Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Fake people. Fake comments. Real clean energy projects killed.
AI is now being used to distort clean energy permitting decisions.
My guest is Leah Qusba, CEO of GoodPower, an organisation working at the intersection of climate tech, decarbonisation, policy, public trust, and cultural change. Leah and her team focus on one of the least glamorous, most decisive parts of the energy transition: getting real solar, wind, battery, and electrification projects accepted, permitted, and built.
That matters because the clean energy transition is no longer held back mainly by whether the technologies exist. In many cases, they do. The tougher constraint is whether communities trust the projects, whether local decision-makers can separate real public concern from organised disinformation, and whether climate solutions can move fast enough through policy, permitting, and public debate to cut emissions at the pace net zero requires.
What changed my thinking in this conversation was how concrete the trust problem has become. Leah explains how GoodPower’s rural renewable energy storytelling has reached tens of millions of people, and how their tested content has shifted audiences from NIMBY to YIMBY by 11%. We get into why “the message is the messenger”, why a fire marshal or farmer can move people in ways a climate campaign never will, and why clean energy should often be framed as protection from volatility rather than sacrifice.
We also discuss the new face of climate disinformation: AI-generated comments, fake public pressure, and permitting processes vulnerable to manipulation. Lovely stuff, because apparently cutting emissions now also means defending reality itself. But there is a practical path here: pre-bunking false claims, investing in credible local voices, and bringing climate messages into culture through creators in food, fashion, gaming, cars, comedy, and sport.
No silver bullets. No breathless hype. Just a grounded look at what blocks real-world emissions reduction, and what actually helps remove those roadblocks.
This is for business leaders, climate professionals, policymakers, investors, technologists, and anyone working to accelerate decarbonisation without breaking trust along the way.
If you’re working on clean energy deployment, permitting, climate policy, or public engagement, I’d be interested in your perspective in the comments.
Listen to more Climate Confident episodes:
climateconfidentpodcast.com
Subscribe for more conversations on climate solutions, clean energy, decarbonisation, net zero, and the practical work of cutting emissions.
⏱️ Chapters / timestamps below.
00:00 – Fake comments killing real clean energy projects
01:15 – Why awareness alone no longer cuts emissions
03:16 – Fossil fuels and the myth of secure energy
04:27 – When renewables beat commodity volatility
08:58 – Are people now the biggest decarbonisation bottleneck?
11:20 – Rural renewables and the one crop that does not fail
13:40 – The 11% shift from NIMBY to YIMBY
17:32 – Why the message is the messenger
21:05 – How climate disinformation is changing
23:36 – AI manipulation in clean energy permitting
24:30 – Why fighting false information like whack-a-mole fails
26:28 – Why climate messages need culture, not just climate voices
30:29 – Why perfect climate messaging can crash online
36:10 – Clean energy as protection, not sacrifice
Fake people. Fake comments. Real clean energy projects killed.
AI is now being used to distort clean energy permitting decisions.
My guest is Leah Qusba, CEO of GoodPower, an organisation working at the intersection of climate tech, decarbonisation, policy, public trust, and cultural change. Leah and her team focus on one of the least glamorous, most decisive parts of the energy transition: getting real solar, wind, battery, and electrification projects accepted, permitted, and built.
That matters because the clean energy transition is no longer held back mainly by whether the technologies exist. In many cases, they do. The tougher constraint is whether communities trust the projects, whether local decision-makers can separate real public concern from organised disinformation, and whether climate solutions can move fast enough through policy, permitting, and public debate to cut emissions at the pace net zero requires.
What changed my thinking in this conversation was how concrete the trust problem has become. Leah explains how GoodPower’s rural renewable energy storytelling has reached tens of millions of people, and how their tested content has shifted audiences from NIMBY to YIMBY by 11%. We get into why “the message is the messenger”, why a fire marshal or farmer can move people in ways a climate campaign never will, and why clean energy should often be framed as protection from volatility rather than sacrifice.
We also discuss the new face of climate disinformation: AI-generated comments, fake public pressure, and permitting processes vulnerable to manipulation. Lovely stuff, because apparently cutting emissions now also means defending reality itself. But there is a practical path here: pre-bunking false claims, investing in credible local voices, and bringing climate messages into culture through creators in food, fashion, gaming, cars, comedy, and sport.
No silver bullets. No breathless hype. Just a grounded look at what blocks real-world emissions reduction, and what actually helps remove those roadblocks.
This is for business leaders, climate professionals, policymakers, investors, technologists, and anyone working to accelerate decarbonisation without breaking trust along the way.
If you’re working on clean energy deployment, permitting, climate policy, or public engagement, I’d be interested in your perspective in the comments.
Listen to more Climate Confident episodes:
climateconfidentpodcast.com
Subscribe for more conversations on climate solutions, clean energy, decarbonisation, net zero, and the practical work of cutting emissions.
⏱️ Chapters / timestamps below.
00:00 – Fake comments killing real clean energy projects
01:15 – Why awareness alone no longer cuts emissions
03:16 – Fossil fuels and the myth of secure energy
04:27 – When renewables beat commodity volatility
08:58 – Are people now the biggest decarbonisation bottleneck?
11:20 – Rural renewables and the one crop that does not fail
13:40 – The 11% shift from NIMBY to YIMBY
17:32 – Why the message is the messenger
21:05 – How climate disinformation is changing
23:36 – AI manipulation in clean energy permitting
24:30 – Why fighting false information like whack-a-mole fails
26:28 – Why climate messages need culture, not just climate voices
30:29 – Why perfect climate messaging can crash online
36:10 – Clean energy as protection, not sacrifice
