oil industry veterans to micro-algae entrepreneurs. 
For more top-quality interviews with our incredible guests, subscribe to our youtube channel or follow us on twitter. We’d love to have you join us!
Don’t forget to share with your colleagues, friends and family. We would love to hear your opinions and feedback, so please leave your comments on our platforms.
Throughout season 1, we talk about how the scope of the challenge before us is beyond that of any one individual or any one solution. We talk to thinkers, researchers, policymakers, and business leaders. They discuss a diversity of ideas and solutions to global climate and environmental issues and why they matter.
Season 1 is presented by Chris Caldwell and produced by UNITED RENEWABLES in association with LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL, ALUMNI ENERGY CLUB.
For more information visit: https://www.unitedrenewables.co.uk/resources
Please visit our YouTube channel, where all of our Conversations are available for you to enjoy.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL HERE: https://bit.ly/3GZpd7R 
and ring the notification bell
Join us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3MnhuSf 
Join us on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3Q5UKcj 
Join us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3tFEnK3

Zoe Chance wants you to be charismatic on climate 
What really changes people’s minds? Is it passionate argument, cold hard facts, or winning over the most famous people on the planet? 
Climate folk have been trying all of the above for decades: with mixed results. But the most powerful tool of all is one we so often discount: speaking our personal truth to those closest to us.  
Zoe Chance is Assistant Professor of Marketing and Senior Lecturer at Yale School of Management, where she teaches the top-ranked MBA elective ‘Mastering Influence and Persuasion’.
She is on a mission to turn us all into the charismatic leaders the climate needs – with a few simple hacks from the latest behavioural science. 
Zoe tells her story of going from shy child, to running a $200m Barbie brand, to becoming a world-expert in the science of persuasion and author of Influence is your Superpower.  
At the same time, she has been on a decade-long journey to becoming a climate activist.   
It’s a fascinating tale, and Zoe is such a natural conversationalist 
To find out how to supercharge your climate influence – with a little help from cutting-edge behavioural science, listen in.
...what is going to change the worlds of the climate crisis influences...? what makes almost anything important happen. It's not like you have to focus your whole entire life and career on studying influence. It's whatever it is that you want to make. Whatever change you make in the world, even just whatever difference you want to make for your own self, your family, your community, your organization influences the way that you get there.
...So there is no other way. There's no other way. And I'm excited to be able to help interest and inspire some people to be a little bit more mindful about studying and learning about influence, to practice it so that we're not leaving influence in the hands of the power hungry...
REFERENCES:
https://www.zoechance.com/
350.org - An international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
https://350.org/about/
https://faculty.som.yale.edu/zoechance/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoebchance
Conversations on Climate is a podcast produced by United Renewables in association with the London Business School Energy Alumni Club. 
It brings together the best minds from academia and business, to offer their experience and expertise in the face of climate change –from game theorists to corporate diplomats, and oil industry veterans to micro-algae entrepreneurs. 
For more top-quality interviews with our incredible guests, subscribe to our youtube channel or follow us on twitter. We’d love to have you join us!
Don’t forget to share with your colleagues, friends and family. We would love to hear your opinions and feedback, so please leave your comments on our platforms.
Throughout season 1, we talk about how the scope of the challenge before us is beyond that of any one individual or any one solution. We talk to thinkers, researchers, policymakers, and business leaders. They discuss a diversity of ideas and solutions to global climate and environmental issues and why they matter.
Season 1 is presented by Chris Caldwell and produced by UNITED RENEWABLES in association with LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL, ALUMNI ENERGY CLUB.
For more information visit: https://www.unitedrenewables.co.uk/resources
Please visit our YouTube channel, where all of our Conversations are available for you to enjoy.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL HERE: https://bit.ly/3GZpd7R 
and ring the notification bell
Join us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3MnhuSf 
Join us on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3Q5UKcj 
Join us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3tFEnK3
 
 
 

Amory Poulden wants to do Venture Capital differently. You’ll want to find out why.
What does it take to put everything on the line, to search out the next green start-up superstar?
Venture capital is not for the faint-hearted; your entire career rests on how well you can predict the future.
So, what happens when that future disappears before your eyes? What happens when climate changes everything?
Amory Poulden had a successful career as a Principal at Shell Ventures. Then his first child arrived, he woke up to climate, and asked himself: what will they think of my career when they grow up?  
In VC-speak, this is an ‘inflection point’. We just call it a great story. 
Amory quit Shell and founded D2, a new fund with a focus on tech – and climatetech in particular. Armed with a $20m and the conviction that solving environmental crises is the wealth-creating opportunity of the century, he is one of a new breed of climate conscious VCs – with a genuine desire to do things differently.  
This is an insightful, critical, and refreshingly honest interview and what an outstanding guest to wrap up 2022!
"...So I think it's back to that point around product based businesses. So that's the sort of North Star that we won't deviate from. So again, we wouldn't be investing in a consulting business, we wouldn't be investing in a services based business. We're looking for those companies where there is a tech component, where there is that kind of core product, be it either a physical product or software products, that once you've gone through that initial build phase, the potential scalability is non-linear..."
REFERENCES:
https://www.d2.fund/
Links to the Startup Heroes podcast
https://open.spotify.com/show/234PxVBYzihWj9gPNgRamO
https://thecleantechchallenge.uk/
Conversations on Climate is a podcast produced by United Renewables in association with the London Business School Energy Alumni Club. 
It brings together the best minds from academia and business, to offer their experience and expertise in the face of climate change –from game theorists to corporate diplomats, and oil industry veterans to micro-algae entrepreneurs. 
For more top-quality interviews with our incredible guests, subscribe to our youtube channel or follow us on twitter. We’d love to have you join us!
Don’t forget to share with your colleagues, friends and family. We would love to hear your opinions and feedback, so please leave your comments on our platforms.
Throughout season 1, we talk about how the scope of the challenge before us is beyond that of any one individual or any one solution. We talk to thinkers, researchers, policymakers, and business leaders. They discuss a diversity of ideas and solutions to global climate and environmental issues and why they matter.
Season 1 is presented by Chris Caldwell and produced by UNITED RENEWABLES in association with LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL, ALUMNI ENERGY CLUB.
For more information visit: https://www.unitedrenewables.co.uk/resources
Please visit our YouTube channel, where all of our Conversations are available for you to enjoy.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL HERE: https://bit.ly/3GZpd7R 
and ring the notification bell
Join us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3MnhuSf 
Join us on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3Q5UKcj 
Join us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3tFEnK3
 
 
 
 
 

Competitive advantage is essential for success in any field.
But what if there was a different way to achieve competitive advantage? One that didn't involve ruthless tactics or underhanded strategies?
According to Professor Dan Cable, the answer is emotions.
By understanding and embracing our emotions, we can create a competitive edge that is unrivaled. In episode 14 Professor Cable provides an in-depth analysis of what creates a competitive advantage and how it can be sustained. His findings may surprise you.
Learn how to apply the emotions of competitive advantage in your own business and achieve lasting success.
This is a fun and incredible insightful episode. You’re going to love it.
Dan is the Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School and author of the brilliant Alive at Work. He takes us through the story of purpose, and how to make it work – starring cats, mice, and the Canadian bank that started organising family reunions. 
"...So if it has purpose, that means it connects to what you feel is meaningful. And we have a lot of evidence that it not only promotes your own health and how long you live, it also gives you an energy and a resilience when you hit obstacles and bumps in the road. And there's really good evidence that for a human being, purpose is not only life and health giving, but it helps us achieve our goals....So that's wonderful and powerful...."
 
REFERENCES:
https://dan-cable.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-cable-a0b581a0/?originalSubdomain=uk
Harvard Business review article on -
Turn Your Boring Job into a Job You’ll Love
https://hbr.org/2021/02/turn-your-boring-job-into-a-job-youll-love
 
Conversations on Climate is a podcast produced by United Renewables in association with the London Business School Energy Alumni Club. 
It brings together the best minds from academia and business, to offer their experience and expertise in the face of climate change –from game theorists to corporate diplomats, and oil industry veterans to micro-algae entrepreneurs. 
For more top-quality interviews with our incredible guests, subscribe to our youtube channel or follow us on twitter. We’d love to have you join us!
Don’t forget to share with your colleagues, friends and family. We would love to hear your opinions and feedback, so please leave your comments on our platforms.
Throughout season 1, we talk about how the scope of the challenge before us is beyond that of any one individual or any one solution. We talk to thinkers, researchers, policymakers, and business leaders. They discuss a diversity of ideas and solutions to global climate and environmental issues and why they matter.
Season 1 is presented by Chris Caldwell and produced by UNITED RENEWABLES in association with LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL, ALUMNI ENERGY CLUB.
For more information visit: https://www.unitedrenewables.co.uk/resources
Please visit our YouTube channel, where all of our Conversations are available for you to enjoy.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL HERE: https://bit.ly/3GZpd7R 
and ring the notification bell
Join us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3MnhuSf 
Join us on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3Q5UKcj 
Join us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3tFEnK3
 
 
 
 
 

Money makes the world go round. But can the banking system build a different, better world in the process?
Tara Schmidt, of Lloyds and Bank of Scotland, has bet her career on it. She argues that, after the turmoil of 2008 and Covid-19, finance can be the ‘tip of the spear’ in the drive towards a sustainable future.
Tara Schmidt is Head of Climate and Sustainability Strategy, Sustainability & ESG Finance at Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland. An engineer by training, Tara moved out of the oil industry in 2004 and has been working in sustainability consulting around the world ever since, with Accenture and ERM.
In episode 13 of the Conversations on Climate Tara talks to Chris Caldwell of United Renewables and the highlights include:
Tara's early interest in sustainability, and finding environmental engineering before it was a taught course.
Applying the finance sector’s risk management lessons from 2008, to climate change.
E, S & G – a history of interdependence, and a problem of measurement.
Winning over board rooms: the power of ‘what-if?’.
The importance of global frameworks in shifting walkers to joggers to runners on climate.
The potential of a just transition to revive the UK’s industrial heartlands Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, South Africa – avoiding decarbonisation ‘scarring’ in the developing world.
COP 27 and beyond: looking holistically at crisis and opportunity.
A message to MBAs: be brave and take that pay cut!
This is an interesting conversation one that shouldn't be missed.
"...so we look a lot at sustainability linked lending, ... In fact, we're looking at 85 different net zero technologies to decarbonize the UK economy. Some of those technologies, we're having to think very innovatively of how we de-risk those technologies and leaning in more with government or thinking about blended financing opportunities as well through infrastructure, banking and so on....So it's not always about it's less risk, it's more of the bank has committed as part of a know we are a founding member of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance and we are aiming to reduce our own finance emissions by 50%. So we want to lean in with our clients and provide those incentives to help also reduce our own financed emissions. But in leading them with them, we have, as a core purpose of the bank, is to help Britain prosper. So really trying to think more about how we can see the economy thrive and support our clients on their own journeys towards that..."
REFERENCES:
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/schmidttara
Energy Institute article on - What climate change means for oil and gas companies:
https://knowledge.energyinst.org/search/record?id=112648
 
Conversations on Climate is a podcast produced by United Renewables in association with the London Business School Energy Alumni Club. 
It brings together the best minds from academia and business, to offer their experience and expertise in the face of climate change –from game theorists to corporate diplomats, and oil industry veterans to micro-algae entrepreneurs. 
For more top-quality interviews with our incredible guests, subscribe to our youtube channel or follow us on twitter. We’d love to have you join us!
Don’t forget to share with your colleagues, friends and family. We would love to hear your opinions and feedback, so please leave your comments on our platforms.
Throughout season 1, we talk about how the scope of the challenge before us is beyond that of any one individual or any one solution. We talk to thinkers, researchers, policymakers, and business leaders. They discuss a diversity of ideas and solutions to global climate and environmental issues and why they matter.
Season 1 is presented by Chris Caldwell and produced by UNITED RENEWABLES in association with LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL, ALUMNI ENERGY CLUB.
For more information visit: https://www.unitedrenewables.co.uk/resources
Please visit our YouTube channel, where all of our Conversations are available for you to enjoy.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL HERE: https://bit.ly/3GZpd7R 
and ring the notification bell
Join us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3MnhuSf 
Join us on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3Q5UKcj 
Join us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3tFEnK3
 
 
 
 
 

Do you find yourself leaving the office after another hectic day and wondering – what is this all for?
What is the point of work – does it actually do any good in the world?
And perhaps most importantly – what can I even do about the things that really matter?
If those feelings sound familiar, then this episode of Conversations on Climate was made for you.
It’s the frankest and most heartfelt discussion we’ve ever put out as a podcast, and we have the remarkable Sam Baker to thank for that.
Sam is the founder of Walk2COP, a grass-roots campaign for climate action which is running a virtual walk to COP27, from Glasgow to Egypt.
After 23 years working in the heart of business consultancy at Deloitte as a partner for ESG and Climate Change, Sam Baker left in 2021 to start a new life as a climate activist.
He stepped out of his front door and didn’t stop walking until he reached the Glasgow Conference last year – and hasn’t stopped building his campaign since.
The conversation is full of wonderful stuff, for the heart as well as the mind. We challenge you to listen and not be moved; and whether moved emotionally or moved to action, Sam and everyone involved in the Conversations on Climate podcast are right here with you.
Just a few highlights:
What drove him to walk away from business
The work he was most proud of in his consultancy career – 
Is incremental change from within big business enough?
His view on the annual cycle of COPs – as essential as they are indecipherable
Why climate lost momentum in 2022 (and how we can get it back)
Addressing the moral and pragmatic case for reparations – could an ‘insurance pool’ work?
On claiming the title of climate activist: how to recognise the ‘fierce and courageous’ among us 
The power of slowing down 
How he answered his scariest question: has my career done more harm than good?
Why everyone he meets now wants to talk about degrowth
Capitalism adrift – finding a new blueprint for the future
That’s just a taste of what’s in the episode. It was on of the most personal, insightful, and challenging discussions we’ve had yet. Don’t miss out.
“...so I think a couple of things. I think one is, you know, this challenge is on us and it's not going to go away... embrace it and feel you're at least thinking or trying to address it in some shape or form...the second thing is that you can't keep a lid on it. I mean, lots of people are, you know, pretending it's not going to happen or pretending it's not their job...But, would you rather know that now and begin to think about what you want to do about it? Or would you rather put it off and then open that box in ten, 20 years time?...rather like I have actually in the last few years and think: how was I so blind? I was so blind. And you can't really you don't have that time back again for sure..."
REFERENCES:
www.walk2cop27.com
Check out the film: https://www.walk2cop26.com/fundraisingfilm
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-baker-925500/?originalSubdomain=uk
Conversations on Climate is a podcast produced by United Renewables in association with the London Business School Energy Alumni Club. 
It brings together the best minds from academia and business, to offer their experience and expertise in the face of climate change –from game theorists to corporate diplomats, and oil industry veterans to micro-algae entrepreneurs. 
For more top-quality interviews with our incredible guests, subscribe to our youtube channel or follow us on twitter. We’d love to have you join us!
Don’t forget to share with your colleagues, friends and family. We would love to hear your opinions and feedback, so please leave your comments on our platforms.
Throughout season 1, we talk about how the scope of the challenge before us is beyond that of any one individual or any one solution. We talk to thinkers, researchers, policymakers, and business leaders. They discuss a diversity of ideas and solutions to global climate and environmental issues and why they matter.
Season 1 is presented by Chris Caldwell and produced by UNITED RENEWABLES in association with LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL, ALUMNI ENERGY CLUB.
For more information visit: https://www.unitedrenewables.co.uk/resources
Please visit our YouTube channel, where all of our Conversations are available for you to enjoy.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL HERE: https://bit.ly/3GZpd7R 
and ring the notification bell
Join us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3MnhuSf 
Join us on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3Q5UKcj 
Join us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3tFEnK3
 
 
 
 
 

Everyone is talking about sustainability in the last few years – and it feels like businesses have finally joined the discussion in earnest. But what does sustainability actually mean – and is the current conversation really up to scratch? Scrutiny around CSR is on the rise - the greenwashing debate, for example, has heated up in recent years – but we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg, according to our most recent guest. Its time for talk to meet scientific reality.
Get ready for one of the most fresh and fascinating Podcasts you’ll have come across this year. 
Professor Ioannis Ioannou has been working on sustainability and CSR from the very beginning of his career, and it shows. He brings a profound depth of thought and experience to the table. However, he is not one to rest on a set of old ideas – this is a thinker on the leading edge of sustainability theory and practise. Just check out his record: a consistent top-100 figure in the prestigious Social Studies Research Network; an outspoken CSR influencer on social media; and the founding teacher of one of the powerful (and over-subscribed) executive sustainability courses in the world.
This episode takes in so many different facets of CSR and climate that it was a challenge to list them all! More importantly, Professor Ioannou had a new and piercing take for each and every topic we landed upon. You’ve got breadth, you’ve got depth, you’ve got expertise, novelty and passion.
How Ioannis came through the existential challenge of his MBA and found meaning in work
The six features of genuine sustainability that all businesses must meet
Greenwashing: what it is, how to spot it, and even a couple of silver linings!
What keeps him going in the face of a ‘depressing’ lack of progress on climate
His assessment of the latest cohorts of MBAs and executives – is this truly a new generation?
Understanding the ‘fictitious trade-off’ behind the profits vs purpose debate
Why he believes that firms will use ESG to ‘invest their way out’ of the coming economic crisis…
…even as we can’t rely on passive investment strategies to drive that change
Political cowardice is behind the total institutional failure on climate change – and why the culture wars are an asymmetric conflict 
His views on Biden’s Build Back Better programme – ‘you can’t negotiate with science!’
‘No excuse’: personal responsibility as the ultimate way through the climate crisis
“…Think about Tesla, for example, and how it disrupted the automobile industry. Think about Beyond Food and Impossible Meats and how they disrupted their food industry…. Think about how Oatly came in and disrupted natural milk. So in other words, the new market entry signifies to me that sustainability as a trend has created new market opportunities, and therefore especially … a startup that is born sustainable doesn't have the organizational inertia and the challenge of transforming, you can take advantage of these opportunities and you can scale...”
“..So companies, in a sense, are now more legitimate to engage on this transformational journey that sustainability requires… However, this is the plague of our times, I think a lot of companies are trying to find the shortcuts… They're trying to cheat their way to responsibility...”
Professor Ioannis is a frequent contributor to Bloomberg, the FT, the Guardian, and of course the BBC.
REFERENCES: http://ioannou.us/about-us
https://www.ft.com/content/54f96d4e-82ec-11e9-9935-ad75bb96c849
https://hbr.org/2019/05/save-or-invest-how-companies-should-navigate-recessions
 
Conversations on Climate is a podcast produced by United Renewables in association with the London Business School Energy Alumni Club. 
It brings together the best minds from academia and business, to offer their experience and expertise in the face of climate change –from game theorists to corporate diplomats, and oil industry veterans to micro-algae entrepreneurs. 
For more top-quality interviews with our incredible guests, subscribe to our youtube channel or follow us on twitter. We’d love to have you join us!
Don’t forget to share with your colleagues, friends and family. We would love to hear your opinions and feedback, so please leave your comments on our platforms.
Throughout season 1, we talk about how the scope of the challenge before us is beyond that of any one individual or any one solution. We talk to thinkers, researchers, policymakers, and business leaders. They discuss a diversity of ideas and solutions to global climate and environmental issues and why they matter.
Season 1 is presented by Chris Caldwell and produced by UNITED RENEWABLES in association with LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL, ALUMNI ENERGY CLUB.
For more information visit: https://www.unitedrenewables.co.uk/resources
Please visit our YouTube channel, where all of our Conversations are available for you to enjoy.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL HERE: https://bit.ly/3GZpd7R 
and ring the notification bell
Join us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3MnhuSf 
Join us on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3Q5UKcj 
Join us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3tFEnK3
 
 
 

So you saw climate change coming a long time ago. You were one of the first to recognise the importance of decarbonisation, and you sniffed out the critical role that renewables would play in the 21st century, even before the millennium had turned. Which means you must have made a killing, as we began the greatest economic and energy transformation in modern history. Right?
Or…maybe not. Because, even if you have made the right long-term calls over the last few decades, the market hasn’t always rewarded you for it. And that’s the puzzle we’re looking at today.
This week’s episode of Conversations on Climate takes us back to our roots, as we go deep on the green energy investment environment. Anyone with a passing understanding of our field knows that is has been a really exciting place to be for the last decade; not least because the landscape has shifted so rapidly around us. This is not a world where you can afford to sit still! 
And a part of that excitement is that investing in clean energy throws up more questions than answers at times, such as:
Is renewables investing like infrastructure or start-ups?
Does Tesla count as cleantech?
Is clean energy recession-proof? Or is it more volatile than traditional industries?
Do financial opportunity and regional political intention always match up?
Is this a safe space for retail investors?
As COO of National Energy Holdings, Giannis Komitas knows a thing or two about this world. After a career in engineering and consultancy, he has found his home as a clean energy investor. From New York to London to Athens, he is deeply versed in the art of taking private capital and matching it to renewables opportunities – with an eye for value, resilience, and building the kind of long-term relationships with stakeholders that really matter.
Our conversation started from some familiar jumping-off points, for anyone connected to the industry – but where we ended up was not where I would have expected. Perhaps that shouldn’t have been a surprise, when talking to a man who self-describes as an investment ‘nomad’.
The show run-down:
How Giannis made the leap from engineer to investor
Is green energy a ‘boring’ industry? 
The risks of a renewables bubble, and his experience riding the rollercoaster of a young and fast-developing sector
Cleantech and recessions – how generators survived market meltdowns and government alike
Understanding this as a sector of ‘nomad’s (and how to hunt down the next area of opportunity)
What Giannis looks for when evaluating a new investment opportunity 
The importance of respect as a generator: for markets, local communities, and the land itself
His caution for retail investors 
Utilities vs Big Oil – who is going to take a bigger part of the green energy pie?
The value of a historical lens – how the infinite energy generation should understand the future of carbon 
References:
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/giannis-komitas
https://national.energy/team
Conversations on Climate is a podcast produced by United Renewables in association with the London Business School Energy Alumni Club. 
It brings together the best minds from academia and business, to offer their experience and expertise in the face of climate change –from game theorists to corporate diplomats, and oil industry veterans to micro-algae entrepreneurs. 
For more top-quality interviews with our incredible guests, subscribe to our youtube channel or follow us on twitter. We’d love to have you join us!
Don’t forget to share with your colleagues, friends and family. We would love to hear your opinions and feedback, so please leave your comments on our platforms.
Throughout season 1, we talk about how the scope of the challenge before us is beyond that of any one individual or any one solution. We talk to thinkers, researchers, policymakers, and business leaders. They discuss a diversity of ideas and solutions to global climate and environmental issues and why they matter.
Season 1 is presented by Chris Caldwell and produced by UNITED RENEWABLES in association with LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL, ALUMNI ENERGY CLUB.
For more information visit: https://www.unitedrenewables.co.uk/resources
Please visit our YouTube channel, where all of our Conversations are available for you to enjoy.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL HERE: https://bit.ly/3GZpd7R 
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Join us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3MnhuSf 
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As Vice-Dean and Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School, Julian Birkinshaw is a world-renowned figure in the world of management. With decades of experience studying organisational innovation, corporate entrepreneurship and strategic leadership, he is a perfect guide to the business landscape of today – one marked by disruption, ‘discontinuous innovation’ and existential debates from digital technology to the very purpose of the firm itself.
Beyond the academy, Julian is also a popular author, speaker and executive mentor across the world of business. When we say he’s a big deal, we mean it – he makes regular appearances in the “Thinker’s Fifty” and has received widespread acclaim for books such as Rethinking Management, Becoming a Better Boss, and Fast/Forward.
As well as his own ideas on ‘organisational ambidexterity’ and ‘adhocracy’ in the face of climate change, we also took a hard look at rational strategic planning, remote working, the Great Resignation, and the very future of shareholder capitalism itself. 
What’s in this episode?
Professor Birkinshaw’s work arbitraging business and academia (yes, in both directions!)
How to find – and sculpt - big ideas that truly resonate with leaders on the ground
Disruption as the key framework to understand our times…
…and why the secret to surviving it might just be to following the ‘dancing elephants’
Digital technology as a grand experiment for hierarchical authority
The ‘grey rhino’ that is climate change: a greater or lesser challenge than COVID for adaptive firms? Will Big Oil cope better in Europe or the US?
His view on the purpose vs. profits debate – and the Unilever story we can’t stop talking about 
Where he would head out into the world, as a purpose-first MBA graduating today
Motivation, micromanagement and the Great Resignation
Organisational ambidexterity – what it is and why it matters
Thinking through global climate institutions as ‘adhocracies’ 
"…take the Fortune 500 from last year and guess how many of that Fortune 500 did not exist in any form 25 years ago at the beginning of the Internet revolution. And most people, when I ask that question, they say, oh, maybe it was 100 or 200. Some people say maybe it was 300….Only 17 of the Fortune 500 are completely new. And of course, it's Facebook. It's it's Amazon, it's Google. It's Netflix. I mean, Tesla, you can name half of those even without thinking about it.…Most people fixate on the world's being disrupted…"
"…You’ve got to be resilient to very short term shocks covered in a global financial financial crisis where the effect is felt within weeks. You've got to be resilient to the stuff which takes, you know, months, If not years to work through. And certainly digitization is one… and then you've got to be resilient to the things which take decades to work their way through, which, of course, is climate change.
…And and we sometimes call the first one a black swan event… the thing that you kind of didn't foresee. And then suddenly it's there and and you think, oh, my gosh, why didn't we think of that? Then you've got the other end. You've got climate change, which sometimes is called a gray rhino.
And the metaphor there is, this thing is coming at you, it's coming at you. You can see it a long way off. No one needs to predict this. It's happening. And yet, because it's a long way off for a long time, you actually just sort of, you know, say, yeah, I can see it's coming…
…And then and then suddenly you've actually got to act…climate change is in some ways the hardest. I mean, everybody found COVID difficult, but the point is, there was never any ambiguity about what needed to be done… but the climate crisis: the question is, is when do you act, not do you act…?”
References:
https://www.london.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-profiles/b/birkinshaw-j
https://julianbirkinshaw.com
Article from HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW:
https://hbr.org/2014/05/beware-the-next-big-thing/
Conversations on Climate is a podcast produced by United Renewables in association with the London Business School Energy Alumni Club. 
It brings together the best minds from academia and business, to offer their experience and expertise in the face of climate change –from game theorists to corporate diplomats, and oil industry veterans to micro-algae entrepreneurs. 
For more top-quality interviews with our incredible guests, subscribe to our youtube channel or follow us on twitter. We’d love to have you join us!
Don’t forget to share with your colleagues, friends and family. We would love to hear your opinions and feedback, so please leave your comments on our platforms.
Throughout season 1, we talk about how the scope of the challenge before us is beyond that of any one individual or any one solution. We talk to thinkers, researchers, policymakers, and business leaders. They discuss a diversity of ideas and solutions to global climate and environmental issues and why they matter.
Season 1 is presented by Chris Caldwell and produced by UNITED RENEWABLES in association with LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL, ALUMNI ENERGY CLUB.
For more information visit: https://www.unitedrenewables.co.uk/resources
Please visit our YouTube channel, where all of our Conversations are available for you to enjoy.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL HERE: https://bit.ly/3GZpd7R 
and ring the notification bell
Join us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3MnhuSf 
Join us on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3Q5UKcj 
Join us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3tFEnK3