Greening the news with IEMA podcasts

Episode 11: Could renewable energy be the way out the energy crisis?

Welcome to Greening the news with IEMA, where we explore topical news and issues that are relevant to you as environmental and sustainability professionals with our host and CEO Sarah Mukherjee.

This month we welcome two women working in different areas of renewable energy. Sarah Merrick, the founder and CEO of Ripple, a co-op wind farm and Caroline Donnelly, a consent manager for SSE Renewable and the first female IEMA Fellow in Ireland.

We hear about the fantastic work they are doing in the renewable energy sector as well as how the renewable energy sector can help reduce energy costs.

We discuss the roadblocks that are slowing down the uptake of renewable energy in the UK and Ireland. We also touch on some of the myths regarding new technologies like the heat pumps for heating our homes and the use of hydrogen to power vehicles.

We want to know about how our IEMA members are dealing with rising energy cost, so please do write to us: [email protected]

Other episodes

February 01, 2023

Episode 20: How to cut carbon in 10 days with couch to carbon zero

Join us for our last episode of Greening the News, when we met the team behind Couch to Carbon Zero. They share with us the small changes that can make a real difference.

December 09, 2022

Episode 19: Rewilding, should we go wild

In this episode we speak to Jake Fiennes, about rewilding, agriculture, the need for nature, how rewilding can impact productivity. We ask who should be responsible for the increased cost of food production and how rewilding can diversify revenue streams.

November 21, 2022

Episode 18: COP27 - Will they Sharm El-Sheikh it off?

In this special COP27 episode we discuss our experiences at COP as observers, as the talks come to a close. Sarah presents the podcast from Sharm El Sheikh with Martin Baxter, IEMA’s Director or Policy, Chris Seekings, Transform Deputy Editor and Tom Pashby, IEMA’s digital journalist

October 26, 2022

Episode 17: COP 27 The African COP - A Ghana perspective

In this episode we speak to Thomas Kankam about his path from attending the Cartagena Dialogue held in Ghana to becoming the UNEP National Project Coordinator (NPC) at the Environmental Protection Agency of Ghana. We discuss the climate change affecting Ghana, what they are doing about it and the barriers they face to implement the change needed. ...

September 28, 2022

Episode 16: Can sports be green?

In this episode we discuss the challenges in making sport ‘greener’. We talk to two sustainability professionals working at the top level of professional sports, Caroline Carlin from the Southampton Football Club and Jaime Mc Keown from World Rugby. Together we talk through some of the sustainability issues in sports and what they are doing to embe...

August 31, 2022

Episode 15: To nuclear energy or not to, that’s the clean energy question

Episode description:  In this episode we talk to an IEMA Fellow and sustainability manager working in the nuclear industry. We discuss the myths that surround nuclear energy – the ‘trilemma’ of security supply, price and carbon. We discuss how nuclear energy sits within the energy crisis and the climate crisis. We would love to know how our IEMA m...

July 27, 2022

Episode 14: The state of the profession

In this episode we speak to Paul Field, a former coal miner and now environment and compliance manager, and Becky Toal, the owner of Crowberry Consulting, which provides environmental management system advice to businesses. Becky and Paul talk about their varied career paths, the role of education and apprenticeships for developing professionals an...

June 01, 2022

Episode 13: All jobs greener

In this episode we talk to two IEMA sustainability professionals, Laura Middlemass, from Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Rebecca Garner from Serco UK. We discuss their roles in helping to make ‘every job become greener’ within their organisations. We discuss the shift in enthusiasm for sustainability, the pandemic and lessons learnt fr...

May 04, 2022

Episode 12: Green skills and green jobs for a greener economy

In this episode we are joined by Laila Takeh from Deloitte and Martin Baxter from IEMA, who were part of a team of authors of our report, ‘A blueprint for green workforce transformation’. We discuss what we mean by green skills and green jobs and how organisations can understand and implement greener credentials. To find out more about our report v...

February 23, 2022

Episode 10: The energy crisis and consumer vulnerability

In episode 10 we discuss the energy crisis that the world is facing, focusing on the UK. We analyse the role of the government in establishing fuel security policies, that help insulate the poorest against the energy commodity market. We consider the need to establish financial incentives for landlords, so that they tackle the need for energy effi...

January 26, 2022

Episode 9: Sustainable Lifestyle

Last October, before the COP26 climate change talks in Glasgow, IEMA conducted a survey that showed that climate change was the second most important concern, just behind the economy. This result was part of a suite of opinion polls taken around this time which gave similar results both in the UK and other countries. It could be argued that this mo...

December 08, 2021

Episode 8: Green progress review

This year has been an eventful year for the environment. The effects of the pandemic are still being felt worldwide and we have witnessed unprecedented weather events. The latest IPCC report warned of a “code red” for humanity, stating that global warming was affecting all regions across the globe. In November, world leaders attended the environmen...

October 27, 2021

Episode 7: The road to COP is paved with good intentions

COP 26 is fast approaching and governments and companies around the world are pledging to do more to tackle the Climate Emergency. COP 26 is hailed as a pivotal moment where leaders need to make serious advances to tackle greenhouse gas emissions, to prevent the worst consequences of climate change. It is also the first official deadline since COP ...

September 22, 2021

Episode 6: The Job Market and Green Skills

For our sixth episode we talk about the recent news regarding job market recovery and what this means for the younger generation who around the world have suffered disproportionately higher levels of unemployment and the green skills initiative that the UK government is implementing. On this episode our panellists discuss the long term effects the...

August 25, 2021

Episode 5: Building Resilient Cities

On our fifth episode we discuss resilient cities. In recent news we have seen how vulnerable cities can be to extreme weather events. In Europe many cities have experienced flush floods, in Canada, Japan and southern Europe they had to cope with heat waves, in the west coast of the USA it was droughts and fires while in Greece, Algeria and Lebanon ...

July 28, 2021

Episode 4: Destabilising climate

Extreme weather events, exacerbated by climate change, are being felt worldwide. This in turn is increasing the competition over scarce resources, which can potentially fuel mass migration and conflict. In our fourth episode we ask if climate change is fuelling conflict, or if it’s one of many contributing factors. Joining us is Lieutenant General...

June 23, 2021

Episode 3: Fighting from within

In our third episode we discuss ‘people power’ and the ability to exact change from within. Mindful of the rebellion inside oil company Exxon, forcing them into faster climate change action, we ask if the financial market is finally considering the value environmental social governance (ESG) has to offer organisations. We discuss the role sustainab...

May 26, 2021

Episode 2: Authoritarian Governments and Climate Change

For our second episode, we consider whether democracy or autocracy can provide the action that the global community needs, to combat climate change. We debate whether authoritarian or democratic governments are more effective at handling crises like the pandemic or the Climate emergency. Seeking consensus can be a long process which can delay acti...

April 21, 2021

Episode 1: Coming out of lockdown

In this pilot episode we discuss how the UK and New Zealand are dealing with easing of lockdown restrictions and how has the pandemic affected the sustainability and environmental profession. IEMA’s CEO Sarah Mukherjee, and guests Martin Baxter, Deputy CEO and Director of Policy and External Affairs at IEMA and Alec Tang, Director of Sustainabilit...

Speaker

Caroline Donnelly

Bio Speaker 1: In July 2021 I joined the SSE Renewables team in Ireland having spent the previous 21 years working in environmental consultancy in Ireland, Australia and Kenya.  My role in SSE is that of a Consent Manager.  I am responsible for consenting new onshore projects including Wind and Hydrogen and also consenting the repowering of existing Wind Farms with the aim of increasing and improving SSE’s renewable infrastructure in Ireland. These projects will assist Ireland in meeting the National plan to increase the proportion of renewable electricity to 80% by 2030.

Since starting my professional career I have been a member of the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA). In 2019 after returning from Nairobi I was asked to consider becoming the chair of the Republic of Ireland (ROI) Regional Committee which without hesitation I agreed to. In 2017 I gained Full Membership of IEMA and became a chartered environmentalist.  In 2021 I became an IEMA Fellow – the first female IEMA Fellow in Ireland.

Sarah Merrick

Sarah Merrick, Founder and CEO of Ripple, set up the company in 2017 to bring clean energy ownership into the mainstream.  She was frustrated that big companies could access low-cost clean energy direct, but people couldn’t. And so, Ripple was created to put the power into people’s hands when it comes to reducing their bills and owning their own source of renewable power.  

 Prior to establishing Ripple Energy, Sarah had worked in the wind industry for 20 years mostly on strategy, energy policy and communications. Her roles included Head of Public Affairs at Vestas and vice-chair of RenewableUK, the UK’s trade body for wind and marine energy. Thanks to her work setting up Ripple, she was named as the BusinessGreen entrepreneur of the year 2021. 

Listen on your phone

Get involved

If you are an IEMA member and have a subject area you would like to contribute to future podcasts, please get in touch.

Contribute to a future podcast