Michael Barnard: Climate solutions can be full of sh*t

Full show notes and bonus content at wickedproblems.earth.

In this episode we talk about climate tech in the age of AI, state failure, and the occasional aircraft powered by poop. In this episode, Canadian climate futurist and returning champion Michael Barnard joins us for a globe-spanning conversation about why he’s still cautiously optimistic — and why, if you’re only paying attention to the U.S. or Europe, you’re probably looking the wrong way.

In Conversation

· Pakistan's rooftop solar revolution: how a glut of Chinese panels and uncoordinated net metering turned into 22 GW of grassroots decarbonization in a single year.

· Ports, poop, and power: what district heating, sewage sludge, and whiz-powered planes tell us about what works — and what’s quietly already scaling.

· China’s decarbonization surprise: Michael walks us through why China’s emissions have actually started to fall, why Western media missed it, and why most U.S. industrial policy is a “radically stupid” own-goal.

· The end of American credibility: on failed trade narratives, disappearing clean energy investment, and the strategic competence of the so-called Global South.

· Three technologies to watch: Geothermal heat-as-a-service, waste-based sustainable aviation fuels, and electrified ports as power utilities of the future.

Timeline

02:28 Optimism in the Face of Climate Challenges

05:08 Pakistan's Energy Transformation

14:16 Leapfrogging in the Global South

21:23 China's Role in Global Emissions Reduction

27:08 The Rise of the Electro State

28:33 China's Dominance in Critical Minerals

29:37 Globalism and Neoliberalism: A Mixed Bag

30:42 The Market Economy's Failures

32:13 Technology Diffusion and Industrial Policy

34:48 The United States' Broken Industrial Policy

43:04 Geothermal Energy Innovations

46:04 Sustainable Aviation Fuel from Waste

49:35 The Future of Electrified Ports

Further Reading

* CarbonBrief on China's emissions drop

* Jenny Chase (BNEF) on Pakistan’s rooftop solar boom

* Barnard on ports and maritime decarbonisation

* Sustainable Aviation Fuels from Human Waste

* The Dawn of Everything by Graeber & Wengrow

* Trifecta Ireland – new NGO for clean, secure, affordable energy

* Kingsmill Bond (Ember) on the rise of the Electrostate v Petrostate

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