Climate Action and Sustainability speakers

Why organisations work with Adam Braun He is a working CEO, not a retired one. Clarasight’s carbon planning software is in active commercial deployment with clients representing over $1 trillion in market capitalisation, so his content reflects current operating reality. He has built three organisations across three categories: a nonprofit started with $25 that grew to hundreds of schools globally, a venture-backed education startup acquired by WeWork, and a B2B sustainability platform. The pattern recognition across founder modes is rare. His “Build For Where The World Is Headed” framework gives leaders a teachable structure for anticipating change and committing capital before consensus forms, rather than another model for reacting after the fact. His Pencils of Promise origin story translates cleanly into a corporate room. Audiences leave with a specific argument about how individual conviction scales into institutional outcomes, evidenced by a real organisation, not an analogy. He pairs commercial credibility with a published, bestselling book on purpose-driven leadership, which means leadership development and culture briefs can be served by the same speaker without a register switch. Biography highlights CEO and Co-Founder of Clarasight, carbon planning and intelligence software, formerly Climate Club Founder and Chairman of Pencils of Promise, a nonprofit started with $25 that has built schools across Ghana, Guatemala, Laos and Nicaragua Co-Founder and CEO of MissionU, acquired by WeWork in 2018; subsequently served as a senior executive in the WeGrow business New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Promise of a Pencil, Simon & Schuster Selected by the World Economic Forum as one of the original ten Global Shapers; named to Business Insider 40 Under 40 and Wired’s “50 People Who Are Changing the World” Brown University graduate; began his career at Bain & Company Biography The hard part of strategy is not seeing change. It is committing capital and people before the change is obvious to competitors. Most operating cultures are built to do the opposite. Adam Braun has spent his career sitting in that gap as a founder. Pencils of Promise began with $25 and grew into a nonprofit operating schools across Ghana, Guatemala, Laos and Nicaragua. MissionU, the income-share-agreement college alternative he co-founded, was acquired by WeWork in 2018, where he then served as a senior executive in the WeGrow business. Clarasight, his current company, sells carbon planning software into enterprise clients representing more than $1 trillion in market value. That arc gives him an unusual operating vocabulary. He has launched a category from zero capital, raised venture funding and exited through acquisition, and is now running a B2B SaaS business in a buyer-relevant category. The framework he teaches, “Build For Where The World Is Headed,” is the synthesis of those three founder modes into a structure leaders can use to evaluate where to deploy effort before the market rewards it. His book The Promise of a Pencil, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller published by Simon & Schuster, gives the same argument a leadership-development register. He was an original World Economic Forum Global Shaper, has been named to Business Insider 40 Under 40 and Wired’s “50 People Who Are Changing the World,” and built his early career at Bain & Company after graduating from Brown. Key speaking topics Entrepreneurship and founder leadership Building organisations for future operating conditions Innovation under uncertainty Corporate sustainability as commercial advantage Purpose-driven business strategy Social entrepreneurship and scaled impact Ideal for Founders, CEOs and executive committees setting growth or transformation agendas Heads of strategy, innovation and sustainability shaping medium-term capital decisions Leadership development programmes for high-potential operators and emerging executives Conferences focused on entrepreneurship, scale-up leadership, or corporate climate strategy Audience outcomes A working framework for committing to direction before market consensus forms A founder’s view of how scaled impact actually compounds, drawn from three different ventures A practical read on where corporate sustainability becomes commercial advantage rather than reporting overhead A renewed argument for individual agency inside large organisations, evidenced rather than asserted

Why organisations work with Adam Smith The Real Junk Food Project is not a case study from a consultancy report. Smith built it from a single Leeds cafe in 2013 to a network of 120+ projects across seven countries, which makes his argument about the scalability of surplus redistribution operationally evidenced, not theoretical. The Pay As You Feel model challenges the assumption that pricing must track cost-price. For organisations navigating social value procurement, circular economy strategy, or food retail margins, that challenge is commercially relevant. Smith has given parliamentary evidence to an All-Party Parliamentary Group on food waste, which means his framing has direct policy credibility – useful for organisations managing regulatory and reputational exposure on ESG commitments. His current work at Surplus to Purpose, which diverted 506 tonnes of food in 2023, keeps his insight current. He is not drawing on a legacy project. The Telegraph named him one of the 50 most influential people in UK Food & Drink (Food & Drink Power List, 2017). His argument has been stress-tested in public, not just on stage. Biography highlights Founded The Real Junk Food Project in Leeds in December 2013; the network grew to 120+ projects across seven countries within four years TEDx speaker at TEDxWarwick (2015): “Let’s REALLY Feed the World” Named one of 50 most influential people in UK Food & Drink, The Telegraph Food & Drink Power List (2017) FRSA (Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts) Gave parliamentary evidence to an All-Party Parliamentary Group on food waste Yorkshire Awards 2025 Community Hero Award; Canal & River Trust Unsung Hero of Leeds (2022) CEO of Surplus to Purpose since 2022; appeared on Channel 4’s Inside the Superbrands Observer Food Monthly Awards runner-up across TRJFP projects in Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds (2017, 2018) Biography The UK food industry wastes an estimated 9.5 million tonnes of food annually. Most of it is edible. In December 2013, Adam Smith opened a single cafe in Armley, Leeds, that served meals made entirely from intercepted surplus. He called the pricing model Pay As You Feel. Within four years, that cafe had become a network of 120+ projects operating across seven countries. The model did not succeed because it was charitable. It succeeded because it demonstrated a functional alternative to the assumption that surplus has no commercial value – and that communities, schools, and organisations could participate in redistribution at scale without requiring philanthropy as a precondition. Smith stepped back from The Real Junk Food Project in 2019 and, in 2022, took on the leadership of Surplus to Purpose – a social enterprise built on the same structural argument but with a more explicit focus on the environmental costs of food waste in the supply chain. Surplus to Purpose diverted 506 tonnes of food in 2023. He has given parliamentary evidence to an All-Party Parliamentary Group on food waste, and The Telegraph placed him on its Food & Drink Power List in 2017 as one of the 50 most influential people in the sector. The TEDxWarwick talk from 2015 covers the core argument clearly. Food waste is a corporate supply chain decision, not a consumer behaviour problem. The organisations with the most leverage to change it are the ones that benefit most from not changing it. Key speaking topics Surplus food redistribution and supply chain waste Pay As You Feel and alternative pricing models Purpose-led business model design Social enterprise at scale ESG and food system accountability Corporate responsibility in the food supply chain Ideal for Chief Sustainability Officers and ESG leads in food retail, hospitality, and manufacturing Procurement and supply chain leadership in organisations with food or FMCG exposure Strategy and transformation teams working on circular economy frameworks Social value and impact leads in public sector and corporate foundations Audience outcomes A working model for how surplus redistribution operates at scale – not a concept, but a documented case with known failure points and operational evidence A concrete example of how pricing can be decoupled from cost-price to deliver both social value and commercial viability Clarity on where corporate supply chains generate waste and why existing incentive structures keep that waste in place A framework for distinguishing between ESG commitments that reduce reputational risk and changes that alter the underlying supply chain economics

Why organisations work with Adrian Hayes Six years as Airbus Middle East sales director, running regional aircraft sales, sits alongside the expedition record. The leadership material draws on both. ICF-accredited executive coaching sits behind every session. The expedition material is structured into frameworks for decision-making and team performance that senior teams can take back into the business. Direct experience of decisions with fatal consequences. In July 2013 he turned back from K2 with five other teams in dangerous snow; the one party that carried on was killed by an avalanche at Camp 3. In May 2025 he spent around 36 hours alone above Camp 4 on Kanchenjunga with an injured hand, no oxygen, and no water. His position on risk comes from having made those calls himself. Arabic and Nepalese fluency, eight years as an officer in the Brigade of Gurkhas, and a working life spent in Hong Kong, Brunei, Oman, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the UAE. The cross-cultural material comes from operating inside those places at working level. Biography highlights Former British Army Gurkha officer, commissioned through the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, with eight years in the Brigade of Gurkhas and postings in Hong Kong, Brunei, and Oman. Two Guinness World Records: fastest male completion of the Three Poles Challenge (Everest, North Pole, South Pole) in 1 year 217 days, and the longest unsupported Arctic kite-ski expedition for a 67-day crossing of Greenland in 2009. Summited the world’s three highest mountains: Everest (2006), K2 (2014), and Kanchenjunga (2025). Former Airbus Middle East sales director for six years, followed by more than twenty years as an ICF-accredited executive coach and keynote speaker. Author of Footsteps of Thesiger (2013) and One Man’s Climb: A Journey of Trauma, Tragedy and Triumph on K2 (Pen and Sword, 2019). Presenter or featured subject in broadcast documentaries for National Geographic Channel (The Greenland Quest) and Discovery Channel (Footsteps of Thesiger; In Inner Mongolia); Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Biography In July 2013 six teams on K2 turned back to Base Camp in dangerous snow conditions. One party went on. That night an avalanche destroyed Camp 3, where the other climbers had planned to be sleeping, and killed New Zealand climbers Marty and Denali Schmidt. Adrian Hayes was one of those who had come down. He returned the following year and summited on 26 July 2014. That is the material he works with. Hayes teaches senior leaders how judgement holds up when the cost of a wrong call is absolute and the usual conditions for clear thinking have gone. Eight years as an officer in the Brigade of Gurkhas took him to Hong Kong, Brunei, and Oman. Six years as Airbus Middle East sales director followed, running a commercial portfolio in one of the world’s more complex regions. The expedition record built alongside it produced two Guinness World Records. One for the fastest male Three Poles Challenge, in 1 year 217 days. One for a 67-day crossing of Greenland in 2009, the longest unsupported Arctic kite-ski expedition. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and an ICF-accredited executive coach. His two books, Footsteps of Thesiger and One Man’s Climb: A Journey of Trauma, Tragedy and Triumph on K2, sit alongside documentary work for National Geographic and Discovery. On 10 May 2025 he summited Kanchenjunga, the world’s third-highest mountain, completing the three highest mountains on earth. He injured a hand rappelling on the descent and spent around 36 hours alone above Camp 4, without oxygen or water. A Sherpa climber found him at 7,800 metres and brought him down. Key speaking topics Leadership decision-making under uncertainty Team performance under sustained pressure Cross-cultural leadership in complex markets Resilience and mental endurance Risk management and recovery from setback Responsible leadership and sustainability Ideal for CEOs and executive teams facing major strategic change or commercial pressure Boards working through crisis, setback, or leadership transition Sales and commercial leadership in complex international markets Senior leadership development programmes, particularly cohorts preparing for cross-cultural or high-stakes assignments Audience outcomes A method for making decisions when information is limited and the cost of error is high A working account of resilience drawn from the K2 retreat in 2013 and the Kanchenjunga descent in 2025 Leadership lessons drawn from senior roles in the Gurkhas, at Airbus, and on major expeditions What separates teams that hold under sustained pressure from those that fracture

Why organisations work with Albert Bosch INVERGROUP, his clean-energy investment platform, has been operational since 2004. That gives him something most adventure speakers lack: an ongoing operator’s view on the energy transition he describes on stage. In 2015, he co-drove the Acciona 100% EcoPowered in the Dakar Rally, the first fully electric vehicle ever to enter the event. A specific, verifiable motorsport-sustainability milestone anchoring his work in real engineering and real risk. The record underwrites the argument. An unassisted 1,152 km crossing from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole, the Seven Summits were completed on first attempts, and over 100 extreme-sports events. When he talks about preparation and setbacks, senior audiences hear a practitioner. He walked away from fossil-fuel motorsport in 2011 because the values stopped aligning. Since then, he has engaged with the sector only through electric-vehicle projects. For audiences weighing sustainability as a strategic commitment, that kind of operating consistency matters. Biography highlights Completed an unassisted coast-to-South Pole Antarctic expedition covering 1,152 km, 98% of it solo Summited Mount Everest in 2010, finishing the Seven Summits challenge with every peak completed on the first attempt Competed in nine Dakar Rallies, two by motorbike and seven by car Co-drove the Acciona 100% EcoPowered in the 2015 Dakar Rally, the first fully electric car ever to enter the event Founder of INVERGROUP (2004), a clean-energy and environmental investment platform Author of six books including “Spirit of Adventure,” “The Future Explorer,” and “Living to Feel Alive.” MBA from ESADE, Barcelona Biography Leadership in extreme environments is different from leadership in difficulty. In difficulty, the variables are still countable. In an extreme environment, the variables keep moving and the team keeps paying a cost for every error. That is the territory Albert Bosch has spent three decades studying from the inside. The record is specific. Bosch crossed from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole unassisted, covering 1,152 km with 98% of the journey solo. He reached the summit of Everest in 2010, closing out a Seven Summits campaign in which every peak went on the first attempt. He has nine Dakar Rallies to his name. In 2015, he co-drove the Acciona 100% EcoPowered, the first fully electric car to enter that event. A working business sits behind the adventure CV. Bosch founded INVERGROUP in 2004, a platform for clean-energy and environmental projects, and has run it since. That gives his keynotes a grain of commercial reality, because he is still managing a live portfolio on the questions he speaks about. He has written six books in the same territory. “Spirit of Adventure” examines the seven factors that separate ambitious projects from failed ones. “The Future Explorer” addresses the leadership attitudes required in unsettled conditions. “Living to Feel Alive” retells the Antarctic crossing as a study in sustained commitment. The work he does on stage carries into material that audiences can keep. Key speaking topics Leadership under extreme pressure and uncertainty Decision-making in complex environments Resilience and recovery from setback Sustainable leadership and the energy transition Team performance in high-stakes conditions Entrepreneurship and long-horizon risk Leading change when plans break Ideal for CEOs, COOs and transformation leads driving high-stakes strategic shifts Senior teams going through restructuring, integration, or major operational change CSOs and energy-transition teams setting a sustainability position they will have to operate, not just announce Leadership groups whose strategy requires sustained commitment against market or macro pressure Audience outcomes Specific reference points for decision-making when information is incomplete and stakes are real A sharper internal language for preparation, setback and recovery A more honest read on when sustainability claims support strategy and when they collapse under operating pressure A clearer sense of which behaviours separate teams that complete ambitious projects from teams that stall

Why organisations work with Alessandra Dabul A board chair and M&A lawyer who has spent three decades inside cross-border deals, so her ESG perspective lands as governance and diligence content, not as advocacy. President of the Board at Gavea Angels and board member at AmCham Brasil, giving her a working line of sight into how investors and corporates in Latin America are actually pricing ESG into capital decisions. Brings the rare combination of IBGC corporate governance certification with executive education in Sustainable Capitalism at UC Berkeley Law and Sustainable Business Strategy at Harvard Business School, applied to live private and public company boards. Speaks fluently in English and French to international audiences, with deep specificity on the Brazil and broader Latin American context that most global ESG speakers cover only thinly. Founding partner of two Brazilian firms focused on M&A and family business governance, which gives her credibility on succession, owner transitions, and the ESG questions that surface during ownership change. Biography highlights Founding partner of Pereira, Dabul Advogados and of RCA Governanca e Sucessoes, both Brazil-based firms. President of the Board at Gavea Angels, one of Brazil’s longest-standing angel investor networks. Board member at AmCham Brasil and member of Women Corporate Directors Brazil Chapter. Former director at Deloitte and senior manager at KPMG, with prior leadership at EY in southern Brazil. Masters and PhD in Economic Law and Social and Environmental Law; IBGC corporate governance certification. Executive education in Sustainable Capitalism and ESG at UC Berkeley Law, and in Sustainable Business Strategy at Harvard Business School. Biography Most boards in emerging markets are still treating ESG as a reporting exercise. The directors who have lived through cross-border M&A know the cost of that posture. Diligence opens up environmental liabilities, governance gaps, and labour exposures that were invisible in the management deck, and the deal repricing happens in the room. Alessandra Dabul has spent close to thirty years inside that room. She built her career advising European, North American, and Canadian corporates entering Brazil through acquisition, first as a director at Deloitte and senior manager at KPMG, with earlier leadership at EY, and now as founding partner of Pereira, Dabul Advogados and of RCA Governanca e Sucessoes. The second firm reflects the part of her practice focused on family business succession, where ownership transitions surface governance and ESG questions that cannot be deferred. Her board work runs in parallel. She is President of the Board at Gavea Angels, one of Brazil’s longest-standing angel investor networks, and a board member at AmCham Brasil. She holds IBGC corporate governance certification and has completed executive education in Sustainable Capitalism at UC Berkeley Law and Sustainable Business Strategy at Harvard Business School. The combination matters because the substance of ESG governance, as she frames it, is whether the board can defend a capital allocation, a deal, or a succession decision when it is questioned by an acquirer, a regulator, or a limited partner. That is the conversation she brings into the room: ESG as a discipline of decision, tested against the realities of M&A, board accountability, and investor capital in a Latin American market that does not yet have the regulatory scaffolding of Europe, but increasingly has the scrutiny. Key speaking topics ESG governance for boards and investment committees Sustainable business strategy in emerging markets Corporate governance and board effectiveness Cross-border M&A and post-acquisition integration in Latin America Family business succession and ownership transitions Angel investment and early-stage capital in Brazil Ideal for Boards and audit committees of multinationals with Brazilian or Latin American operations Chief sustainability officers and general counsel managing ESG diligence and reporting Private equity, venture capital, and angel investor networks pricing ESG into deal flow Family business owners and family office leadership facing succession or governance reform Audience outcomes A clearer view of the specific ESG questions that surface in cross-border M&A diligence, and how to answer them at board level. A working framework for distinguishing ESG narrative from ESG governance, with examples from Brazilian and Latin American board practice. Practical reference points on how angel investor networks and corporate boards are integrating ESG into capital decisions today. A grounded perspective on family business succession, including where ownership transitions create governance risk.

Why organisations work with Alex Beresford A live broadcaster used to high-stakes interviews and unscripted moments, including the March 2021 Good Morning Britain exchange with Piers Morgan that drew over 41,000 Ofcom complaints and ended in Morgan’s resignation. Direct lived experience of race in British media, used to open inclusion conversations that internal facilitators cannot host with the same credibility. A working journalist’s grasp of climate, extreme weather and current affairs, having reported in the field for ITV and produced Channel 4 documentaries on tornadoes and British weather extremes. Substantive ties to youth and social mobility through his role as ambassador for Empire Fighting Chance and his long-running schools and prisons tour on knife crime and media careers. A trusted morning television face who can chair a panel, moderate a town hall or anchor a conference day with the rhythm and composure of live broadcast. Biography highlights Lead weather presenter, ITV Evening News, and regular presenter on Good Morning Britain. Host of Channel 4’s The World’s Weirdest Weather and Britain’s Most Extreme Weather. Ambassador, Empire Fighting Chance, Bristol-based youth violence prevention charity. Selected for the UK government’s Reach Role Model Programme, 2008. Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy, University of Gloucestershire. Debut book Things We Should Talk About acquired by Sphere, Little, Brown. Biography The 9 March 2021 episode of Good Morning Britain ended with Piers Morgan walking off set. The presenter who pushed the conversation about Meghan Markle, race and what counts as fair comment was Alex Beresford, then ITV’s lead weatherman. Morgan resigned the same day. Ofcom logged over 41,000 complaints. The clip is still cited as a turning point in how British morning television talks about race. Beresford has been on ITV since 2004, first as a teleprompter operator at ITV West in Bristol, then as a regional weather presenter, then on the national network. He has fronted Channel 4 documentary series on extreme weather, flown into Oklahoma after the 2013 EF5 tornado for the film Super Tornado, and in March 2022 became the live weather presenter on the extended ITV Evening News. The work outside the studio is what carries weight with corporate audiences. He is an ambassador for Empire Fighting Chance, the Bristol charity that uses non-contact boxing to keep young people away from violence, and he has spent years touring schools, colleges and prisons talking about media careers and knife crime. The UK government named him a National Black Role Model in 2008. He holds an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Gloucestershire. His debut book, Things We Should Talk About, has been acquired by Sphere. For a corporate audience that wants an inclusion conversation hosted with broadcast composure rather than activist register, the offer is unusually concrete: a working journalist with lived experience, a track record of holding difficult ground on live television, and credibility with the youth communities the conversation usually leaves out. Key speaking topics Race and representation in British media Inclusion and difficult conversations at work Mental health and personal resilience Youth violence, knife crime and social mobility Climate, extreme weather and broadcasting Conference hosting and panel moderation Ideal for CHROs and inclusion leads commissioning sessions on race that need credibility outside the HR voice Conference organisers booking a host or moderator for a multi-stage event day ESG, sustainability and corporate affairs teams running internal events on climate and extreme weather Foundations, social mobility programmes and youth-facing organisations engaging schools and community partners Audience outcomes A franker conversation about race and representation than internal facilitators usually produce A working broadcaster’s view of how climate stories land with mainstream audiences A clearer picture of the real lives behind inner-city youth violence statistics A panel or town hall held together with the pacing and composure of live television

Why organisations work with Alex Cicelsky His 2024 peer-reviewed paper in MRS Energy and Sustainability on Lightweight Straw and Clay Blocks – a self-supporting, carbon-sequestering insulation material fabricated from post-harvest crop residue – is one of the few published, field-tested proofs of concept for low-embodied-carbon construction, giving sustainability teams a citable alternative to conventional materials. He brings thirty years of active construction experience in extreme desert conditions from Kibbutz Lotan’s carbon-neutral EcoCampus: a monitored, measurable, functioning built environment – not a model, but a standing result. His work connects supply chain sustainability to concrete materials decisions: agricultural waste, natural binders, and thermal building performance are his research domain, not a framing device. For organisations whose sustainability commitments have not yet reached their built-environment procurement, he provides both the science of what is possible and a living demonstration of what has already been built. For sustainability education programmes, his curriculum experience spans the Green Apprenticeship at Kibbutz Lotan – a globally recognised programme that has trained hundreds of practitioners in ecological design, natural building, and permaculture across decades of continuous operation. Biography highlights Co-founder and core faculty member, Center for Creative Ecology, Kibbutz Lotan – a carbon-neutral EcoCampus in Israel’s Arava Valley desert and internationally recognised sustainability education centre Founding member, Kibbutz Lotan; member community of the Global Ecovillage Network PhD researcher, Department of Energy Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; BSc in Soil and Water Sciences and Environmental Quality in Agriculture, Hebrew University Faculty of Agriculture Published in MRS Energy and Sustainability (2024): peer-reviewed research on Lightweight Straw and Clay Blocks – carbon-sequestering construction insulation derived from post-harvest wheat straw Center for Creative Ecology: Israel Ministry of Environment Shield Award for Environmental Education (2000); Global Ecovillage Network Ecovillage Excellence Prize (2006) Lectures at universities and professional seminars internationally on ecological design, sustainable construction, and regenerative systems Biography Buildings carry two kinds of carbon footprint: what they consume after occupation, and what was spent building them. The second, larger figure is fixed at construction and is invisible to most operational sustainability programmes. Alex Cicelsky has spent three decades designing, constructing, and researching structures that address both – in one of the world’s most demanding climates. He is co-founder and core faculty of the Center for Creative Ecology at Kibbutz Lotan, a carbon-neutral desert community in Israel’s Arava Valley and a member of the Global Ecovillage Network. The Centre’s EcoCampus, designed and monitored by Cicelsky and his colleagues, operates as a live demonstration and research site. It has been recognised by the Israel Ministry of Environment and the Global Ecovillage Network for its contribution to environmental education, and its buildings have been the subject of formal post-occupancy research. That research has produced peer-reviewed results. A 2024 paper in MRS Energy and Sustainability – co-authored with colleagues at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where Cicelsky holds a PhD research affiliation in the Department of Energy Engineering – documents the thermal and mechanical performance of Lightweight Straw and Clay Blocks (LSCBs). Fabricated from post-harvest wheat straw bound with clay, LSCBs are self-supporting and carbon-sequestering. In field tests against autoclaved aerated concrete and expanded polystyrene, they demonstrated superior thermal performance in extreme summer heat, with a two-hour thermal lag that reduced peak indoor temperatures measurably below ambient. The practical implication for any organisation with ESG commitments that extend to its built environment is direct: the materials exist, the performance has been independently measured, and the construction has been done. What Cicelsky brings to a serious sustainability conversation is not a proposition but a record. Key speaking topics Embodied carbon in the built environment Natural and low-carbon construction materials Ecological design and permaculture systems Carbon sequestration through agricultural-waste materials Regenerative community and ecovillage development Sustainable building in extreme climates ESG strategy and the built environment Ideal for Chief Sustainability Officers and ESG leads responsible for Scope 3 and built-environment carbon reporting Real estate, infrastructure, and facilities teams developing low-carbon construction or procurement strategies Sustainability education programmes at universities and professional bodies Organisations and communities developing regenerative development or ecovillage frameworks Audience outcomes A clear understanding of embodied carbon in construction and why it falls outside most current ESG reporting frameworks Awareness of peer-reviewed materials alternatives – including agricultural-waste insulation blocks – that reduce and sequester carbon in new construction A working reference point in the Kibbutz Lotan EcoCampus: a carbon-neutral built environment designed, constructed, and monitored over thirty years in an extreme desert climate Practical orientation to permaculture design as an organising framework for regenerative buildings and communities A sharper understanding of the gap between operational efficiency targets and whole-life carbon commitments – and what closing it requires at the procurement stage

Why organisations work with Alexandra Cousteau Oceans2050, which she co-founded and leads as President, published the first peer-reviewed global assessment of seaweed carbon sequestration in Nature Climate Change (2025) – giving her ocean restoration arguments a scientific grounding most sustainability voices cannot match. She reframes water security as a material business risk rather than a reputational issue, mapping how freshwater and ocean health are embedded in supply chains, food production, and coastal infrastructure in ways that affect operations, procurement, and investor disclosure. She has testified before the U.S. Congress on water policy and maintains direct relationships with heads of state and senior policy makers, giving organisations a credible connection point at the intersection of science, advocacy, and government decision-making. She pioneered real-time expedition storytelling on social media before it was standard practice – in 2010 she led National Geographic’s first interactive expedition, a five-month journey across North America – making her one of few climate voices who has demonstrably mobilised both institutional and popular attention at scale. As architect of the Blue Cities Alliance through Oceans2050, she connects organisations to a growing network of coastal city governments taking measurable action on ocean restoration, relevant to companies seeking credible local partnerships for their nature-based ESG commitments. Biography highlights Co-founder and President, Oceans2050 – lead organisation behind the first peer-reviewed global study of seaweed carbon sequestration, published in Nature Climate Change (2025), with research funding from WWF and the Bezos Earth Fund National Geographic Emerging Explorer (2008); World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (2010) Co-founder, EarthEcho International – youth environmental education organisation reaching more than 2 million people in 146 countries Founder, Blue Legacy International (2008) – produced 100+ award-winning short films on water issues, with expeditions across six continents Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Georgetown University (2016); BA in Political Science (International Relations), Georgetown University Senior Advisor, Oceana; CNN Principle Voices contributor (2008); UN Earth Trustee; U.S. Congress water policy witness Biography The ocean absorbs roughly a quarter of all carbon emitted since industrialisation, yet it remains largely absent from corporate ESG strategy. Alexandra Cousteau, co-founder of Oceans2050 and granddaughter of the legendary oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, has spent two decades building the scientific infrastructure to address that gap. The Oceans2050 study published in Nature Climate Change in 2025 was the first peer-reviewed global assessment of carbon burial beneath seaweed farms, demonstrating sequestration rates comparable to mangroves and seagrasses and establishing the scientific foundation for a new blue carbon market. Cousteau’s consistent argument, advanced across her work with EarthEcho International, Blue Legacy, and Oceans2050, is that water security is not a separate environmental concern but a material business risk embedded in every supply chain, food system, and coastal community. This is grounded in fieldwork across six continents, peer-reviewed science, and direct engagement with heads of state, NGOs, and senior policy makers. She has testified before the U.S. Congress on water policy and served for years as Senior Advisor to Oceana on ocean conservation and governance campaigns. Her credentials span the academic and the field-based. She holds a degree in International Relations from Georgetown University and received an honorary doctorate from the same institution in 2016. National Geographic named her an Emerging Explorer in 2008; the World Economic Forum recognised her as a Young Global Leader in 2010. She co-founded EarthEcho International, now reaching more than 2 million young people in 146 countries, and established Blue Legacy International in 2008, producing over 100 award-winning films on freshwater and ocean issues. The case she makes to organisations is specific: ocean restoration is market infrastructure. As architect of the Blue Cities Alliance and the Oceans2050 seaweed carbon project, she is building the verified frameworks that enable corporate investment in blue carbon at scale. Boards evaluating ESG commitments increasingly need to distinguish credible ocean science from reputational positioning. Cousteau provides that distinction with the rigour to back it up. Key speaking topics Ocean restoration and blue carbon markets Water security as material business risk ESG strategy and nature-based climate solutions Blue economy and sustainable aquaculture Science-based storytelling and public engagement Long-term environmental thinking and intergenerational leadership Ocean policy and governance Ideal for Chief Sustainability Officers and ESG leadership teams evaluating nature-based and ocean-based climate commitments Corporate boards and senior executives with water or coastal supply chain exposure in their risk frameworks Policy forums, international summits, and governmental bodies focused on ocean governance, climate action, and blue economy development Investment and financial audiences engaging with emerging blue carbon and voluntary carbon market opportunities Audience outcomes A clearer framework for distinguishing science-backed ocean and water climate solutions from greenwashing, directly applicable to ESG due diligence and investor reporting A systems-level understanding of how water security – from freshwater access to ocean health – connects to supply chain risk, food production, and community resilience Awareness of blue carbon markets as an emerging investment and risk management tool, including the peer-reviewed science behind seaweed farming as a carbon sequestration mechanism A reframing of ocean ESG commitments from reputation management to material strategic risk, with evidence-based criteria for evaluating corporate action Practical insight into what responsible, evidence-based corporate engagement with ocean conservation looks like, drawn from Oceans2050’s work with WWF, the Bezos Earth Fund, and global seaweed farming communities

Why organisations work with Alicia Asín She runs Libelium, the Spanish IoT company behind the Waspmote wireless sensor platform, deployed across smart cities, precision agriculture and environmental monitoring projects worldwide. Audiences get a working founder-CEO view, not a technology commentator. She was the first woman to receive Spain’s National Young Entrepreneurs Award (2014) and received the Rey Jaime I Award for Entrepreneurship in 2017, a prize whose jury includes Nobel laureates. These are sovereign-level, externally adjudicated credentials. Second position in the 2018 European Commission Prize for Women Innovators reinforces the EU-level recognition. Her “Datacracy” argument, that data should strengthen democratic accountability rather than erode it, gives public-sector, smart-city and ESG audiences a specific vocabulary for the governance layer of IoT and AI deployment. She works in English and Spanish, which makes her directly useful for pan-European, Iberian and Latin American corporate and public-sector events. Biography highlights Co-founder and CEO, Libelium; creator of the Waspmote IoT sensor platform First woman to receive Spain’s National Young Entrepreneurs Award (2014) Rey Jaime I Award for Entrepreneurship, 2017 Runner-up, European Commission Prize for Women Innovators, 2018 World Economic Forum Young Global Leader Named “Spanish with Talent” by Marca España; 2016 National Computer Science Prize Biography Sensors are the quietest part of the technology stack and the one that will most shape the next decade of public-sector decision-making. Alicia Asín co-founded Libelium in Zaragoza and has spent the intervening period building Waspmote, the company’s open-source IoT hardware platform, into a reference product for smart cities, precision agriculture and environmental monitoring deployments worldwide. The recognition record is sovereign-level. She was the first woman to receive Spain’s National Young Entrepreneurs Award (2014). In 2017 she received the Rey Jaime I Award for Entrepreneurship, one of the most prestigious prizes in Spain, whose jury includes Nobel laureates. In 2018 she was named runner-up in the European Commission Prize for Women Innovators. She is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. The argument she brings to senior audiences is governance, not hardware. “Datacracy” is her shorthand for the idea that IoT and AI should strengthen institutional accountability, in cities, in food systems and in public services, rather than weaken it. That framing gives public-sector, smart-city and ESG audiences a specific lens on procurement, data ownership and the design of monitoring systems that people will actually trust. For technology leadership, smart cities, sustainability and European public-sector audiences, Asín offers the working view of a multi-award-winning founder who is still running the company. She speaks in English and Spanish, which makes her directly useful across Iberian, pan-European and Latin American programming. Key speaking topics Internet of Things and the Waspmote platform in practice Smart cities, precision agriculture and environmental monitoring at scale Datacracy: data, transparency and institutional accountability Women in technology and STEM education under AI Founder-CEO experience of scaling a European hardware company Ideal for Technology leadership, innovation and R&D audiences at European corporates Smart-city, public-sector and urban-policy conferences Sustainability, agri-food and environmental programmes evaluating IoT deployments Women-in-tech and leadership events at pan-European and Latin American programmes Audience outcomes A working founder-CEO view of IoT deployment in cities and food systems A vocabulary (“Datacracy”) for the governance layer of IoT and AI adoption Specific examples drawn from Libelium deployments in smart cities and precision agriculture A pan-European perspective on the policy and procurement context for sensor-led programmes

Why organisations work with Alok Sharma He chaired the negotiation that produced the Glasgow Climate Pact, working with nearly 200 governments. Few advisors can read multilateral climate dynamics from inside the chair. As Chair of the UK Transition Finance Council, he is actively shaping how private capital is mobilised for transition, not commenting on it from a distance. His vantage spans Cabinet, COP, the Rockefeller Foundation Climate Advisory Council, Conservation International and Oxford Martin School, giving boards a single voice across policy, philanthropy, science and finance. TIME named him in the 2025 TIME 100 Climate list for his work mobilising transition finance, a credible external benchmark of current relevance. A 16-year investment banking career in London, Stockholm and Frankfurt gives him the financial fluency to discuss transition with CFOs and treasurers in their own language. Biography highlights President of COP26, Glasgow 2021, the conference that produced the Glasgow Climate Pact Former UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and previously Secretary of State for International Development Chair of the UK Transition Finance Council, appointed by HM Treasury and the City of London Corporation in 2025 Visiting Fellow, Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford Co-Chair, Rockefeller Foundation Climate Advisory Council; Distinguished Fellow, Conservation International KCMG, 2023 New Year Honours, for services to tackling climate change; created Baron Sharma of Reading, 2024; named to TIME 100 Climate, 2025 Biography The Glasgow Climate Pact was negotiated in a room with delegations from nearly 200 countries. Alok Sharma chaired that room as President of COP26. The pact, agreed in November 2021, kept the 1.5 degree goal in formal reach and pulled coal and fossil fuel subsidies into a UN climate text for the first time. Before COP, he was Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and earlier Secretary of State for International Development. The route there was unusual for a climate principal: chartered accountant at Coopers and Lybrand Deloitte, then sixteen years in investment banking with Nikko Securities and Enskilda Securities across London, Stockholm and Frankfurt. That financial background sits behind his current work on capital flows. He now chairs the UK Transition Finance Council, set up by HM Treasury and the City of London Corporation to make the UK a leading market for high integrity transition finance. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Martin School, Co-Chair of the Rockefeller Foundation Climate Advisory Council, and a Distinguished Fellow at Conservation International. TIME named him to its 2025 TIME 100 Climate list for that body of work. For boards, the value is the through-line. He has held the pen on a multilateral climate text, sat in a UK Cabinet making industrial policy, and now sits in the room where transition finance rules are being written. He was made KCMG in the 2023 New Year Honours and elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Sharma of Reading in 2024. Key speaking topics Transition finance and capital allocation under net zero Climate diplomacy and the post-Paris multilateral system Energy transition and industrial strategy COP outcomes and what they mean for corporate strategy Geopolitics of climate, including US, EU and emerging market dynamics ESG under regulatory and political pressure Ideal for Boards, CEOs and CFOs reconciling net zero commitments with capital plans Chief Sustainability Officers, Heads of ESG and transition leads inside financial institutions Investor and asset owner audiences working on transition portfolios Government, multilateral and policy audiences working on climate and industrial strategy Audience outcomes A clear read of where multilateral climate policy stands after COP26 to today, from someone who chaired the room A grounded view of how transition finance is actually being structured in the UK and globally A senior-level perspective on how climate intersects with geopolitics, industrial policy and capital markets Specific signals to track for boards making transition-linked decisions over the next planning cycle

Why organisations work with Andrew Wilson A decade reporting from Moscow, Jerusalem and Washington gives him the standing to interview heads of state, ministers and CEOs without deferring to them, and without grandstanding. RTS-winning presenting craft from Sky News Live at 5 means he controls pace, time and tone on a live stage the way a broadcast studio expects, which is rare on the corporate circuit. Regular moderator at the World Economic Forum in Davos and at COP conferences, which means he arrives fluent in the vocabulary of geopolitics, macro risk and climate policy rather than briefed on it the night before. A Reuters track record of sit-down interviews with international CEOs, directly applicable to sponsor-led fireside formats, AGMs and leadership off-sites where the quality of the questions is the product. Editorial independence on sensitive material: conflict coverage from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Gaza, Chechnya and Iraq means he is comfortable in rooms where the subject matter is politically live. Biography highlights Former Sky News foreign correspondent in Moscow, Jerusalem and Washington DC, with international awards from each posting. Presenter of Sky News Live at 5, winner of the RTS Best News Programme award in 2016. Ten years presenting current affairs on Sky News, including coverage of three US presidential elections, Russian and Israeli elections, and conflicts in Afghanistan, Libya, Gaza, Ukraine and Iraq. Moderator and interviewer at the World Economic Forum in Davos and at COP environmental conferences; host of Virgin Formula E events in New York and Paris. Conducted CEO interview series internationally for Reuters. Member of BAFTA, mentor with the John Schofield Trust, and contributor to the Westminster foreign-affairs think tank Global Strategy Forum. Biography Live-television credibility is hard to fake on a corporate stage. A host either controls the room, the clock and the interview, or the audience quietly checks out. Wilson spent a decade as a Sky News foreign correspondent in Moscow, Jerusalem and Washington, then close to ten years anchoring current affairs in London, which is where that control comes from. The editorial range is unusually wide for an event moderator. He reported the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and, since then, conflict and breaking news from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Gaza, Chechnya, Lebanon, Iraq and the Asian Tsunami, along with three US presidential cycles and Russian and Israeli elections. His programme Live at 5 won the RTS Best News Programme award in 2016. That grounding now carries into a second career hosting leadership conversations where the subject matter is serious. He moderates at the World Economic Forum in Davos and at COP environmental conferences, has run CEO interview series for Reuters, and hosts Virgin Formula E events in New York and Paris. He is a member of BAFTA, mentors emerging journalists through the John Schofield Trust, and contributes to the Westminster foreign-affairs think tank Global Strategy Forum. For organisations putting a senior figure on stage, the value is specific. Wilson is the journalist in the chair who has already covered the story, already interviewed the type of person sitting across from him, and already worked to a live clock every night for a decade. Key speaking topics Corporate event hosting and conference moderation CEO fireside interviews and on-stage panels Geopolitics and international affairs US politics and elections Climate policy, COP and sustainability Media and communications skills training Ideal for Boards, CEOs and investor-day organisers commissioning a live on-stage interview or panel Sustainability, ESG and policy conferences wanting a moderator fluent in COP and Davos language Global sales kick-offs, leadership summits and AGMs where the chair needs to handle live Q and A with senior external guests Communications and PR leaders running media-skills or crisis-interview training for executives Audience outcomes A meeting where senior speakers are drawn out rather than read from notes, with time kept and the agenda landed. Panel discussions with clearer editorial framing and sharper questions than an internal moderator typically delivers. On-stage CEO interviews that read as credible to journalists, analysts and investors in the room. Sessions on geopolitics and sustainability that are chaired with working knowledge of the vocabulary, not a briefing document read aloud.

Why organisations work with Angela Oguntala Her Futurecasting process is a replicable leadership methodology for distinguishing structural change from cyclical noise, giving strategy teams something to use after the keynote, not just a perspective to carry home. She brings a practitioner’s decade-long track record: foresight and innovation work with Google, IKEA, the World Economic Forum, the World Trade Organization, Microsoft, and Deloitte, across sectors from healthcare to luxury to financial services. Her background spans foresight research and business strategy, which lets her connect technology shifts and the changing nature of work in a single frame that sector specialists rarely produce. She was named a Future Innovator by the United Nations, a designation that extends her credibility beyond the speaking circuit into formal expert recognition. Her central argument, that the future is not predictable but can be actively shaped, moves executive audiences from defensive risk-management to purposeful strategic action. Biography highlights Spent a decade as founding partner of Greyspace, a foresight and innovation consultancy Named a Future Innovator by the United Nations Salzburg Global Fellow for leaders challenged to shape a better world Advisory and keynote engagements with Google, IKEA, Microsoft, the World Economic Forum, the World Trade Organization, Heineken, and Deloitte, across healthcare, technology, luxury, and financial services TED talk, Re-imagine the future, on how the assumptions we hold about what is possible either constrain or expand the strategies we are willing to pursue Featured as a strategic foresight expert on outlets including NPR and Sky Biography The hardest thing about strategy is not analysing the present. It is imagining a future that does not yet exist, and committing resources to it before certainty arrives. Angela Oguntala built her career around exactly this problem. She spent a decade as a founding partner of Greyspace, a foresight and innovation consultancy, working across industries from healthcare and financial services to luxury and technology. The work was consistent: helping leadership teams read structural change and identify where to innovate. She now advises companies, governments, and senior leaders worldwide on strategic foresight and innovation. Her clients include Google, IKEA, Microsoft, the World Economic Forum, the World Trade Organization, Heineken, and Deloitte. Her named methodology, Futurecasting, is a structured process for mapping the forces reshaping an organisation’s context, surfacing risks and opportunities across a range of possible outcomes, and building strategy around where and how to act, giving leadership teams the capacity to navigate complexity and innovate, not just respond. Named a Future Innovator by the United Nations, and a Salzburg Global Fellow, Oguntala speaks on the TED platform and has been featured as a strategic foresight expert on outlets including NPR and Sky. Her TED talk, Re-imagine the future, addresses the blindspots that prevent organisations and individuals from seeing the full range of what is genuinely possible, and acting on it. Key speaking topics Strategic foresight and Futurecasting Innovation under uncertainty Emerging technology impacts Leadership and organisational foresight Sustainability and resilience Future of work Ideal for Chief Strategy Officers and strategy leadership teams whose planning models cannot keep pace with compounding change CEOs and executive boards making high-stakes bets as technology, consumer behaviour, and market structure shift simultaneously Chief Innovation Officers and heads of transformation identifying where real innovation opportunity lies amid constant noise Government and institutional leaders working on long-horizon policy and societal change Audience outcomes A clearer distinction between structural change and cyclical noise, and an understanding of how to act on that distinction at leadership level Practical familiarity with the Futurecasting methodology as a replicable process for strategic decision-making under uncertainty A more integrated view of how emerging technologies, global uncertainty, and shifting social expectations interact, rather than treating each as a separate workstream A reframed relationship with uncertainty: from something to manage defensively to something that can be met with intention Approaches to building organisations that can generate and act on genuinely new ideas rather than optimise existing ones