Climate Rising

Tom Brennan, a partner at McKinsey & Company, joins Climate Rising to unpack what regenerative agriculture means in practice and why it is increasingly central to conversations about climate resilience, farm economics, and food system risk. Drawing on McKinsey’s work with farmers, agribusinesses, and food companies, Tom explains how regenerative agriculture differs from more prescriptive models like organic farming, emphasizing outcomes such as soil health, reduced erosion, and long-term productivity.

Across this two-part conversation, Tom explores both the foundations of regenerative agriculture and the challenges of scaling it. He discusses how farmers evaluate new practices through the lens of risk and profitability, why the benefits of regenerative practices often show up most clearly in extreme weather years, and what slows adoption despite growing interest. He also examines the role of food companies, insurers, data, and emerging technologies in lowering barriers to adoption and supporting system-level change.

Tom Brennan, a partner at McKinsey & Company, joins Climate Rising to unpack what regenerative agriculture means in practice and why it is increasingly central to conversations about climate resilience, farm economics, and food system risk. Drawing on McKinsey’s work with farmers, agribusinesses, and food companies, Tom explains how regenerative agriculture differs from more prescriptive models like organic farming, emphasizing outcomes such as soil health, reduced erosion, and long-term productivity.

Across this two-part conversation, Tom explores both the foundations of regenerative agriculture and the challenges of scaling it. He discusses how farmers evaluate new practices through the lens of risk and profitability, why the benefits of regenerative practices often show up most clearly in extreme weather years, and what slows adoption despite growing interest. He also examines the role of food companies, insurers, data, and emerging technologies in lowering barriers to adoption and supporting system-level change.

Part 1 focuses on defining regenerative agriculture and why it matters for farmers and climate resilience.

Part 2 examines the economics, adoption barriers, and what it would take to scale regenerative agriculture across supply chains.
This episode is the first in our series on Regenerative Agriculture. We also have guests such as A.J. Kumar from Indigo Ag. Visit climaterising.org to learn more.

Jamey Mulligan, Head of Carbon Neutralization Science and Strategy at Amazon, joins Climate Rising to share how Amazon is tackling its net-zero climate goals, particularly through its engagement in the voluntary carbon market. Jamey explains Amazon’s three-part strategy under the Climate Pledge: emissions measurement, value chain decarbonization, and high-impact carbon mitigation. He describes Amazon’s major clean energy investments, its electric delivery fleet partnership with Rivian, and how it is developing long-term carbon credit procurement strategies.

Jamey also walks through Amazon’s approach to addressing the credibility crisis in carbon markets, including its launch of the Abacus carbon credit label in partnership with Verra and other climate experts, and he explains how Amazon is working to improve access to quality carbon credits for its value chain partners. Lastly, Jamey shares his advice for those who are looking to work in the field of carbon neutralization.

This is a bonus episode in our series on Voluntary Carbon Markets. Explore more of this series at climaterising.org

In this episode of Climate Rising, Erik Berglöf, Chief Economist at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), shares how this relatively young multilateral development bank is helping emerging economies finance climate and nature-based solutions. Erik discusses AIIB’s approach to
climate policy—including infrastructure decarbonization, green finance, and biodiversity credits—and offers a behind-the-scenes look at its work with Brazil, including its $1B climate policy loan and support for the landmark Tropical Forest Forever Facility.

Erik explains the importance of integrating nature and climate in development finance, the need for finance ministries to lead coordination, and how countries like Brazil are using platforms like Eco Invest to blend public and private capital for nature and resilience projects.

This episode is part of our Global South series, which also includes episodes with JSW Steel, Tata Power from India and re.green, a carbon offsetting platform from Brazil. Visit climaterising.org for more.

Marcelo Medeiros, co-founder and CEO of re.green, joins Climate
Rising to discuss how his company is restoring millions of hectares of
degraded land in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest and Amazon biomes by producing
high-quality nature-based carbon removal credits.

Marcelo explains how re.green combines data science, forest
restoration, and long-term land ownership to deliver durable carbon
sequestration—and why they chose a for-profit model to scale impact. He
discusses price transparency, quality verification, and how re.green is
preparing for a future where compliance carbon markets may accept removal-based offsets from nature-based solutions.

Marcelo also shares how winning the Earthshot Prize brought global visibility, how AI is improving ecosystem planning, and how the company
works with clients like Microsoft and Telefónica under long-term offtake
agreements.

This episode is a part of our Global South series. Explore
more episodes at climaterising.org.