TED Business

Energy expert Sebastián Kind helped Argentina go from virtually no renewable energy to generating nearly 40 percent of its electricity from wind and solar in just six years, despite economic crises and skepticism. How did the country's transition off fossil fuels happen so quickly? He shows why the key breakthrough didn't hinge on technology or resources — and explains how other countries can follow the same path. After the talk, Modupe reflects on Sebastián roadmap for promoting renewable energy laws amid a polarized government.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Esther Duflo brings her data-driven precision to the climate crisis — and the numbers are damning. While world leaders haggle over finances at endless summits, rising temperatures will kill millions in the poorest countries by the end of this century. She calculates the staggering cost of wealthy nations pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, proving that getting billionaires to pay their fair share in taxes is the best way to cover these damages.

When entrepreneur Samir Ibrahim asked farmers in Kenya what problem they most needed solved, the answer was simple: reliable access to water to irrigate their farms year-round. Samir is the CEO of SunCulture, a company replacing diesel- and petrol-powered water pumps with more affordable solar-powered ones. He sits down with Sherrell Dorsey, host of the “TED Tech” podcast, to discuss how he continues to innovate his product to serve smallholder farmers. Later, Sherrell chats with coffee farmer Josephine Waweru about how SunCulture’s pump revolutionized her farm and the advice she has for young people to succeed.This is episode one of a four-part series airing this month on TED Tech, where host and climate tech journalist Sherrell Dorsey speaks with climate leaders on the technology sparking a greener, more equitable future.

Struggling communities don’t need handouts — they need bold new ways to root wealth. Meet Molly Hemstreet — a TED Fellow, Southern Appalachia native and cofounder of worker support network the Industrial Commons — who’s flipping the script on generational poverty by turning textile waste into $9-per-pound yarn and factory workers into business owners. Discover how her long-haul approach is rebuilding rural economies stitch by stitch, proving that opportunity grows when we stop extracting and start empowering. After the talk, Modupe reflects on how much change-making is site-specific and how you can think about showing up for your communities?

Over the last 40 years, Brazil has lost an area larger than California to deforestation — and 90 percent of the clear-cutting has been illegal, all part of a multi-billion-dollar global environmental crime economy. Civic entrepreneur Ilona Szabó de Carvalho sees this crisis as an opportunity. Revealing how Brazil is pioneering an economic model actually profiting from protecting nature, she shares the ambitious restoration goals and innovations in forest mapping that are turning the country into a "nature superpower." Get a glimpse of what an economy rooted in regeneration, not extraction, could look like. After the talk, Modupe reflects on her experience traveling through Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya and how you can change public opinion and treat the natural world better.

Brené Brown is a researcher, storyteller, and author who hosts the podcast Dare to Lead and has given some of the most popular TED Talks of all time. Brené joins Adam live at Authors@Wharton to talk about her new book, Strong Ground. They discuss how to identify your core values, what courageous leadership looks like, and whether vulnerability has gained popularity. They also address the problems with “executive presence,” compare notes on how to have hard conversations and set boundaries, debate the merits of the “tush push,” and reflect on what Brené learned from working with FBI hostage negotiators.

Africa’s booming youth population is often seen as a "jobless generation." But in Kenya alone, young people are already adding more than 530 million dollars a month to the economy through informal businesses. Social entrepreneur Anuj Tanna, who cofounded a social network to connect these entrepreneurs, challenges us to rethink the narrative: What if the informal economy isn’t a problem to fix, but a powerful engine to fuel the future of work?

This is the surprising story of how Texas – rich in oil and gas – became America's biggest producer of wind energy. For our first episode, Ryan and Anjali talk with Pat Wood, once George W. Bush’s right hand man and head of Texas's Public Utility Commission, to uncover the innovative approach that turned Texas into a renewable energy powerhouse. It’s a story about what could get done before partisan politics got in the way of good climate policy, and it shows that economic incentives for consumers, government, and companies can play a huge role in supercharging clean energy.