Shows
Energy vs Climate: How climate is changing our energy systemsEnergy Transition in Africa & its Climate Dilemma with Dr. Rose MutisoDavid & Ed chat with Dr. Rose Mutiso about the tension between energy, climate, and economic development in Africa and the global south. They touch on many topics to do with sub-Saharan Africa, including energy production & consumption, electricity and power grids, and the vast economic inequity that still exists between the global north & south.About Our Guest:Dr. Rose M. Mutiso is a Kenyan scientist, thought leader, and social entrepreneur. She is the Founder & Executive Director of the African Tech Futures Lab (ATFL), a new i...
2025-06-1350 min
The Climate QuestionReview of the year 2024From elections around the world to records in both temperatures and renewable energy, 2024 has been jam-packed with extreme weather and climate news. Graihagh Jackson, Jordan Dunbar and an expert panel reflect on the key climate stories of the year. Dr Rose Mutiso from the Energy for Growth Hub reveals a ‘silent solar revolution’ that has surged across rooftops in South Africa and beyond, helping the grid finally meet people’s electricity needs. We discuss the rise of electric vehicles – but also, deforestation. And the BBC’s Climate Reporter Esme Stallard explains why rising ocean temperatures are the red flag t...
2024-12-3026 min
The InquiryDo we have enough energy to power AI?Artificial Intelligence is something that’s all around us in our daily lives. And even if we do use it, whether that’s to search for a recipe online, make a funny photo, or ask it to help with our homework, every task that AI does uses power. That power is electricity. Around the world there are thousands of data centres hosting computers that process all our requests. And as those tasks get more sophisticated, and AI becomes Super Intelligent, they will need even more electricity.But as Super AI develops, could it become so inte...
2024-06-2722 min
High Energy PlanetAshvin Dayal: We Need to Redefine Energy & Development ProgressDayal, Senior Vice President of Power & Climate and The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet at The Rockefeller Foundation, discusses how he got into working on energy, why he believes in raising the definition of energy access, and the power of philanthropy.
2022-05-1030 minHigh Energy PlanetMoussa Blimpo: Energy is Not the Answer to EverythingBlimpo, Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto's Munk’s School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, discusses his experiences turning policy into real-world impact, his evolving views on dominant development narratives, and what climate justice means to him.
2022-04-2134 minHigh Energy PlanetUzodinma Iweala: Climate Justice Demands New African NarrativesIweala, CEO of The Africa Center, discusses the experiences and identities that led him to narrative work, how narratives are formed and how we can shape them in the development and climate justice realm, and what his definition of climate justice means for Africa.
2022-04-0639 minHigh Energy PlanetJay Taneja: Using Machine Learning to Inform Energy Access SolutionsTaneja, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, discusses his work on creatively accessing data in data-poor environments, the challenges in electrification via grid connections, and his work as an engineer and professor in the development sector.
2022-03-2328 minHigh Energy PlanetKatie Hill: The First Pillar of Decarbonization Needs to be Green GrowthHill, Partner & Associate Director at Boston Consulting Group, talks about the future of African cities, the imperative for green growth in low-income countries on the global path to net zero, and her outlook on scaling enterprise and service delivery in Africa.
2022-03-0826 minHigh Energy PlanetSudeshna Ghosh Banerjee: Decarbonization is a Very Long GameBanerjee, practice manager in the Energy and Extractives Global Practice at the World Bank Group, talks with Katie and Rose about whether net zero makes sense for Africa, what development organizations get wrong about energy access & women, and why hydrogen could be the next solar.
2022-02-2830 minHigh Energy PlanetDamilola Ogunbiyi: Putting People at the Center of Energy TransitionsThe CEO of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) on whether the international community is failing on SDG7, what she thinks net zero means for Africa & how she challenges the stereotype of what an African leader looks like.
2022-01-3129 min
InevitableEp. 187: Katie Auth, Policy Director at Energy for Growth HubToday's guest is Katie Auth, Policy Director at Energy for Growth Hub.The Energy for Growth Hub is a global solutions connector, matching policymakers with evidence-based pathways to a high-energy future for everyone.Katie leads the Hub's work to strengthen international energy policy and investment by bilateral and multilateral development funders. Previously, she served as Senior Development Finance Advisor at the USAID and was a member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies Africa Policy Accelerator. Before that, she was Acting Deputy Coordinator of the US Government's Power Africa initiative, working to catalyze public...
2021-12-1349 minHigh Energy PlanetRebekah Shirley Lukera: Small Island Nations are Hypervisible & Hyper InvisibleThe director of research, data & innovation for WRI Africa talks with Katie & Rose about climate justice and building resilient energy infrastructure in small island developing states, why climate finance pledges don't always translate to reality, obstacles to electrical vehicle uptake in Africa, and Nairobi's reggae scene.
2021-07-0626 minHigh Energy PlanetArvind Subramanian: We Have to Fight Carbon ImperialismThe former chief economic advisor to India’s government on how climate policy has become disconnected from energy needs of poorer countries, the politics of India’s electrical tariffs and why he thinks renewable energy has yet to be proven economically viable there.
2021-06-2133 minHigh Energy PlanetKen Caldeira: Let’s Align Self-Interest with Global Climate InterestOne of the world’s most visionary climate scientists tells Katie & Rose why he thinks nuclear energy is key to quelling climate change and delivering prosperity to the developing world, why he’s gone all-positive on Twitter, why considering solar geoengineering won’t stop us from addressing climate change, and what he learned from pumping crocodile stomachs as a grad student.
2021-06-0727 minHigh Energy PlanetMimi Alemayehou: Climate Justice Means Africa Needs More Energy InvestmentThe former OPIC, African Development Bank and Black Rhino Group official tells Katie & Rose why she's frustrated with energy and climate finance double standards for Africa, how she would advise President Biden on climate & Africa, & why it's unethical to argue Africa must stay poor to reduce climate change impacts. Plus: Katie tells Rose why she's Amped Up about Richard Branson's Global Cooling Prize.
2021-05-2127 minHigh Energy PlanetRachel Pritzker: Poverty's Not My Favorite Climate Change SolutionThe globally recognized climate & energy philanthropist on loving cities, funding overlooked technologies & why optimism is the best approach to tackling climate change.
2021-05-0726 minHigh Energy PlanetTrailer EpisodeHosts Katie Auth & Rose Mutiso on why High Energy Planet isn't your usual global energy podcast.
2021-04-2701 minHigh Energy PlanetZainab Usman: What Does Net-Zero Mean for Africans?The new director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Africa Program on why resource curse thinking is wrong, politics is integral to policy & we should stop saying "leapfrogging."
2021-04-2636 minHigh Energy PlanetMohamed Rali Badissy: Power-Sector Transparency & Energy AccessMohamed explains why transparency is an overlooked issue in addressing energy poverty, why he thinks decarbonization will increase public demands for more energy transparency, and the one crucial thing about energy poverty nobody's talking about.
2021-04-2241 min