Episode · Climate Rising
Microsoft ’s Climate Strategy and Its Carbon Removal Deal with Chestnut Carbon
10 Sep 2025 · 45 min
Episode · Climate Rising
10 Sep 2025 · 45 min
Microsoft’s Brian Marrs, Senior Director of Energy and Carbon Removal, and Chestnut Carbon CFO Greg Adams share their perspectives as a major buyer and developer of carbon removal credits. Their 2025 deal is one of the largest carbon removal deals in the U.S. and seeks to deliver 7 million tons of nature-based carbon credits over 25 years. Brian explains Microsoft’s carbon negative strategy and targets, and the role of carbon removal credits. He also describes how Microsoft is using its Climate Innovation Fund and procurement efforts to “build missing markets” in decarbonized energy,…
by Harvard Business School Business & Environment Initiative · English · Business
Climate Rising is about the impact of climate change on business. It brings business and policy leaders and Harvard Business School faculty together to share insights about what businesses are doing, can do, and should do to confront climate change. It explores the many challenges and opportunities
15 Oct 2025 · 31 min
Hui Wen Chan, Senior Director of Sustainability at Crusoe, describes how the rapid rise of AI is reshaping energy demand and Crusoe’s efforts to design more sustainable data centers. She explains how Crusoe leverages stranded energy sources, repurposed electric vehicle batteries, on-site renewables, and innovative energy-efficient cooling technologies to design and build gigawatt-scale AI data center infrastructure that reduces water and carbon footprints. She also shares why Crusoe emphasizes modularity and location-based energy sourcing, and how its customers—ranging from AI startups to…
1 Oct 2025 · 40 min
Danielle Rapson, HBS alum and Co-founder and COO of Mantel, joins Climate Rising to explain how her company is developing a novel molten-based carbon capture system for hard-to-abate industrial sectors. Danielle shares the story of how Mantel spun out of an MIT lab, what sets its technology apart from existing amine-based carbon capture, and why the economics of steam reuse are critical to its efficiency. She also discusses how Mantel’s early projects in pulp and paper and oil refining are shaping its path to commercialization, and what policy and regulatory incentives—like 45Q and Canada’s…
17 Sep 2025 · 43 min
Eric Adamson, Robotics Executive at Oishii and co-founder of Tortuga AgTech, joins Climate Rising to share how automation and AI are transforming fruit farming. Eric explains how his team designed a strawberry-harvesting robot capable of operating in outdoor tunnels and vertical farms, bringing operational efficiency, labor savings, and climate resilience to high-value crops. He discusses why harvest is the hardest—and most impactful—problem in agriculture to automate, what it took to move from lab demo to field-scale deployment, and how they integrated custom robotics and 17 on-device AI…
27 Aug 2025 · 48 min
Ashley Fill, Global Director of Sustainability at P&G Home Care joins Climate Rising to discuss how consumer behavior and innovative technologies can reduce household carbon and water footprints. Ashley shares how life cycle assessments reveal that 87% of the emissions in P&G’s Home Care portfolio come from product use, particularly dishwashing. She describes how their products are engineered to deliver superior performance while reducing water and energy. Ashley also discusses P&G’s partnerships with appliance manufacturers, NGOs, and coalitions like the 50L Home Coalition to encourage…
30 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 9 min
Permitting reform has become one of the most consequential—and controversial—topics in U.S. climate and energy policy. As electricity demand rises due to AI, data centers, electrification, and economic growth, many argue that the country’s permitting, transmission, and interconnection processes are too slow to support the clean energy transition. In this special crossover episode jointly produced by the Climate Rising and CleanLaw podcasts, Mike Toffel and Harvard Law School Professor Jody Freeman speak with Nat Keohane, President of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES). They…
16 Sep 2026 · 40 min
How can companies make sustainability information useful to consumers at the moment they make a purchase? Justine Mahler and Cameron Westfall of Amazon join Climate Rising to discuss Climate Pledge Friendly, Amazon’s sustainable shopping program. They explain how Amazon uses third-party certifications to identify products with sustainability attributes, how the company evaluates which certifications qualify, and how it translates complex standards into information consumers can quickly understand. The conversation also explores what Amazon has learned about consumer behavior since launching…
2 Sep 2026 · 24 min
Climate action requires more than technology, policy, and capital. It also requires communication. In this special curated episode of Climate Rising, we revisit three past conversations to explore how companies communicate about climate change to different audiences. The episode features excerpts from Mike Toffel’s conversations with leaders of New Belgium Brewing, Allbirds, and Microsoft that illustrate distinct approaches to climate storytelling. New Belgium used products and campaigns to engage consumers directly. Allbirds embedded sustainability into product design and customer…
19 Aug 2026 · 30 min
Carbon labeling has become one of the most visible ways climate actions enter everyday consumer decisions. In this episode of Climate Rising, Julia Nicoara, Marketing and Communications Director at the Carbon Trust, explains how carbon labeling systems, certification standards, and corporate partnerships are helping organizations measure, reduce, and communicate their climate impact. The conversation explores how carbon labels evolved from early experimental initiatives into widely adopted transparency tools, how companies balance credibility and communication in sustainability claims, and…
5 Aug 2026 · 46 min
Addressing climate change isn’t just a technology or policy challenge - it’s a communication challenge. John Marshall, founder of Potential Energy Coalition, joins Climate Rising to discuss how marketing techniques can accelerate climate action. Drawing on decades of experience advising major corporations, John explains how his team uses behavioral science, focus groups, large-scale experimentation, and data-driven messaging to shift public perception on climate and energy. The conversation explores why traditional climate messaging often fails, how concepts like “net zero” and “climate…
22 Jul 2026 · 45 min
Transforming the energy system isn’t just a technical challenge - it’s a communication challenge. Leah Qusba, CEO of Good Power, joins Climate Rising to discuss how public perception, political engagement, and storytelling are shaping the pace of the clean energy transition. Good Power operates at the intersection of behavioral science, data, and campaigning, working to accelerate renewable energy adoption and counter misinformation. The conversation explores how permitting bottlenecks, disinformation campaigns, and community resistance are slowing renewable energy deployment—and how…