Georg Kell is the founder and former Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact. the world’s largest voluntary corporate sustainability initiative with over 9,000 corporate signatories in more than 160 countries. As its founding Executive Director, Georg helped to establish the United Nations Global Compact as the foremost platform for the development, implementation and disclosure of responsible and sustainable corporate policies and practices. In a career of more than 25 years at ...
Aug 01, 2018•25 min•Ep. 51
In this interview, jointly with the Drawdown Agenda, Paul Hawken, the co-founder and Executive Director of Project Drawdown, discusses the inception and mission of Drawdown– and explains the research, modelling and analysis underpinning the project. He emphasises how this project is the first of its kind, as previously many, even within the science community, had a scant understanding of the wide range of different possible solutions–and their effectiveness. In particular, Paul emphasises the ne...
Jul 22, 2018•59 min•Ep. 50
In this rich and broad discussion, Dr. Daniel Wahl makes the case for biomimicry and regenerative cultures, particularly by stressing the importance of creating biomaterials-based circular economies that are conducive to life. He highlights the innately destructive nature of our economic system whereby environmental and social costs are not adequately priced and regenerative activity is not incentivised. A firm believer in regionalisation, Wahl discusses regional based economies and the importan...
Jul 02, 2018•55 min•Ep. 49
Dr Lovejoy is a tropical biologist and conservation biologist. He a Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation and University Professor in the Environmental Science and Policy department at George Mason University. Dr Lovejoy was the World Bank’s Chief Biodiversity Advisor and the Lead Specialist for Environment for Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Senior Advisor to the President of the United Nations Foundation. In 2008, he also was the first Biodiversity Chair of the H. John Hein...
Jun 23, 2018•36 min•Ep. 48
Jeff Goodell is a leading environmental journalist and author. He is a frequent contributor to The New York Times magazine and serves as serves contributing editor to Rolling Stone magazine. He is the author of six books including How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the Quest to Fix Earth’s Climate (2010) and Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future (2006). His latest book The Water will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities and the Remaking of the Civilized World was publish...
Jun 15, 2018•40 min•Ep. 47
Cameron Hepburn is Professor of Environmental Economics at the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics and Political Science, and he is Director of the Economics of Sustainability Programme at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School He has published widely on energy, resources and environmental challenges across a range of disciplines, and is a policy advisor on energy and climate policy to governments and international institutions around the world in...
Jun 05, 2018•33 min•Ep. 46
In episode 45 of the Sustainability Agenda, Professor Bill Laurance reveals the enormous, and neglected, environmental impact of road building in the global south and highlights the massive environmental risks associated with China’s dizzyingly ambitious Belt and Road initiative—a vast series of infrastructure projects across 70 countries with an estimated budget of $8 trillion. Laurance explains the traditional cycle of road development and its detrimental environmental impact–which has to date...
May 23, 2018•43 min•Ep. 45
In episode 44 of the Sustainability Agenda, China Dialogue founder Isabel Hilton gives an overview of China’s emergence as a key environmental actor on the world stage and assesses China’s recent environmental engagement (and motivations). Isabel talks about how the Chinese government exercises control in matters environmental – and some of the particular challenges the government faces- and situates its growing environmental commitment against a background of changing industrial strategy, and m...
May 18, 2018•41 min•Ep. 44
Dr. Charly Kleissner is a pioneer in the field of impact investment. He believes that the deeper meaning of wealth is to make a positive contribution to humanity and the planet. Dr. Kleissner co-founded KL Felicitas Foundation ( www.klfelicitasfoundation.org ), and Social-Impact International ( www.social-impact.org ), which help social entrepreneurs worldwide to accelerate and increase their impact. Dr. Kleissner co-founded Toniic and the 100% Impact Network, global networks for impact investor...
Apr 25, 2018•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 43
George Serafeim is the Jakurski Family Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He has a wide range of research interests including international business, corporate governance and corporate reporting, with a special focus on sustainability. George has presented his research in over 60 countries and is one of the most popular business authors, according to rankings of the Social Science Research Network . Serafeim also has extensive experience as a senior advise...
Mar 22, 2018•55 min•Ep. 42
William McDonough is a globally recognised leader in sustainable development. His books Cradle to Cradle: Rethinking the Way we Make Things , co-authored with chemist Michael Braungart and followed up in 2013 by The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability – Designing for Abundance , are seminal texts in the circular economy movement. Originally trained as an architect, McDonough firmly believes that design signals human intentions and is thus crucial to shaping a sustainable and inclusive future. Through...
Mar 10, 2018•37 min•Ep. 41
Jay Coen Gilbert is co-founder of B Lab, the non-profit organisation that serves a global movement of people using business as a force for good. B Lab certifies B Corporations, companies that meet the highest standards of verified, overall social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability.Since its inception in 2006, the B Corp movement has grown so that there are currently over 2,300 certified corporations operating within 150 industries in 50 countries. Jay al...
Feb 28, 2018•46 min•Ep. 40
David Blood is co-founder and Senior Partner of Generation Investment Management. Previously, he spent 18 years at Goldman Sachs including serving as co-CEO and CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management from 1999-2003. David received a B.A. from Hamilton College and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Business. He is on the board of Dialight, New Forests, Motivate International, On the Edge Productions, SHINE, Social Finance UK and WRI. David is also a life trustee of Hamilton College. In ...
Feb 11, 2018•41 min•Ep. 39
Sam Fankhauser is Director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. He has been at the institute since its inception a decade ago, where he initially joined as a Principal Research Fellow. He also holds positions as Deputy Director of the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, Non-Executive Director the CDC Group and a member of the editorial board for the journals Global Environmental Change , Climate Policy and Global ...
Feb 01, 2018•50 min•Ep. 38
Dr Sabina Alkire is the director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), an economic research centre within the Oxford Department of International Development. She is a professor in International Affairs at the George Washington University and is a fellow of the Human Development and Capability Association. With fellow economist James Foster, she developed the Alkire-Foster Method, which measures multidimensional poverty by considering a range of deprivations associated wi...
Jan 17, 2018•35 min•Ep. 37
Leo Hickman is director and editor of Carbon Brief , a leading UK based website covering the latest developments in climate science, climate policy, and energy policy. Carbon Brief specialises in clear data-driven articles and graphics to communicate complex and fast-moving developments in climate science to improve the understanding of climate change both in terms of the science and policy response. Leo previously worked for 16 years as journalist, editor and author at the Guardian newspaper an...
Nov 24, 2017•35 min•Ep. 36
Dr. Andy Price is head of politics at Sheffield Hallam University. His primary research area lies in political theory; particularly in ecology, environmentalism and new social movements, such as the Occupy movement. He has taught and researched in higher education for over fifteen years and previously held positions at Saint Louis University in Madrid, Liverpool John Moores and Manchester Metropolitan. Andy is a regular commentator on British politics and contributes to BBC radio, the Huffington...
Nov 07, 2017•41 min•Ep. 35
Annemieke Tsike-Sossah de Jong is Head of Portfolio at the IKEA Foundation, the independent charitable foundation that overseas IKEA’s global philanthropy. First established in 1982 with the main goal of preventing child labour, the foundation’s operations expanded considerably in 2009 so that today it administers an annual budget of 140 million euros. Its efforts are primarily aimed at addressing children’s fundamental needs of home, health, education and sustainable family incomes, through fun...
Oct 27, 2017•44 min•Ep. 34
Scott Tew is the executive director of the Center for Energy Efficiency & Sustainability (CEES) at Ingersoll Rand, a global diversified industrial company with over 40,000 employees and annual revenues of over 13 billion dollars. Ingersoll Rand is involved in numerous operations including connected heating, ventilation and air conditioning solutions, air compression technologies, electrical vehicles and transport refrigeration. The CEES is responsible for supporting all of the company’s stra...
Oct 17, 2017•32 min•Ep. 33
Dr. Per Espen Stoknes is a distinguished psychologist and economist and chair of the Centre for Green Growth at the Norwegian Business School. He is a pioneer in the field of climate change psychology, which he has studied for twenty years–and the author of numerous books including the acclaimed What We Think About When We Try Not to Think About Global Warming (2015). Per is also a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of the clean tech company GasPlas. In this revealing interview, Per unpacks the ...
Oct 02, 2017•38 min•Ep. 32
Barry Parkin is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Mars, Inc. The family run confectionary giant has over 33 billion dollars in annual sales and is ranked by Forbes as the 6th largest privately held company in the United States, with over 80,000 employees, 150 factories and a million small-scale suppliers around the world. As Chief Sustainability Officer, Barry is responsible for sustainability across the value chain, notably through shaping and articulating its key targets, policies, and pract...
Sep 21, 2017•38 min•Ep. 31
Michael Mann is a distinguished professor of atmospheric science and director of the Earth System Science Centre at Pennsylvania State University. A climatologist and geophysicist, he is a leading contributor to the IPCC and is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading climate scientists. His work has been pivotal in advancing our understanding of humanity’s influence on global temperatures, notably through the famous “hockey stick graph” outlining the earth’s temperature over the past mille...
Sep 18, 2017•29 min•Ep. 30
Dr. Richard Norgaard is Professor Emeritus of Ecological Economics in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley, environmental pioneer, and founding member and former president of the International Society for Ecological Economics. After receiving his PhD at the University of Chicago, where he studied with numerous economists who would later be awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, he became a critic of free market fundamentalism and went on to fou...
Sep 03, 2017•48 min•Ep. 29
In this thought provoking and insightful interview, Tony Juniper provides a timely assessment of the state of sustainability agenda and the relative importance of key sustainability drivers, highlighting how corporations are taking the lead driving the sustainability agenda, the growing influence of investors on sustainability and the role of technology. Tony highlights the scale of change taking place in the motor industry: how corporations in Europe phasing out diesel and petrol vehicles despi...
Aug 17, 2017•40 min•Ep. 28
In this interview, Lynelle Cameron talks about the work of the Autodesk Foundation-and the relationship between sustainability, CSR and corporate philanthropy at Autodesk. She highlights the growing importance of sustainability in design and the company’s commitment to bringing sustainability thinking into all its design work, and the development of Sustainability Workshop, an online learning platform developed to teach sustainable design. Lynelle also discusses the growing interest in sustainab...
Aug 04, 2017•39 min•Ep. 27
David Biello is the science curator at TED Talks as well as a contributing editor for Scientific American . He recently published “The Unnatural World: The Race to Remake Civilization in Earth’s Newest Age,” in which he explores the emergence of the“Anthropocene,” the period during which human activity has become the dominant influence on planet-sized systems like the climate, as well as investigates some of the latest ideas on how humans might live better in this fast-changing time. In this int...
Jul 10, 2017•53 min•Ep. 26
In recent years, sustainable procurement has become an increasingly important issue for customers and stakeholders in large companies around the world. Yet assessing levels of sustainability across supply chains remains a tremendous challenge for many companies. In this interview, Pierre-Francois Thaler, co-founder, and co-CEO of EcoVadis, talks about the key drivers of sustainable procurement and the scale of the challenge facing companies. He highlights the importance of being able to measure ...
Jun 26, 2017•32 min•Ep. 25
How well are companies doing when it comes to sustainability? This is a key question that Corporate Knights assesses in its annual Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations—based on publicly available information provided by companies around the world. In this interview, Toby explains how Corporate Knights assess companies’ sustainability credentials –and the different ways in which Corporate Knights provides information on sustainability and clean capitalism. He assesses the overall progress tha...
May 30, 2017•50 min•Ep. 24
In this interview, Jean Bennington Sweeney, Chief Sustainability Officer at 3M, gives an overview of the company’s sustainability journey as a purpose-driven organisation. She points to three main ways in which sustainability helps 3M –compliance, risk management, and growth—and how this resonates with investors. Jean emphasizes the crucial importance of setting bold sustainability goals-how that drives innovation-and discusses the lesson for the company when it fails meet its sustainability tar...
May 22, 2017•53 min•Ep. 23
In this interview, Professor Giorgos Kallis, a leading degrowth thinker, provides an overview of evolving theories of degrowth. Degrowth theorists argue for a reduction in production and consumption, arguing that overconsumption is at the root of many of the long term environmental issues and social inequalities facing the world today. Professor Kallis highlights the importance not just of reducing consumption, but also of different ways of consuming, like the sharing economy, and also connectin...
May 08, 2017•53 min•Ep. 22
