Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate Change9 Jun 2021

Powering Canada Past Coal - Ep45: Catherine McKenna

Catherine McKenna is a Canadian Liberal politician serving as the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities since 2019. Before that she was the Minister of Environment and Climate Change for 4 years.

Her ministerial mandate includes ensuring infrastructure investments support just economic growth and the clean energy transition. Her ministerial mandate includes, inter alia, delivering of “accessible affordable, active and zero-emissions transit options”, “investing in large-scale building retrofits and clean power” and “continuing to close the infrastructure gap in Indigenous communities, particularly with respect to affordable housing”.

Before taking the infrastructure and communities portfolio, Catherine was in charge of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. She was appointed just before COP21 in Paris and played a significant role during the summit.

Catherine is a lawyer by education: she co-founded Canadian Lawyers Abroad, now called Level, a charity through which Canadian lawyers are able to work on pro bono cases around the world. She has also worked in leading Canadian and Indonesian law firms and was a negotiator with the United Nations mission in East Timor.

Catherine holds degrees from the University of Toronto, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and McGill University’s Faculty of Law. A mom of three, avid swimmer and canoeist, Minister McKenna is a long-time resident of the Glebe in Ottawa.

Episoder(278)

Deforestation, Oil and Aviation Fuels: A Brazilian Take on the Climate Emergency | Ep213: Thelma Krug

What happens if the Amazon rainforest stops absorbing carbon and starts releasing it? Do we need geoengineering to help us cool an overheating planet? And how can developing countries balance environm...

18 Jun 20251h

⁠Hydrogen Subsidies, Clean Power & Fixing Spain's Blackouts | Ep212: EU Commissioner Dan Jørgensen

What will it take to finally wean Europe off Russian gas? Can renewables help with grid stability? And is the EU making a mistake subsidising hydrogen? This week on Cleaning Up, Michael Liebreich sits...

11 Jun 202538min

Renewables Are Here To Stay. Get Over It. | Ep211: Antonio Cammisecra

The world's electricity system is transforming: We're integrating more and more variable renewables. Fossil plants are running fewer hours. Demand is growing everywhere, including in the developed wor...

4 Jun 20251h 7min

Is The Tide Turning On Hydrogen? Ep210: Andrew Forrest

Billionaire iron magnate Andrew Forrest believes he's on the cusp of a breakthrough to decarbonise shipping and heavy industry using hydrogen. As the Executive Chairman of the Fortescue, one of the wo...

28 Mai 202541min

Bond Vigilantes, Game Theory, And Why The US Shouldn’t Go It Alone - Ep209: Mohamed El-Erian

Have the bond markets become a new form of global governance? Are we witnessing the end of US economic exceptionalism? And how does game theory relate to cooperation on net-zero?This week on Cleaning ...

21 Mai 202543min

Can You Run a Grid Entirely On Renewables? Ep208: Anders Lindberg

Can You Run A Grid Without Fossil Fuels? "Yes," says Anders Lindberg, President of Energy and Executive VP at Wärtsilä, on this week's episode of Cleaning Up. It'll just cost €65 trillion extra by 205...

14 Mai 20251h 2min

Is Geothermal The Future For Oil & Gas? Ep207: Jamie Beard

Geothermal seems to have found new favour under Donald Trump's presidency, but can it ever live up to its potential? Will the oil and gas industry reinvent itself before becoming obsolete? And how mig...

7 Mai 202544min

Uniper Rising: Can Germany's Gas Giant Go Green? Ep206: Michael Lewis

When Russia unleashed its illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, gas prices in Europe spiked by a factor of 10, driving a wave of bankruptcies and restructurings of European ener...

30 Apr 202558min