Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer on
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio. You are listening to Bloomberg Business Week Carol
Speaker 1: Masser along with Kaylee Lines. And uh, we are watching
Speaker 1: certainly a storm zeta, right? Is that how we say it?
Speaker 1: Seta zeta? Yeah? I don't know. It's at the end
Speaker 1: of the alphabet, which tells us just how many storms
Speaker 1: we have seen this year, and especially in the Gulf Coast.
Speaker 1: I mean, this one is almost a category three and
Speaker 1: lo and behold it's barreling towards Louisiana, which has already
Speaker 1: gotten hit by multiple storms this year, Carol, and impacting
Speaker 1: that coast and that environment. It all speaks to climate change,
Speaker 1: something we've been watching globally. We want to talk a
Speaker 1: bit about that. Our next guest doing some interesting work.
Speaker 1: They are very involved in renewable diesel, renewable jet fuel,
Speaker 1: renewable and recycled plastics. Jeffy Bains is president of nest
Speaker 1: to US. It's a division of the Finland based company Nesty.
Speaker 1: Their A d r s have been on quite a
Speaker 1: run this year, up more than fifty percent. He joins
Speaker 1: us on the phone in Houston, Texas, Jeremy, delighted to
Speaker 1: have you here with us. How are you, yes, thank
Speaker 1: you very well, staying at home, staying safe. Well, talk
Speaker 1: to us a little bit about that. We're gonna get
Speaker 1: into your business in just a moment. But what is
Speaker 1: your world like amid COVID and what has it been like? Well,
Speaker 1: it's been, it's been. It's been a very tough year, UM,
Speaker 1: not not only for nest Day but for business in general. UM.
Speaker 1: And we as a company, we have done We have
Speaker 1: done better than maybe others. The renewable space has remained
Speaker 1: very strong, UM. And all of our employees have now
Speaker 1: been working from home for at least since the end
Speaker 1: of March. So we've really had to adjust this new
Speaker 1: situation rights so many of us have as we come
Speaker 1: out of this, and obviously we are far from out
Speaker 1: of it. We still have a long way to go.
Speaker 1: But you make the case that the COVID nineteen recovery
Speaker 1: is really going to need climate change policy. Can you
Speaker 1: just talk me through that? Thank Well. If if we
Speaker 1: look at COVID nineteen, we look at California wildfires. You
Speaker 1: were mentioning Hurricane Zeta, So this Atlantic hurricane season, they've
Speaker 1: all been made so much worse by climate change, and
Speaker 1: it's it's really costing life, and it's causes massive economic damage.
Speaker 1: And if we think about it, at the root cause
Speaker 1: of this climate change is really the burning of fossil fuels.
Speaker 1: So so now as we start thinking about coming out
Speaker 1: of this really massive economic downturn, we need to put
Speaker 1: sustainability at the heart of the recovery. And and if
Speaker 1: we talk about fossil fuels, one of the key areas
Speaker 1: where we see that importance is in transportation, and where
Speaker 1: it's especially critical is in those herds to abate vehicles,
Speaker 1: those those big wigs, those trucks on the roads, there's
Speaker 1: planes in the skies, those vessels on the seas. These
Speaker 1: are these are industries. These are sectors where the emissions
Speaker 1: are continued to grow and which is so difficult for
Speaker 1: us to reduce. So we need to be smart in
Speaker 1: terms of policy. We need to put a price on
Speaker 1: carbon that that in that is technology, technology and feats
Speaker 1: of neutral and have have policies in place that really
Speaker 1: encouraged the use of low carbon fuels. And I'm actually
Speaker 1: quite encouraged because it was about this time last year
Speaker 1: that Misty had the opportunity to testify in Congress, and
Speaker 1: we are now starting to see really much more talk
Speaker 1: about renewable fuels in DC and the world that it
Speaker 1: must play in the future for a sustainable recovery. Do
Speaker 1: you think that changes depending on who is in the
Speaker 1: White House, who is in Congress. Well, I think climate
Speaker 1: change is not going away. We really need to We
Speaker 1: really need to find this and it's it's not It's
Speaker 1: not only from what happens in Congress. We also see
Speaker 1: it from the industries. We see the CEOs of companies
Speaker 1: UM who are making these business decisions. They see which
Speaker 1: direction the market is going. If if we think about
Speaker 1: the millennials, the gen Z, they are now starting to
Speaker 1: enter the marketplace. They are starting to make those decisions
Speaker 1: and for them, the environment, social justice, and climate change
Speaker 1: are important issues. So if you if you're CEO of
Speaker 1: a company today, you really want to make these choices
Speaker 1: and regulated any DC is starting to see them. So
Speaker 1: I think regardless of who will be in the White
Speaker 1: House UM in the next couple of weeks, this becomes
Speaker 1: an important topic. But Jeremy, I think it does make
Speaker 1: a difference in that part of Biden's platform is clean
Speaker 1: energy investment and infrastructure. Couldn't that make a difference in
Speaker 1: demand for a business like yours? It would do. I
Speaker 1: think it's clear that that the pace of change would
Speaker 1: be difference depending on what political choice you make. But
Speaker 1: I think it's the question about making a policy choice
Speaker 1: has already been made, yes, so then it's just a
Speaker 1: speed of implementation and how quickly as a other country,
Speaker 1: as a society, we can actually start tackling climate change,
Speaker 1: but also how quickly we can build a new, better,
Speaker 1: more sustainable economy. With more sustainable it's more sustainable for
Speaker 1: the violence, but it's more sustainable for jobs, and it's
Speaker 1: more sustainable for the economy. You know, Jeremy, you you're
Speaker 1: I'm going to say, you're preaching to the choir, like
Speaker 1: I am all in on this and I agree with you,
Speaker 1: but I do feel like, you know, it's funny my
Speaker 1: seventeen year old said, you know, I think that your
Speaker 1: generation or even you know, older generations don't really care
Speaker 1: because they're not going to be around and they're not
Speaker 1: going to be in the world that I'm growing up in.
Speaker 1: And you know, just talked about climate change in terms
Speaker 1: of policies. We we talk about it a lot, and listen,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of companies doing great initiatives, uh
Speaker 1: and and so on. But I do think just look
Speaker 1: at the world, we're not moving fast enough. So I'm
Speaker 1: curious what hopes you have that we pick up the
Speaker 1: speed when it comes to these policies that take care
Speaker 1: of our environment. Yeah. Yeah, I think you raised an
Speaker 1: interesting point about children, asking it my children, they are
Speaker 1: they are going to live for decades in this world,
Speaker 1: So it's what what I do also impact their future,
Speaker 1: And it's from and it's I think it's from that
Speaker 1: perspective that we that we even even if we're not
Speaker 1: going to be around for that long, they will be
Speaker 1: what kind of world do we want to leave for
Speaker 1: future generation? Right? So, so, yes, you are correct that
Speaker 1: it is important who comes into the White House, but
Speaker 1: it's it's really the policy clarity at the end of
Speaker 1: the day that is going to drive to change, and
Speaker 1: the policy clarity is going to come from people who
Speaker 1: vote and people who it Jeremy, I'm wondering how sticky
Speaker 1: you think this is. People pay a lot of lip
Speaker 1: service to it now, but has covidentine really brought about
Speaker 1: a sustained, meaningful push toward better climate policy. I think so.
Speaker 1: And I think so because people people are at home,
Speaker 1: people are spending wartime speaking about all the times that
Speaker 1: they were stuck in traffic. People are looking at what's
Speaker 1: happening of environment a random much more closely than so. Yes,
Speaker 1: I do think this is going to be sticky. Um,
Speaker 1: it is. And they want something you they want They
Speaker 1: want to have some hope coming out of this crisis,
Speaker 1: and I think it's sustainable. The covy is that hope
Speaker 1: that we can bring. Jerry. One thing I want to
Speaker 1: get into for those who might not be excuse me
Speaker 1: familiar with what you guys do, I mean it is
Speaker 1: about renewable fuels. What specifically, tell me what the process
Speaker 1: or what what you do and how that reduced does
Speaker 1: the impact on climate? On the climate? Yes, unless say
Speaker 1: is there is the world's largest producer of renewable fuels,
Speaker 1: renewable diesels specifically, and what is it? It is a fuel? Um,
Speaker 1: it is a diesel fuel that you can drop into
Speaker 1: any diesel engine today using all the infrastructure that's available today.
Speaker 1: But rather than putting new carbon into the atmosphere, it's
Speaker 1: actually using carbon form the atmosphere. And how has that
Speaker 1: done well. We we use as feedstocks um use cooking oils,
Speaker 1: animal fats, vegetable oils. And when you think about it,
Speaker 1: these um the carbon in those fuels actually came from
Speaker 1: the atmosphere. It's the plants that were converting sunlight and
Speaker 1: C O two into oils in their sees. So we
Speaker 1: are recycling that carbon. And through the technology that we've developed,
Speaker 1: we can convert that into renewable diesel, but we can
Speaker 1: also use that to make sustainable aviation fuel. We can
Speaker 1: make that use that into into plastics and chemicals, so
Speaker 1: we can really create a circular economy of carbon um
Speaker 1: and and that's and that's something quite unique. So there's
Speaker 1: no impact on the environment in terms of the process.
Speaker 1: There is. So so today we can reduce the emissions
Speaker 1: by up to eight compared to fossil fuels. Why is
Speaker 1: it not a hundred percents because we still need to
Speaker 1: transport it, and the transportation today is still done with
Speaker 1: vehicles in large part running on fossil fuels. There's also
Speaker 1: some emissions that come from the process itself. But next
Speaker 1: Day's aim is to be production neutral by twenty thirty five,
Speaker 1: so that is surtly going to reduce it. And as
Speaker 1: more and more renewables are used in transportation, our fuel
Speaker 1: becomes more efficient as well in its distribution. So the
Speaker 1: aim is really to drive that too, as close to
Speaker 1: a hundred percent reduction as possible. Jerry, I'm curious what
Speaker 1: the appetite for renewable diesel is like. Can you just
Speaker 1: give us a lens into that demand here in the US? Well,
Speaker 1: A lot of the demand for famethday in our in
Speaker 1: our competitors is on the West coast. California started the
Speaker 1: low carbon fuel standard Nellie Nelli a decade ago, and
Speaker 1: that that's what I meant early on in the conversation
Speaker 1: about politic choices. They put in place really clear program
Speaker 1: which which is which has been aiming to reduce the
Speaker 1: carbon going into the atmosphere. And it's technology neutral, it's
Speaker 1: vendor neutral, it's seedstock neutral, so everybody can compete in
Speaker 1: that space. Its electrification, it's renewable gass, renewable diesel. So
Speaker 1: that's where we see renewable diesel being the most successful
Speaker 1: in US today. Well, Jeremy, you mentioned California and electrification.
Speaker 1: We know California is one of the states that is
Speaker 1: making a big push towards e VS. I'm wondering, do
Speaker 1: you see renewable diesel kind of taking hold alongside electrification
Speaker 1: or is it eventually going to be a competitor. So
Speaker 1: can form is really at the forefront. And we saw
Speaker 1: recently that they're going to be banning the sale of
Speaker 1: light duty internal combustion engines five The thirty five for
Speaker 1: light duty and twenty forty five for heavy duty is
Speaker 1: still many decades away. And that's just California. And then
Speaker 1: those those those trucks on the roads, those cars on
Speaker 1: the roads, they will be around for another decade. So
Speaker 1: we've seen for years and years and years there is
Speaker 1: going to be demand for liquid renewable fuels, and and
Speaker 1: we are we convinced, and we already see it that
Speaker 1: what California has done is also spreading to other states.
Speaker 1: Were already active in oding that has a clean fuel program.
Speaker 1: Washington States merely passed from last year. We see the
Speaker 1: same thing happening in New York and in other states
Speaker 1: across the country. So we really believe that renewable liquid
Speaker 1: fuels have a very long future still ahead of them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: really fascinating in terms of what's going on in this
Speaker 1: area and to hear about the all of your company
Speaker 1: and all of us. Jeremy, I hope you'll come back,
Speaker 1: because I do think this is certainly this is something
Speaker 1: we talk about a lot here at Bloomberg. Jeremy Bains,
Speaker 1: he's president of Nesta, and he joins us on the
Speaker 1: phone from Houston, Texas.