Mike Barnard

Vancouver

Co-Host at CleanTech Talk — Tesla, Solar, Battery, Climate, AI, EV, & Other Tech News & Analysis

Contributor at CleanTechnica

Chief strategist, TFIE; founder distnc; strategist Agora

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Articles

Hidden Super-Emitters: The Climate Imperative Of Addressing Abandoned Fossil Fuel Infrastructure

3 days ago | cleantechnica.com | Mike Barnard

Last Updated on: 4th June 2025, 07:02 pm Methane, long overshadowed by carbon dioxide in global climate discussions, is finally receiving the attention it deserves. Recent research, including a just published critical global inventory, A global inventory of methane emissions from abandoned oiland gas wells and possible mitigation pathways by Lei et al., highlights methane emissions from the millions of abandoned oil and gas wells scattered worldwide.
Wheels Up for COMAC, Gear Down for Boeing

3 days ago | medium.com | Mike Barnard

As China’s airliner ambitions take off, America’s aviation icon is left circlingA COMAC C919 rolls to the end of the runway at Shanghai Pudong, a clean-lined aircraft shimmering in the haze as ground crews finish their checks. In the background, a row of pristine Boeing 737 MAX aircraft sit unused, tails high, their future uncertain. The scene is an imagined one, but it’s reflective of reality: China is changing course, and one of the largest aerospace shifts in modern history is underway.
Clean Molecules, Real Margins

4 days ago | medium.com | Mike Barnard

In a world obsessed with hydrogen headlines, I’m backing biofuel firms that already operate at scale with customers, feedstock, and cash flow. I’ve been rebalancing my portfolio lately. It’s something I do every couple of years — trim what’s run ahead, add where conviction has deepened, and adjust based on what I now believe to be real, durable value. I’m not a trader.
Beyond the Hydrogen Mirage: A Candid Conversation with Joe Romm

4 days ago | cleantechnica.com | Mike Barnard

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down again with Dr. Joseph Romm to discuss his then about to be released book, The Hype About Hydrogen, available now on Amazon. This is the second half of our conversation, lightly edited. Michael Barnard [MB]: Welcome back to Redefining Energy — Tech. I’m your host, Michael Barnard. My guest today is Dr. Joseph Romm, senior research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania center for Science, Sustainability and the Media, working with Michael Mann.
The $34 Billion Lesson Canada Can’t Afford to Ignore

4 days ago | medium.com | Mike Barnard

Before we build a new energy corridor, we need to understand what TMX taught us about public risk, stranded assets, and infrastructure discipline. Canada is once again flirting with the idea of an east-west energy corridor. The vision sounds big and bold: a designated path across the country to carry everything from crude oil to natural gas, hydrogen to electricity.
Ideology Accidentally Aligns with Reality: US $3.7B CCS Cancellation Explained

4 days ago | cleantechnica.com | Mike Barnard

Once again, the Trump administration has swung its ideological axe at clean energy initiatives, cutting $3.7 billion in funding previously earmarked by the Department of Energy (DOE) for carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen fuels, synthetic fuels, and a variety of other industrial decarbonization technologies. Predictably, the knee-jerk cancellations were driven more by political signaling than careful analysis.
JIVE’s Quiet Collapse

5 days ago | medium.com | Mike Barnard

How Europe’s Ambitions for Hydrogen Buses Were Undermined by Physics, Economics, and RealityTwo more hydrogen bus trial failures crossed my screen recently, so I thought I’d share. Both are in Europe, but while one is in the capital of the EU, the other is across the Channel in the heart of the United Kingdom’s oil and gas industry. While I’m at it, I’ll provide a rundown on where all of the EU’s funding has gone, and what the constant refrains are.
Carbon Pricing Meets Cargo Reality

5 days ago | medium.com | Mike Barnard

The IMO’s bold new rules overlook a simple truth: much of what they’re regulating is about to disappear. In April 2025, the International Maritime Organization did something rare for a UN body: it passed a binding climate policy. Not advisory, not aspirational, but actual mandatory rules. The agreement commits international shipping to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions “by or around 2050,” and despite the ambiguity of that phrasing, the intent is clear.
The end of Australia’s iron ore boom, and the rise of green steel

5 days ago | reneweconomy.com.au | Mike Barnard

Since 1990, Australia’s iron ore exports have surged dramatically, rising from approximately 96 million tonnes per year to nearly 900 million tonnes annually by 2024. This extraordinary growth was largely propelled by China’s unprecedented infrastructure expansion, which absorbed vast quantities of Australian iron ore to feed its booming steel industry. However, this sustained export growth now faces a clear inflection point.
From Grunge to Graphite

6 days ago | medium.com | Mike Barnard

When Pearl Jam asked me for suggestions for investing their $200/ton group carbon price, this is what I suggestedThe world is electrifying at an accelerating pace, and while solar panels and wind turbines grab most of the headlines, the real power behind the transition lies buried in rocks and embedded in chemistry. Batteries and the critical minerals that go into them are the plumbing of the clean energy transition.