logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2022
24m 17s

Climate tech to save the planet: Hype an...

Financial Times
About this episode

The joke about hydrogen is that it’s the fuel of the future, and always will be. But green hydrogen is made from renewable energy and emits only water vapour, so amidst the fight to reduce carbon emissions, has green hydrogen’s moment now finally arrived? In the latest episode of Tech Tonic’s climate tech series, Australian billionaire mining mogul Andrew Forrest, the executive chair of Fortescue Metals Group, tells host Pilita Clark why he’s betting green hydrogen will play a key role in decarbonising heavy industry. Pilita also visits ITM Power, manufacturers of key machinery in the making of green hydrogen, while Professor Nigel Brandon at Imperial College London explains what a hydrogen economy might look like and the limits of its applications.


Check out stories and up-to-the-minute news from the Technology team at ft.com/technology and from the Climate team at https://www.ft.com/climate-capital


Presented by Pilita Clark. Edwin Lane is senior producer. Produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon with production help from Persis Love and Leo Schick. Executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Sound design by Samantha Giovinco and Breen Turner, with original music from Metaphor Music. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.


Clips: SBS News, TikTok, EU Energy, HM Government, US Department of Energy, Northern Gas Networks, France24


Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Jul 8
Trump’s tech bros: The enigma of Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel is unlike any other Trump tech bro. As well as a wildly successful investor, he’s seen as a thinker - the philosopher king of Silicon Valley. Thiel’s acolytes in the tech world and Washington include vice-president JD Vance but his relationship with the Trump camp is ... Show More
31m 7s
Jul 1
Trump’s Tech Bros: Is ‘Maga Mark’ the real Mark Zuckerberg?
Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has undergone a transformation, both physical and political. The skinny teenager who founded Facebook in his dorm room is now a muscular jiu-jitsu enthusiast who’s called US President Donald Trump a “badass” and wants to see more “masculine en ... Show More
29m 14s
Jun 24
Trump’s Tech Bros: Has Jeff Bezos sold out?
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was once a vocal critic of Donald Trump. But that changed during last year’s election campaign. Now, he has instructed the newspaper he owns, The Washington Post, to shift its editorial line to be more in line with the president. So what provoked Bezos’s ... Show More
25m 42s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2021
Where Green Hydrogen Is Headed [Special Content]
Suddenly everyone is talking about green hydrogen. From South Africa to the United Arab Emirates. From China to Utah. Governments and developers are eyeing hydrogen as a decarbonization tool. But the rush is also raising lots of questions: Where will hydrogen be most useful? How ... Show More
26m 58s
Nov 2022
Climate tech to save the planet: Out of thin air
Direct air carbon capture - taking carbon dioxide straight out of the air around us - sounds like science fiction. In this episode of Tech Tonic Pilita Clark visits Iceland to meet the engineers and scientists at the forefront of this new tech. Can carbon capture scale up quick e ... Show More
24m 57s
Sep 2023
The Energy Gang at the London Hydrogen Conference – Part 1
Host Ed Crooks brings you the first of two special episodes recorded live from Wood Mackenzie’s Hydrogen ConferenceIndustry leaders and energy analysts gathered recently for the second annual Wood Mackenzie Hydrogen Conference, where they debated the potential of hydrogen in the ... Show More
49m 22s
Nov 2022
From Tech Tonic: Climate Tech to Save the Planet and Keep Flying
Today, we're sharing a preview from another podcast from the Financial Times, Tech Tonic. Does aviation have a sustainable future? As more people fly, aviation is on track to becoming a much bigger problem for climate change. Tech Tonic host Pilita Clark, FT columnist and climate ... Show More
25m 25s
Sep 2023
The Energy Gang at the London Hydrogen Conference – Part 2
Host Ed Crooks brings you the second of two special episodes recorded live from Wood Mackenzie’s Hydrogen Conference. In the rapidly changing energy landscape, hydrogen has become a hot topic. For some, it represents a beacon of potential for meeting global net-zero ambitions. Fo ... Show More
53m 2s
Nov 2022
Coming soon: Will climate tech save the planet?
The climate crisis threatens the future of the planet. But don’t worry, technology will save us. At least that’s the message from startups, innovators and investors. Are they right? In a new season of Tech Tonic FT columnist and climate journalist Pilita Clark discovers the tech ... Show More
1m 31s
Oct 2021
The Promise of Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the simplest atom there is – just a proton and an electron – and when you burn it, not only do you release a lot of power per pound of fuel, but the byproduct is simply water vapor. Jeffrey Goldmeer, Emergent Technology Director for Decarbonization at GE Gas Power and ... Show More
13m 51s
Feb 2024
A pause in US gas export approvals: a big win for the climate?
The US is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), super-cooled to about -160 °C (or -260 °F) so it can be shipped in tankers. An investment boom means export capacity will soar over the next few years. But last month the Biden administration signaled it was p ... Show More
54m 5s
Feb 2022
68. Green Hydrogen: miracle or mirage? - feb22
As we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the seminal book by Jeremy Rifkin “The Hydrogen Economy” and the astronomical amount of non-sense it contained, we wanted to have a real look at the prospect of Green Hydrogen. Beyond bombastic claims such as “History will look back a ... Show More
29m 15s
Sep 2023
Green and novel: the future of energy generation
Energy accounts for more than three-quarters of our greenhouse gas emissions globally each year. That’s not surprising, given the role of energy in almost every aspect of modern life. To stand any chance of hitting net zero climate targets, we need to accelerate the transition to ... Show More
57m 38s