Sustainability Forward
Sustainability Forward is a sustainability and energy transition podcast hosted by Wrishi Sutradhar and Carmine Fiume.
We explore how businesses, governments and investors are responding to climate change and the transition to a more sustainable economy. Episodes cover energy transition, decarbonisation, climate technology, sustainable finance, corporate sustainability, policy and nature, with leading researchers, business leaders, policymakers and entrepreneurs.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube, and join us for practical conversations about the technologies, policies, businesses and ideas shaping a more sustainable future.
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sustainabilityforward/
sustainablegang@gmail.com
Recommended
17
Oct. 12, 2026
S4E17: The $2.6 Trillion Question: How to Make Public Money Work for Nature
What if the trillions of dollars governments spend every year are actually accelerating the depletion of our most critical natural resources? In this episode of Sustainability Forward, we are joined by Lucy Coast, Global Communications Director at Business for Nature. We explore the staggering reality of environmentally harmful subsidies and how reforming these financial incentives can make the resilient choice the commercially rational one. Lucy shares her insights on bridging the gap betwee
15
Sept. 14, 2026
S4E15: Decarbonising Industrial Heat with Caldera's James Macnaghten
What if the key to unlocking the next phase of the energy transition isn't about building more wind and solar, but about completely rethinking how we use industrial heat? In this episode of Sustainability Forward, we are joined by James Macnaghten, the founder and CEO of Caldera. James shares his journey from leading early grid-scale energy storage at Isentropic to tackling one of the most invisible yet critical sectors of global emissions: industrial steam. We explore why low-temperature ind
14
Aug. 31, 2026
S4E14: The Forgotten Father of Modern Wind Power: The William Heronemus Story
Today, wind power is a mainstream part of the global energy system. But in the early 1970s, it was widely dismissed as outdated, impractical and incapable of producing electricity at scale. One man saw a very different future. William Heronemus was a decorated U.S. Navy engineer who helped design and build nuclear submarines before becoming one of the earliest champions of modern wind power. In 1972, he was already imagining vast offshore wind farms, floating platforms, multirotor turbines
10
June 1, 2026
S4E10: The Week London Couldn’t Breathe
In this episode of Sustainability Forward, we introduce a new type of content: a story-led sustainability deep dive. Instead of our usual conversation format, we step back into one defining moment in environmental history: the Great Smog of London. For five days in December 1952, London was trapped under a thick, toxic blanket of coal smoke and fog. Streets disappeared. Transport stopped. Hospitals filled. Thousands of people died. And eventually, the disaster helped force a political and
Recent Episodes
17
Oct. 12, 2026
S4E17: The $2.6 Trillion Question: How to Make Public Money Work for Nature
What if the trillions of dollars governments spend every year are actually accelerating the depletion of our most critical natural resources? In this episode of Sustainability Forward, we are joined by Lucy Coast, Global Communications Director at Business for Nature. We explore the staggering reality of environmentally harmful subsidies and how reforming these financial incentives can make the resilient choice the commercially rational one. Lucy shares her insights on bridging the gap betwee
16
Sept. 28, 2026
S4E16: Beyond ESG: Why We Need Systemic Investing with James Vaccaro
What does it take for finance to support real system change rather than simply fund greener activity at the margins? In this episode of Sustainability Forward, Wrishi and Carmine speak with James Vaccaro, CEO of RePattern and former Group Director of Strategy at Triodos Bank. James has spent more than 25 years at the intersection of finance, sustainability and systems change, and brings a distinctive perspective on why sustainable finance needs to think beyond products, metrics and isolated int
15
Sept. 14, 2026
S4E15: Decarbonising Industrial Heat with Caldera's James Macnaghten
What if the key to unlocking the next phase of the energy transition isn't about building more wind and solar, but about completely rethinking how we use industrial heat? In this episode of Sustainability Forward, we are joined by James Macnaghten, the founder and CEO of Caldera. James shares his journey from leading early grid-scale energy storage at Isentropic to tackling one of the most invisible yet critical sectors of global emissions: industrial steam. We explore why low-temperature ind
14
Aug. 31, 2026
S4E14: The Forgotten Father of Modern Wind Power: The William Heronemus Story
Today, wind power is a mainstream part of the global energy system. But in the early 1970s, it was widely dismissed as outdated, impractical and incapable of producing electricity at scale. One man saw a very different future. William Heronemus was a decorated U.S. Navy engineer who helped design and build nuclear submarines before becoming one of the earliest champions of modern wind power. In 1972, he was already imagining vast offshore wind farms, floating platforms, multirotor turbines
13
Aug. 17, 2026
S4E13: Sustainability After the Backlash - Mike Barry on What Serious Businesses Do Next
Are we simply moving from the easy phase of corporate sustainability into a harder, more realistic era where companies have to prove they were serious in the first place? In this episode of Sustainability Forward, we sit down with Mike Barry, one of the pioneers of business sustainability in the UK. Best known for his time at Marks & Spencer, where he helped develop and lead the groundbreaking 'Plan A', Mike shares his insights on the current state of the sustainability movement, the realitie
12
July 6, 2026
S4E12: Canicule - Europe’s Heatwave Wake-Up Call
Europe has just lived through another extreme heatwave — and this one felt different. In this episode of Sustainability Forward, Wrishi and Carmine unpack “Canicule” - Europe’s Heatwave Wake-Up Call: what happened, why temperatures became so extreme, and what this tells us about the climate reality Europe is now facing. We look at the human impact of the heatwave, from health risks and school closures to pressure on hospitals, farms, rivers and infrastructure. We also explain the science behin
Recent Blog Posts
Dec. 16, 2025
Same Sun, Different Stories: How India and Pakistan Are Rewriting the Renewable Energy Playbook
When you grow up in India, “power cut” isn’t an event — it’s a rhythm. In our latest episode of Sustainability Forward, W talks about 40°C summer evenings where the fan stops, the street goes dark and neighbours shout “current chali gayi!” in uniso…
Dec. 2, 2025
5 Sustainability Myths Every Leader Must Stop Believing
For many business leaders, sustainability has become a confusing, overloaded concept. Is it ESG? Is it climate? Is it a cost, a risk, or a competitive advantage? In a recent episode of the Sustainability Forward podcast, we spoke with Julia Binder,…
About the Hosts
Wrishi Sutradhar
Wrishi Sutradhar is an energy and sustainability leader with around 20 years of experience across strategy, technology, commercial growth and major projects. His career has spanned Shell, GE and Baker Hughes, Honeywell and Worley, giving him a perspective across energy producers, technology companies and the engineering sector. A chemical engineer by training with an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, Wrishi has worked on everything from LNG and deepwater energy to hydrogen, decarbonisation and the wider energy transition. On Sustainability Forward, he brings a business and strategy lens to sustainability - asking what works in practice, what can scale, and where the reality is more complicated than the headline.
Carmine Fiume
Carmine Fiume is a commercial and strategy leader with nearly two decades of international experience across energy, industrial technology and digital transformation. He has spent much of his career with Baker Hughes, working across different markets and technologies and helping connect customer needs, industrial innovation and commercial growth. His interests sit at the intersection of energy, technology and sustainability, from the changing energy system to digitalisation, industrial efficiency and the technologies needed to support the transition. On Sustainability Forward, Carmine brings an industry and technology perspective to the conversation, with a particular interest in making complex subjects understandable and connecting new ideas to how businesses and industries actually operate.