Following a string of successes over the last few years, the clean energy landscape looks extremely bright. Last December in Paris, 196 countries, working with major corporations, agreed to a historic deal to address the challenges of climate disruption by limiting carbon pollution to 2 degrees C or less.

Congress also recently passed a five-year extension of both the wind Production Tax Credit and the solar Investment Tax Credit, which will create a reliable and predictable market environment that encourages growth and investment.

This article was updated in October 2023 to reflect the most recent industry developments.

We had the pleasure to go on the Growth Secrets Podcast with host Reade Milner. Reade runs an intriguing marketing consulting practice in Atlanta that helps a range of businesses market better.

#Cleantechers —

In a tight labor market, how should clean economy companies acquire talent? I recently interviewed Paige Carratturo, the San Francisco-based co-founder of “talent venture” company Sea-Change. Paige’s firm provides broad talent acquisition services to investors, their portfolio companies, and several Fortune 500 companies.  

#Cleantechers-

In our most recent Scaling Clean episode, we talk with Hala Ballouz, who has spent the last 15 years growing Electric Power Engineers – EPE, as it’s known among developers – from a consultancy of 10 staff to a national presence of over 200 grid connection experts.

As promised, we have a Part II with the brilliant Tom Starrs. Tom’s interview was so rich in information on cleantech government affairs and communications that we split this episode into two parts. 

#Cleantechers –

Ever started a book that was so interesting, you couldn't put it down? There are people like that, too. And a delightfully large number of them work in a clean economy.

Tom Starrs is one of those.

On Scaling Clean, we typically interview CEOs, investors, and external advisors to companies. Today we're interviewing somebody who has not only been a CEO, he’s also advised other CEOs on marketing and public affairs. This is something he continues to do at his present employer, EDP Renewables.

As we mark the one-year milestone of the Inflation Reduction Act, resistance to the clean energy shift is arising, significantly propelled by a gas industry uninterested in us taking its market share. 

Among the nine big barriers to the clean energy transition, many see permitting as a first among equals.

I saw this as an ideal moment to talk to a long-time ally and fellow traveler, Dahvi Wilson.

#Cleantechers working in community engagement for projects – If you’d like to see how big-budget, mature corporations run their local public affairs, please check out our conversation with someone who’s spent over a decade running grasstops campaigns for Fortune 500 companies. We think there are portable lessons to learn, despite the significant differences in budget levels. 

If you want a boring guest, you should skip this episode. My guest has worked in over 10 countries on three continents – in the private sector, non-profits and in government across multiple cleantech sectors. After all of that, you might expect David Arfin would be picked to star in the next round of Dos Equis commercials as “The Most Interesting Man in the World.”

By Melissa Baldwin and Mike Casey

Most clean economy businesses need to build profiles for both their company and individual members of their executive teams. Their reasons vary, often by where the company is in the business life cycle. We find a lot of our clients’ profile building needs clusters at these points: