Climate Rising

Many of the technologies needed to address climate change are not easy to fund with the traditional venture capital model that is developed around software. They can require significant upfront investment, take years to reach commercial scale, and operate in sectors where markets and regulations are still evolving.Amy Duffuor, Co-Founder and General Partner at Azolla Ventures, joins Climate Rising to explain how catalytic capital can help bridge that financing gap. She describes Azolla’s approach to investing in early-stage climate technologies that have the potential for large-scale emissions reductions but may be too early, capital-intensive, or unconventional for traditional venture investors. Amy shares how Azolla sources and evaluates investments, why the firm prioritizes additionality and freestanding unit economics when choosing what to fund, and how it supports founders beyond providing capital. She also shares examples from long-duration energy storage company Noon Energy and geothermal company Zanskar, and discusses emerging opportunities in super pollutants, water, and other underfunded areas of climate technology.

Note: guest host John Mulliken is both an HBS professor and an Operating Partner at Azolla Ventures.

Are companies following through on their climate commitments—and how can we tell?

In this bonus episode of Climate Rising, we feature a conversation originally published by CleanLaw, a podcast from Harvard Law School's Environmental and Energy Law Program. Harvard Law School Professor
Jody Freeman speaks with Harvard Business School Professor Mike Toffel and Harvard Kennedy School Professor Joe Aldy about their collaborative research on corporate climate commitments and the newly developed Salata Institute Corporate Climate Targets Database.

The database tracks climate-related targets announced by Russell 3000 companies between 2000 and 2024, providing a comprehensive picture
of how corporate commitments have evolved over 25 years. The researchers discuss several early findings, including the rise and recent decline of corporate climate targets, how frequently companies revise their commitments, and emerging evidence that companies with climate targets reduce emissions intensity faster than comparable companies without targets.

The conversation also examines how shifting federal policies, state and international disclosure requirements, and investor pressure influence corporate climate action. As companies navigate an increasingly uncertain regulatory environment, the researchers explain how this publicly accessible database can help policymakers, investors, and researchers
better understand the relationship between voluntary commitments and actual emissions reductions.

This episode was originally produced and published by CleanLaw, a podcast of the Environmental and Energy Law Program at Harvard Law
School, and is shared as a special Climate Rising bonus episode.

Large corporations play a critical role in addressing climate change—but transforming complex global supply chains is no small task.

This episode, originally from the Invested in Climate podcast hosted by Jason Rissman, features a conversation with Katie Anderson of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Chris Adamo of Danone. It explores how a major food company and a nonprofit partner are working together to reduce methane emissions in dairy supply chains.

The discussion examines why methane has become a priority in
agricultural climate strategies, how Danone became the first food company to set a methane-specific target, and what it takes to implement change across thousands of farms globally. The episode also highlights the role of financing, public policy, and cross-sector collaboration in scaling regenerative agriculture practices.

More broadly, the conversation offers a real-world look at how climate action is increasingly tied to business continuity, supply chain resilience, and long-term value creation.

Permitting reform has become one of the most consequential—and controversial—topics in U.S. climate and energy policy. As electricity demand rises due to AI, data centers, electrification, and economic growth, many argue that the country’s permitting, transmission, and
interconnection processes are too slow to support the clean energy transition.

In this special crossover episode jointly produced by the Climate
Rising and CleanLaw podcasts, Mike Toffel and Harvard Law School Professor Jody Freeman speak with Nat Keohane, President of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES). They discuss why permitting reform has emerged as a rare area of bipartisan interest, the challenges of modernizing America’s electric grid, and the tradeoffs between accelerating infrastructure development and maintaining environmental safeguards.

The conversation examines how permitting, transmission planning, utility incentives, AI-driven electricity demand, and federal-state governance intersect—and why solving these challenges may be essential to both climate progress and American competitiveness.

How can companies make sustainability information useful to
consumers at the moment they make a purchase?

Justine Mahler and Cameron Westfall of Amazon join Climate Rising to discuss Climate Pledge Friendly, Amazon’s sustainable shopping program. They explain how Amazon uses third-party certifications to identify products with sustainability attributes, how the company evaluates which
certifications qualify, and how it translates complex standards into
information consumers can quickly understand.

The conversation also explores what Amazon has learned about consumer behavior since launching the program in 2020. Cameron shares research
showing a sales lift for products after joining Climate Pledge Friendly, while Justine explains why the environmental impacts that matter most differ across product categories. They also discuss how customer feedback, experimentation, and evolving sustainability science continue to shape the program.