Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate Change
Once a week, Michael Liebreich and Baroness Bryony Worthington sit down with a leader in clean energy, mobility, climate finance or sustainable development. These in-depth interviews are illuminating and inspiring, and with a catalogue of nearly 200 episodes, there are few better guides to the net-zero transition.
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Cleaning Up
We are a media and events platform dedicated to:
• Helping identify scalable climate solutions and exploring their challenges and trade-offs.
• Facilitating the creation of networks for action, bringing together different players and actors
• Amplifying the influence of those offering real solutions in order to accelerate their uptake.
Watch our latest episode on YouTube (or find it on your favourite podcast platform):
Recent Episodes
275
Sept. 23, 2026
The Scandal at The Heart of The Energy Transition | Ep275: Jan Rosenow
Around two-thirds of the energy we put into today’s energy system ends up as rejected heat. So are we measuring the energy transition all wrong? Professor Jan Rosenow joins Michael Liebreich to unpack the “primary energy fallacy”: why focusing on the energy going into the system can obscure the useful energy we actually get out. They explore why electrification can dramatically reduce energy demand, and what genuine systems thinking means for efficiency, waste heat and infrastructure. They
274
Sept. 16, 2026
The Race Is On To Control AI | Episode 274: Afonso Salema & Sam Winter-Levy
More than 80% of the world’s advanced AI compute is concentrated in the US and China. For Europe and other middle powers, the question may no longer be how to win the AI race, but how to avoid becoming dangerously dependent on those that do. This week on Cleaning Up, James Cameron, Chair of Cleaning Up’s Editorial Council, takes over as guest host. He speaks with Sam Winter-Levy, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Afonso Salema, CEO of Exus Digital and founde
273
Sept. 9, 2026
Mexico Wants To Build An $8,000 EV For Everyone | Ep273: Roberto Capuano
Can Mexico build an electric car for $8,000, and use it to create an entirely new domestic industry? This week on Cleaning Up, Bryony Worthington visits Mexico City to sit down with Roberto Capuano, director of the Olinia Project, and discuss the state-backed effort to develop a new generation of affordable electric mini-vehicles. Roberto explains why Olinia is designing small EVs specifically around the needs of Mexican cities, how partnerships with Chinese suppliers could accelerate technol
272
Sept. 2, 2026
The Testbed for Asia's Clean-Tech Future | Ep272: Jaime Z. Urquijo
Can the Philippines become a testbed for Southeast Asia’s clean-tech future? Kicking off Season 19 of Cleaning Up, guest host Marie Cheong meets Jaime Z. Urquijo, Urban Estates Group Head at Ayala Land, one of the Philippines is largest real estate and development companies. Ayala Land is a subsidiary of the Ayala Corporation, which has been part of the Philippines' economic story for almost 200 years, and ACEN, its energy platform, has gone from a standing start in 2011 to more than 7GW o
Aug. 26, 2026
The Good, Bad and Downright Ugly of Australia's Energy Transition | Deep Dive Australia 09: Anna Freeman & Michael Liebreich
Australia has become a laboratory for the energy transition, what can the rest of the world learn? After two weeks travelling across Australia and meeting the leaders shaping its energy transition, Michael Liebreich got a close up view of the country’s transformation. For the final episode of Cleaning Up’s Deep Dive Australia series, the host becomes the guest as Anna Freeman of the Energy Efficiency Council turns the tables and puts Michael in the hot seat to ask him what he has learned.
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