Electric aviation fulfills two futuristic promises – flying cars and emissions-free air travel. This week, meet the professor who is working to make it happen. Venkat Viswanathan, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, is working to create a battery that can power an aircraft on a trip over 200 miles. Venkat talks to Akshat about the network of people involved in electric aviation, how long it will take to develop such a light and powerful battery, and why aviation is the most important problem for batteries to solve. 

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. Special thanks to Blake Maples, Stacey Wong, Sharon Chen, and Kira Bindrim. 

Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green

Electric aviation fulfills two futuristic promises – flying cars and emissions-free air travel. This week, meet the professor who is working to make it happen. Venkat Viswanathan, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, is working to create a battery that can power an aircraft on a trip over 200 miles. Venkat talks to Akshat about the network of people involved in electric aviation, how long it will take to develop such a light and powerful battery, and why aviation is the most important problem for batteries to solve. 
Read a transcript of this episode, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-13/transcript-zero-episode-35-the-climate-case-for-flying-cars">here</a>.
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd and our senior producer is Christine Driscoll. Special thanks to Blake Maples, Stacey Wong, Sharon Chen, and Kira Bindrim. 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>

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

The climate case for flying cars

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/be042ea6-4d91-4f16-8376-afe200a12ba4/transcript

On a windswept cliff at the edge of Tasmania, scientists are quietly tracking the future of our planet. This week, host Rebecca Jones speaks with David Stringer, managing editor of climate and ESG news in Asia, about Kennaook/Cape Grim — home to some of the cleanest air on Earth and one of the world’s most important climate monitoring stations.

Learn how decades of data are reshaping our understanding of climate change, why the site matters to governments and investors, and what Australia’s role could be in the global climate fight.

Read more:
Listen to our episode with Dale Vince about how the UK can lower energy bills
Sign up to the Bloomberg Australia podcast

 

On a windswept cliff at the edge of Tasmania, scientists are quietly tracking the future of our planet. This week, host Rebecca Jones speaks with David Stringer, managing editor of climate and ESG news in Asia, about Kennaook/Cape Grim &mdash; home to some of the cleanest air on Earth and one of the world&rsquo;s most important climate monitoring stations.
Learn how decades of data are reshaping our understanding of climate change, why the site matters to governments and investors, and what Australia&rsquo;s role could be in the global climate fight.
Read more:
<ul>
<li>Listen to our <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2026-07-20/zero-ditching-net-zero-to-win-the-climate-argument-podcast">episode with Dale Vince</a> about how the UK can lower energy bills</li>
<li>Sign up to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/podcasts/series/bloomberg-australia">Bloomberg Australia podcast</a></li>
</ul>
&nbsp;

Bloomberg Australia: Lessons from the world's cleanest air

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/3af2b8be-2e7f-468c-8006-b48f00b53a26/transcript

Andy Burnham has become the UK’s sixth prime minister in just 10 years. When it comes to energy and climate, Labour Party’s Burnham will inherit many of the same challenges of his predecessors: high energy prices, security of supply and an increasingly polarized debate over the UK’s ambitions to reach net zero. This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi sits down with Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity and major donor to Labour, to ask can a new UK government make energy cheap?

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Summer Maxwell, Sommer Saadi, Alyssa McDonald and Laura Millan. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

Andy Burnham has become the UK&rsquo;s sixth prime minister in just 10 years. When it comes to energy and climate, Labour Party&rsquo;s Burnham will inherit many of the same challenges of his predecessors: high energy prices, security of supply and an increasingly polarized debate over the UK&rsquo;s ambitions to reach net zero. This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi sits down with Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity and major donor to Labour, to ask can a new UK government make energy cheap?
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Summer Maxwell, Sommer Saadi, Alyssa McDonald and Laura Millan. 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>.

Ditching net zero to win the climate argument

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/4b91eb47-94de-43ba-a082-b48a010d2f61/transcript

Hundreds of millions of people around the world have no access to reliable electricity, a problem that doesn’t seem to be going away. Since US President Donald Trump started his second term, Western countries have cut development funding, including for climate projects. This week on Zero, Bloomberg’s Akshat Rathi asks Philippe Valahu, chief executive officer of Private Infrastructure Development Group, why it is still so hard to secure climate finance for developing countries.

Explore further:
Zero: How the Financial System Can Work for Climate - Bloomberg
Zero: Ethiopia's Extraordinary Electric Car Boom - Bloomberg
Bloomberg Green’s extreme heat series

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Summer Maxwell, Sommer Saadi, Alyssa McDonald and Laura Millan. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

Hundreds of millions of people around the world have no access to reliable electricity, a problem that doesn&rsquo;t seem to be going away. Since US President Donald Trump started his second term, Western countries have cut development funding, including for climate projects. This week on Zero, Bloomberg&rsquo;s Akshat Rathi asks Philippe Valahu, chief executive officer of Private Infrastructure Development Group, why it is still so hard to secure climate finance for developing countries.
Explore further:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2025-04-09/zero-how-the-financial-system-can-work-for-climate-podcast-m99yrji0">Zero: How the Financial System Can Work for Climate - Bloomberg</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2026-02-18/zero-ethiopia-s-extraordinary-electric-car-boom-podcast">Zero: Ethiopia's Extraordinary Electric Car Boom - Bloomberg</a></li>
<li aria-level="1">Bloomberg Green&rsquo;s extreme heat <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/extreme-heat?itm_source=record&amp;itm_campaign=Extreme_Heat&amp;itm_content=title">series</a></li>
</ul>
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Summer Maxwell, Sommer Saadi, Alyssa McDonald and Laura Millan. 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 selfish case for supporting foreign aid

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/ba998df2-79ec-4269-8ae0-b487006fd00a/transcript

The climate case for flying cars

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