Episode 48: Tim Brown - Preventing Catastrophic Climate Change

0:07 Hello, beautiful humans. Welcome to another episode of Role Models juicy conversations with beautiful humans. I'm Jennifer Norman founder of the human Beauty movement and your host, this podcast thrives on your support. So if you like what you hear, follow us, Raiders reviewers and share this episode with everyone, you know, across your network. So, all over the news today we see and we hear about how we are destroying the planet with carbon emissions that are causing the climate crisis. But what we don't hear, as often are the stories of those courageous people who make it, their lives work to heal the environment. So, I want to shine a light today on one man who is doing just that my guest today is Tim Brown, Tim is the CEO of trade water, a mission-driven company that works to reduce the world's carbon footprint.

0:54 Welcome Tim. Well, thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. How it's such a pleasure to have you. I am Honored. And so, I would love for you to tell us about your background. I understand that you're a Serial entrepreneur with quite a history and carbon programs, Environmental Policy. What caused you to develop an interest in offsetting worldwide ways? Wow. Well I guess the my interest in working on the environment has really been lifelong. Had the benefit of being able to spend a lot of time outdoors. And in Wilderness areas is and growing up and I always sort of felt that it was such a shame to see pollution problems and Environmental degradation occurring at such a rapid Pace. I grew up in the Great Lakes region my home now in Chicago right on Lake Michigan.

1:39 But he spent a lot of time throughout the great lakes and really fell in love with that region and really wanted to do something to make sure that the quality of the environment there was protected and improved. So early in my career, I was that's what it was about is working on Great, Lakes water quality and air quality sorts of projects and I worked in both the Private sector and in the nonprofit sector and I helped formed a nonprofit organization in 1998 called the Delta Institute which was working on Environmental Quality and community and economic development issues in the Great Lakes region. And its really through that work that I got very interested in climate and climate Solutions.

2:19 We did some really interesting projects on carbon sequestration from Agriculture and tree planting and Forest management sand for stewardship that sorts of things. And so so I decided to leave the nonprofit sector in 2008, to try my hand in project development and as a way to bring more financing to Environmental Solutions in the carbon space in the climate space. So I actually started in methane work of finding abandoned methane sources that were coming from abandoned coal mines and working with folks, to get those releases prevented. But doing it in a way that resulted in a carbon offset credit, which then Could be sold as a way of financing the project.

3:03 So anyway, those were some of the beginnings both in the Consulting field. I worked a lot with government. I worked in the nonprofit sector But ultimately have landed in this job here at trade water. In order to really try to increase scale, increase the flow of funds to Environmental Protection specifically around climate and working on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As much as we possibly can as fast as we can, and that is Is definitely needed because it seems like over the past. I guess it's probably been you know, ever since industrialization has even occurred but the awareness and the recognition that we have to do something fast or we're not going to have much of a planet Left Behind for future Generations.

3:46 That's certainly true. If you look at the most recent reports from the intergovernmental panel on climate change which is the big un, convening of the world's leading scientists. We're on a path to see accelerated warming which will Of really serious effects. And all you have to do is look at the news, those two what's happened this year in terms of catastrophes around the world and multiply that, if we do not address this problem and get ahead of these emissions, increase our ambition to address as many of them as we can as fast as we can. Absolutely. And So, speaking of that, what are the biggest offenders? You know, we hear about jet fuel auto emissions, we even hear about methane from cows, but what are the biggest things? I know that the work that you're doing with various projects, Is absolutely helpful because I wasn't aware that there were these you know, oil holes, that were just literally seeping methane into the air because they had just been abandoned. And so that was very, very telling. And something that I think is from what I understand, there's over a thousand of them just in Indiana that you were helping to close up.

4:47 Well, just in the big picture, the major sources of greenhouse gas of certainly include carbon dioxide so that that comes in the form of burning of fossil fuels, that's the majority of greenhouse gases. But there, Others to, like methane from a range of sources, such as coal, mines, and oil, and gas Wells. There's also nitrous oxide which is used in farming applications. There are what order known as F gases, which are the fluorinated compounds, which are things like refrigerants. So, these are some of the major sources of greenhouse gases but we do at trade water as we focus on the non CO2 gases. So we don't work on carbon dioxide simply because there's really a lot of good Nations and government programs, Etc and policy making, that is really geared towards addressing a CO2, gases at scale, but there's less attention being paid to some of the non CO2 gases, like, methane and refrigerants as an example that are extremely potent, greenhouse gases, and actually accelerate climate change in the near term. So, for example, some of the refrigerants that we collect our ten thousand nine hundred times as potent as carbon dioxide. So, therefore, getting those Passes out really does make a difference and their broadly distributed around the world for that particular gas.

6:05 We're talking about cylinders that may have 30 pounds of gas in it or even 12 ounce cans and you think like well that's just you know, that's such a small form. But if we collect as many as those as we can given the high global warming potential of those gases that ends up adding up to be a really big impact to date. For example, we've collected over a million pounds of these refrigerants and that's Equates to about 6 million metric, tons of carbon dioxide equivalent that we have collected and destroyed methane work which will focus on abandoned oil and gas Wells and we were just figuring out what the total impact could be, but it will be significant as well.

6:45 And these are releases that are ongoing right now, their uncontrolled, their abandoned sources and orphaned. There's no responsible party left anymore. So plugging up those sources of gases will really have an impact and methane in particular, is One of these non CO2 gases that has accelerated warming impact in the short term. So as a company we're really focusing on those forms of gases and trying to get them to scale as soon as possible amazing. And so tell us what it is, like for a company to work with trade water because clearly there are companies that are certainly looking to become carbon neutral or carbon-. And so, in order to do that, then typically, they'll work with an organization such as yourself that can help to offset their Their carbon emissions. Is that how it works through the projects that you do? Welcome.

7:34 Yeah. Sure. We actually provide these kind of benefits to companies to individuals to small to medium-sized Enterprises sort of a wide range of organizations that as you have pointed out have made commitments around climate. They made, we call them climate facing organizations. They want to take responsibility for their releases of gases. And so, what we say to companies is first start off by calculating, what your carbon footprint. Is and there are many calculators. We have one on our website that can be utilized to understand what your missions are. And the categories of emissions that you may be operating in your company. And then you look for opportunities to reduce those emissions as much as you can, but we can't get all of them.

8:16 It's very difficult to be 100% zero emissions. So, in those instances carbon offset credits from high-quality and permanent projects, end up, being quite useful. And that's really the role that we play. Is we Just companies in achieving their climate commitments, whether they are neutrality or Net Zero which is a one of the big commitments that companies make we help them do that, by providing them with high quality carbon offset credits that bridge the gases are the releases that they cannot reduce on their own. Any of our buyers are participate California's, cap-and-trade program, which is a regulated program for reducing carbon emissions. So we supply companies in that program but in Single a we work with companies that have made voluntary commitments, whether they're large or small and then we also support individuals, look at their individual impacts and to mitigate that through carbon offset credits. So that's the role that we play.

9:14 And so we go after gases, we make sure they are permanently addressed by controlling them and destroying them. And then we find individuals and companies that value the claim that benefit and will help by paying for it. And that Revenue that we receive, then we Invest in more projects. And when we think of impact impact is both supply and demand. So we can go out and find all these sources of gases. But if we can't find organizations that will support by financing, the climate benefits that we can't make that impact. So it's really important to work on both fronts at the same time. And I just want to emphasize that point that it doesn't matter how big or small and Enterprise and individual who is very committed to helping To preserve this planet a sole proprietor such as myself.

10:03 I have a company, which is a certified B Corporation, and I make sure that I analyze what my carbon usages and then offset it, you know, even more so than what I am actually using up. And or if you are a multinational or Global Enterprise, it really is down to the human mind set that we are here to live on this planet. We are here to serve each other, and we are here to surpass / and Thrive and We can't do that. If we're destroying our planet, we can't do that. If we're destroying the environments and the wildlife and all of the beautiful nature that is around us. And so I would encourage people to go over to trade water.you, s, take a look at what trade water offers.

10:43 Use that calculator. Find out what you are using in terms of carbon and take a look at the programs. There are ways that you can partner. And there are ways that you can work with trade water to, you know, to make this world a better place. One of the programs that we're excited about is called the carbon-neutral collect. That is really geared to small to medium-sized Enterprises that can utilize their carbon calculators, that can acquire that carbon offset credits from our platform, but they can also let it be known that they are carbon neutral. There's branding, and another marketing tools that are available to help forecast, to suppliers to customers clients, Etc, that the small to medium-sized Enterprises made that commitment.

11:24 And that's something that we've launched just recently, and we're excited about it. And would love to have as many Small to medium-sized companies, join us. And I think that many companies don't have access to good projects. They don't necessarily know like, how is it that I can make a difference and have an impact. And I'm really happy that the kinds of projects that we're doing provide that opportunity. We're always creating new climate benefits every dollar that we get goes into creating new opportunities and projects apart. You know, that we've really view our buyers as partners that are enabling these gases to be collected and destroyed which would otherwise Released into the atmosphere. Yeah, and you're reminding me of this, you know, Wonderful quote that I left from Maya Angelou and that is that, you know, we do and we do as best as we can until we know better and once we know better, we do better. And so this seems to be the philosophy that trade water in your in and that you have in that it's constant Innovation. It's constantly thinking about what more can we do. What more have we learned?

12:22 And how can we offset any kind of damage that has been done with these new learnings? What can we see that can be have the most impact? Packed in our work and you're really describing into that in order to get new programs together and to your point, your, you know, always creating new new Concepts and new things for people to opt-in to. Well, one of the things about this particular field and the climate crisis, is that it requires more ambition, all the time, we cannot prevent this crisis from becoming a real catastrophe. Unless we all come together to find Pathways to mitigate the release of gases. Much as possible. You know, when we started this work, particularly around these refrigerants that we collect and Destroy. I didn't know that there were so many out there and I thought, well, we'll just do this project, collect them, all, and we'll be done with that little.

13:12 Did I know that these gases are so pervasively distributed all over the world. So we try to make goals and one point we said, well, if we can get a million tons out, that would be exciting. Now, we've changed it. So that we are seeking to get three million tons. A year of these gases destroyed, and I'm happy. To say that to date. We've done over six million tons of CO2 collected and destroyed and 2023. We will surpass the three million tonne Mark for one year, so now that we've reached those thresholds, we can ask ourselves. What more can we do? Is there a way to increase this impact and increase the scale of what we do? I don't know the answer to that but certainly are up for the challenge because that's really what it's going to take. Yeah.

13:54 All about asking the question in the first place, and that really is the most important part of it being willing to ask. Is questions. Absolutely the Nets him, you know, a thing or two about using the power of business, as a Force for good and you decided to have trade War. Become a b, Corp certified business. So can you tell listeners what exactly is a b Corp? I'm sure that a lot of them have never heard of it. Some probably have but I would say the most people aren't really familiar with the B Corp movements. And why is certification so important to you? Sure. So the carb is referred to as a benefit Corporation. So it is a company that At an organization that is looking not to sit their bottom line, but the broader impacts that the company can have on their community on the environment on their culture on their staff.

14:40 And so it's an intentional program that really asks you to look at your operations and look at the impacts that you're having. And to show that you are taking that seriously and that you are reducing those impacts and you are making commitments around responsibility in these areas as much as possible. So we signed up to do this because we are a mission based company and we thought that it would be good to subject ourselves, to third party review to sign on to the principles and the values of being a benefit Corporation and then to provide the data and the information to third party evaluators to ensure that in fact we qualified that we were we were operating our business with our impacts in mind, in order to minimize those and also to enhance through the Petit that we touch, whether it is our employees, our supply chains, our customers, Etc. So it's actually been a surprisingly rigorous experience.

15:38 We are all of our work is subject to verification by Third parties on a regular basis. But the B Corp one was pretty intense. I think it took well over a year to get through the evaluation process, but we found it to be very instructive and useful because it caused us to really think hard about the range of ways that an organization has impact. And then, to look at Is that we can reduce that. And also looking at sort of how we address diversity, equity and inclusion, how we look at our pay structures, how we look at our benefits to our employees. And I'm sort of a whole range of things that really are that accompany touches. And so, I think it's been useful to me to have us go through it and it helps us to when we say that we're a mission based company, we can also prove it because we went through the B Corp certification program and to obtained our Since I think it's been really helpful and what with this happened just recently, so we're very excited to also explore the B Corp community and get to know more companies and colleagues that are in that space and and we're excited about that opportunity as well.

16:44 Yeah. And I just want to also make mention that for those of you listening it is wonderful for you to go over to the B Corp website and look at the directory because there are I want to say about 5,000 or so companies worldwide. There's not many. The 5000 is actually a lot versus what? It was even three years ago when I became B Corp certified for the human Beauty movement. I think that there were about 3,000 at that point, but there's about 5,000 now worldwide. And there's not that many because it is very difficult. In order to become B, Corp certified, there are rigorous standards that a company needs to achieve in order to be qualified to be a b Corp. And this is important because when a company is doing good and is measured by their It and is held accountable to that impact, it really matters.

17:33 It makes a difference because you know, that that company is not greenwashing, you know, they're not doing it for marketing or simply publicity. There are a lot of other companies regrettably that do those things for those reasons. But when a company decides to make the choice to go through the effort a year in some cases, I've heard that it can take companies as long as four years in order to even go through an assessment and to right align their organizations in such a way that they would be able to obtain a license. And then to continue, Living up to it year after year, is very, very notable. And so these are companies that deserve your business, they are ones that we say vote with your dollars for because it really is helping to serve the world. When you are making a choice to support a b Corp company.

18:17 And so I want to thank Tim for the wonderful work that he is doing at trade water. May there be many more organizations like him and may there be many more CEO's that are like Tim that really care for the environment. As well as for their employees. And the good of I would say Corporate America. But I'll say that the global idea of what capitalism can mean because it can be used as a Force for good. Absolutely. Yeah. So one parting note to him, if you could wave a magic wand and have every company change its behavior for the health of our planet, what would be the change that you would want to see? I would want to see companies, consider their broader impact and then do something about it.

18:58 And I think that that Many forms. Certainly looking at their environmental impacts but looking at their Community impacts looking at how they are building Community within their employees and their supply chains and you mentioned earlier about companies being a force of good, that is totally true. I mean, I think that as company leaders, we have that choice. And I think I would like to see companies make that choice by first, considering what their impacts are, and really addressing them. Because I think that that's a pathway to Bringing about a lot of good. And I would agree 100% with you. Tim it was such a pleasure to have you on the role model show today. Tim, thank you very much for your time today and we will be in touch.

19:39 Thank you very much. It's been a real pleasure.