Sustain Change Grow The podcast series nourishing aspirations for lasting improvements in our lives.

People naturally simplify the world to make it easier to understand and make decisions. Economists create models that help governments and other economic agents
make informed decisions. At which point economic models stop being just models and start defining the way we look at the world? How much economic models with
their focus on GDP growth and liberal markets contribute to the problem of climate change and other environmental problems? Do we need to change the economic paradigm to be able to solve these problems? Can pricing of carbon
emissions or biodiversity be part of the solution? What is the role of nature in the economic models and how economic profession should evolve to fit better the
changing world?

In this episode, I talk with Romain Svartzman, Research Fellow at Bocconi University (Institute for European Policymaking) & Senior Executive Fellow at SDA Bocconi whose research focuses on developing scenarios of ecological transition including relationship to nature, geopolitics of critical metals and reforms of the international monetary and financial system, and assessing their economic and financial implications. We discuss all these questions regarding the development of the economic thinking and the role of nature in the economics. At the end of the episode Romain suggests a list of books on how economists can think better and beyond simple profit maximization paradigm.

(10) Romain Svartzman | LinkedIn

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Clean energy investment must reach $4.5 trillion per year by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5°C according to the International Energy Agency report. That’s a significant amount of investment, though this reflects about 4.5% of
the world GDP. While the technology for renewable energy exists and the capacity keeps growing, this energy still poses difficult questions. Renewable energy is
still expensive and requires significant initial investments. The respective roles of markets and governments are important to speed up the transition to cleaner energy, and sole market approach may not work or at least not quick enough as required by the climate emergency. On the other hand, the use of renewable energy poses serious questions regarding other planetary boundaries, and electrification of all energy use may not be possible or optimal.

In this episode, I talk with Mario Samano, an Associate professor of Economics at HEC Montreal who works on regulation and market competition in energy markets, including renewable energy and we discuss all these questions regarding renewable energy, where markets can help and where there are their limits.  Is energy transition feasible and what market mechanisms and government interventions are needed to achieve the transition?

Mario Samano (hec.ca)

(15) Mario Samano | LinkedIn

The episode is available on Google podcasts, Apple
podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Follow me on Instagram: Sustain_Change_Grow

Like the episode, Subscribe to the podcast and Share it
around if you like it. It will help the others to learn about it. And think about sharing your views and suggestions by writing to me at scgrowpodcast@gmail.com

The podcast reflects only my own views.

Can money be a force for good? Can investments bring well-being and empowerment? You would think that’s exactly what investments should normally do. Unfortunately, in the current liberal market economies investments very often extract benefits for investors, or capital holders, while people and communities as well as the nature suffer. However, there exist investors who are looking for making good with their money, favoring benefits for the society and environment over financial
return. This is called Impact Investing.

In this episode, I talk with Tom Adlam, an Impact Investing Expert with over thirty years progressive financial and investment experience, predominantly in East and
Southern Africa. Since January 2023, he has been working on an advisory basis on a range of impact investing-related assignments, including the Global
Steering Group for Impact Investing (GSG), Palladium International, Ecorys, and Agri-Frontiers.

We discuss with Tom what exactly Impact Investing is, what challenges such investors face, and how Impact Investing can become a mainstream. While the idea of impact investing seems very attractive, there are multiple challenges on its way.

Tom Adlam | LinkedIn

The episode is available on Google podcasts, Apple
podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Follow me on Instagram: Sustain_Change_Grow

Like the episode, Subscribe to the podcast and Share it
around if you like it. It will help the others to learn about it. And think of sharing your views and suggestions by writing to me at scgrowpodcast@gmail.com

The podcast reflects only my own views.

Got a question about heat pumps? Never heard about it previously?

In this episode, my guest Tom Gosling will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about heat pumps. To start with, heat pumps is a solution to reduce carbon
emissions related to heating. As you may know, heating relies mostly on gas and sometimes on coal. Heat pumps use electricity but much more efficiently than electric heating and thus much cheaper.

Tom will unveil some myths about heat pumps and will explain that heat pumps work well in cold winters too! Heat pumps can be used for heating as the name suggests but also for cooling. What a nice feature during our burning summers, isn’t it?

There are barriers on the spread of heat pumps, and Tom will discuss at length policy implications to make heat pumps more affordable and installation speed up to
the required level to address climate change.

Tom Gosling is a seasoned board adviser with 20+ years of experience in corporate governance and responsible business, including 15 years as a Partner at PwC. In
2020, Tom decided to pursue a portfolio career. Now he is an Executive Fellow at London Business School and the European Corporate Governance Institute. He works on issues related to corporate governance, responsible business, and sustainable investing. In 2019, Tom started took a pledge to reduce carbon footprint of his family by half in ten years. He shares his journey on his website which I highly recommend to visit for more details and inspiration.

You can listen to the previous episode (#20) with Tom on middle class approach to decarbonisation.

Tom’s blog about his experience to install a heat pump

https://www.tom-gosling.com/blog/this-has-to-get-easier

The episode is available on Google podcasts, Apple podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

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writing to me to scgrowpodcast@gmail.com

The podcast reflects only my own views.

#heatpump, #sustainability, #decarbonisation, #climatechange, #sustainablelifestyle

Wondering how these three topics are related?

My todays' guest is Miyoko Schinner.

Miyoko founded and lead until 2022 a $ 260 million brand of vegan cheese, called Miyoko Creamery. To a large extent, Miyoko re-invented vegan cheese and made it popular in the United States. What is key is that Miyoko is a true defender of animal rights and undertakes multiple actions to remove animals from the food chain, from producing delicious vegan cheese to generously sharing her recipes, to founding non-profit organisations for the animal cause.

Current western food traditions based to a large extent on consumption of meat and dairy products lead to a lot of adverse effects such as up to 25% of total human-generated greenhouse gas emissions, animal suffering due to the way animals are treated in industrial farms, human health problems such heart diseases and diabetes. Eating animal products in quantities currently consumed is absolutely unsustainable. As Miyoko argues this is a very recent human history, while old history knows very different examples such as an 8-century
long Japanese vegan society.

We will also talk about many other topics such as history of vegan diet, how venture capital or financial system in general can influence the food system, barriers for transition to low-carbon economy in the agriculture, or simply relationship between work-efficiency-diet and happiness. 


Miyoko’s LinkedIn profile if you are interested in reaching her out regards Vegan Style Brand

https://www.linkedin.com/in/miyoko-schinner-6a47204/

Miyoko’s YouTube channel for easy vegan recipes:

https://www.youtube.com/@thevegangoodlifewithmiyoko



3:25 – Queen of vegan cheese

5:20 – Creation of first vegan cheeses

7:45 – Processed cheeses mostly consumed in the US contain no milk

11:00 – SAD – Standard American Diet and plant-based movement

13:35 – Changing a habit of eating cheese in Europe; vegan cheeses in France and Italy

14:55 – Evolution of food and eating habits

17:23 – Where is money in food production

18:57 – The role of investors in shaping the economy and the food system

22:00 – Miyoko creamery development: the story of becoming an international brand

26:15 – Multiple regional brands as an alternative to national and international brands

27:27 – Smaller VC market in Europe: a curse or a blessing

30:40 – Is there too much of innovation…

31:24 – What should we be thinking about if we want to change the world

32:45 – Are there more vegans today than thirty years ago?

35:10 – People have been eating plant-based food for thousand years

37:37 – We could make peasant food look sexy

38:13 – Everybody is an impact investor today

40:25 – The right to use word “butter” for vegan products

43:49 – Vegan diet is sufficient for human health

47:17 – Leading non-profit organisations for animal rights

50:50 – LEAP organisation: Leaders for Ethics, Animals and the Planet

52:14 – Converting farms into growing crops

53:37 – Dairy farmers and ranchers are having hard times to meet their needs

56:03 – We need government programs instead of investors

56:30 – Aka Steve Jobs’ departure from Miyoko Creamery

58:28 – New projects

1:00:25 – Creating Vegan Lifestyle Brand

1:00:40 – YouTube Channel for cooking vegan at home

1:05:45 – Getting back to the kitchens and restoring eating together habits

1:12:48 – Book recommendations

1:15:00 – Historical traditions of eating vegan food

1:15:55 – Japan was vegan for 800 years

1:17:13 – To get in touch with Miyoko



New episode is published every second Tuesday. It is
available on Google podcasts, Apple podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Follow me on Instagram

Share your views, suggestions and critics by writing
to me to scgrowpodcast@gmail.com



The podcast reflects only my own views.



























#vegan, #vegancheese, #climateaction,
#sustainability, #animalrights

Food constitutes the most intimate relationship between us and nature. Though the food that we eat now can be almost called unnatural. Yes, it is full of calories but very poor in nutrients. And we can just imagine what effect has this unnatural food on our health. The way this food is produced has a huge negative effect on nature, climate and biodiversity. Luckily, solutions exist.

Today, I am talking to an amazing woman, an entrepreneur who was curious to ask questions about the way her supply products were produced. After digging deeper into the problem, she found a new business opportunity and launched a company that benefits people, both consumers and producers, but also nature and biodiversity.

And that’s what we are going to talk today about: how food can be good for you and for nature. We also touch upon financing issues for regenerative agriculture and insetting credits (not to be confused with carbon offsetting credit).

Marcela Flores is a founder of Tierra Foods company that is inspired by the indigenous knowledge to produce highly nutritious food while also reducing carbon emissions, restoring biodiversity and valuing local communities.  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcela-flores-98547223/

https://tierra-foods.com/


Book recommendations from the Episode:

Isabella Tree “Wilding” and Jim Collins “From Good to Great”

1:50 – How it all started. Growing business from the kitchen

3:30 – First realizations of how food is grown

4:00 – Alternative options to grow food

5:30 – What regenerative agriculture is

6:00 – Problems with the current agriculture practices

13:30 – Windscreen effect

14:30 – Value of the insects

16:10 – High concern about the environmental problems but hope is present

17:12 – Success of the concerted effort to solve ozone layer problem

18:10 – Tierra Foods’ approach helps reverse biodiversity loss

19:02 – Trees create rain: the magic of nature

19:50 – Tierra Foods’ business model. Agroforestry is key

21:00 – Natural carbon absorption capacity of nut bread trees (Brosimum Alicastrum)

21:50 – Edible nutritious seeds from the trees

23:15 – Reforestation with maximum benefits

23:50 – Scientific approach to measure and reporting nature and climate benefits

24:18 – Carbon insets

25:10 – Helping companies to reduce emissions from their supply chain

26:20 – Carbon insets vs carbon offsets

27:29 – What about biodiversity credits?

28:00 – Bio-economy: Working with living forests and indigenous people

29:30 – Just pay and decent work for people

30:54 – Getting inspired from indigenous people

33:47 – Collaboration with academics

34:31 – Uptake by large food corporations of the proposed solution

36:00 – Low-carbon transition: learning by doing and by failing

37:39 – Science-based targets for companies

42:18 – Beware greenwashing

46:40 – The role of finance

47:10 – Regenerative agriculture neither riskier nor more expensive but it takes time for transition

48:20 – Need for blended finance to support the transition

52:20 – Personal vs corporate responsibility

55:10 – Venture capital seeks quick money and not suited to finance the transition

57:20 – Struggles of a female entrepreneur

1:00:20 – Two most inspiring books: Isabella Tree “Wilding” and Jim Collins “From Good to Great”


New episode is published every second Tuesday. It is
available on Google podcasts, Apple podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Follow me on Instagram

Feel free to share your views, suggestions and critics by writing
to me to scgrowpodcast@gmail.com