Tangelic Talks

Carbon Capture, Green Hydrogen & Climate Innovation in the MENA Region w/ Ayah Younis | S04E12

🎙️ What does climate innovation look like when you're building from scratch — in a region the world's green tech industry wasn't designed for? In this episode of Tangelic Talks, co-hosts Victoria Cornelio and Andres Tamez sit down with Ayah Younis — founder of AuraCap, climate innovator, ESG reporter, and one of the most compelling voices in Jordan's emerging climate tech ecosystem. Ayah's journey started in a medical laboratory in Jordan, where she was analyzing bacteria and disease — until she realized that the root cause of what she was treating was climate itself. So she did something rare: she changed everything. In one year, she pivoted her career, completed a climate fellowship, and began building a carbon capture device designed specifically for the MENA region's unique climate, economic, and infrastructure realities. Because the global green transition can't just be Europe's technology, exported south. It has to be built from within. In this episode, we cover: 🧪 How a medical lab background in Jordan led to founding a climate tech startup 🌡️ Why the MENA region faces a distinct climate crisis — and why imported green tech doesn't fit 💨 What AuraCap actually does — a low-cost, portable device that captures CO2 and converts it into green hydrogen 💧 How AuraCap achieves zero water consumption through a closed-loop system powered by renewable energy 🔋 The infrastructure gap for green hydrogen in the MENA region — and what's already working 🏭 How captured CO2 can be converted into green ammonia for agriculture, electricity via fuel cells, or exported 📊 The carbon credit market in the MENA region — where it stands in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE and where it's heading 🏗️ Why carbon storage underground is complicated — and why converting to solid products is a smarter model 💰 How Ayah self-funded AuraCap from scratch — and the advice she has for founders who want to do the same 🌍 ESG reporting in Jordan — what's new, what's changing, and why it's becoming a doorway to green finance 🏦 What green finance looks like in Jordan — GCF partnerships, EU grants, and the certification process ⚖️ The difference between adaptation and mitigation countries — and why Jordan sits in a very different place than the Gulf 🏙️ Air quality, public health, and why people in the region know the problem but don't know what to do 🗺️ Why government policy is the missing link — and what it would take to accelerate the green transition in the Arab world 🌱 Career advice for anyone wanting to move into the green sector without a sustainability background 🔹 About Our Guest: Ayah Bani Younis is the founder of AuraCap, a climate tech startup based in Jordan developing an affordable, portable carbon capture and green hydrogen conversion device designed for the MENA region. With a background in medical laboratory science, Ayah pivoted to climate innovation after recognizing the deep connection between environmental quality and human health. She also works as an ESG reporter, helping companies in Jordan measure and report their emissions and sustainability performance. 💬 Join the Conversation: Do you think the global green transition is being built for the right regions — or is it still designed for the Global North? And what would climate innovation look like if it started from the Middle East? Drop your thoughts in the comments 👇 ✅ Don't forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe! Your support helps us amplify conversations on energy, equity, and empowerment. 🌍✨ 🌱 Support Our Mission: If you believe in the power of storytelling, clean energy access, and climate justice — help us continue this work. ✨ Donate or Get Involved at TangelicLife.org 🔖 #CarbonCapture #GreenHydrogen #MENAClimate #ClimateInnovation #AuraCap #Climatetech #ClimateJordan #ESGReporting #CarbonMarkets #GreenFinance #ClimateTech #EnergyTransition #ClimateJustice #MiddleEastClimate #WomenInClimate #ClimateEntrepreneur #ClimateAction #GreenTech #TangelicTalks

Explained to a Friend: Carbon Capture, Hydrogen & Finance Gap — Future of Climate Tech | S04E11

🎙️ What if we stopped trying to explain climate change and just talked about it — like two people who actually care? In this special episode of Tangelic Talks, co-hosts Victoria Cornelio and Andres Tamez try something different. No guest. No jargon. Just a real, honest, sometimes nerdy, sometimes funny conversation about two of this season's biggest themes — climate tech and climate finance — explained the way you'd explain it to a friend. Because this season has been full of big terms, big guests, and big ideas. And sometimes you just need someone to sit down and say: here's what we actually learned, here's what excites us, and here's what still frustrates us. And yes — there is actually some good news in here. In this episode, we cover: 🌿 The difference between net zero and carbon neutral — and why it matters ♻️ Carbon capture at mass scale — why 2025 might be the year the business case finally lands ✈️ Sustainable aviation fuel — how AI is helping develop solvents that capture CO2 with 20% less energy 🏗️ Low-carbon concrete and why Josh Dorfman's company Planted keeps coming up in the good news column 💧 The hydrogen breakthrough nobody's talking about — new membranes that are 800% more permeable and 30% more selective ⚡ How a hydrogen-powered car actually works — and why it charges in 3 minutes like a gas pump ☢️ Fourth generation nuclear reactors — passively safe, waste-burning, and capable of producing hydrogen as a byproduct 🔋 Why small modular reactors might solve two problems at once: powering data centers and building hydrogen infrastructure 🤖 Where AI is actually helping climate tech — and where it's making things worse 💰 What climate finance actually means — government, private sector, and international money explained simply 🌍 The adaptation fund — what it was supposed to do, why it's stalled, and who's sinking while we wait 🏝️ Small island states, Indonesia, and the communities that can't afford to wait for bureaucracy 💳 Carbon markets — why they could be climate justice in action, and why they're still broken 🌐 Why climate money flowing as loans instead of grants is making inequality worse 🍎 The apple cider analogy that finally explains why global oil trading makes zero sense 🔹 About This Episode: This is a new segment called Explain to a Friend — where Victoria and Andres break down the big topics of the season in plain language, share what they've learned, and invite listeners to push back, correct them, or come on the pod to keep the conversation going. 💬 Join the Conversation: Did we get something wrong? Did something click that hadn't before? Do you have something to add — or want to come on the pod to correct us? Drop a comment 👇 or reach out us! ✅ Don't forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe! Your support helps us amplify conversations on energy, equity, and empowerment. 🌍✨ 🌱 Support Our Mission: If you believe in the power of storytelling, clean energy access, and climate justice — help us continue this work. ✨ Donate or Get Involved at TangelicLife.org 🔖 #ClimateTech #ClimateFinance #ExplainToAFriend #HydrogenEnergy #NuclearEnergy #CarbonCapture #CleanEnergy #SustainableAviation #CarbonMarkets #AdaptationFund #SmallModularReactors #ClimateJustice #EnergyTransition #GreenTech #ClimateOptimism #ClimateEducation #FourthGenNuclear #ClimateAction #NetZero #TangelicTalks

Big Tech's Climate Blind Spot: How AI Is Supercharging Fossil Fuel Production w/ Holly Alpine | S04E10

🎙️ What if the biggest climate threat from AI isn't the energy it uses — but what it's being built to do? In this episode of Tangelic Talks, co-hosts Victoria Cornelio and Andres Tamez sit down with Holly Alpine — co-founder of the Enabled Emissions campaign and former Microsoft sustainability leader — who spent over a decade inside one of the world's most powerful tech companies before walking away to expose one of climate action's most dangerous blind spots. The conversation everyone in tech and climate is avoiding: advanced AI is not just consuming energy. It is actively being deployed to find, extract, and produce more fossil fuels — faster, cheaper, and at a scale that dwarfs everything the sustainability side is doing. And the companies doing it are the same ones winning ESG awards. In this episode, we cover: 🤖 What Enabled Emissions actually means — and why it's the missing piece of the AI climate conversation 🛢️ How AI is being used to pinpoint underground oil and gas deposits with 90% more accuracy 💸 How AI is cutting fossil fuel drilling costs by up to 10% and reducing drill counts by a third 🏢 Why Holly left Microsoft after a decade — and what she found that she couldn't unsee 📊 Why Microsoft was named the #1 ESG company in the world — and why that rating is fundamentally broken 🎭 The Lockheed Martin analogy — why we'd never judge a weapons company only by its HR practices 🧊 Why data centers are the tip of the iceberg — and what's hiding underneath 🌊 How AI is unlocking new offshore drilling projects and reviving phased-out fracking operations 🔒 The internal coalition that spent 4–5 years pushing Microsoft from the inside — and why it wasn't enough 💥 Why Microsoft's "responsible AI principles" have giant loopholes that protect no one 🧮 The basketball scoreboard problem — why sustainability professionals are only counting one team's points 🏛️ How the EU AI Act could become the most important climate policy nobody's talking about 📉 Why voluntary corporate behavior change is no longer a viable strategy 🔍 What "Scope 4" emissions are — and why the industry doesn't want to count them 🛑 The real cost of speaking up — what Holly and her partner gave up to found this campaign 🌱 What responsible guardrails for AI and fossil fuels could actually look like 🔹 About Our Guest: Holly Alpine is the co-founder of the Enabled Emissions campaign, an initiative exposing how advanced technologies and AI are actively accelerating fossil fuel production. Before founding the campaign, she spent over a decade at Microsoft where she built a 10,000+ member employee sustainability network and founded the Data Center Community Environmental Sustainability Program. She left Microsoft in 2024 to pursue this work full time alongside her partner, who also left the company to co-found the campaign. 💬 Join the Conversation: Did you know AI was being used to find and extract more oil and gas? Does it change how you think about the AI tools you use every day? Drop your thoughts in the comments 👇 ✅ Don't forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe! Your support helps us amplify conversations on energy, equity, and empowerment. 🌱 Support Our Mission: If you believe in the power of storytelling, clean energy access, and climate justice — help us continue this work. ✨ Donate or Get Involved at TangelicLife.org 🔖 #EnabledEmissions #AIandClimate #FossilFuelTech #BigTechClimate #AIFootprint #ClimateAction #TechAccountability #MicrosoftSustainability #AIEthics #FossilFuels #ClimateJustice #EnergyTransition #ResponsibleAI #Greenwashing #ScopeFour #ESGReform #ClimateInnovation #DataCenters #AIForGood #TangelicTalks

Fossil Fuels, Lobbying & The Real Cost of Climate Inaction: Inside the Industry w/ Patrick Galey | S04E09

🎙️ Why are we still losing the climate fight — 10 years after the Paris Agreement? In this episode of Tangelic Talks, co-hosts Victoria Cornelio and Andres Tamez sit down with Patrick Galey — Head of Fossil Fuel Investigations at Global Witness — who leads data-driven investigations exposing how the fossil fuel industry shapes policy, influences climate negotiations, and protects its commercial interests, often in plain sight. Patrick spent nine years as a journalist in the Middle East before switching to climate. What he found wasn't just a scientific crisis — it was a system rigged by the most profitable industry in human history. And he's spent years pulling back the curtain on exactly how that system works. Because the arsonists are still being invited into the building. And until we stop that, emissions will keep rising. In this episode, we cover: 🕵️ How Patrick went from Bloomberg financial journalism to fossil fuel investigations at Global Witness 🔥 Why the fossil fuel industry is the most successful — and most devious — in human history 🧪 The Exxon Knew scandal — how oil companies hid climate science for decades 🎭 How the industry shifted from outright denial to greenwashing, astroturfing & false solutions 💰 Why Shell's CEO said the quiet part loud: "Why sell renewables at $10 when I can sell gas at $80?" 🏗️ Infrastructure lock-in — how new gas pipelines and LNG terminals are being used to delay transition 📊 The $7 trillion the world spends annually subsidizing fossil fuels — and where it could go instead ⚖️ Why BP's "green reset" got blamed on going too green — and what that reveals about investor culture 🌍 COP's real problem: why the arsonists keep getting invited to the fire prevention conference 🏙️ Why cities and businesses are doing more on climate than most national governments 🗳️ The 4–5% tipping point — and why cost of living anger is being misdirected at the wrong targets 📰 How the fossil fuel industry captured political narratives — and what that means for voters 🌱 Why 70% of Reform voters in flood-prone UK regions say they care about climate change 🤝 Why the climate movement needs to stop being too nice — and learn from its opponents 🗺️ What the inaugural Fossil Fuels Phase-Out Conference in Colombia means for global climate action 🔑 The one message Patrick wants every voter to hear before the next election 🔹 About Our Guest: Patrick Galey is the Head of Fossil Fuel Investigations at Global Witness, a leading international NGO that exposes the links between natural resource exploitation, conflict, and corruption. With a background in financial journalism and nearly a decade reporting from the Middle East, Patrick now leads data-driven investigations into how the fossil fuel industry shapes climate policy, lobbies governments, and slows the energy transition worldwide. 💬 Join the Conversation: Do you think the fossil fuel industry is the biggest obstacle to climate action — or is it governments that are failing us? And are you angry enough about your energy bills to connect the dots? Drop your thoughts in the comments 👇 ✅ Don't forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe! Your support helps us amplify conversations on energy, equity, and empowerment. 🌍✨ 🌱 Support Our Mission: If you believe in the power of storytelling, clean energy access, and climate justice — help us continue this work. ✨ Donate or Get Involved at TangelicLife.org 🔖 #FossilFuels #ClimatePolicy #GlobalWitness #ClimateLobbying #FossilFuelSubsidies #ClimateCrisis #EnergyTransition #COP30 #ClimateJustice #Greenwashing #ClimateAction #FossilFuelIndustry #NetZero #ClimateFinance #InvestigativeJournalism #ClimateInvestigation #EnergyPolicy #ClimateNarrative #JustTransition #TangelicTalks

Responsible Tourism in Morocco: Community, Culture & Sustainable Travel w/ Azdean | S04E08

🎙️ What does responsible tourism actually look like on the ground — beyond the buzzwords and glossy brochures? In this episode of Tangelic Talks, co-hosts Victoria Cornelio and Andres Tamez head to North Africa with Azdean — Morocco travel expert, founder of Destination Morocco, and host of the Destination Morocco podcast — to explore how tourism can become a genuine tool for sustainability, local investment, cultural preservation, and community empowerment. Because Morocco isn't just a destination. It's a living, breathing ecosystem of people, history, and culture — and how we visit it matters more than most travelers realize. And Azdean has spent years building travel experiences that put communities first, not last. In this episode, we cover: 🏜️ Why the Sahara Desert is the one experience you cannot miss in Morocco — and how to do it right 🤝 How Destination Morocco was born from a father's desire to keep his son connected to his roots 🌍 What responsible tourism really means in 2025 — and the trends proving people want deeper connections 👩‍🍳 Women's co-ops, Argan oil, carpet weavers & the communities that benefit from conscious travel 🚫 How to avoid the "aquarium effect" — visiting communities without making them a spectacle 🏡 Why Riyadhs offer an immersive experience no international hotel brand can replicate 📍 Morocco's size surprise — it's New York to Miami, and every 45 minutes the scenery changes 📊 17.4 million visitors in 2024 — how Morocco became #1 in Africa for tourism 🔒 Safety in Morocco — police presence, tourism police, solo women travelers & what you need to know 💰 Who actually benefits from tourism money — and why local operators pay better 🎭 How media & movies create false perceptions of Morocco — and what it's really like 🧭 How to prepare tourists to travel responsibly before they even board the plane 🗺️ The cultural nuances that make Morocco feel familiar to people from completely different backgrounds 🌐 Why the Moroccan government needs to shift its tourism focus from Europe to North America & Asia 🎒 The one mindset shift that makes every traveler more responsible: lower your expectations, open your curiosity 🔹 About Our Guest: Azdean is a Morocco travel expert, founder of Destination Morocco, and host of the Destination Morocco podcast. Born and raised in Marrakech with family roots in a 400-year-old kasbah village, Azdean brings a deeply personal and community-rooted approach to travel. He works with women's co-ops, local artisans, guides, and families across Morocco to create immersive, responsible, and culturally rich travel experiences for visitors from around the world. 💬 Join the Conversation: Have you ever traveled somewhere and felt like you were truly immersed in the community — not just passing through? Would you visit Morocco? Drop your answer in the comments 👇 ✅ Don't forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe! Your support helps us amplify conversations on energy, equity, and empowerment. 🌍✨ 🌱 Support Our Mission: If you believe in the power of storytelling, clean energy access, and climate justice — help us continue this work. ✨ Donate or Get Involved at TangelicLife.org 🔖 #ResponsibleTourism #MoroccoTravel #SustainableTravel #CommunityTourism #DestinationMorocco #CulturalImmersion #EthicalTravel #TravelMorocco #NorthAfrica #TravelPodcast #SustainableTourism #CommunityEmpowerment #WomenInTourism #TravelCulture #ClimateAndTravel #TangelicTalks #MoroccoTourism #ImmersiveTravel #TravelResponsibly #LocalTourism