Climate Solutions News

Britain retrofits fewer than 100,000 buildings a year. To hit net zero it needs between one and 1.5 million. Andrew Spencer, Energy and Carbon Services Director at Equans UK and Ireland, joins Dominic Shales to explain the gap and what closes it.The conversation covers the 200,000 to 500,000 skilled workers the industry lacks, the £10-20 billion annual funding requirement, and the policy instability that stops the supply chain investing. Spencer argues retrofit should be treated as national infrastructure rather than a construction problem, and explains the place-based model behind the UK's first net zero neighbourhood in Brockmoor, Dudley.Read more at climatesolutions.news.00:00 "We're not meeting our targets."06:27 "We need something in the region of 400,000 people."09:49 "I am optimistic about the UK."12:53 "Every place is different."Chapters00:00 Introduction to Retrofit and Equans03:07 The Urgency of Scaling Retrofit06:05 Workforce Challenges in Retrofit09:12 Place-Based Decarbonisation Explained11:54 The Role of Local Authorities15:02 Networking and Future Outlook

UNDO Carbon can prove its science works. The harder problem is paying for the years between spending on deployment and earning the carbon credits back, and that financing gap, more than the chemistry, is what now decides how fast enhanced rock weathering can grow.Dominic Shales speaks with Alex Bury, head of finance at UNDO, about the economics of scaling carbon removal. They discuss why enhanced rock weathering leans on existing mining and farming infrastructure rather than expensive capital equipment, the move from upfront payments to payment on delivery, and UNDO's debt deal with the Inlandsis Fund alongside a Microsoft offtake. Bury also covers carbon removal insurance, the significance of Farm Credit Canada's investment, the measurement challenge behind lender confidence, and what it takes to bring a first-time buyer like Barclays into the voluntary carbon market.UNDO was a winner in the $100 million XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition. Its buyers include Microsoft, Barclays, British Airways and McLaren Racing.More at https://climatesolutions.news

Heavy industry produces the materials that the modern world runs on. It also produces around a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. Cement alone accounts for roughly 8% of global CO₂, a share that has barely moved in decades. Most of the plants responsible are old, complex, and still running on control systems that were never built for the world they operate in today.This week, Dominic Shales speaks with Buffy Price, co-founder of Gigaton, the AI company replacing control software in energy-intensive industries. Formerly known as Carbon Re and spun out of the University of Cambridge and UCL, Gigaton has just announced a $26 million Series A led by Plural, taking total funding past $35 million.Buffy explains how Gigaton's self-learning platform takes autonomous control of industrial processes, delivering up to $3 million in annual operational savings per plant for customers including Adani Cement, Heidelberg Materials, and Holcim. She talks through the journey from recommendation dashboards to direct plant control, the rise of dark factories in China, and the company's plans to expand from cement into steel, glass, and petrochemicals.They also discuss what it takes to raise a Series A in the current climate investment market, how CBAM and ETS are shifting producer incentives, and why carbon capture and AI process control are complementary rather than competing solutions.Find climate tech news, analysis, and interviews at Climate Solutions News.Chapters:00:00 The Impact of Heavy Industry on Climate Change03:02 Gigaton's Mission and Ambitions06:11 Funding and Financial Viability in Tough Times08:48 Automation and AI in Cement Production11:54 Cultural Shifts in Industry and AI Adoption15:11 Global Expansion and Market Strategy17:57 Policy Impacts on the Cement Industry21:10 Expanding into Other Hard-to-Abate Industries23:53 Buffy's Journey and Vision for the Future

The headlines say climate investment is in retreat. Duncan Reid is not convinced.In this episode of the Climate Solutions News podcast, Dominic Shales sits down with the chief executive of Reset Connect, the green investment event that anchors London Climate Action Week. Reid has spent 25 years in events and now watches climate capital up close, with investors, founders and corporate buyers gathering under one roof each June.His argument is that the money has changed hands and crossed borders, away from the loudest US funds. Large managers have stepped back as Washington unwinds its climate incentives. Yet pension funds and institutional investors keep allocating, because their obligations stretch across decades. As Reid puts it, "if the UK is all on fire or underwater, people don't need pensions."The conversation turns to the war in the Gulf and the rise of energy sovereignty, the maturing of the sector since 2022, the long struggle to fix the grid, and why Reid believes the economics of clean power now win whatever the politics.Read the article here. Reset Connect London returns to Excel on 23 and 24 June 2026, as the flagship event of London Climate Action Week. Entry is free.Listen, follow and share. Climate Solutions News covers the people and ideas driving the climate transition. More at climatesolutions.news

What if the carbon dioxide coming out of a factory could go straight into growing protein? That is the logic behind Arborea's BioSolar Leaf technology, and it is attracting serious interest from some of the world's largest food companies.Dominic Shales speaks with Dr Kaly Chatakondu, Global Commercial Director at Arborea, about the London-based startup that has spent a decade industrialising photosynthesis to cultivate microalgae at commercial scale. Kaly brings more than 30 years of senior food industry experience and a chemistry doctorate from the University of Oxford. He explains how the BioSolar Leaf system works, why its economics and contamination profile solve problems that have held back the microalgae sector for decades, and how Arborea is building its first full commercial factory in Portugal while quietly assembling a portfolio of offtake agreements with major multinationals. The conversation covers the AB InBev collaboration in Mexico, the regulatory landscape for novel food ingredients, and what a global rollout via joint ventures and technology licensing could look like.TakeawaysThe food system accounts for a third of global greenhouse gas emissions.Arborea's BioSolar Leaf technology industrializes photosynthesis.Microalgae can be cultivated on non-fertile land.The process is carbon negative and environmentally friendly.Spirulina is a key product due to its high protein content.Arborea collaborates with major food companies for product development.The technology can utilize CO2 from various industrial processes.Regulatory hurdles exist but are manageable for approved microalgae.Arborea's approach overcomes limitations of previous microalgae production methods.Global expansion plans include partnerships and licensing opportunities.Sound Bites00:00 "What if protein could be grown from CO2?"03:27 "It's photosynthesis on steroids."09:49 "Microalgae are superfoods."15:26 "This is completely unique technology."Chapters00:00 Introduction to Climate Solutions and Protein Production01:09 Transitioning to Arborea and BioSolar Leaf Technology03:56 Understanding BioSolar Leaf: The Process of Industrial Photosynthesis05:30 Environmental Benefits and Carbon Negative Process06:41 Product Focus: Spirulina and Its Versatility08:13 Collaborations with Major Food Companies10:03 Industrial Partnerships and Future Plans12:07 Navigating Food Regulations in Europe14:21 The Importance of Regulation in Food Safety15:04 Arborea's Unique Approach to Microalgae Production17:13 Global Expansion Plans and Market Strategies19:06 Funding and Investment Strategies20:51 Conclusion and Future Outlook

France produces more biomethane than almost any other European country, yet a significant share of its agricultural biogas potential goes untapped. The reason: most farms sit too far from the gas grid to make connection viable, and the infrastructure cost runs to 100,000 euros per kilometre.Jules Vasse, head of public affairs at SUBLIME Énergie, joins Climate Solutions News Publisher Dominic Shales to explain the company's answer to that problem. SUBLIME liquefies raw biogas directly on the farm using a patented carrier agent, collects it by truck every few days, and separates it into bio-LNG and liquid bioCO2 at a centralised hub shared across multiple farms. The model bypasses the gas grid entirely.In April 2026, SUBLIME inaugurated Charlie, the world's first on-farm biogas liquefaction system, at a pig farm in Brittany. Jules talks through what the demonstrator means for the company's development, what comes next with the Delta commercial project, and how France's new IRICC carbon intensity regulation could transform the economics of bio-LNG for heavy transport.With the Strait of Hormuz crisis disrupting European LNG supply, the conversation around domestic renewable gas has become more urgent. This episode explores why farm waste may be one of the more practical answers.

Most climate tech founders obsess over their technology and their fundraising. Few think hard enough about the law — until it's too late. In this episode, CSN publisher Dominic Shales speaks with Mitesh Jagatia, founder of Eco Ventures Counsel, the UK initiative connecting early-stage climate startups with free, full-service legal support. Confirmed participating firms include Ashurst, BCLP, Dentons, Gowling WLG, Kirkland & Ellis,  Linklaters, and Squire Patton Boggs, alongside Stephenson Harwood and others, giving startups access to advisers who routinely act for the world’s largest financial institutions and corporations. The IP firms Appleyard Lees and Keltie are also among the partners.Mitesh spent sixteen years as a senior in-house lawyer at Sky, Bloomberg and Moody's before leaving to build something he believed in more. He explains why legal infrastructure can determine whether a promising climate technology ever reaches the market, how his pro bono model works in practice, and why the value of what his cohort companies receive — often hundreds of thousands of pounds of expert advice — is one of the most overlooked advantages in the UK climate tech ecosystem.He also shares his candid view on using AI for legal advice, the specific pitfalls facing university spinouts, and his plans to expand Eco Ventures Counsel into Europe in 2027.Applications for cohort four are open now at ecoventurescounsel.com.The full Climate Solutions News article is at https://climatesolutions.news/spotlight/legal-support-is-crucial-but-often-ignored-by-climate-startups

Can synthetic fuels ever be produced cheaply enough to compete with fossil alternatives? Florian Hildebrand, co-founder and CEO of Greenlyte Carbon Technologies, thinks the answer is yes — and that the industry has been solving the wrong problem.In this interview, Hildebrand explains how Greenlyte's Liquid Solar platform uses cheap intermittent renewable energy as its organising principle, why the company has deliberately walked away from the carbon credit market, and how a tolling model built around existing industrial infrastructure could bridge the gap between small-scale pilots and meaningful fuel volumes.We also discuss Greenlyte's strategic partnership with Rheinmetall, INERATEC and Sunfire under the GigaPtX initiative, the lessons the industry should draw from Climeworks' experience of premature scaling, and why Hildebrand believes 2040 is the realistic horizon for a substantial market shift in hard-to-abate sectors including aviation and shipping.Greenlyte was founded in 2022 in Essen, in Germany's Ruhr industrial region, and has raised just over €55 million to date. Its first commercial eMethanol facility is planned for deployment by the end of 2026.Climate Solutions News covers climate policy, technology and finance for professionals working on the energy transition. New interviews and analysis every week.🌐 climatesolutions.news