『Leaders in Cleantech』のカバーアート

Leaders in Cleantech

Leaders in Cleantech

著者： David Hunt
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Leaders in Cleantech is a bi-monthly podcast hosted by David Hunt, founder of Hyperion Search.


Each episode features candid conversations with the founders, CEOs, and innovators driving the clean energy and mobility transitions.


We go beyond technology—diving into the human side of the journey. From early failures to funding wins, we explore what it really takes to lead: building teams, shaping culture, and navigating complexity in a fast-changing world.


This is a podcast about cleantech, but it’s also a podcast about leadership.


🎙️ Ranked in the top 1.5% of podcasts globally by ListenNotes.
📍 Topics: #Cleantech #Leadership #EnergyStorage #EMobility #SmartCities #Renewables #ClimateTech

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© 2026 Leaders in Cleantech マネジメント・リーダーシップ リーダーシップ 出世 就職活動 経済学
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  • Hyperion Q2 2026 Market Review

    Hyperion Q2 2026 Market Review
    2026/07/10

    In this episode, I’m joined by Steve Robinson and David Beeston from Hyperion Search for a Q2 cleantech market review, looking across technology, investment, infrastructure and talent.

    The central theme of the conversation is clear: the market is moving from announcement to alignment, or perhaps more sharply, from ambition to execution. Capital is still flowing, M&A activity continues, and the energy transition is still moving forward — but the bar has risen. Investors, boards and leadership teams are now looking for businesses that can execute, integrate and scale in real-world conditions.

    We discuss the continued convergence of renewables, storage, EV infrastructure, fleet electrification and data centres, and why the challenge is increasingly less about individual technologies and more about systems thinking. Grid constraints, energy management, capacity, utilisation and operational delivery now sit at the centre of many business models.

    Steve shares his view on the EV charging and fleet electrification market, where the focus is shifting from rollout to utilisation, returns and integrated energy solutions. David explores the storage and grid landscape, including the growing realism around European battery supply chains, the role of China, the rise of circularity and recycling, and the move away from pure merchant exposure towards more risk-managed storage revenue models.

    We also discuss how these market shifts are changing senior hiring. Companies are becoming more precise about the leaders they need. The demand is for people who have seen scale, complexity and execution before — leaders who can build functions, manage assets, navigate grid and regulatory complexity, and turn strategy into delivery.

    Finally, we look at data centres as a fast-emerging energy challenge. The AI boom is creating huge demand for power, flexibility and resilience, making energy infrastructure talent increasingly important to the future of digital infrastructure.

    About the Host

    David Hunt is a cleantech thought leader, podcast host, and former executive search and solar EPC founder. As Non-Executive Chair and a long-time advisor to growth-stage and scaling businesses, he brings deep insight into leadership, energy transition, and the future of climate-focused industries. David supports businesses as a NED and Advisor via Stoa Advisory, and through his podcast and writing, David explores the people, ideas, and innovations shaping a more sustainable world.

    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hunt-cleantech/
    • Substack: https://davidhuntcleantech.substack.com

    About the Podcast

    Leaders in Cleantech explores the people, ideas, and decisions shaping the energy transition. Through in-depth conversations with founders, CEOs, investors, and industry leaders, the podcast focuses on leadership, scaling companies, and the realities of building in a complex and rapidly evolving sector.

    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/leaders-in-cleantech-podcast/
    • Website: https://leadersincleantech.com/

    🎧 Sponsored by Hyperion Search

    Hyperion Search is a specialist executive search firm focused on the cleantech sector.

    The firm partners with startups, scaleups, investors, and corporates to build leadership teams and boards across clean energy, mobility, and infrastructure.

    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hyperion-search-ltd
    • Website: www.hyperionsearch.com

    Feedback & Community

    I’m always keen to hear feedback, guest suggestions, or topics you’d like explored in future episodes.

    If you enjoy the podcast, please consider subscribing or leaving a review — it helps the show reach more people across the cleantech community.
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    49 分
  • Nacho Gimenez - OXCCU

    Nacho Gimenez - OXCCU
    2026/07/02
    In this episode of Leaders in Cleantech, I sit down with Nacho Gimenez, Chief Operating Officer at OXCCU, to explore his journey from chemical engineer, to venture investor, and now back into an operational leadership role at one of Europe's most exciting climate technology companies. We discuss OXCCU's breakthrough approach to producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and other hydrocarbons by converting CO₂ into valuable products and why reducing the cost of synthetic fuels will be critical to decarbonising aviation and the wider chemicals industry. Nacho explains the company's novel Fischer-Tropsch technology, its scale-up journey, and why flexibility of feedstock and simplicity of process are central to its strategy. Beyond the technology, we also reflect on leadership. Nacho shares what it's been like moving from the analytical world of venture investing back into the day-to-day reality of building a company, where culture, speed of decision-making, and creating psychological safety are just as important as engineering excellence. We also discuss:Why sustainable aviation fuel is central to aviation's decarbonisation Converting waste CO₂ into fuels and chemicals Scaling deep-tech from pilot plant to commercial deployment The role of strategic investors and industrial partnerships Moving from investor to operator Building culture and psychological safety in deep-tech businesses The future of sustainable hydrocarbons beyond aviation About our GuestNacho Gimenez is the Chief Operating Officer at OXCCU, an Oxford University spinout developing a single-step process to convert CO2 or biogas directly into sustainable aviation fuel. He joined OXCCU because he believes the hardest problems in energy are also the most important ones, and that science is only the first step needed to change the world. Someone has to scale it up and build things.His career spans over 25 years across the energy value chain. After studying chemical engineering and researching zeolites catalysis, he moved into refining with BP in Spain, commodity trading, and technology investment at BP Ventures, where he rose to Managing Director. From there, he spent years backing the people building the energy transition from the outside, until he decided it was time to join them.At OXCCU, Nacho is bringing together the scientists in R&D with the engineers as the company grows from pilot plant to demonstration scale, to the first commercial plants. He believes the best teams are based on trust, share a sense of urgency, and take ownership of the outcomes without fear. That culture is not built in a workshop. It shows up in how a team handles a hard day.Aviation is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise. OXCCU's Fischer-Tropsch chemistry, the same family of reactions first developed 100 years ago in Germany, is now adapted to use CO2 as a feedstock instead of coal, and it is one of the most direct routes to solving that problem.Twenty-five years of energy experience, from the lab bench to the trading floor to the boardroom. Nacho is now putting all of it to work at OXCCU.About OXCCU:OXCCU is an Oxford University spinout developing a technology that converts CO2 or biogas directly into sustainable aviation fuel in a single step. Founded on over a decade of catalysis research at the University of Oxford, the company has developed a bifunctional iron-based catalyst that eliminates the complexity and cost of conventional power-to-liquid routes.Most approaches to synthetic fuel require multiple reactors, a hydrocracker, and significant capital infrastructure. OXCCU does it in one. No wax. No hydrocracker. No rare earth metals. The result is a simpler process, lower capital cost, and more competitive SAF economics.OXCCU has raised over £41 million from some of the most strategically credible investors in aviation and energy, including IAG, Safran, Aramco, ENI, Orlen, and Trafigura. The company delivered its OX1 pilot plant on time and on budget, and is now advancing OX2, its demonstration plant at Oxford Airport, targeting commercial-scale production before 2030.Aviation is responsible for around 2.5% of global CO2 emissions and has no credible electrification pathway. Regulatory mandates in the UK and European Union are already requiring airlines to blend increasing volumes of SAF, with power-to-liquid fuels specifically targeted to grow from near zero today to hundreds of millions of tonnes annually by 2050. OXCCU is building the technology to fill that gap.The same catalyst that makes SAF can also produce naphtha, olefins, solvents, and other hydrocarbon products from CO2 or biogas. Aviation is the first port of call. It will not be the last.Books and links mentionedThe Hard Thing about Hard Things- Ben Horrowitz: https://a16z.com/books/the-hard-thing-about-hard-things/ Moral Ambition - Rutger Bregman: https://rutgerbregman.com/booksSapiens - Yuval Noah Harari: https://www.ynharari.com/book/sapiens/ The Alchemy of Air - Thomas ...
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    44 分
  • Howard Johns – CEO POP Energy

    Howard Johns – CEO POP Energy
    2026/05/13

    Howard Johns has spent more than two decades doing exactly one thing: putting clean energy in the hands of people. POP is the natural culmination of that work.

    Following a degree in Energy and Environmental Technology, his journey began in the 90s as an activist and protestor - trying to stop a coal mine in South Wales and various roads across the UK. Realising you can’t solve the problem by saying no he set about building solutions; building his first solar PV system in 1999. His journey transformed in 2002 when he founded Southern Solar, growing it from a one-man operation into one of the UK’s leading solar development and installation businesses — 120 employees, eight offices, and thousands of projects delivered across homes, councils, commercial organisations and for investors.

    He helped build the industry too, serving as Chairman of the Solar Trade Association for five years, leading the campaign to protect the Feed-in Tariff and becoming the sector’s most prominent public voice at the time.

    But Howard has always known that solar on rooftops is only the beginning. In 2007, he founded Ovesco CIC — a pioneering community-owned energy company that delivered the UK’s first community-funded solar power station and won an Ashden Award.

    For the last decade Howard has focused on large scale renewables developing and managing over 900MW of solar and wind assets worth £1.5bn as CEO of Bluefield Services, and developing two new companies whilst there, an O&M business which grew to 650MWs under management and a development business. And alongside all of this he has been delivering solar projects in Africa, and authored Energy Revolution, written to inspire communities worldwide to take ownership of their energy.

    Howard understands the technology, the finance, the policy and the human story behind the energy transition, and POP is his latest attempt to build a company that puts people at the centre of the energy transition.

    About POP Energy:

    People Owned Power empowers communities to install, generate, store and share their own renewable energy, street by street, neighbourhood by neighbourhood. Bills go down, energy security goes up, and power flows to where it belongs: in the hands of people.

    We are retrofitting the energy system from the bottom up: focusing on generating and storing energy where it’s used, in homes and businesses. We take a consultative approach to proposing a full renewables system for customers that meets their needs and goals, and suits their budget and property. This can be any combination of solar panels, batteries, heat pumps, insulation and electric vehicle chargers.

    Each system we install reduces a household’s reliance on the grid whilst increasing local renewable energy generation, cutting emissions linked to fossil fuels. On average, households reduce their grid reliance by 80%, with others generating up to 120% of their energy needs, with the excess clean energy exported back to the grid. Some of our fully-electrified homes have reached ‘zero bills.’ Energy generated and used locally is 3 to 5 times more effective than centralised systems, therefore these systems deliver an outsized impact. Many households report that producing their own power has changed how they think about and use energy, reducing consumption even further.

    Moreover, we support communities to take back the power over their resources. Keeping money flowing locally, instead of to fossil fuel companies. By reducing demand, and building local generation and storage, we can, collectively, meet a high proportion of our energy needs. To advance this mission, we are developing financial and digital tools to help households profit from the abundant renewable power on their roof through the flexibility aggregation markets. The first step on this journey is launching locally owned financing mechanisms where local people can invest in their community's en
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    46 分
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