Episode 17: Striking at the root, with Simon Holmes à Court

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“One of the most impactful things we can do if you're passionate about climate change is to support politics. It's striking at the root of what needs to be done to make sure that the people who are working on the policies are going to drive this transformation. If we don't have the right people working at the root in favour of this, then we can all be wasting so much of our time.”

In this podcast episode, we speak with Simon Holmes à Court, an entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist who founded Climate 200, which is an initiative aimed at empowering communities to nurture their own political candidates and effect change on climate issues.

We talk about Australia's lost decade on climate action, and Simon’s book "The Big Teal' which was published in 2022. We also dive deep into the role of politics in supporting businesses in their transition to net zero and how business can support politics.

In this episode, find out:

• How Simon became so passionate about climate action
• What inspired him to write his book “The Big Teal”
• What is Climate 200 and how it differs from other climate change initiatives
• Whether Simon thinks that we can limit warming to 1.5C and the solutions that will get us to net zero
• Who, out of business, government, big finance, or the community, should do the heavy lifting to get us to net zero
• How a net zero world looks like for Simon Holmes à Court

Connect with 100% Renewables:

• Visit our Youtube channel for lots of Net Zero explainer videos: Driving Net Profit with Zero Emissions
• Visit our website: 100percentrenewables.com
• Follow us on LinkedIn: 100% Renewables
• Follow us on Facebook: @100percentrenewables
• Follow us on Twitter: @100pcRenewables

Where to find Simon’s book ‘The Big Teal’:

• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Big-Teal-National-Interest/dp/1922633569
• Booktopia: https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-big-teal-simon-holmes-a-court/book/9781922633569.html

Other relevant links:

• Simon’s LinkedIn account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonahac/
• Simon’s Twitter account: https://twitter.com/simonahac?s=20
• Climate200 website: https://www.climate200.com.au/
• Book: The Big Teal: https://www.climate200.com.au/the-big-teal
• Podcast episode Griffith: https://100percentrenewables.com.au/podcast/how-to-dramatically-reduce-our-emissions-by-electrifying-everything-with-saul-griffith/
• Saul Griffith’s book: The Big Switch: https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/big-switch

Chapter

1. Episode 17: Striking at the root, with Simon Holmes à Court (00:00:00)

2. Introduction (00:00:28)

3. Can we limit climate change to 1.5C? (00:02:26)

4. What does net zero look like for someone like Simon Holmes a Court? (00:06:39)

5. Opportunities and job creation as we shift to net zero (00:11:05)

6. Australia's lost decade on climate action (00:13:45)

7. Release of federal budget (00:16:48)

8. Simon’s origin story (00:21:02)

9. Cimate200 and The Big Teal (00:23:45)

10. Biggest successes of Climate200 (00:29:54)

11. Striking at the root of climate action (00:31:31)

12. The “trimtab” analogy (00:33:30)

13. The “good bloke” advantage (00:37:10)

14. Climate 200’s plans for the future (00:43:33)

15. Best practices for effective collaboration and advocacy for businesses (00:45:53)

16. Where to get “The Big Teal” (00:51:39)

17. Connect with Simon (00:52:30)

18. Closing (00:52:48)