logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2024
29m 3s

Raízen’s Decarbonization Strategy

Harvard Business School Business & Environment Initiative
About this episode

The bonus episode of the Climate Rising features an episode of HBR’s Cold Call podcast featuring a discussion on ethanol, a biofuel with a complex history and an uncertain future. Host Brian Kenny is joined by Professor Gunnar Trumbull and Paula Kovarsky from Raízen. As Brazil's top producer of sugar and ethanol and the world's premier ethanol trader, Raízen is at the forefront of biofuel innovation. The conversation delves into Raízen’s cutting-edge work in biofuels, the strategic choices behind advancing second-generation ethanol, and how these efforts contribute to global decarbonization initiatives.

Guest/Host:

Brian Kenny, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Harvard Business School and host of Cold Call.

Gunnar Trumbull, Phillip Caldwell Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

Paula Kovarsky, Vice President of Strategy & Sustainability at Raízen


For transcripts and other resources, visit climaterising.org











Episode specific link






Up next
Oct 1
Scaling Carbon Capture for Hard-to-abate sectors: Danielle Rapson of Mantel
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 ... Show More
40m 7s
Sep 17
Building Climate-Resilient Farming with Robotics: Eric Adamson of Oishii and Tortuga
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 ... Show More
43m 41s
Sep 10
Microsoft ’s Climate Strategy and Its Carbon Removal Deal with Chestnut Carbon
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 ... Show More
44m 34s
Recommended Episodes
May 2025
The War Keeps Raging Against Science
Strange things have been happening to science in the US. An executive order is freezing research, a website with once scientific information now looks kinda like it's advertising a reality show … even milkshakes have been caught in the fray. Milkshakes! On top of this, research p ... Show More
43m 15s
May 2025
Seeking a job in science? How hiring practices across industry and academia compare
Julie Gould compares hiring practices across industry and academia by seeking perspectives from Tina Persson, an organic chemist-turned-careers coach based in Malmö, Sweden, and Lauren Celano, a recruitment consultant who founded Propel Careers, based in Boston, Massachusetts, in ... Show More
18m 37s
Jan 2025
The Science Of Burnout — And How To Recharge From Stress | Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer
Burnout is on the rise. Two experts show us how to combat it.   Dr. Kristin Neff is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a pioneer in the field of self-compassion research, conducting the first empirical studies on self-com ... Show More
1h 12m
Sep 2024
Andrea E. Pia, "Cutting the Mass Line: Water, Politics, and Climate in Southwest China" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2024)
On the podcast today, I am joined by anthropologist Andrea Pia (London School of Economics and Political Science) to talk about his new book, Cutting the Mass Line: Water, Politics and Climate in Southwest China (Johns Hopkins UP, 2024).In recent years, the People’s Republic of C ... Show More
1h 17m
Feb 2025
How umami blew up taste
For thousands of years, there have been four basic tastes recognized across cultures. But thanks to Kumiko Ninomiya (a.k.a. the Umami Mama), scientists finally accepted a fifth. Could there be even more? (First published in 2022.)Guests: Kumiko Ninomiya, biochemist and former dir ... Show More
38m 18s
Sep 2024
Andrea E. Pia, "Cutting the Mass Line: Water, Politics, and Climate in Southwest China" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2024)
On the podcast today, I am joined by anthropologist Andrea Pia (London School of Economics and Political Science) to talk about his new book, Cutting the Mass Line: Water, Politics and Climate in Southwest China (Johns Hopkins UP, 2024).In recent years, the People’s Republic of C ... Show More
1h 17m
Sep 2024
Andrea E. Pia, "Cutting the Mass Line: Water, Politics, and Climate in Southwest China" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2024)
On the podcast today, I am joined by anthropologist Andrea Pia (London School of Economics and Political Science) to talk about his new book, Cutting the Mass Line: Water, Politics and Climate in Southwest China (Johns Hopkins UP, 2024).In recent years, the People’s Republic of C ... Show More
1h 17m
Jul 2018
Episode # 33 - Strike
Sedeer El-Showk unpacks workplace skills and discusses with MIT researcher Ahmad Alabdulkareem a skill ecosystem that could help individuals plan better career paths. Sarah Hiddleston looks at a Syrian artist's thought-provoking exhibition at the confluence of science and art.Cor ... Show More
8m 59s