How Carbon Credits Work – with Donna Lee, CEO & CoFounder, Calyx Global
Release Date: 03/31/2026
How To Talk "Climate" To Keep People Safe – Allison Agsten, USC Center for Climate Journalism & Communications
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“If there are people who are willing to talk to you about it, the first thing you got to do is listen….I grew up in a very rural area and it's very conservative also. And when I go home, I don't talk about climate change. I do talk about what's going on with hunting season. 'Oh, there's no deer this year. Why do you think that is? Tell me about the rain'….It is again about that pivoting and you have to understand what's important to the people you're talking to… I might say, 'I just upgraded my mom's generator. It's great because with all the outages we're having out here, now she can...
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How Carbon Credits Work – with Donna Lee, CEO & CoFounder, Calyx Global
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
"What I knew about Carbon Credits having watched them for many years is that they're not always what they seem...So, Calyx Global was founded in 2021 to help companies navigate the space, to really understand….(i)t's a promise that somebody has reduced methane in that landfill or planted some trees thousands of miles away. So that's what Calyx Global is, we're a Carbon Credit Ratings Agency. But really what we're doing is, for every one of these assets, helping buyers understand what's underneath that, what the quality of that asset is. Donna Lee on Electric Ladies Podcast You've...
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Creativity & Relationships Help Secure Grants – Megan Pater, CEO/Founder of Fund Nation & ECE Solutions
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“Number one reason that people get denied and they didn't read the eligibility criteria. So yeah, very, very important …If you don't have the qualifications or something for something, you partner with somebody who does and you guys go after it together.… If you don't know something, that gives you a reason to call the vendor and start that conversation and get that personal relationship with them.…Relationships, relationships, relationships. It really is the key to grants. It's really not about what you write, it's about who you're speaking to ahead of time." Megan Pater on Electric...
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Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“Healthcare Without Harm is more of an advocacy organization that works with clinicians and other healthcare workers to reduce the environmental impact of healthcare and pollution as well as climate impacts. And then Practice Greenhealth advises hospitals on how to get there and they do this awards process…(which is) about having people aware of all these different metrics that impact your operational sustainability…(and) raise awareness among the people who are running the hospital and leadership about how they're using water, food waste, where they're buying their food from, their...
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Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“I've been in this industry for 40 years and we have never been at a moment like we are today. …About 10 years ago, a little bit more than that, the narrative at that time was we were closing down plants…. Now the narrative today is, Hey, you know what? Some of those plants you shut down, we've changed our mind. How hard would it be to restart that?... All of these hyperscalers (Google, Amazon, e.g.) are figuring out partnerships and marriages, if you will, with nuclear and trying to help nuclear be brought to the marketplace….I mean, the demand is off the charts, and that's really the...
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Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“We, the people we can definitely keep the pressure on, not only on our lawmakers, our governors, our mayors, our senators, our Congress people. We have to keep reminding them that we care about these issues…There's a real key also to the future reimagining, asking companies to reimagine themselves as energy companies, not oil companies or gas companies, but energy companies. So all of these pressure points are incredibly important. We all have favorite stores, favorite brands that we shop on. If you love Walmart writing to the customer services and to the president of Walmart saying,...
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How Hospitals Can Juggle 24/7 Care & Climate Impacts – Carol Gomes, CEO & COO of Stony Brook University Hospital
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
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How Utilities Are Evolving While Keeping The Lights On – Nicole Pearson & Brad Johnson of Bentley Systems
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
How Utilities Are Changing While Keeping The Lights On – Nicole Pearson & Brad Johnson of Bentley Systems “The really great thing about electric utilities is that they maintain a singular focus almost regardless of what's going on around them. It's safety, reliability, resilience. So they'll adapt and flex…They're not going to take a risk that sacrifices safety, that sacrifices your light coming on….The difference now that I've noticed is their willingness to move forward with technology and change decades, long processes and workflows and legacy built systems……. because...
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Using Software, AI To Reduce CO2 & Increase Resilience – Lydia Walpole & Chris Bradshaw of Bentley Systems
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
Using Software, AI To Reduce CO2 & Increase Resilience – Lydia Walpole & Chris Bradshaw of Bentley Systems “For example, if we have a concrete pile, we can change the parameters and use AI to suggest actually a more optimal design with regards to how much concrete is going to be used. So we quite often, as engineers, we are risk averse. So sometimes you can over design to make sure consequences in construction and infrastructure are real. We do need to be precise, but we can use AI to ensure that we have a reduced amount of carbon and concrete in that pile, but still meeting...
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88% of Companies Say Sustainability Creates Long-Term Value – Maura Hodge, KPMG Chief Sustainability Officer
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“There is value in being able to articulate the qualitative value of sustainability…And yes, obviously revenues can be attached to that, but obviously just the opportunity to open up new markets more broadly and innovate…There's the risk and compliance component, which tend to be more easy to actually quantify. And then there's the brand reputation…So you can make the case qualitatively in any of those three areas…There's this movement from morality to materiality now that CFOs are involved…We actually take that all the way to the financial statements, to the balance sheet, to the...
info_outline"What I knew about Carbon Credits having watched them for many years is that they're not always what they seem...So, Calyx Global was founded in 2021 to help companies navigate the space, to really understand….(i)t's a promise that somebody has reduced methane in that landfill or planted some trees thousands of miles away. So that's what Calyx Global is, we're a Carbon Credit Ratings Agency. But really what we're doing is, for every one of these assets, helping buyers understand what's underneath that, what the quality of that asset is. Donna Lee on Electric Ladies Podcast
You've probably heard the words "carbon credits" banted about. But what are they exactly and how do they work?
Listen to Donna Lee, CEO & Cofounder of Calyx Global (and former climate policy negotiator at the UN and U.S. State Dept.) in this fascinating conversation with Electric Ladies Podcast host Joan Michelson.
You’ll hear about:
● What carbon credits are, how they're measured and verified, because they are not all equal.
● Where policies and regulations provide stability (or uncertainty)
● Why companies buy and trade carbon credits – the business case.
● Plus, career advice, such as:
“One is, follow your passion always. If you are passionate about making a difference, find a job where you make a difference. Don't settle for less and you will succeed more if you feel really strongly and you love what you're doing…The other thing, just being sort of a woman in late career and only maybe in some ways only finding my footing now as a co-founder is, don't underestimate your abilities….What's more important, competence or confidence? It is both in equal measure. Women always underestimate their abilities, right? Men always overestimate and women always underestimate. And so women double down on competence…You can be authentic and confident and don't undersell yourself… Lean in on the things that come naturally to you.” Donna Lee on Electric Ladies Podcast
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You’ll also like:
· Carbon Accounting 101: with Alyssa Zucker, Senior Industry Principal in Carbon at Workiva – aka The Carbon Lady
· Carbon Credits 101: with Lucy Hargreaves at Patch (now at Build Canada)
· How to Get To Carbon Zero, with Melissa Lott, Ph.D. at Columbia University Center for Global Energy Policy featured in the “Chasing Carbon Zero” documentary.
· A Biography of Carbon: with documentary filmmaker, writer and producer, Danielle Ortega of the Australian Film Commission on her extraordinary film “Carbon: An Unauthorized Biography
· Using Captured Carbon To Make Energy: with Bjork Kristjansdottir, of Carbon Recycling International
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