If you think of Mastercard as simply a piece of plastic that enables you to buy stuff, you’re not seeing their vast network of businesses, their billions of customers, or the potential influence they have on consumer behavior.

There have been countless efforts over the years to encourage consumers to shop more sustainably, but when it comes to the reach and data savvy that Mastercard brings, it’s a whole different ballgame.

I’ve known Mastercard’s Chief Sustainability Officer Ellen Jackowski for many years, and I was delighted to sit down with her to understand Mastercard’s sustainability strategy.

We talk about Ellen’s background and approach to leadership, the current moment in sustainability, Mastercard’s effort to encourage sustainable consumption at scale, how they’ve spread sustainability goals across their entire company, and much more.

Ellen is a widely respected thought leader in corporate sustainability and this conversation offers a peek inside an ambitious and very challenging effort to create real impact. Mastercard is a NationSwell member and we’ll soon share a summary of this conversation as part of NationSwell’s Sustainability Next series. Enjoy!

• [02:13] Ellen’s background & passion for sustainability
• [04:14] Ellen’s role at Mastercard
• [06:13] Present moment in sustainability - trends & concerns
• [08:13] The reach of Mastercard’s network
• [10:58] Sustainable consumption as a systems problem
• [12:29] Areas of opportunity & challenge
• [14:00] The Priceless Planet Coalition video drop
• [15:32] Mastercard’s carbon calculator
• [16:50] Influencing large emitting purchases
• [17:32] Promoting sustainable consumption around the world & US
• [18:52] The biggest challenge in reaching net-zero goals
• [21:00] Best ways to organize sustainability leaders
• [23:24] Tackling Scope 3 emissions
• [26:08] Mastercard’s Priceless Planet Coalition
• [27:53] Mastercard’s Community Pass Platform
• [29:21] Mastercard’s Start Path in Solidarity
• [30:52] How Ellen’s thinking in leadership has evolved
• [33:18] Resources to stay informed on sustainability
• [34:22] What else needs to change

• Mastercard: Priceless Planet Coalition
• NationSwell: Next Series
• Mastercard: Carbon Calculator
• Mastercard: Community Pass
• Mastercard: In Solidarity
• Outrage and Optimism
• Project Drawdown

• Connect with Ellen on LinkedIn

• On

Earthshot Ventures isn't just any climate tech venture firm. Having grown out of the Elemental Excelerator, one of the biggest and best-reputed accelerators in the industry, Earthshot is deeply rooted in the early-stage ecosystem. And it turns out there's something else that sets them apart.

Managing Partner Mike Jackson has a knack for coaching founders on what he thinks of as the art and science of fundraising. We're joined today by Mike and Earthshot Partner Ramsay Siegal to hear about their firm, approach, portfolio, and outlook on the market. We dive deep into Mike's insights to helping founders raise money. We talked about non-dilutive project financing and hard-to-abate sectors, the opportunities AI is bringing to climate tech, several of their portfolio companies, and much more. If you're interested in early-stage climate investing, or startups, there's lots to learn in this one. Hope you enjoy. Here we go.

• [02:47] Mike’s background & experience
• [04:52] Ramsey’s background & expertise
• [07:51] The relationship between Earthshot VC & Elemental Excelerator
• [09:39] Earthshot’s investment thesis, what they’re interested in & what sets them apart
• [12:22] Earthshot’s network
• [14:13] Mike’s approach to fundraising & coaching the portfolio
• [17:54] Fundraising tips and tricks for founders
• [22:17] Earthshot’s success stories
• [24:38] How is AI showing up
• [30:41] Investing in hard-to-abate sectors and Kanin Energy
• [33:06] Kanin Energy's business model and non-dilutive funding
• [38:15] Earthshot’s commitment, DEI & tips for achieving a diverse portfolio
• [42:38] Outlook & opportunities for climate tech investing

• Earthshot Ventures
• Elemental Excelerator
• Mitra Chem
• Kanin Energy
• Generate Capital
• Westly Group

• Connect with Mike on LinkedIn
• Connect with Ramsay on LinkedIn

• On LinkedIn
• On Twitter

• Sign up for our Newsletter
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Twitter

We know that motivating homeowners to invest in energy efficiency retrofits and home upgrades is hard. Energy efficiency might not sound glamorous, but across the US, retrofits can actually cut our residential energy usage in half.

That’s why when I met Scope Zero CEO Lizzy Kolar, I was excited to learn about her company’s novel way of motivating home upgrades. What Lizzy and her co-founder realized is that our homes are now workplaces.

And, with employers having to account for emissions for remote workers, they now have an incentive to help homeowners invest in upgrades. Enter the Carbon Savings Account (CSA). Modeled after FSAs and HSAs, the CSA can scale quickly and help millions of homeowners across the US to begin investing in upgrades they’ve been putiing off.

In this episode, we hear about Lizzy’s background, the founding story of Scope Zero, the problems they’re trying to solve, the best home upgrade investments, how the home upgrade ecosystem has been evolving, and much more. This is a fast and to-the-point episode. Hope you enjoy it.

• [03:02] Lizzy’s background, what sparked her interest in climate & founding Scope Zero
• [05:50] Key needs that Scope Zero is addressing
• [07:17] The HSA model & how it works
• [08:24] How the HSA model translates to climate action
• [09:20] How someone might use the money they put in a Scope Zero account
• [10:15] What holds homeowners back from making investments
• [11:40] Evidence that consumers will invest in CSAs
• [12:23] The benefits of government incentives - Inflation Reduction Act
• [12:53] What home upgrades should be prioritized
• [14:43] The benefits of a Scope Zero CSA for employers
• [16:34] ROI for employers
• [17:53] CSAs in practice & the response
• [18:27] How far along is Scope Zero & the growth plan
• [19:44] Scope Zero’s total addressable market & opportunity
• [20:27] Quantifying impact in terms of emissions reduced & environmental benefits
• [21:06] Tracking the impact of CSAs using dashboards & data
• [21:44] Customers’ access to a partner vendor network
• [22:14] How the ecosystem surrounding home upgrades is evolving
• [23:08] How Scope Zero is financed & raising funding
• [23:47] Opportunities for aligning interests & motivating change

• Scope Zero
• TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy - Stanford
• Caltech Rocket Fund
• Collaborative Fund

• Connect with Lizzy on LinkedIn

• On LinkedIn
• On Twitter

• Sign up for our Newsletter
• LinkedIn