Carbon offsets are everywhere – a $2 billion dollar industry that’s set to grow even more as the US is even incorporating them in its effort to fulfill international climate pledges. Yet in the thirty years since they were created, they have not been proven to work. How did such a good idea go wrong and why is it so sticky? In this episode of Zero, Akshat talks to Mark Trexler of The Climatographers, who helped build the first carbon offset program in 1988, about what went wrong with offsets and if there’s any way to fix them. 

Read more about the dodgy world of carbon offsets in Bloomberg’s three part investigation. 

Read a transcript of this episode, here.

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd and our senior producer is Christine Driscoll. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit www.bloomberg.com/green.

Carbon offsets are everywhere – a $2 billion dollar industry that’s set to grow even more as the US is even incorporating them in its effort to fulfill international climate pledges. Yet in the thirty years since they were created, they have not been proven to work. How did such a good idea go wrong and why is it so sticky? In this episode of Zero, Akshat talks to Mark Trexler of The Climatographers, who helped build the first carbon offset program in 1988, about what went wrong with offsets and if there’s any way to fix them. 
Read more about the dodgy world of carbon offsets in Bloomberg’s <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-carbon-offsets-renewable-energy">three part investigation</a>. 
Read a transcript of this episode, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-01/transcript-zero-episode-18-how-carbon-offsets-went-wrong">here</a>.
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd and our senior producer is Christine Driscoll. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/green">www.bloomberg.com/green</a>.

Zero is about the tactics and technologies taking us to a world of zero emissions. Each week Bloomberg’s award-winning reporter Akshat Rathi talks to the people tackling climate change – a venture capitalist hunting for the best cleantech investment, scientists starting companies, politicians who have successfully created climate laws, and CEOs who have completely transformed their businesses. The road to zero emissions has many paths and everyone’s got an opinion about the best route. Listen in.

Zero: The Climate Race

Zero

How did a good idea go so wrong? Carbon offsets with Mark Trexler

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/57a73312-e48c-41db-b29d-af9d012f93c7/transcript

Even before we turn on a light switch or plug an appliance into an electric outlet, the atoms that power our daily life have traveled a long journey across the grid to reach our homes. And to meet the demands of a net zero future, that grid will need an upgrade. BloombergNEF analysis estimates that the world will need to nearly double its grid network to 111 million kilometers– a distance almost three quarters the way to the sun– by 2050. How will we get there?  Former BNEF grid expert Sanjeet Sanghera, who is now working on strategic futures at the National Grid, tells Akshat Rathi about the challenges and opportunities presented by the enormous transformation of the world’s biggest machine.

Explore further:
Past episode with Stacey Abrams on how Americans can switch to electric heating and appliances in their homes
Past episode with Jenny Chase of BNEF on how the world can triple renewables by 2030.
Past episode with MIT’s Priya Donti on how AI’s climate change applications may include grid optimization
Past episode with Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen on the recovery and growth of the wind industry

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Siobhan Wagner and Matthew Griffin. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

Even before we turn on a light switch or plug an appliance into an electric outlet, the atoms that power our daily life have traveled a long journey across the grid to reach our homes. And to meet the demands of a net zero future, that grid will need an upgrade. BloombergNEF analysis estimates that the world will need to nearly double its grid network to 111 million kilometers– a distance almost three quarters the way to the sun– by 2050. How will we get there?  Former BNEF grid expert Sanjeet Sanghera, who is now working on strategic futures at the National Grid, tells Akshat Rathi about the challenges and opportunities presented by the enormous transformation of the world’s biggest machine.
Explore further:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Past episode with <a href="https://omnystudio.com/p/zero/clips/fddf36b1-fe60-4500-b30d-b1ab015d2c0b">Stacey Abrams on how Americans can switch to electric heating and appliances in their homes</a></li>
<li aria-level="1">Past episode with <a href="https://omnystudio.com/p/zero/clips/3429d271-a42e-42fc-9f3b-b0cb017e0b7a">Jenny Chase of BNEF on how the world can triple renewables by 2030.</a></li>
<li aria-level="1">Past episode with <a href="https://omnystudio.com/p/zero/clips/238120ba-1978-411d-97c2-b17f00f2e255">MIT’s Priya Donti on how AI’s climate change applications may include grid optimization</a></li>
<li aria-level="1">Past episode with <a href="https://omnystudio.com/p/zero/clips/38baaa01-fa09-449e-ac21-b15c01178e6d">Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen on the recovery and growth of the wind industry</a> </li>
</ul>
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Siobhan Wagner and Matthew Griffin. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/green">https://www.bloomberg.com/green</a>.

Upgrading the world’s biggest machine: The Grid Series

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/4f043f5f-7195-4ac9-9f3e-b1b700a88eea/transcript

Lucie Pinson is a climate activist focused on the banks that fund fossil fuel projects. But she doesn’t march, chant, picket corporate headquarters, or glue herself to the road. Instead, she and her team at the Paris-based nonprofit Reclaim Finance get to know Corporate Social Responsibility officers, trawl through company statements and portfolios, and join shareholder calls. Reclaim Finance’s strategy is all about finding ways to pressure big financial institutions from the inside– and it works. She tells Akshat Rathi about some of the successes her organization has had, and why even bank employees who don’t care about green issues might find reasons to work with her.

Explore further:
Past episode with Richard Curtis of Make My Money Matter about the push to make retirement plans greener
Past episode on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and what happens when a “climate bank” goes under 
Past episode with Brynn O’Brien of the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, a shareholder activist organization focused on publicly traded companies with net zero targets 

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim, Matthew Griffin, Natasha White, Alastair Marsh, and Mohsis Andam. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

Lucie Pinson is a climate activist focused on the banks that fund fossil fuel projects. But she doesn’t march, chant, picket corporate headquarters, or glue herself to the road. Instead, she and her team at the Paris-based nonprofit Reclaim Finance get to know Corporate Social Responsibility officers, trawl through company statements and portfolios, and join shareholder calls. Reclaim Finance’s strategy is all about finding ways to pressure big financial institutions from the inside– and it works. She tells Akshat Rathi about some of the successes her organization has had, and why even bank employees who don’t care about green issues might find reasons to work with her.
Explore further:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Past episode with <a href="https://omnystudio.com/p/zero/clips/f03868b4-776c-4293-85fb-b01300c10ac9">Richard Curtis of Make My Money Matter about the push to make retirement plans greener</a></li>
<li aria-level="1">Past episode on the <a href="https://omnystudio.com/p/zero/clips/caec3891-aebd-4cdc-9d8a-afc700bd2386">collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and what happens when a “climate bank” goes under </a></li>
<li aria-level="1">Past episode with <a href="https://omnystudio.com/p/zero/clips/82fb1035-1cc9-4443-88d8-b08a015c3097">Brynn O’Brien of the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, a shareholder activist organization focused on publicly traded companies with net zero targets </a></li>
</ul>
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim, Matthew Griffin, Natasha White, Alastair Marsh, and Mohsis Andam. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/green">https://www.bloomberg.com/green</a>.

The climate activist trying to change banks from the inside

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/9a19f137-edcb-4d40-bbad-b1b100ab0a2f/transcript

At the Bloomberg Green Festival, Akshat Rathi sits down with voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams and Ari Matusiak, who leads the nonprofit Rewiring America. Together, Abrams and Matuisiak are trying help middle and low-income families access the tax breaks that can help them affordably electrify their homes. They discussed why household emissions are such a big deal, how to connect existential questions about the future of the planet to kitchen-table decisions, and whether Joe Biden is still the right Democratic candidate for 2024. 

Explore further:
Past episode with Bill Gates about what another Donald Trump presidency could mean for green investments
Past episode with Bill Gates about the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act
Past episode with political scientist Leah Stokes on whether the US could become a global climate policy leader

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim and Matthew Griffin. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

At the Bloomberg Green Festival, Akshat Rathi sits down with voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams and Ari Matusiak, who leads the nonprofit Rewiring America. Together, Abrams and Matuisiak are trying help middle and low-income families access the tax breaks that can help them affordably electrify their homes. They discussed why household emissions are such a big deal, how to connect existential questions about the future of the planet to kitchen-table decisions, and whether Joe Biden is still the right Democratic candidate for 2024. 
Explore further:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Past episode with <a href="https://omnystudio.com/p/zero/clips/5c03674f-ef34-4279-81a9-b19a00c73e8a">Bill Gates about what another Donald Trump presidency could mean for green investments</a></li>
<li aria-level="1">Past episode with <a href="https://omnystudio.com/p/zero/clips/4c837822-8c7e-4266-b86b-af9d0130b5ac">Bill Gates about the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act</a></li>
<li aria-level="1">Past episode with <a href="https://omnystudio.com/p/zero/clips/f8a01e2b-e7f3-4e78-979c-af9d013051bd">political scientist Leah Stokes on whether the US could become a global climate policy leader</a></li>
</ul>
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim and Matthew Griffin. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/green">https://www.bloomberg.com/green</a>.

Stacey Abrams on how kitchen-table decisions can cut emissions

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/fddf36b1-fe60-4500-b30d-b1ab015d2c0b/transcript

How did a good idea go so wrong? Carbon offsets with Mark Trexler

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