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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, technology and sustainability analyst, keynote speaker and former SAP Global VP Tom Raftery speaks with the executives, engineers, scientists, founders and policymakers turning climate ambition into measurable progress. Together, they 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.

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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

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Climate Confident - Practical Climate Solutions That Cut Emissions

AI Disinformation Is Becoming a Bottleneck for Clean Energy Projects

May 27, 2026 • Tom Raftery • Season 1 • Episode 277

0:00 | 40:18

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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 Qusba, CEO of GoodPower, an organisation working at the intersection of climate tech, culture, policy, and decarbonisation. We explore a hard truth about the energy transition: solar, wind, batteries, and electrification may be ready, but public trust, local permission, and disinformation are now decisive barriers to getting projects built.

You’ll hear why Leah believes fossil fuel dependence is becoming harder to defend as “secure energy”, especially when oil and gas volatility keeps spilling into bills, food prices, business costs, and household budgets. We dig into why clean energy should be framed less as sacrifice and more as protection: protection from price shocks, geopolitical risk, climate impacts, and the charming little habit fossil fuels have of making everything more expensive.

We also get into GoodPower’s research on what actually changes minds. Their storytelling work has reached tens of millions of people and, in tested campaigns, shifted audiences from NIMBY to YIMBY by 11%. Leah explains why the right messenger can matter more than the perfect message, why rural voices can unlock rural support, and why creators in food, fashion, gaming, cars, comedy, and culture may be more effective climate communicators than traditional climate voices.

And yes, we talk about AI-generated disinformation in permitting decisions, fake public pressure, and why pre-bunking false claims before they spread may become essential for emissions reduction, net zero delivery, and climate policy that survives contact with reality.

🎙️ Listen now to hear how Leah Qusba and GoodPower are helping accelerate real-world climate action.

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