Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate Change

There's an old joke that energy from nuclear fusion is 30 years away and always will be. For many decades, the industry did little to spoil the fun, running mammoth and unwieldy research projects, hoovering up a few billion dollars every science funding cycle and announcing breakthroughs that were scientifically interesting, but did little to move us towards actual production of electricity.
Then three things happened. First, perhaps emboldened by Elon Musk's successful disruption of the space industry with SpaceX, a bunch of wealthy investors started to invest in much nimbler startups. Second, in December 2022, the National Ignition Facility at the US's Lawrence Livermore National Lab announced that it had finally got more energy out of a fusion experiment than it had put in. And third, AI exploded on the scene, offering dramatic acceleration in everything. These developments have turned the slow-moving world of fusion on its head.
Over $14 billion has now flowed into fusion startups, and that is on top of the tens of billions already committed to national and international programs, like the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in France, the UK's Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) and a variety of US national labs. This week on Cleaning Up, Michael Liebreich sits down with the director of one of those labs.
Professor Sir Steven Cowley has been entrusted with leading one of the jewels in the US's scientific crown. He has dedicated his academic career to trying to make fusion energy work, and he's been known to joke that he hopes it does so before he dies.
Michael and Steven discuss the breakthrough experiments that have shown fusion is possible, why getting from a successful experiment to a commercial power station is such a huge leap, and whether fusion can ever deliver affordable, dispatchable electricity. Steven puts forward the idea that fusion might have a Theranos moment, where over-promises in the industry come back to bite.
Topics discussed in this episode:
How fusion actually works
From experiments to electricity
Laser versus magnetic fusion
The commercial fusion challenge
How AI can transform fusion research
Fusion versus renewables and batteries
Leadership Circle
Cleaning Up is proud to be supported by its Leadership Circle. The members are Actis, Alcazar Energy, Arup, Climate Imperative Foundation, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Cygnum Capital, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP, Eurelectric, KKR, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, Schneider Electric, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit cleaningup.live.
Links:
Steven's TED Talk from 2009: https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_cowley_fusion_is_energy_s_future
Steven’s talk at IPAM 2026: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USPd6zvA8pk
Steven's talk at SOSV Steven’s talk at DeepTech Live, 2026: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-kb3784BPY
Princeton Plasma Physics Lab: https://www.pppl.gov/
Hax Plasma Forge Incubator: https://hax.co/
Aneeqa Khan on Cleaning Up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhEoMd7DEho
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://cleaninguppod.substack.com/
Acronyms:
ITER: International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor
STEP: Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production
JET: Joint European Torus
TFTR: Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor
DOE: Department of Energy (US)
FLiBe: Fluoride Lithium Beryllium
NIF: National Ignition Facility
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
03:24 Career in fusion
06:39 Commercial fusion
10:26 Laser fusion
18:40 Breeding tritium
23:33 Fusion startups
25:24 Laser versus magnets
29:21 Magnetic fusion
35:35 Reactor optimisation
40:35 AI controls fusion
44:52 Spherical tokamaks
46:33 Reversed-field fusion
49:24 Private fusion
53:07 Fusion economics
56:30 The future
57:14 Outro

This week on Cleaning Up, Bryony Worthington is joined by Peter Cox, Professor of Climate System Dynamics at the University of Exeter and Director of the Global Systems Institute. A former lead author of the IPCC climate reports, Peter has spent decades studying the complex feedbacks between the climate, carbon cycle and natural world.

They delve into some of the biggest questions in climate science today: Is the planet warming faster than we thought? What is the role of forcing versus feedback? How much of the recent change is being driven by external forces, including the decline of reflective sulphur pollution, and how much is the climate system responding in ways that amplify warming?

They explore why the Earth is reflecting less sunlight back into space, the growing Earth energy imbalance, climate sensitivity, tipping points in the Amazon and Arctic, and whether solar radiation modification should remain taboo.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Why the Earth is darkening
Is global warming accelerating?
The Earth’s energy imbalance
Climate sensitivity and feedbacks
Amazon and Arctic tipping points
The hidden cooling from pollution
Geoengineering the planet
Positive clean energy tipping points
Leadership Circle:
Cleaning Up is proud to be supported by its Leadership Circle. The members are Actis, Alcazar Energy, Arup, Climate Imperative Foundation, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Cygnum Capital, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP, Eurelectric, KKR, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, Schneider Electric, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit cleaningup.live.
Links:
Professor Peter Cox’s bio: https://experts.exeter.ac.uk/962-peter-cox/about 
Professor Cox’s publications: https://experts.exeter.ac.uk/962-peter-cox/publications 
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://cleaninguppod.substack.com
Acronyms:
IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
CMIP6: Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6
CERES: Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System
ARIA: Advanced Research and Invention Agency 
SO2: Sulphur Dioxide
RCP8.5: Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5
SSP5-85: Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 5 - Radiative Forcing 8.5
IAM: Integrated Assessment Model
AMOC: Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation
PV: Photovoltaics
SRM: Solar Radiation Modification
Chapters
00:00 Coming Up
01:08 Professor Peter Cox
03:40 Climate System Modelling
07:36 Climate Tipping Points
17:04 Accelerating Global Warming
18:57 Earth’s Energy Imbalance
22:13 The Darkening Planet
37:59 Rethinking Climate Scenarios
45:59 Positive Tipping Points
52:24 Geoengineering The Planet 
01:05:14 Outro

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 also examine hydrogen versus electrification, including Jan’s review of more than 60 independent studies on hydrogen for heating, why hydrogen continues to attract support despite its disadvantages in many end uses, and how incumbent industries resist technological change.
Key topics discussed:
The primary energy fallacy
Why useful energy matters
The hidden inefficiency of fossil fuels
Electrification and shrinking energy demand
Rethinking energy efficiency through systems thinking
Making better use of waste heat
Why energy statistics can misrepresent the transition
Hydrogen vs electrification for heating
Why incumbent technologies resist change
Leadership Circle
Cleaning Up is proud to be supported by its Leadership Circle. The members are Actis, Alcazar Energy, Arup, Climate Imperative Foundation, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Cygnum Capital, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP, Eurelectric, KKR, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, Schneider Electric, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit cleaningup.live.
Links:
Jan Rosenow’s bio: https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/find-an-expert/professor-jan-rosenow
Jan Rosenow’s Substack: https://janrosenow.substack.com/
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Sankey Diagram: https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/sites/flowcharts/files/2026-08/2024-us-energy-flowchart-homepage.jpg
Michael Liebreich’s “The Five Superheroes Of The Transition” article: https://about.bnef.com/insights/clean-energy/liebreich-net-zero-will-be-harder-than-you-think-and-easier-part-ii-easier/
Our World In Data Energy Consumption Chart: https://ourworldindata.org/energy-production-consumption
Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Innovation-Its-Enemies-People-Technologies/dp/019046703
Jonathan Maxwell on Cleaning Up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcN3Bqq8ehA
Rob Dunn on Cleaning Up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juAyLAUmU3w
Jorgo Chatzimarkakis on Cleaning Up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NCiEhprSOc
Subscribe to Cleaning Up’s newsletter: https://cleaninguppod.substack.com/
Acronyms:
LNG: Liquefied Natural Gas
IEA: International Energy Agency,
EIA: Energy Information Administration.
IIASA: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
07:34 Primary Energy Fallacy
15:14 Fossil Fuel Inefficiency
24:44 Rethinking Energy Efficiency
27:05 Using Waste Heat
35:00 Misleading Energy Statistics
43:12 Hydrogen vs Electrification
49:48 Resisting Technological Change
58:00 Hydrogen Europe
01:03:14 Outro

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 founder of TerraByte Data Centers, about how compute is becoming a strategic resource.
They explore how access to power and the grid is shaping where billions of dollars of AI infrastructure gets built, and how data centres could become a source of geopolitical leverage. They also discuss the security and public backlash facing this critical infrastructure, and whether AI’s enormous appetite for electricity could ultimately accelerate the clean energy transition.
Topics covered in this episode:
Compute as a strategic resource
The US-China race for AI
Why Europe is falling behind
AI’s rapidly growing electricity demand
Where the world builds data centres
Protecting data centres from attack
Weaponising chips and AI access
The political backlash against data centres
Can AI accelerate clean energy?
Leadership Circle:
Cleaning Up is proud to be supported by its Leadership Circle. The members are Actis, Alcazar Energy, Arup, Climate Imperative Foundation, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Cygnum Capital, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP, Eurelectric, KKR, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, Schneider Electric, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit cleaningup.live.
Links:
Afonso Salema’s bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afonso-salema-336320/
Sam Winter-Levy’s bio: https://carnegieendowment.org/people/sam-winter-levy
James Cameron’s bio: https://www.james-cameron.co.uk/bio
Cleaning Up 235. Inside Start Campus, Europe’s largest data centre: https://youtu.be/juAyLAUmU3w
James Cameron on Cleaning Up in 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn7GKiW5E4k
James Cameron on Cleaning Up in 2025: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPPjAbSxl5c
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://cleaninguppod.substack.com/
The Stanford 2026 AI index: https://hai.stanford.edu/ai-index/2026-ai-index-report
Edelman Trust in AI poll: https://www.edelman.com/trust/2025/trust-barometer/report-tech-sector
Acronyms:
AWS: Amazon Web Services
NIMBY: "Not In My Back Yard"
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
02:02 AI, security, geopolitics
05:01 Compute as power
11:34 The global AI race
14:07 Building data centres
18:02 Defending critical infrastructure
23:53 Who pays for security?
29:24 Designing for resilience
32:48 Weaponising AI access
40:02 Data centre backlash
49:56 The balance of power
54:09 Can Europe catch up?
59:43 AI and clean energy
01:04:01 Outro

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 technology transfer, and why price rather than subsidies could ultimately drive EV adoption. They also discuss Mexico's ambitions beyond its domestic market, with potential demand across Latin America and even East Africa.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Why Mexico wants its own carmaker
Electrifying Mexico City's public transport
The rise of electric mini-cars
Building an $8,000 Mexican EV
Why Olinia is partnering with China
The state's role in carmaking
Building a Latin American EV market
Can Olinia deliver by 2027?
Leadership Circle:
Cleaning Up is proud to be supported by its Leadership Circle. The members are Actis, Alcazar Energy, Arup, Climate Imperative Foundation, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Cygnum Capital, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP, Eurelectric, KKR, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, Schneider Electric, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit cleaningup.live.
Links:
Roberto Capuano’s bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberto-capuano/
Olinia Project: https://www.olinia.auto/
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://cleaninguppod.substack.com/
OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer
BRT: Bus Rapid Transit
R&D: Research & Development
ICE: Internal Combustion Engine
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
02:15 Electrifying Mexico City
10:33 Olinia's Origins
11:58 Mini Electric Cars
18:48 Made in Mexico
21:25 State-Led Industry
30:33 Chinese Supply Chains
36:31 The $8,000 EV
40:01 Charging Infrastructure
42:54 Global Ambitions
45:43 Scaling Olinia
48:40 Software and Autonomy
50:01 Political Longevity
55:31 Outro