Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate Change

Dev Sanyal is Chief Executive Officer of VARO Energy Group AG, based in Zug, Switzerland. He was appointed to this role effective 1 January 2022. In July 2022, the company announced the ONE VARO Transformation Strategy accelerated by “Engine 1” focussed on Conventional Energies and “Engine 2” focussed on Sustainable Energies, with a commitment to investing two-thirds of capital in Engine 2 businesses and a trebling of earnings for the Group in the next 5 years. VARO will also be Net Zero in Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 2040.Prior to this, Dev had a 32-year career with BP plc including over a decade as a member of the group executive committee and headed gas and low carbon energy globally. Prior to this, he was chief executive, alternative energy and also accountable for BP’s Europe and Asia regions. During his tenure, he built world scale businesses in sustainable energy – solar, offshore wind, onshore wind, hydrogen and gas and power - and led the pivot in the company’s energy transition strategy. Dev joined BP in 1989 and held a variety of international roles in London, Athens, Istanbul, Vienna and Dubai. Prior to joining the Group Executive Committee, he held the roles of group treasurer and chairman of BP Investment Management and Arco Aluminium, chief executive, Air BP International and chief executive, BP Eastern Mediterranean. Dev is an independent non-executive director on the board of M&G plc; a member of the energy advisory board of the Government of India; the advisory board of the Centre for European Reform; and the board of overseers of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, where he obtained a master’s degree in economics and politics. He is a Fellow of the Energy Institute. Dev was an independent non-executive director on the board of Man Group plc (2013-2022); a member of the Accenture Global Energy Board (2012-2018); Vice Chairman, Centre for China in the World Economy, Tsinghua University (2014-2019); The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation Business Leaders Group (2012-2015); and Trustee of the Career Academy Foundation (2007-2013).

Bill McKibben is founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 for action on climate and justice. His 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has appeared in 24 languages. He’s gone on to write 20 books, and his work appears regularly in periodicals from the New Yorker to Rolling Stone. He serves as the Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he has won the Gandhi Peace Prize as well as honorary degrees from 20 colleges and universities. He was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, sometimes called the alternative Nobel, in the Swedish Parliament. Foreign Policy named him to its inaugural list of the world’s 100 most important global thinkers. McKibben helped found 350.org, the first global grassroots climate campaign, which has organized protests on every continent, including Antarctica, for climate action. He played a leading role in launching the opposition to big oil pipeline projects like Keystone XL, and the fossil fuel divestment campaign, which has become the biggest anti-corporate campaign in history, with endowments worth more than $40 trillion stepping back from oil, gas and coal. He stepped down as board chair of 350 in 2015, and left the board and stepped down from his volunteer role as senior adviser in 2020, accepting emeritus status. He lives in the mountains above Lake Champlain with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern, where he spends as much time as possible outdoors. In 2014, biologists credited his career by naming a new species of woodland gnat—Megophthalmidia mckibbeni–in his honor.

Dr. Julio Friedmann is Chief Scientist and Chief Carbon Wrangler at Carbon Direct. He recently served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Fossil Energy at the Department of Energy where he was responsible for DOE’s R&D program in advanced fossil energy systems, carbon capture, and storage (CCS), CO2 utilisation, and clean coal deployment. More recently, he was a Senior Research Scholar and now a Non--Resident Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA, where he led the Carbon Management Research Initiative. He has held positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, including Chief Energy Technologist, where he worked for 15 years.Dr. Friedmann is one of the most widely known and authoritative experts in the U.S. on carbon removal (CO2 drawdown from the air and oceans), CO2 conversion and use (carbon-to-value), hydrogen, industrial decarbonisation, and carbon capture and sequestration. In addition to close partnerships with many private companies, NGOs, Julio has worked with the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and government agencies foreign and domestic. His expertise also includes oil and gas production, international clean energy engagements, and earth science.Dr. Friedmann received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), followed by a Ph.D. in Geology at the University of Southern California. He worked for five years as a senior research scientist at ExxonMobil, then as a research scientist at the University of Maryland.

Aksel has been an active top athlete from 1998 to 2019, with World Champion titles and Olympic gold medals on his track record. He has been a successful serial entrepreneur and tech investor both while competing and after retiring. Aksel has been part of Norselab’s partner team since 2015. He is known as a spirited and supportive leader with strong team-building skills who enjoys working with smart people to achieve a shared goal. With his proactive attitude, he does not shy away from challenges that come his way, but rather approaches them as opportunities to drive change.

Mindy Lubber is the CEO and President of the sustainability nonprofit organization Ceres. She leads an all-women executive leadership team and more than 160 employees working to mobilize the most influential investors and companies to solve the world’s greatest sustainability challenges. She has been at the helm since 2003, and under her leadership, the organization and its powerful networks and global collaborations have grown significantly in size and influence. Prior to Ceres, Lubber served as a Regional Administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under former President Bill Clinton. She also founded Green Century Capital Management and served as the director of the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG). She has received numerous awards and recognitions for her leadership. In 2020, Lubber was awarded the United Nations ’Champions of the Earth’ Entrepreneurial Vision award. In the same year, Lubber made Barron’s Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential women in U.S. finance, and then again in 2021. She has also received the Climate Visionary Award from the Earth Day Network, William K. Reilly Award for Environmental Leadership from American University, and the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship from the Skoll Foundation. She has been recognized by the United Nations and the Foundation for Social Change as one of the World’s Top Leaders of Change. In 2019, 2020, and 2021, Ceres was named a top 100 women-led businesses in Massachusetts by the Globe Magazine and Commonwealth Institute.

Julia is currently leading the introduction of private financing into new nuclear in the UK – Sizewell C is the path finder project. This involves working cooperatively with Government, with cross party MPs, trade unions, with industry and with the financial community. Julia has lead the development of a new vision for nuclear as ‘servant of the future energy system’ – nuclear working together with renewables and contributing to both the growth of a hydrogen economy and to the development of Direct Air Capture, as well as generating electricity for the National Grid. Prior to joining EDF to develop the Sizewell C Project, Julia was Head of Power at Herbert Smith Freehills for the UK and Europe, and led a team advising on power projects of all technologies, and has worked on a range of infrastructure projects in transport and defence sectors, and in M&A. Julia led the team advising BEIS (then DTI) on the formation of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, and spent a year on secondment to the NDA. Julia frequently appears in the media to talk about nuclear (Radio 4, local and national TV), on podcasts, and is in demand to speak at conferences. Julia has appeared in front of parliamentary committees (most recently the Bill Committee for the Nuclear Energy (Financing) Bill). Additional to her role for Sizewell C, Julia is a non executive director of Newcleo (small nuclear) and an adviser to Hycap (financing hydrogen projects).

Roger Pielke, Jr. has been on the faculty of the University of Colorado Boulder since 2001, where he teaches and writes on a diverse range of policy and governance issues related to science, technology, environment, innovation and sports. Roger is a professor in the Environmental Studies Program. Roger is currently focusing his research on a NSF-sponsored, 16-country evaluation of science advice in the COVID-19 pandemic. Roger holds degrees in mathematics, public policy and political science, all from the University of Colorado. In 2012 Roger was awarded an honorary doctorate from Linköping University in Sweden and was also awarded the Public Service Award of the Geological Society of America. In 2006, Roger received the Eduard Brückner Prize in Munich, Germany in 2006 for outstanding achievement in interdisciplinary climate research. Roger has been a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan since 2016. From 2019 he has served as a science and economics adviser to Environmental Progress. Roger was a Fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences from 2001 to 2016. He served as a Senior Fellow of The Breakthrough Institute from 2008 to 2018. In 2007 Roger served as a James Martin Fellow at Oxford University’s Said Business School. Before joining the faculty of the University of Colorado, from 1993 to 2001 Roger was a Scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. At the University of Colorado, Roger founded and directed both the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research and the Sports Governance Center. He also created and led the university’s Graduate Certificate Program in Science and Technology Policy, which has seen its graduates move on to faculty positions, Congressional staff, presidential political appointees and in positions in business and civil society. His books include Hurricanes: Their Nature and Impacts on Society (with R. Pielke Sr., 1997, John Wiley, full text free as PDF), Prediction: Science, Decision Making and the Future of Nature (with D. Sarewitz and R. Byerly, 2001, Island Press), The Honest Broker: Making Sense of Science in Policy and Politics published by Cambridge University Press (2007), The Climate Fix: What Scientists and Politicians Won’t Tell you About Global Warming (2010, Basic Books). Presidential Science Advisors: Reflections on Science, Policy and Politics (with R. Klein, 2011, Springer), and The Edge: The War Against Cheating and Corruption in the Cutthroat World of Elite Sports (Roaring Forties Press, 2016). His most recent book is The Rightful Place of Science: Disasters and Climate Change (2nd edition, 2018, Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes).

Simon Morrish is the CEO and founder of Xlinks, CEO of Ground Control and Partner at Levitate Capital.Simon is a serial entrepreneur (he is the founder of amongst others, Xlinks, Future Motors and Skysports) who has invested in and worked with companies such as Excel IT, Solar Ventus, CQC, Survey Roofing and Litter Boss. Simon started out at Morgan Stanley as a Derivatives Analyst, he then worked at McKinsey & Company. With his wife, he co-founded and directed How-Smart Ltd which was successfully sold to a larger competitor.Simon holds a Master’s degree with Distinction in Economics, Engineering and Management from Oxford University and a Master of Business Administration degree with Honors from Harvard Business School. Simon was a recipient of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ award for Transformational Leadership in 2018 and was the recipient of the British Business Excellence Awards LDC Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2021.

Hannah Jones is the CEO of The Earthshot Prize, a prize and a platform founded by HRH Prince William and the Royal Foundation in 2020 to search, spotlight and scale solutions that can help repair and regenerate the planet in this decade. Hannah Jones is a social and environmental advocate believing in the power of entrepreneurism, innovation and collaboration to affect systems change. She started her career in radio, at the BBC, before working as a social entrepreneur in a British Charity, founding and leading pan-European AIDS/HIV prevention and anti-racism campaigns across 100's of Radio stations. She then worked on the founding team of Microsoft’s philanthropy program in EMEA before joining Nike to help start their first Corporate Responsibility team in EMEA. For 16 years, as Nike’s first Chief Sustainability Officer, working to the CEO and the Nike Board of Directors, Hannah helped lead the transformation of Nike’s labor rights and sustainability efforts, turning both functions into engines of business model innovation and industry change. Following that, Hannah founded Nike Valiant Labs, a venture to bring a culture of lean startup, human centered design & entrepreneurialism to Nike, housing a vibrant diverse culture of entrepreneurs delivering a growing portfolio of new disruptive digital businesses and offerings with purpose at their core.Named twice to Fast Company’s top 100 Creative People list, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and winner of the C.K Prahalad 2013 award for leadership in Sustainability, Hannah has served on the board of the Method Soap & Ecover brands, was the co-chair and co-founder of We Mean Business, a coalition of progressive businesses working to influence climate policy, and has served on the boards and councils of Mercy Corps, the UNHCR Business Advisory Council and the Purpose Climate Lab. Today, Hannah is a non-executive director on the board of Oatly, a sustainability advisor to UCB, a global BioTech company, an advisor to the Queens Gambit, an all-female SPAC, a mentor with the Unreasonable Group, and a mentor to as many talented diverse future leaders as she can fit in.Further reading:https://earthshotprize.org/

Robert Llewellyn is the joint CEO of the Fully Charged Show.Robert Llewellyn is most commonly known for playing the role of Kryten for 30 years in the BBC hit series Red Dwarf. He hosted the Channel 4 series Scrapheap Challenge for 10 years, along with 8 series of How Do They Do It for Channel 5.More recently he has taken his career to YouTube with The Fully Charged Show, the series has over 870,000 subscribers and now receives an average of 4 million views a month. On the Fully Charged Show Llewellyn and his co-hosts investigate the rapid development of electric vehicle technology and anything from solar panels to alternative energy sources.He is the author of seven fiction and eight non-fiction books, Llewellyn, who is of Anglo-Welsh ancestry, learnt to drive at age 11 (having been taught by his older brother in a go-kart); formerly a "petrol-head", he is now a widely acknowledged electric car and renewable energy/clean tech advocate and frequently presents talks on the subject.Further reading: https://fullycharged.show/https://www.youtube.com/c/fullychargedshow

Ion Yadigaroglu has been Managing Partner at Capricorn Investment Group since 2004, and is an early investor in iconic technology companies including Tesla, SpaceX, Planet, QuantumScape and Saildrone. Capricorn was born from the desire to demonstrate the huge investment potential that resides in breakthrough commercial solutions to the world’s most pressing problems, and as such is one of the original impact investors. Prior to Capricorn, Ion was Director of Business Development (M&A) with Koch Industries, executing a range of acquisitions and investments, and a Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Bivio, a software startup in Colorado, and an Analyst at Olsen & Associates, a quantitative forex trader. Ion was a research fellow at Columbia University and holds a master’s in physics from ETH Zürich in Switzerland and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Stanford University. Ion serves on the boards of Twelve and Capricorn, and was a founding member in 2007 of GIIN, the Global Impact Investor Network, and is a Director of non-profits Ceres and MethaneSat.

Patrick Graichen is a State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. He has held this post since 15 December 2021 and is responsible for energy and climate policy.From 2012, Graichen was instrumental in setting up the think tank Agora Energiewende, taking on the roles of Executive Director and Managing Director from 2014 until his move to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. He began his career in public service at the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, first as an officer in the Division for International Climate Protection, then as Personal Assistant to a State Secretary, and subsequently as Head of Division for Climate and Energy Policy. During this time, he played a leading role in negotiating the economic instruments of the Kyoto Protocol, the Federal Government's 2007 Integrated Energy and Climate Programme, the EU's 2008 Climate and Energy Package, and legislative procedures in the field of energy law.Patrick Graichen studied Political Science and Economics in Heidelberg and Cambridge, UK, before going on to earn his doctorate at the Interdisciplinary Institute for Environmental Economics at the University of Heidelberg.

Francesco La Camera has been the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) since April 2019.Under Francesco’s leadership the Agency has forged a series of new strategic partnerships with UN organisations including UNDP, UNFCCC and Green Climate Fund among others. A key priority of his tenure is to implement a more action-oriented approach to the Agency’s work.Previously, Francesco served as Director-General of Sustainable Development, Environmental Damage, EU and International Affairs at the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land & Sea since 2014. Francesco held number of roles at the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea. As the national coordinator for climate, environment, resource efficiency and circular economy, he led the Italian delegation to UNFCCC’s COP 21 to 24 and the EU Presidency at COP 20. He was responsible for the preparation and organisation of Italy’s G7 Environment Presidency in 2017. He served as co-chair of the Africa Centre for Climate and Sustainable Development established in Rome in partnership with FAO and UNDP and co-chaired the Financial Platform for Climate and Sustainable Development in partnership with the Italian Development Bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. He has also coordinated a number of national strategies including on sustainable development, green finance and fossil fuel subsides among other things.Francesco was a lecturer of Sustainable Development at the University of Cosenza and of Environment & Land Economics at the University of Roma 3. He is a graduate of the University of Messina in Political Sciences (Economic Policy major). Further reading: IRENA World Energy Transitions Outlook https://irena.org/publications/2022/Mar/World-Energy-Transitions-Outlook-2022

Farhana Yamin is an international climate change lawyer, public speaker, author and social justice activist.Farhana is a Visiting Professor at the University of the Arts in London, Associate Research Fellow at Chatham House, Senior Adviser to SystemIQ and Co Coordinator of Camden Think and Do.Farhana has spent over three decades working in the climate space – she represented small island and developing countries at climate conferences (she has been deputy chair of the Expert Group of Advisors to the Climate Vulnerable Forum), worked at Children's Investment Fund Foundation, served as a special adviser to the EU Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard, founded Track 0 and taught at a number of universities. Farhana was one of the Coordinators of Extinction Rebellion’s Strategy team.Farhana read PPE at Somerville College, Oxford and is a qualified solicitor. She feature on the 2020 BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour Power list.

John joined National Grid in 1991 and during his time at the company has held a variety of senior management roles, including UK Director of Engineering in 2003, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President for the US Electricity Distribution & Generation business in 2007, Chief Operating Officer for UK Gas Distribution in 2010, and UK Chief Operating Officer from 2012 to 2014. He joined the Board in 2014, as Executive Director UK, responsible for the UK’s Electricity Transmission, Gas Transmission and Gas Distribution businesses. In September 2017, John came together with the government and thirteen other CEOs to create an Inclusive Economy Partnership, which has been established to identify and develop solutions to some of today’s most significant societal challenges, including financial inclusion and capability, mental health and transition to work. In January 2018, John was appointed to the Rentokil Initial plc Board as a Non-Executive Director and became Senior Independent Director in May 2019. He was appointed a member of the Edison Electric Institute Executive Committee in June 2019 and joined the Board of the Electric Power Research Institute in April 2021. John is a member of CBI’s Presidents Committee, and a Fellow of the Energy Institute and of the Institution of Energy and Technology. He holds a BSC in Economics and an MSc in International Economics and Banking, and completed the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School in 2010.

Mark Carney is one of the towering figures of climate finance. In 2020 Mark became the UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance, and the adviser to the UK on finance for COP 26. At COP26, in Glasgow, he launched GFANZ - the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, whose members manage $130 trillion of financial assets and have pledged to invest them in line with the Paris agreements. Mark co-chairs GFANZ together with Mike Bloomberg.Mark is a Vice Chair and Head of Transition Investing at Brookfield Asset Management and Board Member of Stripe.He was the governor of Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013, and then Governor of the Bank of England from 2013 until 2020. He was the chair of the Financial Stability Board (2011-2018) founding co-chair of TCFD - the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure.Mark holds a bachelor's degree with high honours in economics from Harvard University and MPhil and DPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford.

Alex Honnold is one of the world’s best rock climbers, famous for his free solo ascents of big walls, including his 2017 first free solo of El Capitan in Yosemite. Alex began studies in engineering at the University of California-Berkeley but dropped out to pursue his passion for climbing, living out of his van. He first attracted attention within the climbing community in 2008 when he became the first climber to free solo Half Dome in Yosemite. In 2012 he established the speed record for the Yosemite Triple Crown, climbing three big walls in under 19 hours. With Hans Florine, Alex climbed the popular Nose of El Capitan, a nearly 3,000-foot granite wall, in a record time of two hours 23 minutes and 51 seconds – a feat National Geographic described as perhaps " the greatest feat of pure rock climbing in the history of the sport." Alex has been profiled by 60 minutes and the New York Times, appeared on the cover of National Geographic and starred in numerous adventure films. In 2015, together with professional climbing writer David Roberts, he authored Alone on the Wall, the story of seven of his greatest climbing feats up to that year. In 2012 Alex founded the Honnold Foundation to provide solar power to some of the disadvantaged communities he was coming across in his climbing career. In 2021 the Foundation supported 44 communities across 17 countries with its brand of community-centered innovation catalyzed by solar energy. Further reading: Free Solo - trailerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urRVZ4SW7WU Free Solo – websitehttps://films.nationalgeographic.com/free-solo The Ascent of Alex Honnold – CBS special report with Lara Loganhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1jwwagtaQEduro Corner – the most exposed move of Alex’s Free Solo climb of El Capitanhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blfR33DUqsgHonnold Foundationhttps://www.honnoldfoundation.org/ Project Bohttps://www.projectbo.org/ Project Bo - lessons learnedhttps://www.liebreich.com/project-bo-saving-lives-in-sierra-leone-with-solar-batteries-and-twitter/

Claire Skinner is a partner in Heidrick & Struggles' London office and leader of the Europe region. She is a member of the firm’s CEO & Board, Industrial, and Private Equity practices.Claire has more than 20 years of experience building executive and non-executive teams for a wide range of clients involved in energy, utilities, clean technology, and sustainability. Additionally, she has substantial expertise within energy and environmental investment, building teams on behalf of leading venture and private equity companies, infrastructure and asset managers, global financial institutions, and professional services groups.Claire has significant experience in senior sustainability and climate change appointments within major corporations, government, philanthropy, and non-profit organizations. Prior to joining Heidrick & Struggles, Claire led the EMEA alternative energy & clean technology practice at a global executive search firm. Previously, she was the founding managing director of a boutique executive search firm dedicated to the power and sustainability markets.Claire serves on the Business Advisory Group of the UK Government Climate Change Committee. She holds a BSc in Agricultural Environmental Science from Newcastle University and MSc in Pollution and Environmental Control from the University of Manchester.

This episode of Cleaning Up is based on a March 2022 blog post written by Michael for BloombergNEF.https://about.bnef.com/blog/liebreich-the-quest-for-resilience-what-could-possibly-go-wrong/We would like to thank BloombergNEF for allowing us to record it. Further reading:“This Isn’t a Natural Disaster”: Climate Scientist Michael Mann on Deadly Tornadoes in 8 States (December 2021)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLKlvnc4dBM&t=648sEmpirical evidence of declining global vulnerability to climate-related hazards (July 2019)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378019300378Climate rhetoric: What’s an energy trilemma? (December 2013)https://www.carbonbrief.org/climate-rhetoric-whats-an-energy-trilemmaClimatological analysis of solar and wind energy in Germany using the Grosswetterlagen classification (February 2021)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148120316682What happens during a blackout: Consequences of a prolonged and wide-ranging power outage (August 2011)https://publikationen.bibliothek.kit.edu/1000103292Voltage collapse in complex power grids (February 2016)https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms10790A Framework for Establishing Critical Infrastructure Resilience Goals (October 2010)https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/niac/niac-a-framework-for-establishing-critical-infrastructure-resilience-goals-2010-10-19.pdfA 10-Point Plan to Cut Oil Use (March 2022)https://www.iea.org/reports/a-10-point-plan-to-cut-oil-useA 10-Point Plan to Reduce the European Union’s Reliance on Russian Natural Gas (March 2022)https://www.iea.org/reports/a-10-point-plan-to-reduce-the-european-unions-reliance-on-russian-natural-gas

Tom Steyer is Co-Executive Chair of Galvanize Climate Solutions, a mission-driven investment platform.Tom Steyer founded and ran Farallon Capital Management, a multi-strategy global investment business based in San Francisco, from 1986 until 2012. During that period, it grew assets from $6mm to $36bn. Over the same time, Tom was also a partner and Investment Committee member at Hellman & Friedman, a multi-billion dollar private equity firm.After retiring from Farallon, Tom dedicated himself to public service and philanthropy, with a focus on climate action. Tom is the Co-Founder of Beneficial State Bank, a triple bottom line community development financial institution founded in 2007 with over $1 billion in assets. Tom is also the Founder of NextGen America, the largest youth voter mobilization organization in American history. Most recently, Tom was a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and beginning in April 2020 served as co-chair for Governor Newsom’s Business and Jobs Recovery Task Force. He also co-chaired Vice President Biden’s Climate Engagement Advisory Council to help mobilize climate voters.Tom graduated from Yale and received his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Emma Pinchbeck has been the Chief Executive of Energy UK, the trade association for the energy industry since July 2020. Before taking up this post she was Deputy CEO of RenewableUK for 4 years and was the Head of Climate Change at WWF-UK. Emma holds an MA from the University of Oxford. She is a competitive rower and in 2018 ran her first marathon, raising money for WWF.

Rhian-Mari Thomas is Chief Executive of the Green Finance Institute. The Institute sits at the nexus of the public and private sectors, the Green Finance Institute convenes and leads sectoral coalitions of global experts, that identify and unlock barriers to investment towards impactful, real-economy outcomes. The Green Finance Institute is backed by the UK Government and City of London Corporation. Rhian spent 20 years in investment banking and corporate finance and was awarded an OBE for services to green banking. She is an Emeritus Member of TCFD and co-chaired the launch of the TNFD to which she is a senior advisor. Rhian sits on numerous advisory groups across UK Government including the Net Zero Expert Group, Centre for Greening Finance and Investment, Global Resources Initiative, Department for Transport Expert Panel, Her Majesty’s Treasury Green Technical Advisory Group and the UK Voluntary Carbon Markets Forum. Rhian was also a commissioner on the Zero Carbon Commission and a member of the Climate Change Committee’s Net Zero Finance Advisory Group. Rhian sits on the advisory board for UCL Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources and co-chairs the advisory board for Snowball Impact Management.A fluent Welsh speaker, Rhian holds a PhD in Physics from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.Further reading:Green Finance Institutehttps://www.greenfinanceinstitute.co.uk/

Professor Emily Shuckburgh OBE is Director of Cambridge Zero, the University of Cambridge's major climate change initiative. Emily is a climate scientist and mathematician, a Fellow of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, an Associate Fellow of the Centre for Science and Policy and a Fellow of the British Antarctic Survey. She leads the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training on the Application of AI to the study of Environmental Risks. A polar expert, she previously led a UK national research programme on the Southern Ocean and its role in climate. In 2016 she was awarded an OBE for services to science and the public communication of science. She is co-author with HRH The Prince of Wales and Tony Juniper of the Ladybird Book on Climate Change. Further reading:Official biohttps://www.cst.cam.ac.uk/people/efs20Cambridge Zerohttps://www.zero.cam.ac.uk/ Cambridge Zero Policy Forum https://www.csap.cam.ac.uk/Research-Policy-Engagement/cambridge-zero/AI4ERhttps://ai4er-cdt.esc.cam.ac.uk/ Centre for Landscape Regenerationhttps://www.clr.conservation.cam.ac.uk/

Inger Andersen is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme.From 2015 until 2019, Inger was the Director-General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Before that she worked at the World Bank for 15 years in roles such as Vice President of the Middle East and North Africa; Vice President for Sustainable Development and Head of the CGIAR Fund Council. Prior to joining the World Bank, Inger worked at the UN, focusing mostly on drought and desertification issues. Her career began in Sudan, where she worked as an English teacher and moved to development sector in 1985 to work at the Sudan Aid. Inger holds a BA from the London Metropolitan University North and a MA in Development Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Tommaso Demarie (PhD) is co-founder and CEO of Entropica Labs, a company working on optimisation with and for quantum computing. Tommaso has 12 years of experience in the field of quantum information and computation. Before founding Entropica, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Singapore's Centre for Quantum Technologies and Singapore University of Technology and Design. His research interests included (and include, when he finds the time to publish research articles) applications of quantum-based protocols, verification of quantum computation, and novel cryptographic schemes for quantum computing. Tommaso holds an Undergraduate Degree in Physics and a Masters in Environmental Physics from the University of Torino (Turin, Italy) and a PhD in Physics from Macquarie University, Sydney. Further reading:Entropica’s websitehttps://www.entropicalabs.com/Tommaso's Google Scholarhttps://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_MoOYCsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=aoTommaso's LinkedIn profilehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/tommasodemarie/Q4Climatehttps://q4climate.github.io/#:~:text=Q4Climate%20is%20an%20initiative%20that,and%20impact%20of%20climate%20change.&text=Find%20practical%20solutions%20using%20the%20highest%20possible%20scientific%20rigor.

David Turk serves as Deputy Secretary in the US Department of Energy.Before joining President Biden’s administration in 2021, David spent over 4 years as Deputy Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA). He was Head of Strategic Initiatives Office and Head of Energy Environment Division.During the Obama administration David worked at the Department of Energy (Deputy Assistant Secretary), the Department of State (Deputy Special Envoy) and at the National Security Council as a Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director. Between 2001 and 2007 David was a counsel in the US Senate, working for Senators Joe Biden and Kent Conrad. David holds a bachelor’s degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and JD from the University of Virginia Law School

Francesco Starace is Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Enel. Before becoming the CEO in 2014, Francesco spent 14 years at Enel, holding a number of executive positions - between 2008 and 2014 he led Enel’s renewable power generation business, Enel Green. Prior to this role which included overseeing the businesses’ IPO. Before 2008 Francesco was, inter alia, Head of Business Power and Managing Director of the Market Division. Before joining Enel, Francesco worked at General Electric, ABB and Alstom. His work has taken him to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and the United States Francesco served as a member of the Advisory Board of the United Nations’ Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) between 2014 and 2017 and has been Chair of SEforALL’s Administrative Board since October 2020. Francesco also served on the Board of Directors of the United Nations’ Global Compact from 2015 until 2021. Between 2016 and 2018, he was co-chair of the World Economic Forum's Energy Utilities and Energy Technologies Community. Francesco served as President of Eurelectric between 2017 and 2019. Since January 2020 he has been co-chair of the WEF “Net Zero Carbon Cities – Systemic Efficiency Initiative” and since January 2021 he has been co-chair of the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance’s round table on "Renewable and Low-carbon Hydrogen Production.” Even though Francesco has a degree in nuclear engineering from Polytechnic University of Milan, he is a fan of A.S. Roma. His other passions include cycling and poetry.

Lieutenant General (Retd) Richard Nugee is the lead author of the UK Ministry of Defence’s Climate Change and Sustainability Strategic Approach report.Richard spent over 35 years in the military. He was first commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1985. During his service he reached the rank of Lieutenant General and was the Chief of the Defence People between 2016 and 2020.He led the works on UK MoD’s Climate Change and Sustainability Review between 2020 and 2021 and retired from the army in May 2021.Richard was appointed MBE in June 1998, CBE in January 2012, CVO in September 2016, and CB in January 2020, he was awarded the US Legion of Merit for his services in Afghanistan in 2014. He holds BA degree from Durham University and MA from King’s College London.Further reading: Ministry of Defence Climate Change and Sustainability Strategic Approach (March 2021)https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministry-of-defence-climate-change-and-sustainability-strategic-approach/ministry-of-defence-climate-change-and-sustainability-strategic-approach-accessible-version

Nathan Gambling is a heating engineer and lecturer who has taught in colleges and a prison. As well as industry, teaching and assessing qualifications he has a psychology degree in Behavioural studies and is regarded as a leading expert around training and the learning process within plumbing and heating. He has a remarkable heritage within the heating industry: As central heating first started to take hold it was his grandfather who brought Swedish oil burner technology to the UK and was the UK’s leading oil combustion expert venerated throughout Europe. His great uncle was lead engineer and European Energy manager for Unilever and his dad was a technical rep for Trianco Redfyre who back in the 80s was the UK’s leading boiler manufacture.He sometimes works with his cousin who is the UK’s leading acoustic sensitive heating and ventilation engineer installing and maintaining the comfort cooling and heating systems in some of the world’s best recording and post production facilities here in the UK. Nathan often jokes that some of the radio/tv stations who’ve had guests on dismissing heat pumps are actually sitting in facilities heated and cooled with heat pump technology his cousin’s engineers installed, and that if heat pumps were that noisy you’d hear them on some of the world’s most famous record albums."He currently hosts the award winning low carbon and renewable heating podcast BetaTalk and provides consultancy. He is regarded as knowing who the best engineers in the UK are and has helped senior figures in the energy discourse find competent engineers for their own homes. He is also able to help local authorities receiving money from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund understand who the competent suppliers are on their Dynamic Purchasing Systems Further reading:Depherhttps://www.depher.co.uk/Miriam Violet Griffithhttps://twitter.com/MLiebreich/status/1480645001155858433https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Miriam_Violet_GriffithBetaTeachhttps://www.betateach.co.uk/

Pasquale Romano is President and Chief Executive Officer of ChargePoint and a member of the company’s board of directors.Pasquale joined ChargePoint in February of 2011, bringing more than 30 years of technology industry leadership and executive management experience to the company. He is currently a board member for Levitate Acquisition Corporation.He co-founded 2Wire which was acquired by Pace plc for $475M in 2010. Previously, Pasquale held multiple positions in marketing and engineering at Polycom. In 1989, he co-founded Fluent, Inc., a digital video networking company and served as Chief Architect until it was sold to Novell Corporation in 1993. Pasquale holds an undergraduate degree in computer science from Harvard University and received his M.S. from MIT.

Ban Ki-moon was the 8th Secretary General of the UN. He is the Chairman of Ban Ki-moon Foundation for a Better Future.In April 2019, Mr. Ban was elected as the Chairman of Presidential National Council on Climate and Air Quality (NCCA) (2019-2021). In April 2018, Mr. Ban was elected as the Chairman of Boao Forum for Asia. In January 2018, Mr. Ban, along with former President of Austria Mr. Heinz Fischer, were inducted as Co-Chairs of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens in Vienna, Austria. Mr. Ban Ki-moon was also elected as Chairman of IOC Ethics Committee in September 2017. Currently, he is the Distinguished Chair Professor and Honorary Chairman at the Institute of Global Engagement & Empowerment at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. In February 2018, he was elected and has been serving as the President of the Assembly & Chair of the Council of Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). Prior to these appointments, Mr. Ban served two consecutive terms as the Secretary General of the United Nations (2007-2016).Throughout his tenure at the UN, Mr. Ban strove to be a bridge builder, to give voice to the world’s poorest and the most vulnerable people, and to make the Organization more transparent and effective. He successfully pressed for action to combat climate change - an effort that culminated in the adoption and rapid entry into the landmark Paris Agreement in 2016. Mr. Ban worked closely with member states of the UN to shape the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to establish UN Women, which has been advancing the Organization’s work for gender equality and women’s empowerment. Mr. Ban also launched major efforts to strengthen UN peace operations, to protect human rights, to improve humanitarian response, and to prevent violent extremism and to revitalize the disarmament agenda.At the time of his appointment at the UN, Mr. Ban was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea. His 37 years with the Ministry included postings in New Delhi, Washington D.C., and Vienna, and responsibilities for a variety of portfolios, including Foreign Policy Adviser to the President, Chief National Security Adviser to the President, Vice Minister, Deputy Minister for Policy Planning and Director-General for American Affairs. Mr. Ban has also been actively involved in issues relating to inter-Korean relations by serving as Chairman of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization.Mr. Ban received a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Seoul National University in 1970. He earned a master’s degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1985. Further reading:Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizenshttps://bankimooncentre.org/The Elders mourn the loss of Archbishop Desmond Tutu (December 2021)https://theelders.org/news/elders-mourn-loss-archbishop-desmond-tutu

Peter Sweatman is the founder and Chief Executive of Climate Strategy & Partners (@ClimateSt and www.climatestrategy.com), a strategic consulting group in Clean Energy, Clean Technology Innovation and Energy Efficiency working with leading companies and policymakers in the global energy transitionPeter is also Chairman and founder of Energy Efficiency Capital Advisors (www.eecapadvisors.com) an expert solution provider and finance structuring partner for over Euro 60 million of finance for energy savings and on-site power in Spanish cities.Peter Sweatman has spent 30 years in finance of which 18 are climate finance and energy efficiency. He has published fifteen white papers and chaired, moderated or spoken at 380 conferences and workshops on the global energy transition to a climate neutral economy. Peter is the rapporteur for EU Commission and UNEP FI’s 500-strong Energy Efficiency Financial Institutions Group (#EEFIG) since 2013 and for five years was the G20’s EEFTG technical lead. He is the co-chair of Breakthrough Energy’s European Climate Innovation Hub, a founder advisor to the Climate Bond Initiative, a founder member of the Ashoka Support Network in Spain, advisor to the Climate Lab, advisor to Braemar Energy Ventures, on the steering committees of EY and CapGemini Invent’s work on green recovery and climate innovation, a board member of Menorca Preservation Fund and visiting lecturer at IIT-Comillas university. Peter chaired and reported on a 250-expert process to help design the EU ETS Innovation fund and published a review of EU finance for competitive innovation for net-zero emissions by 2050.Peter holds an MA Cantab degree in Engineering and Management Studies from Cambridge University. In 1991, he joined JPMorgan in Corporate Finance where he spent 9 years responsible for client business, mainly in debt capital markets, for Spain, Portugal, Austria and Switzerland based in London and then for Mexico and other Latin American countries from New York. In the year 2000, Peter became a social entrepreneur to found three successful and high impact NGOs: Charity Digital (www.charitydigital.org.uk), New Philanthropy Capital (www.thinknpc.org) and Catalyst Climate Change Trust. From 2005, Peter was a Managing Director in Bunge-Climate Change Capital that was – from 2004-2010 - one of the world’s leading specialist fund managers and advisors in the low carbon economy.

Amory Lovins is Cofounder and Chairman Emeritus of the Rocky Mountain Institute. Apart from co-founding the Institute in 1982 he served as its Chief Scientist between 2007 and 2019. Amory is a an author of 31 books and more than 700 papers, he has advised major firms and governments on energy in over 70 countries for more than 45 years.He has taught at ten universities, most recently the Naval Postgraduate School (Professor of Practice 2011–17) and Stanford University, where he’s currently Adjunct Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a Scholar of the Precourt Institute for Energy—but only teaching topics he’s never formally studied, so as to retain beginner’s mind. He served in 2011–18 on the National Petroleum Council and has advised the US Departments of Energy and Defense.He has received the Blue Planet, Volvo, Zayed, Onassis, Nissan, Shingo, and Mitchell Prizes, the MacArthur and Ashoka Fellowships, the Happold, Benjamin Franklin, and Spencer Hutchens Medals, 12 honorary doctorates, and the Heinz, Lindbergh, Right Livelihood (“alternative Nobel”), National Design, and World Technology Awards. In 2016, the President of Germany awarded him the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse).Further reading:IEA Energy Efficiency 2021 report:https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-efficiency-2021Official bio:https://rmi.org/people/amory-lovins/How Big Is the Energy Efficiency Resource? (a half-hour summary talk is at https://energy.stanford.edu/events/special-energy-seminar-amory-lovins-holmes-hummel)https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aad965Recalibrating Climate Prospectshttps://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab55abCan a Virus and Viral Ideas Speed the World’s Journey Beyond Fossil Fuels? (with Kingsmill Bond)https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abc3f2SAE: Reframing Automotive Fuel Efficiencyhttps://doi.org/10.4271/13-01-01-0004

Mariana Mazzucato (PhD) is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL), where she is Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose (IIPP).She is winner of international prizes including the Grande Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana in 2021, Italy's highest civilian honour, the 2020 John von Neumann Award, the 2019 All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values, and 2018 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. She was named as one of the '3 most important thinkers about innovation' by The New Republic, one of the 50 most creative people in business in 2020 by Fast Company, and one of the 25 leaders shaping the future of capitalism by WIRED. She is the author of three highly-acclaimed books: The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths (2013), The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy (2018) and the newly released, Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism (2021). She advises policymakers around the world on innovation-led inclusive and sustainable growth. Her current roles include being Chair of the World Health Organization’s Economic Council on Health for All and a member of the South African President’s Economic Advisory Council, the Scottish Government’s Council of Economic Advisors, and the United Nations High-level Advisory Board (HLAB) on Economic and Social Affairs, among others.

David Sandalow is the Inaugural Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy and co-Director of the Energy and Environment Concentration at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He founded and directs the Center’s U.S.-China Program.David is as a director at Fermata Energy and senior advisor to APL. He is a member of the Zayed Future Energy Prize Selection Committee, Global CO2 Initiative Advisory Board, Electric Drive Transport Association’s “Hall of Fame” and Council on Foreign Relations.David held senior positions at the White House, State Department and U.S. Department of Energy. At DOE he served as Under Secretary of Energy (acting) and Assistant Secretary for Policy & International Affairs. Before joining DOE, David was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Executive Vice President at WWF.David holds a B.A. from Yale University and J.D. from University of Michigan Law School.Official bio:https://www.sipa.columbia.edu/faculty-research/faculty-directory/david-sandalowGuide to Chinese Climate Policy (2019)https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Chinese-Climate-Policy-Sandalow/dp/1691490245/ref=sr\_1\_3?keywords=guide%20to%20chinese%20climate%20policy&qid=1568665817&sr=8-3Carbon Mineralization Roadmap (November 2021)https://www.icef.go.jp/pdf/summary/roadmap/icef2021\_roadmap.pdf

Dan Doctoroff is the Founder and CEO of Sidewalk Labs, an Alphabet company that works with cities to address key urban problems.Before founding Sidewalk Labs in 2015, Dan spent 6 years working at Bloomberg L.P. first as President and since 2011 as CEO. He joined that company after leading the post 9/11 recovery of the New York city for 7 years as its Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding.Prior to working in the Mayor Bloomberg administration, Dan was Managing Partner at Oak Hill Capital Partners and worked as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers.Dan is a board member of the University of Chicago, World Resource Institute and Human Rights First. He founded Target ALS, an initiative aimed at finding new approaches to treating the illness.Dan holds a B.A. in government from Harvard College and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.

Guy Turner is the founder and CEO of Trove Research and an expert on carbon markets.Guy has 30 years’ experience in research and strategy in sustainability and the energy transition. He spent his first 15 years in consulting advising companies and governments on a wide range of sustainability issues. In 2006 he joined New Energy Finance (NEF) to create the carbon market research business (New Carbon Finance) which was integrated into NEF. After the sale to Bloomberg, Guy continued as Head of Commodities and Chief Economist of BNEF, building out power and gas market analysis and renewables economics.In 2017 Guy joined BP Economics where he was responsible for global oil supply analysis and worked on BP’s Energy Outlook. From 2018 to 2020 Guy was the Strategy and Analysis Manager at EDF Renewables, overseeing market and financial analysis to support investments in offshore and onshore wind, solar, battery storage and hydrogen.Guy has undergraduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Economics, a Masters in Environmental Technology and is a graduate of London Business School Corporate Finance Evening Programme. Further reading: Trove Intelligencehttps://trove-intelligence.com/Trove Researchhttps://trove-research.com/

Glen Peters is Research Director at Center for International Climate Research (CICERO) in Oslo. Previously he was a post-doctoral researcher at the Industrial Ecology Programme at NTNU.Dr Peters is a worldwide authority on socio-economic drivers of emissions. He has performed pioneering work on how international trade intricately connects emission drivers in different countries. Recent work has focused on trends in carbon emissions, socio-economic drivers, and future emission pathways at the global and country level (particularly China and India). Other key research areas include emission metrics and the carbon cycle. Dr Peters is on the Scientific Steering Committee of the Global Carbon Project.While at the University of Newcastle (Australia) he received a University Medal and Deans Medal for undergraduate performance (Mathematics/Physics) and the DH Trollope Medal for his PhD (Environmental Engineering). He has twice received the Environmental Science & Technology Best Policy Paper Award (2007, 2009).Further reading:Glen’s Google Scholar profilehttps://scholar.google.no/citations?user=EW93x94AAAAJGlobal Mitigation Curveshttps://folk.universitetetioslo.no/roberan/t/global\_mitigation\_curves.shtml

Damilola Ogunbiyi is the CEO of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-EnergyMrs. Ogunbiyi has extensive experience in the energy space. Before joining SEforAll she was Managing Director of the Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency, the first woman to be appointed to the post. Before that she was Senior Special Assistant to the Nigerian President on Power and a senior official in the Lagos State Government. Mrs. Ogunbiyi worked for the British Government as a Consultant in the Department for International Development and at the HM Treasury.Mrs. Ogunbiyi maintains a keen interest in mentoring and empowering young people through skills acquisitions. She created the Lagos State Energy Academy to build the capacity of young people in renewable energy technology, and the Energizing Education Programme (EEP) which launched a Female STEM Student Internship Programme to provide hands-on practical experience in designing and constructing power systems for 700 female undergraduates.Mrs. Ogunbiyi is one of the Commissioners for the Global Commission to end energy poverty which is an initiative driven by MIT and The Rockefeller Foundation. She is the Co-Chair of the COP26 Energy Transition Council. She is also a member of the Development Advisory Council of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), member of the clean cooking alliance advisory board and a member of the Advisory Board of the University of Oxford – Future of Cooling ProgrammeMrs. Ogunbiyi holds a bachelor’s degree in Project Management with Construction and a master’s degree in Construction Management with Public Private Partnership from University of Brighton.Further reading:Official bio:https://www.seforall.org/who-we-are/damilola-ogunbiyiUN’s Ogunbiyi on Sustainability Goals, COP26 (July 2021)https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2021-07-02/un-s-ogunbiyi-on-sustainability-goals-cop26-videoDamilola Ogunbiyi on how to bridge the energy gap in Africa (July 2020)https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2020/damilola-ogunbiyi-on-how-to-bridge-the-energy-gap-in-africa/OECD Climate Finance Provided and Mobilised by Developed Countries: Aggregate Trends Updated with 2019 Datahttps://www.oecd.org/env/climate-finance-provided-and-mobilised-by-developed-countries-aggregate-trends-updated-with-2019-data-03590fb7-en.htm

Professor Dame Julia King (Baroness Brown of Cambridge) DBE, FRS, FREng is an engineer, crossbench member of the House of Lords and Chair of The Carbon Trust.Julia started her career in academia as a Rolls-Royce fellow at University of Cambridge and was involved in teaching and research for 16 years, before moving to business. Between 1994 and 2002 she held a number of managerial positions at Rolls-Royce. In 2002 she became the Chief Executive of the Institute of Physics. Between 2004 and 2006 Julia was the Principal of the Engineering Faculty at Imperial College London. After that, she was Vice-Chancellor of Aston University for a decade. Julia has worked closely with the government on a number of climate, technology and education issues. She led the King Review of low-carbon cars (published in 2008) and sat on numerous government bodies, such as Climate Change Committee's Adaptation Sub-Committee of which she is the chair. Julia was appointed a life peer in the House of Lords in 2015. In 1999 she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire and promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2012.

Todd Stern is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, best known for leading the US delegation at COP21 in his capacity as Special Envoy for Climate Change at the Department of State.Todd’s political career started in 1993, when he joined President Clinton’s administration. Between 1997 and 1999, he led the US government efforts on global climate change – he was the senior White House negotiator at the Kyoto and Buenos Aires negotiations. Between 1999 and 2001 he was a Counsellor to the Secretary of the Treasury.After 7 years in the private sector, Todd returned to politics, joining President Obama’s administration as the Special Envoy for Climate Change, U.S. Department of State in 2009. As the chief climate negotiator he led the US delegation at COP21 and was one of the key architects of the Paris Agreement.Todd is now a Senior Fellow at Cross-Brookings Initiative on Climate and Energy. He graduated from Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School. Todd is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.Further reading:Official Biohttps://www.brookings.edu/experts/todd-stern/Can the United States and China reboot their climate cooperation? (September 2020)https://www.brookings.edu/articles/can-the-united-states-and-china-reboot-their-climate-cooperation/Podesta email dump reveals tight US-China climate ties (October 2016)https://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/10/19/podesta-email-dump-reveals-tight-us-china-climate-ties/

Alain Ebobissé is a specialist in the financing and development of infrastructure and CEO of Africa50. Prior to joining the organization, Mr. Ebobissé served as the Global Head of the World Bank Group’s Global Infrastructure Project Development Fund (IFC InfraVentures), where he oversaw a team of infrastructure specialists and led the development of and investment in numerous infrastructure projects in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Mr. Ebobissé led the design, structuring, and implementation of IFC InfraVentures from its inception. He also served as Chief Investment Officer in the Global Infrastructure and Natural Resources Department of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group, based in Washington.Prior to joining the IFC in 1998, he held several positions in the financial services industry in France, including Deputy Head of Project and Structured Finance at Caisse des Depots et Consignations. Ebobissé holds a Master of Business Administration from the International School for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.Further reading:Africa50https://www.africa50.com/

John Redfern is an investor, advisor and serial entrepreneur in the data analytics, oil service and energy tech verticals. John spent his career in executive roles at multiple international oil and oil service companiess including as a Director at Hess in London, President of Accumap in Calgary and President of IHS Energy in Denver. Prior to Eavor, John spent 13 years in China co-founding a series of start-ups, the most recent of which is LocalGravity, the leading retail data analytics platform in China. As a director, executive and advisor over the years, John has specialized in commercial strategy, negotiations, alliancing, M&A, and private equity. John holds a degree in Engineering Physics from Queen’s University in Kingston, Law degrees from McGill University in Montreal, and an MBA degree from INSEAD in France.

Julie Klinger is an Assistant Professor of Geographer at the University of Delaware and also affiliated with the university's new Minerals, Materials and Society Program. She is the author of "Rare Earth Frontiers: From Terrestrial Subsoils to Lunar Landscapes”, Cornell University Press. Julie Klinger was formerly Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. Julie lists her research interests as “the dynamics of global resource frontiers and space-based technologies with particular emphases in China, Brazil, and the United States; how diverse forms of violence and strategies for survival shape land use, environmental conservation, and livelihood security; rare earth elements; natural resource use; environmental politics; and outer space.Further reading: Official bio:https://www.udel.edu/academics/colleges/ceoe/departments/gss/faculty/julie-klinger/ Rare Earth Frontiers: From Terrestrial Subsoils to Lunar Landscapes (2017)https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt1w0dd6d U.S. Geological Surveyhttps://www.usgs.gov/

William Russel was elected as Alderman for the Ward of Bread Street in 2013 and served as Sheriff of the City of London in 2016-17. He has been the Lord Mayor of the City of London since 2019.Before leaving for public service, William Russell spent over 30 years working in the financial sector. In 1987 he went to work for First Boston Corporation before joining Merrill Lynch in 1992 as an investment banker in Institutional Equity Sales, working in Asia, New York and London. William is currently Chair of CDAM, a London based Asset Management business, and Senior Advisor to STJ Advisors. He was also on the Board of Innovate Finance, the industry body for the UK based FinTech community.He has a number of charitable interests. He has served as Chair of the Development Board of the Royal Court Theatre, he is a Board Member of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the Barbican Centre and is on the Council of the Royal Theatrical Support Trust. He is immediate past Chair of Prostate Cancer UK and is currently Deputy Chair of Place2Be, a children’s mental health charity. He is a Trustee of Morden College and a past member of the Development Board of the Charterhouse.William is the fifth member of his family to be Lord Mayor in the past 110 years.Further reading:Official Biohttps://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/about-us/about-the-city-of-london-corporation/lord-mayor/lord-mayor-biography London is a leader in green finance but we must strive for more (February 2021)https://www.cityam.com/londin-is-a-leader-inn-green-finance-but-we-must-strive-for-more/ Board of Trade report: green trade (July 2021)https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/board-of-trade-report-green-trade

Elizabeth Wathuti is a Kenyan environment and climate activist and founder of the Green Generation Initiative, which nurtures young people to be environmentally conscious and has planted 30,000 tree seedlings in Kenya. She grew up in Nyeri County, which has the highest forest cover in Kenya, planting her first tree at the age of seven and establishing an environmental club in her high school. She was part of the leadership of Kenyatta University Environmental Club (KUNEC) where she led tree plantings, clean ups and environmental education and education on climate change. She is a recipient of a Wangari Maathai Scholarship award for her outstanding passion and commitment to environmental conservation. She is also a full member of the Green Belt Movement, which was founded by the late Professor Wangari Maathai who is Wathuti’s role model and a big inspiration and influence. In 2019, Wathuti was awarded the Africa Green Person of the Year Award by the Eleven Eleven Twelve Foundation, and named as one of the 100 Most Influential Young Africans by the Africa Youth Awards. She has also been featured on the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust website.

Laurence Tubiana is CEO of the European Climate Foundation (ECF). In addition, she is the Chair of the Board of Governors at the French Development Agency (AFD), the Chair of the Board at Expertise France (The French public agency for international technical assistance) and a Professor at Sciences Po, Paris. Before joining ECF, Laurence was France’s Climate Change Ambassador and Special Representative for COP21, and as such a key architect of the landmark Paris Agreement. Following COP21 and through COP22, she was appointed UN High Level Champion for climate action, after a long career in public service - from 1997 to 2002, she served as Senior Adviser on the Environment to the French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. From 2009 to 2010, she created and then led the newly established Directorate for Global Public Goods at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE). In 2013, she chaired the French National Debate on the Energy Transition. In 2002 she founded Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI). and led it until 2014 . Throughout the years, Laurence has held several academic positions, including as a Professor and Scientific Director for the International Development and Environmental Studies Master degrees at Sciences Po, Paris; and Professor of International Affairs at Columbia University, New York. She has been a member of numerous boards and scientific committees, including the Chinese Committee on the Environment and International Development (CCICED).Laurence Tubiana is an officer of the Legion of Honour, the highest French order of merit and recently was awarded the title of Doctorat Honoris Causa at the Université Catholique de Louvain.Further reading:Official Biohttps://europeanclimate.org/member/tubiana/Paris climate agreement: Five years on are there reasons for optimism? (December 2020)https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/the-interview/20201209-paris-climate-agreement-five-years-on-reasons-for-optimism

Eamon Ryan is the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Minister for Transport in the Irish government and leader of the Green Party.Eamon’s political career began in 1998 when he was co-opted to Dublin City Council. In 2002 he was elected to the Dáil Éireann. In 2007, when the Green party entered the government, he became the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. His time in office saw doubling of the renewable share in the electricity mix and a wide-ranging house retrofit programme. He resigned in 2011 after the Green Party left the government. After the Green Party failed to win any seats in the 2011 general election, Eamon became the party leader and has led it ever since. Eamon was elected TD for Dublin Bay South in 2016 and re-elected in 2020.Eamon graduated from University College Dublin with a Bachelor of Commerce.Further reading:Official bio:https://www.eamonryan.ie/homeEU’s carbon targets challenging but doable for Ireland, says Ryan (July 2021)irishtimes.com/news/politics/eu-s-carbon-targets-challenging-but-doable-for-ireland-says-ryan-1.4620617Statement from Minister Ryan at Leader's Climate Summit (April 2021)https://www.eamonryan.ie/news/2021/6/3/statement-from-minister-ryan-at-leaders-climate-summit

Tony Abbott was the Australian PM between 2013 and 2015, the leader of the Liberal Party between 2009 and 2015 and an MP for Warringah between 1994 and 2019. He currently serves as an advisor to the UK Board of Trade alongside Michael.During his time in office he repealed Australia’s carbon tax and finalized trade deals with China, Japan and Korea. Tony Abbott was also Health Minister between 2003 and 2007.Prior to entering parliament, he was a journalist with The Australian, a senior adviser to opposition leader John Hewson, and director of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy. He has degrees in economics and law from Sydney University and in politics and philosophy from Oxford which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar.Further reading:Official bio:http://tonyabbott.com.au/biography/Board of Trade report: green tradehttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/board-of-trade-report-green-trade