Climate tech companies are often forced to rely on expensive equity to bridge the gap between government grant awards and the cash needed to get projects off the ground. But for founders building the physical infrastructure of the clean energy transition, dilutive capital isn't always the right tool. For many, it’s not even an option. Dimitry Gershenson, CEO and co-founder of Enduring Planet, is proving that a specialized approach to debt can fix that.  By underwriting government grants and providing working capital to climate startups, Enduring Planet is solving a critical, often-overlooked friction point in the transition. Its model, which hinges on operational efficiency and profitability, provides a blueprint for how climate-focused debt can scale without the pitfalls of traditional venture debt. But also, according to Dimitry, it isn’t always wrong to accept venture debt, contrary to widespread belief. In this episode, host Lara Pierpoint talks with Dimitry about the dynamics of climate debt, the "brutal reality" of fundraising in a volatile macro environment, and why Enduring Planet's approach to working capital is more critical than ever for the next generation of climate founders. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced and edited by Ross Kenyon, Anne Bailey, and Stephen Lacey. Sean Marquand is our technical director. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this show, subscribe to Latitude Media’s newsletter.

Nitrogen fertilizer is essential for global food security, yet its production is a hyper-centralized, fossil-fuel-intensive process that accounts for 5 to 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. As geopolitical instability threatens traditional supply chains, the vulnerability of this industry has never been clearer. Nico Pinkowski, CEO and co-founder of Nitricity, initially set out to decentralize fertilizer production with compact devices that farmers could use right on their fields. But market realities demanded a pivot. Today, Nitricity is producing liquid organic fertilizer from recycled almond shells at a centralized facility in California. In this episode, host Lara Pierpoint talks with Nico about the "brutal reality" of scaling a new solution for a mature industry, the intricacies of financing a first-of-a-kind commercial plant, and why their mission to decarbonize a critical global commodity is more urgent than ever. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced and edited by Ross Kenyon, Anne Bailey, and Stephen Lacey. Sean Marquand is our technical director. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this show, subscribe to Latitude Media’s newsletter.

Lithium-ion batteries have revolutionized energy storage, but inexpensive, truly long-duration batteries may still have a significant role to play in backing renewables and decarbonizing the grid. Form Energy is tackling that challenge with a new class of iron-air batteries. By oxidizing and reducing iron — essentially rusting and unrusting the earth's most abundant metal — Form is creating low-cost, multi-day storage that competes directly with natural gas peaker plants. Mateo Jaramillo, CEO and co-founder of Form Energy, has spent over two decades in the battery industry, including building Tesla’s storage business. At Form, he’s leading the charge to bring these "E-peakers" to utilities across the country. The company recently achieved a major milestone: completing a 550,000 square-foot factory on the site of an old steel mill in Weirton, West Virginia. In this episode, Mateo talks with host Lara Pierpoint about the grueling realities of scaling up manufacturing, why they chose to build in West Virginia, using AI to drive material science discovery and dig a data moat, and the immense logistical challenges of building the physical infrastructure of the clean energy transition. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced and edited by Ross Kenyon, Anne Bailey, and Stephen Lacey. Sean Marquand is our technical director. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this show, subscribe to Latitude Media’s newsletter.

If you’re building a consumer software startup, your investors may expect you to project hockey stick-style growth. But if you’re building the physical infrastructure of the clean energy transition, you’re likely in a very different position. Frank O’Sullivan, Managing Director at S2G Investments, argues that the climate finance ecosystem is suffering from a structural mismatch. While there is plenty of capital for early-stage innovation and mature infrastructure projects, there is a "missing middle" — a gap where hard tech startups are generating revenue but aren’t yet bankable enough for infrastructure investors. In this episode, host Lara Pierpoint talks with Frank about why we’ve been trying to finance infrastructure companies like they’re software startups, the concentration risks in venture capital, and why large infrastructure allocators should be stepping into this growth-stage gap to seed their own pipeline. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced and edited by Ross Kenyon and Anne Bailey. Technical direction by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this show, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter.

Silicon solar panels have led the market for decades but will soon hit a ceiling around 25% efficiency. Perovskite, a frontier material once dismissed for degrading too fast, is now being called the holy grail of solar. Saritha Peruri, VP of Commercialization at Tandem PV, is bringing it to market. The company stacks its proprietary perovskite on top of silicon, capturing a wider spectrum of light and pushing efficiency past 30%, a major jump over conventional solar. And because it builds on the silicon PV infrastructure that already exists, the path to scale stays simple. Getting there wasn't easy. After a long Series A, Tandem PV pulled off something rare in deep-tech hardware: 100% equipment financing for its 40-megawatt demonstration factory. It's now shipping quarter-sized modules to utility-scale customers who want U.S.-made panels for supply chain certainty and the domestic content kicker. It’s potentially a bridge to a post-ITC world that cuts land and labor costs because each installation needs far fewer modules. In this episode, host Lara Pierpoint talks with Saritha about reaching high durability and the challenges of financing deep-tech hardware. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced and edited by Ross Kenyon and Anne Bailey. Technical direction by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this show, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter.

California recorded its second-lowest Sierra Nevada snowpack on record this spring. That's not just a bad ski season, it's a water supply crisis. Snowpack is where California's water comes from. And when it doesn't materialize, agriculture, hydropower, and fire suppression all feel the strain. Dacia Leon, CEO and co-founder of Supercool Earth, is building a company around a deceptively simple idea: use biology to make it rain and snow where it's needed most, on demand. Her company's core technology involves engineering microbes to produce high quantities of this pure protein cheaply, which is then used in snowmaking machines and for cloud seeding. Supercool Earth is targeting high-margin markets first, starting with a snow-making additive for ski resorts. It’s a cheaper, greener, and scalable alternative to existing products like Snomax largely because it’s made of pure, biodegradable protein (no bacterial cells), has no smell, and is stable at room temperature.  The company is intentionally using natural proteins instead of non-degrading silver iodide used in traditional cloud seeding to streamline the regulatory process through EPA TSCA, which is faster than dealing with GMO regulations. In this episode, Lara Pierpoint talks with Dacia about the science and commercial strategy behind Supercool Earth, the lessons she's carrying from Bio 1.0 failures, the public perception challenges around geoengineering, and what she'd do if $100 million landed in the company's bank account tomorrow. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced and edited by Ross Kenyon and Anne Bailey. Technical direction by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this show, subscribe to Latitude Media’s newsletter.

The global financial system is undergoing a structural shift into a "volatile new world order," where unpredictability is the norm, and climate tech is uniquely exposed.  Venture investor Susan Su says the war in Iran is complicating the landscape. That's because about 40% of the world's capital comes from just four Gulf states, and those states are exploring whether the war allows them to invoke force majeure to legally exit binding financial commitments to fund billion-dollar projects – including energy projects. It's a move that's creating a chilling effect on large, long-term investments. Susan's warning for founders? "Be default alive by any means necessary." With the next 18 to 24 months predicted to be a brutal filtering environment, she recommends extending financial runways to three years, if at all possible. In this episode, Susan talks with Lara about why founders should act urgently and highlights the increasing availability of pockets of catalytic capital and downside-protected debt products as funding options. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced and edited by Ross Kenyon and Anne Bailey. Technical direction by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this show, subscribe to Latitude Media’s newsletter.

We already have the blueprint for decarbonizing the global economy. We've invented many of the solutions, but much of that tech is still sitting on the sidelines waiting to get financed and built at scale.  But over the last year, we've seen a wave of change that complicates and – in some cases – helps that mission.  In the first season of the Green Blueprint, we heard stories from the entrepreneurs, investors, and experts at the front lines of scaling climate technologies. This season, we're bringing you more candid conversations with the industry leaders who are pushing the boundaries of technology, project development, and deals across clean energy and climate tech.  Join host Lara Pierpoint every other week on a deep dive into the high stakes decisions that companies face when trying to scale.  Season two of The Green Blueprint drops this spring. You can find it on latitude media.com or anywhere you get your podcasts.

About 90% of global energy storage is pumped storage hydropower – which requires a mountain, a lake, and a whole lot of permitting. While lithium batteries have gotten drastically cheaper over the last decade, they’re still expensive for longer durations.   But Cindy Taff and her team at Sage Geosystems are developing geothermal technology that could revolutionize energy storage. Instead of pumping water up a mountain, they pump it deep into the earth, providing cost-effective, long-term storage for intermittent renewable sources. They’re piloting this technology at a new commercial facility in partnership with  San Miguel Electric Cooperative, a rural Texas electric cooperative that is transitioning from coal to solar and battery storage thanks to a USDA grant.   In this episode, Lara Pierpoint talks with Cindy Taff, CEO of Sage Geosystems about its groundbreaking new technology, their first commercial facility, and upcoming partnerships with geothermal giant Ormat Technologies.  Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced and edited by Stephen Lacey and Anne Bailey. Technical direction by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this show, subscribe to Latitude Media’s newsletter.

In 2020, Microsoft announced a major goal: by 2050 the company aims to remove from the atmosphere all the carbon emissions it has produced since its founding in 1975.  When Phil Goodman joined the company in 2022, he quickly found that the market for Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) was just getting off the ground. That meant that in order to meet its climate pledge, Microsoft needed to help foster the carbon removal market.  In this episode, Lara Pierpoint talks with Phil Goodman, director of Microsoft’s carbon removal portfolio, about what it takes to structure offtake agreements for CDR, the challenges of fostering an emerging market, and some of the company’s most promising CDR partnerships.  Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced and edited by Alexandria Herr, Stephen Lacey, and Anne Bailey. Technical direction by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this show, subscribe to Latitude Media’s newsletter.