In this episode, we sit down with Mick Liubinskas, Partner at Melomys and founder of Climate Salad and one of Australia's most connected voices in climate tech, to unpack why world-class Australian research so often fails to commercialise locally. With nine years bridging startups, clean tech, and corporate innovation, Mick shares hard-won lessons from Silicon Valley and Australia's own ecosystem of 800+ climate startups.

We explore how AI is transforming climate solutions, from grid optimisation and battery chemistry to biological applications like algae and phytoplankton. We dig into the structural barriers holding back local adoption, including procurement complexity, small-market dynamics, and corporate risk aversion. And we make the case for sustainability leaders to step up as innovation brokers, connecting founders with the right people, budgets, and problems inside their organisations.

Whether you're a sustainability professional navigating mandatory reporting, a corporate leader weighing build-versus-buy decisions, or just curious about where AI meets climate action, this episode is packed with practical insight.

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Your Hosts:
Dan Leverington
Loreto Gutierrez

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Do Sustainability Leaders Hold the Key to Closing the Climate Tech Gap? with Mick Liubinskas, Founder at Climate Salad