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Climate Confident - Practical Climate Solutions That Cut Emissions
Climate Confident is for business leaders, climate professionals and policymakers who need to understand what is actually cutting emissions—and what it takes to make those solutions work at scale.
Each Wednesday, I speak with the executives, engineers, scientists, founders and policymakers turning climate ambition into measurable progress. Together, we examine the technologies, business models, policies and implementation strategies reshaping energy, transport, industry, supply chains, food and finance.
These are not conversations about distant targets, vague pledges or greenwash. They are candid discussions about what is working, what is failing, where the real bottlenecks lie, and how leaders can make better decisions about decarbonisation, resilience, investment and risk.
You will hear:
- Proven approaches to reducing emissions
- Hard-earned lessons from real-world implementation
- Analysis of the markets, technologies and policies driving the transition
- Honest examination of costs, trade-offs, setbacks and unintended consequences
- Practical ideas for turning climate commitments into action
New episodes are published every Wednesday at 7am CET. Subscribers also receive bonus episodes featuring highlights, analysis and emerging themes from across the series.
Follow Climate Confident for practical climate solutions, informed debate and the insights you need to turn ambition into measurable progress.
Guest suggestions and feedback are welcome at Tom@tomraftery.com.
Episodes
285 episodes
The Battery Isn’t the Bottleneck: Why Hydraulics Are Blocking Heavy Equipment Electrification
Heavy machinery can waste three quarters of the energy fed into it. The battery may not be the real electrification bottleneck.In this episode, I speak with Hiten Sonpal, CEO of
AI Is Infrastructure: Its Water, Power, and Governance Costs Can’t Be Deferred
AI isn’t weightless. Every model, token, and workflow sits on land, water, power, heat, and governance choices.In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by S...
Australia’s Diesel Risk Is Turning Electrification Into Energy Security
What if electrification is no longer just a climate solution — but an energy security strategy?In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Gavin Mooney, an independent energy...
AI’s Energy Paradox: More Compute Could Cut Industrial Emissions
What if AI’s biggest climate impact isn’t chatbots, but cutting real energy waste in buildings, grids, and factories?In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Philippe Ramb...
Animal Agriculture’s Stranded Asset Risk, and Why ESG Keeps Missing It
What if one of the biggest climate risks in your portfolio is hiding in plain sight — in food, land, methane, and animal-dependent industries?In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by
Carbon Data Isn’t Reporting Anymore: It’s Your Permission to Sell
Carbon data is no longer ESG wallpaper. It is becoming permission to sell, finance, insure and compete.This Climate Confident+ bonus episode is my solo briefing on why credible emissions data is becoming a core business system for the en...
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No One Wants to Ship Water: The Energy Security Case for Flow Batteries
No one wants to ship water around the world. That one line says a lot about the next phase of energy storage.In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Min Tang, Director of...
Traditional Sustainability Marketing Is Creating Greenwashing Risk
What if the biggest greenwashing risk isn’t bad intent, but business-as-usual marketing?In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Helen Neal, founder of
AI Disinformation Is Becoming a Bottleneck for Clean Energy Projects
Fake people. Fake comments. Real clean energy projects killed.This is what climate delay looks like in the AI era.In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Leah Qusb...
Carbon Data Is Becoming Permission to Sell, Not Just Something to Report
Carbon data is no longer just something companies report. Increasingly, it may decide whether products can be sold at all.In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by
Solar Streetlights Are Resilience Infrastructure, Not Just Cheap Power
Streetlights sound boring. Until the grid fails and they’re the only lights left on.In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Liam Ryan, CEO of <...
Passive House Isn’t Niche Green Design. It’s Resilience Infrastructure
What if better buildings are one of the most practical climate resilience tools we already have?In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Darren Macri, Co-CEO of ...
The Physics Problem Behind Decarbonising Flight
Jet fuel isn’t just dirty. It is astonishingly good at its job. That is what makes aviation decarbonisation so hard.In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Dan Sutt...
As Grids Get Cleaner, Building Materials Become the Real Climate Problem
Concrete alone accounts for around 7-8% of global emissions. So what happens when the real climate problem in buildings is no longer just energy, but the materials themselves?In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by
Why the War on Iran Is Accelerating the Shift to Renewables and EVs
What if fossil fuels aren’t energy security at all, but exposure dressed up as realism?This war is making that harder and harder to ignore.In this bonus episode of Climate Confident+, I unpack why the US and Israel’s war again...
Food Waste Starts Before the Plate - and So Must the Solution
What if one of the most effective climate tech moves in hospitality isn’t flashy at all, but simply wasting less food with far better data?In this episode, I’m joined by Olaf van der Veen...
The Infrastructure Was Built for the Climate We Had. Not the Climate We’re Getting
Heat is becoming a business risk in plain sight. And if cooling demand is set to soar, the energy transition has a problem most people still aren’t talking about. In this episode, I’m joined by
Why Fossil Fuel Dependence Is a Terrible Business Model
What if fossil fuels aren’t just polluting, but a standing threat to economic stability?This episode makes the case that the energy transition is now as much about security and cost as it is about climate.In this solo Climate Confide...
Carbon Markets as Outsourced Mitigation: Smart Climate Strategy or Convenient Fiction?
What if voluntary carbon markets are either a vital climate tool... or a polished excuse to delay real decarbonisation?In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Dr Jenni...
Why Turbine Shortages Could Slow AI, Data Centres, and Decarbonisation
AI may be booming, but the real bottleneck to it's growth may be turbines. And if firm power can’t scale fast enough, parts of the energy transition hit a wall.In this episode, I’m joined by
The Iran War, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Real Cost of Fossil Dependence
War doesn’t just kill people. It also blows up energy security, drives up emissions, and exposes fossil fuels for the liability they’ve always been.In this first Climate Confident+ bonus episode, available exclusively to subscribe...
Geothermal Isn’t Just HVAC. It’s Grid Infrastructure
What if one of the biggest climate problems in our buildings isn’t power generation, but the fact we’re still burning fuel in the basement?In this episode, I’m joined by Dan Yate...
Why Science Alone Won’t Deliver Climate Action
What if the real barrier to climate action isn’t a lack of science, but a lack of pressure? And what happens when climate risk collides with political instability, fossil fuel dependence, and public anger in real time?In this epis...
Fashion’s Emissions Problem Starts With Clothes We Barely Wear
What if the biggest climate lever in fashion isn’t better materials, but simply wearing clothes longer?The fashion industry accounts for roughly 10% of global carbon emissions and 20% of industrial water pollution. In this episode...
You Can’t Photograph CO₂: The Visual Bias Distorting the Energy Transition
Coal produces 4,000–8,000x more waste per MWh than wind.But you can’t take a photo of CO₂, so we ignore it.In this episode, I’m joined by climate futurist and long-term decarbonisation modeller
