Today on the show we have Dr. Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of the most important carbon recycling company in climate tech, LanzaTech. LanzaTech takes CO2 and turns it into useful materials like clothing (think Zara), jet fuel (sustainable aviation fuel), and shoes (including with the popular Swiss shoe company On). 

Climate tech companies like LanzaTech often have two distinct types of problems to solve: physical and financial. We’ve covered a range of physical hurdles climate tech companies face on the show previously, but for the first time on the net zero life we cover the financial hurdles.

That’s what makes this episode so special and why LanzaTech’s $500M capital raise is so important. Because they are in the midst of crossing that financial valley of death and if they succeed, they will build the path for others to follow.

Jennifer was the first woman awarded the Malcolm E. Pruitt Award from the Council for Chemical Research . In 2010, she was the recipient of the Leadership Award from the Civil Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative for her work in establishing the technical and commercial viability of sustainable aviation biofuels.

Jennifer currently serves on the board of The National Renewable Energy Laboratory Biofuels Advisory Committee. She holds a B.Sc. degree from Harvey Mudd College, a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a MBA from the University of Chicago.

You can keep up with Jennifer on Twitter, @TodaDogs and LanzaTech too, @LanzaTech. If you prefer email, you can reach Jennifer at [email protected], and you can keep up with everything LanzaTech at LanzaTech.com. 

Keep up with the show by following The Net Zero Life on Twitter and Instagram (@thenetzerolife). You can also get in touch at www.thenetzerolife.com or via email at [email protected].

Other show notes: 

• 1491 - Charles C. Mann
• Sir David King
• Solyndra
• Cradle to Cradle - William (Bill) McDonough