Sustainability Forward

S4E7: Retrofitting the Future

In this episode of Sustainability Forward, we turn our attention to one of the most practical — and often underestimated — parts of the climate challenge: buildings. After previously exploring the carbon footprint of individuals, we saw that while transport dominates, the home is not far behind. And unlike transport, buildings are one area where change can happen now. To help us unpack the challenge, we are joined by Ascanio Vitale, a sustainability science expert with more than 30 years of experience in environmental advocacy and decarbonisation. With a background spanning engineering, policy, and consulting, Ascanio has worked with Greenpeace, WWF, the European Commission, and now leads Stop CO2, where he advises on sustainability and ultra-efficient buildings. Together, we explore why building retrofit is still moving too slowly, what households can do first to reduce energy use and bills, why commercial buildings struggle with split incentives, whether current grants and subsidies are working, and which technologies are genuinely promising. This is a conversation about more than carbon. It is about comfort, health, resilience, affordability, and how better buildings can become a real part of the transition.

S4E6: The New Logic of Clean Resilience

In this episode of Sustainability Forward, Wrishi and Carmine explore the new logic of clean resilience. Against the backdrop of the current Middle East crisis, they examine why the implications go far beyond oil prices. The conversation looks at three connected themes: how renewables are coming into sharper focus as an energy security lever, why water resilience and desalination can no longer be separated from power-system design, and how disruptions to critical commodities such as fertiliser and helium reveal the fragility of global supply chains. Rather than treating clean energy as only a climate solution, this episode asks a bigger question: are we entering a period in which clean energy, clean water and diversified supply systems become essential pillars of resilience? A timely discussion on energy, infrastructure, security and what the future may demand from more resilient systems.

S4E5: AI, Cloud & Sustainability: Reality vs. Hype

AI is everywhere in sustainability right now — but what’s genuinely changing on the ground, and what’s still hype? In this episode of Sustainability Forward, hosts Wrishi Sutradhar and Carmine Fiume sit down with Carlos Silva Willson, a global technology and partnerships leader at Microsoft Middle East with prior experience across GE/Baker Hughes and AWS. Carlos brings a practical, “been-in-the-room” perspective on what AI and cloud can realistically deliver for sustainability — and what leaders should be cautious about as adoption accelerates. In the conversation, we cover: * Where AI + cloud are already creating measurable sustainability value (beyond dashboards and buzzwords) * Why partnerships and ecosystems matter if climate solutions are going to scale * The hard questions around AI’s footprint: data centres, energy demand, and water use * How to think about trust, accountability, and credible impact claims * The changing talent landscape: the skills that will define climate-tech careers in the years ahead If you work in sustainability, climate-tech, energy, or digital transformation, this episode will help you separate signal from noise — and focus on what’s scalable, credible, and useful.

S4E4: Growing Food Where Community Happens

What if the modern version of a UK allotment isn’t a patch of land—but a classroom? In this episode of Sustainability Forward, we speak with Alex Tyink, co-founder and CEO of Fork Farms, whose unlikely journey from opera singer to urban farmer began on a rooftop in Brooklyn—and turned into a mission focused on food access with dignity. We explore why food is one of the most practical entry points into sustainability: it’s daily, personal, and deeply connected to health, community, and resilience. Alex explains why Fork Farms focuses on enabling others to grow (rather than operating farms themselves), why highly perishable foods like leafy greens matter most, and what changes when students grow food that ends up on the school lunch line. We also get into the real-world side of scaling: what breaks in deployments, how you design for people who have never grown anything, and where AI can genuinely help day-to-day operators without becoming hype. In this conversation: * Alex’s Brooklyn rooftop turning point—and how growing food reshaped purpose and wellbeing * Food access beyond price and calories: dignity, trust, and control * Why schools are the best place to start—and what happens when kids eat what they grow * Scaling distributed indoor growing without the “giant vertical farm” trap * Where automation and AI can improve consistency and operational confidence If you’re looking for sustainability that feels human, practical, and achievable, this episode is for you.

S4E3: When AI Becomes a Teammate

As energy systems become more complex and data intensive, organisations face a critical challenge: how to scale reliability, throughput, and decision quality without proportionally scaling headcount. In this episode of Sustainability Forward, hosts Wrishi and Carmine explore how agentic AI represents a shift from AI as a productivity tool to AI as a trusted teammate embedded directly into operational workflows. Joined by Subodh Kumar, they discuss: * Why cognitive load is the real constraint inside modern energy organisations * The difference between traditional AI copilots and agentic AI systems * Real world applications across maintenance diagnostics, process safety, engineering handovers, and operational decision support * How to design human oversight and accountability in AI enabled environments * How leaders must rethink organisational structure and governance to deploy AI safely The episode draws from Subodh’s book, Agentic AI for Leaders, which offers a practical executive framework for integrating AI into enterprise decision making while preserving accountability and safety. 📘 Book link: https://a.co/d/0aNdOMSK [https://a.co/d/0aNdOMSK] If you are a leader in energy, oil and gas, renewables, utilities, or industrial operations, this episode explores how AI can strengthen system resilience and unlock sustainable performance gains. Subscribe to Sustainability Forward for more conversations at the intersection of energy, sustainability, technology, and leadership.