Michael Liebreich
March 19, 2025
Can Europe Survive the Transition To Renewables? Ep201: Nikos Tsafos
How does Europe get cheap energy again? Are climate goals at odds with the need to remain economically competitive? Are we about to see an empowered and emboldened Europe, ready to take on China and the US? Barely five years ...
Feb. 26, 2025
The Future of Clean Tech Under Trump — Ep198: Jigar Shah
How can the U.S. government bridge the gap between clean energy innovation and large-scale deployment? Will the Trump administration accelerate progress or put up roadblocks for clean tech? And how can the U.S. stay competiti...
Feb. 12, 2025
A Clean Energy Playbook For The Global South — Ep196: Lucy Heintz
The global south needs to build out vast amounts of clean energy, and requires hundreds of billions of dollars annually to do. And yet, only a fraction of the investment going into clean energy and the net-zero transition is ...
Feb. 5, 2025
Are Big Investors Abandoning Climate Progress? Ep195: David Blood
Just a few short years ago, sustainable finance and sustainable investing were all the rage. The Glasgow Financial Alliance For Net Zero (GFANZ) boasted financial players controlling $140 trillion. Things have not been quite ...
Jan. 8, 2025
Petrostate USA vs Electrostate China — Place Your Bets | Ep191
Happy New Year and welcome to Season 14 of Cleaning Up. From the future of nuclear to growing tensions between China and the USA, we're off with a bang with a conversation between hosts Michael Liebreich and Bryony Worthingto...
Dec. 18, 2024
Have We Lost The Climate Argument? Ep190: Lord Adair Turner
Are we losing the argument that climate change requires action and investment? Can we balance the need for affordable energy with the costs of decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors like steel, cement and aviation? And how can w...
Dec. 4, 2024
Is The International Order Too Weak To Stop Climate Change? Ep188: James Cameron
What was achieved at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan? Where will the promised $300 billion come from, and how will it be spent? And what reforms are needed to make the COP process more effective and impactful? This week, host Micha...
Nov. 27, 2024
Can Exponential Growth Save a Finite Planet? Ep187: Azeem Azhar
As we race towards a future powered by AI and data centres, how will the insatiable demand for energy impact the environment? With the richest companies ploughing billions into energy generation, might there be some unexpecte...
Nov. 20, 2024
Is It Ever OK to Promote Fossil Fuels? Ep186: Rory Sutherland
How can behavioural science and psychology be leveraged to drive meaningful change around climate action? What unintended consequences might arise from heavy-handed government mandates versus more subtle interventions? And in...
Nov. 11, 2024
How Trump & Musk Will Reshape US Climate Action — Michael Liebreich & Bryony Worthington
How will the Trump administration's policies impact the clean energy transition in the United States? What will be Elon Musk's role in shaping climate policy? And what are the geopolitical implications of the US withdrawing f...
Nov. 6, 2024
The Biggest, Dirtiest Secret of the Energy Industry — Ep184: Jonathan Maxwell
Could we save billions by simply reducing energy waste? How can we power the vast, energy-hungry growth of AI without sacrificing climate goals? And is Europe doomed to high energy costs and deindustrialisation? This week on ...
Oct. 23, 2024
Is There Really an EV Slowdown? Ep182: Colin McKerracher
Is the shift to electric vehicles really slowing down? Are people losing interest in EVs, or is there more to the story? How will changes in the global automotive industry impact the net-zero transition? And If no one wants E...
Oct. 9, 2024
What Have the Oceans Ever Done For Us? Ep180: Helen Czerski
Ocean's absorb one third of the CO2 we are recklessly pumping into the atmosphere, as well as 90% of the heat. What would happen if that were to stop? The oceans define every aspect of our planet's physical systems, its ecosy...
Sept. 25, 2024
Slowdown, what Slowdown? The EV Revolution is Just Getting Started | Ep178: Dr Andy Palmer
What will it take for electric vehicles to truly dominate the transportation landscape? Can traditional automakers adapt quickly enough to the EV revolution, or will new players seize the opportunity? And how close are we to ...
Sept. 11, 2024
The Great Hydrogen Reset — Is It Germany's Turn? Ep176: Eva Schmid
Germany is one of the most bullish countries in the world on clean/green hydrogen. The home of the Energiewende is not just one of the most committed countries in the world to reaching net zero, it is of course a highly indus...
Sept. 4, 2024
The Kraken Wakes: Creating the Utility of the Future | Ep175: Greg Jackson
How does a startup become the largest provider of electricity in the UK in less than a decade? What is locational pricing and how could it encourage more renewables? And is it possible to achieve a zero-carbon electricity sys...
Aug. 7, 2024
The Future of Chinese Solar, Battery Myths & Climate Politics | Ep174: Michael Liebreich & Bryony Worthington
In the final episode of Season 12, hosts Michael Liebreich and Bryony Worthington reflect on the key conversations and developments in the net-zero transition over the past three months.
July 31, 2024
The Solar Revolution - Past, Present and Future | Ep173: Jenny Chase
The solar industry has experienced a meteoric rise over the past two decades, growing from a small cottage industry to one of the leading technologies in the energy transition. It’s not been a smooth ride, and there’ve been p...
July 17, 2024
The Climate Challenge is an Engineering Challenge - Ep171: Dr. Rosemary Barnes
This week on Cleaning Up, Michael Liebreich sits down with mechanical engineer and YouTube creator Dr Rosemary "Rosie" Barnes to discuss the critical role of engineering in addressing climate change. Rosie shares insights fro...
July 10, 2024
Is the Electric Vehicle Revolution Unstoppable? ep170: Ben Nelmes
Electric vehicles are finally becoming more mainstream, but this hasn’t stopped a flood of negative stories and political attempts to scare people away from making the switch to better, more cost efficient vehicles. So is the...
July 3, 2024
Sunak vs Starmer: What the UK Election Means for Climate and Energy - Ep169: Dr Simon Evans
With the UK general election tomorrow, the Cleaning Up team sits down with Dr Simon Evans of Carbon Brief to run through each party's manifesto, and what they say about UK climate and energy policy. With Labour widely predict...
June 5, 2024
Battery Recycling Is Here - But Where Are The Batteries? - Ep165: Hans Eric Melin
As everyone knows, battery prices are plummeting and manufacturing volumes are soaring, whether for EVs or for grid-connected storage. And everyone knows there's a problem: only 5% of lithium-ion batteries are recycled. The rest go to landfill, right? Wrong. This week's guest on Cleaning Up is the …
May 29, 2024
#LightsOn - Live from the Eurelectric Power Summit 2024 in Athens - Ep164: Leonhard Birnbaum
Last week the leading lights of Europe's electricity industry gathered for the annual Eurelectric Power Summit at the Lagonissi Beach Resort just outside Athens. The conference - under the hashtag this year of #lights on - lasted two days and covered the key issues facing Europe's and the world's p…
May 15, 2024
Audioblog 13: Clean Hydrogen's Missing Trillions
In this week's episode of Cleaning Up, we find how much and how much more governments would have to spend for hydrogen to live up to its hype. This audio blog is adapted from a piece Michael wrote at the end of last year for BloombergNEF, entitled "Clean Hydrogen's Missing Trillions", which estimat…
April 24, 2024
How China Became a Green Finance Superpower - Ep160: Dr. Ma Jun
Welcome to Season 12 of Cleaning Up! If you want a sense of the trajectory of climate action, you have to understand China, and you have to understand finance. There is no one better to share insights on both than Dr Ma Jun, Founder and President of the Institute of Finance and Sustainability in Be…