Climate Action and Sustainability

Why organisations work with Dan Jorgensen Direct line of sight into EU energy and climate decision-making. As the sitting Commissioner with the portfolio, he sets the regulatory weather that most European businesses have to plan against. Track record of turning climate ambition into binding policy, including Denmark’s 70% 2030 emissions target, the decision to end North Sea oil and gas exploration by 2050, and the energy islands programme. Co-founded the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance with Costa Rica at COP26, one of the few multilateral vehicles for a managed phase-out of fossil fuel production. Combines national ministerial experience, EU legislative experience as an MEP, and EU executive experience as a Commissioner. Few speakers on energy policy hold all three. Biography highlights European Commissioner for Energy and Housing, second von der Leyen Commission, since December 2024. Former Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities (2019-2022) and Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy (2022-2024). Co-initiator of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, launched at COP26 with Costa Rica. Proposed the law for the world’s first offshore wind energy island, passed by the Danish Parliament in 2021. Member of the European Parliament 2004-2013, Vice-Chair of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee. Author of “Grønt håb – Klimapolitik 2.0”, with interviews including Jens Stoltenberg, Connie Hedegaard and Rajendra Pachauri. Awarded the Ukrainian Order of Merit, first degree, by President Zelenskyy in 2024. Biography The EU’s energy agenda sits at the intersection of three pressures that do not naturally align: affordability for households and industry, security of supply after the shock of 2022, and the decarbonisation trajectory committed to under the European Green Deal. Getting all three right is the central policy problem of this Commission mandate. It is also the portfolio Dan Jorgensen holds. Appointed European Commissioner for Energy and Housing in December 2024, he is responsible for driving down energy prices, scaling clean generation, upgrading grid infrastructure, and helping Member States address housing supply. The brief is unusually wide, and unusually consequential for any business with European exposure. The background is substantive. As Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities from 2019 to 2022, he negotiated the binding 70% emissions reduction target into law during COP25, proposed the legislation for Denmark’s North Sea energy island, and co-founded the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance with Costa Rica at COP26. As Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy, he co-facilitated the Global Stocktake at COP28 in Dubai. A decade earlier, as an MEP from 2004 to 2013, he served as Vice-Chair of the Environment Committee and worked inside the EU legislative process that now defines his executive remit. For organisations trying to read the direction of European energy and climate policy, his perspective is closer to the pen than to the commentary. He also writes: his book “Grønt håb – Klimapolitik 2.0” set out an early argument that climate ambition and economic growth are complementary rather than opposed, a framing now visible in the EU’s industrial policy response to the clean energy transition. Key speaking topics European energy policy and market design Climate policy and global climate negotiations Energy transition and security of supply EU regulation and institutional decision-making Managed phase-out of fossil fuel production Offshore wind and grid infrastructure Affordable and sustainable housing policy Ideal for Boards and executive teams at energy utilities, industrials, real estate and infrastructure investors with European market exposure Chief Sustainability Officers, Heads of Regulatory Affairs, and ESG leads tracking EU policy direction Government relations and public affairs leadership preparing for EU legislative cycles Investor conferences and industry forums on energy transition, climate finance and the European Green Deal Audience outcomes A clearer read on where EU energy and climate policy is heading over this Commission mandate, and why Sharper understanding of how affordability, security and decarbonisation trade off in live policy decisions Context on the levers available to accelerate clean energy deployment across Member States Grounded view of the multilateral climate agenda post-COP28 and what to expect from COP cycles ahead

Why organisations work with Charlie Luxton He runs a working practice, Charlie Luxton Design, whose built work includes the Hook Norton Community Land Trust Passivhaus scheme, so his sustainability argument is grounded in projects he has actually delivered, not a consultancy deck. Two decades of mainstream broadcasting on More4, Channel 5, and BBC platforms have trained him to explain embodied carbon, retrofit, and energy performance to non-specialist audiences without losing technical substance. He speaks credibly across the full stack of a property or ESG conversation: design, materials, regulation, occupant behaviour, and cost, which is unusual for a single speaker. He is a comfortable host and awards presenter as well as a keynote voice, so clients running built-environment or sustainability conferences can use him in more than one role across an event. His perspective is practitioner-first: what works on a real site in the UK climate, at a realistic budget, with real trades and supply chains, which senior buyers in property, construction, and corporate real estate recognise as scarce. Biography highlights Director of Charlie Luxton Design, an Oxfordshire architectural practice focused on energy-efficient residential work. BA in Architecture, Oxford Brookes University; MA, Royal College of Art, London. Lead presenter on More4’s Building the Dream and Homes by the Sea, and presenter on Channel 5’s Build a New Life in the Country. Architect for the Hook Norton Community Land Trust, a twelve-home Passivhaus-standard community-led housing scheme. Co-author with Sally Bevan of Restored to Glory (BBC Books, 2005), the book accompanying the BBC restoration series. Has delivered talks through professional bodies including RIBA Gloucestershire on embodied carbon in buildings. Biography The built environment is responsible for a significant share of global carbon emissions, and the gap between pledges and delivered projects is where most organisations are now stuck. Architects who actually build at that intersection, and who can describe the work in plain language, are rare. That is the space Charlie Luxton occupies. He runs Charlie Luxton Design from North Oxfordshire, a practice dedicated to energy-efficient homes that use local materials and respond to local climate. The studio’s work includes the Hook Norton Community Land Trust scheme, twelve Passivhaus-standard homes developed with a community-led trust in the village where the practice is based. It is a concrete example of the low-energy, community-scale housing model the sustainability conversation often describes in the abstract. Alongside the practice, he has spent more than twenty years on UK television, presenting Building the Dream and Homes by the Sea for More4 and Build a New Life in the Country for Channel 5, with earlier credits including BBC Three’s Dreamspaces. That broadcasting background is why organisations book him: he can take a technical topic like embodied carbon or retrofit and hold a general audience without simplifying the substance. He trained at Oxford Brookes and the Royal College of Art and co-authored Restored to Glory with Sally Bevan for BBC Books. For corporate audiences this produces something specific. Real-estate, construction, and ESG conversations often split between policy speakers who have not built anything and technical specialists who cannot hold a room. Luxton bridges the two, which is useful when a leadership team has committed to a sustainability target and now has to make decisions about what they actually build or lease. Key speaking topics Sustainable architecture and low-carbon buildings Embodied carbon and the built environment Retrofit, energy performance, and the existing UK housing stock Passivhaus and community-led housing Design, materials, and local climate The future of construction Property, homes, and how people live Ideal for Property, construction, and real-estate leadership audiences setting net-zero and retrofit strategy ESG, sustainability, and corporate real-estate teams inside large corporates Housing associations, local authorities, and community trusts working on low-carbon housing delivery Built-environment conferences and awards requiring a credible host with technical authority Audience outcomes A clear read on where embodied and operational carbon actually sit in a building project, and which decisions move the number. A practical sense of what Passivhaus, retrofit, and low-energy design look like once built, drawn from delivered UK projects. Confidence to interrogate sustainability claims made by designers, developers, and suppliers in their own supply chain. A more realistic view of cost, trade-offs, and timescales in low-carbon building, as opposed to the brochure version.

Why organisations work with Bjarke Ingels His “hedonistic sustainability” concept – coined in a 2011 TED talk with over two million views – gives leadership teams a credible, named argument against the assumption that environmental ambition and commercial performance are in tension. The Yes Is More manifesto argues against the choice between bold vision and practical delivery; it is taught beyond architecture because the logic is genuinely transferable to any organisation navigating competing strategic demands. BIG’s project portfolio – CopenHill’s waste-to-energy plant with a public ski slope, the BIG U flood-defence park in Manhattan, the Google North Bayshore campus co-designed with Thomas Heatherwick – gives executive audiences proof that resolving sustainability and desirability through design produces outcomes superior to either goal pursued alone. He has spoken at the World Economic Forum, TED, WIRED, and 10 Downing Street, meaning his frameworks have already been stress-tested in front of heads of government, technology leaders, and senior executives. Teaching at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Rice runs alongside leading a 400-person practice with major projects on four continents – his arguments carry the authority of both the seminar room and the construction site. Biography highlights Founder and creative partner of BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), established 2006; offices in New York, London, and Copenhagen; team of 400+ Originator of “hedonistic sustainability,” introduced in a 2011 TED talk now viewed over two million times Author of Yes Is More: An Archicomic on Architectural Evolution (2009) and HOT TO COLD: An Odyssey of Architectural Adaptation Named to TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People (2016); WSJ Innovator of the Year in Architecture; Fast Company 100 Most Creative People in Business Awards include the Golden Lion at the Venice Architecture Biennale (2004), ULI Award for Excellence (2009), Danish Crown Prince’s Culture Prize (2011); Honorary Fellow of the AIA (2020) and RIBA (2015) Featured as opening subject of Netflix’s Abstract: The Art of Design; speaker at TED, the World Economic Forum, WIRED, and 10 Downing Street Has taught at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Rice Universities; honorary professor at the Royal Academy of Arts, School of Architecture, Copenhagen Biography CopenHill is a waste-to-energy plant in Copenhagen that doubles as a public ski slope, climbing wall, and rooftop hiking trail. It is not a compromise between environmental performance and civic amenity. It is Bjarke Ingels’ most cited demonstration of what he calls “hedonistic sustainability” – the argument that reducing environmental impact and improving how people experience their city are the same design challenge. In his 2011 TED talk, now viewed over two million times, Ingels introduced the concept and set out the logic. His manifesto Yes Is More pushed the argument further, proposing “pragmatic utopianism” as a design principle: the deliberate rejection of the choice between visionary ambition and commercial delivery. The book was written for architects. It is now taught in business and strategy contexts because the core argument is transferable. Ingels founded BIG in Copenhagen in 2006, following earlier work at OMA under Rem Koolhaas and the co-founding of PLOT with Julien De Smedt. The firm now operates from New York, London, and Copenhagen with more than 400 staff. Its projects range from the BIG U – Manhattan’s Hurricane Sandy flood-defence infrastructure, redesigned as a continuous public park – to Google’s North Bayshore campus, co-designed with Thomas Heatherwick, where workplace performance and environmental targets were treated as a single design brief. TIME Magazine named him one of the world’s 100 Most Influential People in 2016. He holds the WSJ Innovator of the Year award, Honorary Fellowships from the AIA and RIBA, and has spoken at the World Economic Forum and 10 Downing Street. He has taught at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Rice. Netflix’s Abstract: The Art of Design featured him as its opening subject. His discipline is architecture; his primary value to organisations is a framework for dissolving the trade-off between ambition and pragmatism. Key speaking topics Hedonistic sustainability and design-led climate action Pragmatic utopianism and innovation strategy Urban resilience and large-scale infrastructure design Architecture’s role in organisational and civic identity Creative leadership at scale The built environment and corporate space strategy Design thinking across disciplines Ideal for C-suite and executive leadership teams at real estate, infrastructure, and large-scale development organisations Chief Sustainability Officers and ESG leads seeking to reframe sustainability as a source of commercial advantage rather than compliance cost Corporate boards and transformation leads examining how built environment decisions affect organisational culture, talent, and long-term asset value Civic leaders and urban planners making large-scale public investment decisions Audience outcomes A named, transferable framework – “hedonistic sustainability” – for challenging the trade-off assumption in ESG, design, and innovation strategy conversations Concrete examples, drawn from BIG’s global project portfolio, of how resolving competing constraints through design produces outcomes that neither goal alone would generate A reframe of what “innovation” means in large-scale, long-horizon project environments where short-term pragmatism typically wins Greater confidence in presenting design ambition as a strategic argument rather than an aesthetic or cost preference Practical insight into building and leading a high-velocity creative organisation across multiple geographies and project scales

Why organisations work with Bjørn Lomborg He brings a formal economic framework, developed with Nobel laureate economists through the Copenhagen Consensus project, for ranking interventions by return on spend rather than political salience. His argument is specific and well-published: The Skeptical Environmentalist (Cambridge University Press, 2001), False Alarm (Basic Books, 2020), and Best Things First (2023, named a Best Book of the year by The Economist) give boards a documented thesis to engage with. He is one of the few commentators on climate economics taken seriously in policy and finance rooms while remaining openly sceptical of orthodox climate spending priorities, which is valuable for leadership teams wanting a genuine debate rather than a consensus reaffirmation. He speaks the language of trade-offs, not advocacy, which suits boards and investment committees that have to defend capital allocation to shareholders and regulators. His institutional base (Copenhagen Consensus Center, Hoover Institution at Stanford, Copenhagen Business School) gives a clear provenance that buyers can cite internally. Biography highlights President and founder, Copenhagen Consensus Center. Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Visiting Professor, Copenhagen Business School. Ph.D. in Political Science, University of Copenhagen. Author of The Skeptical Environmentalist, Cool It, False Alarm, and Best Things First. Named to TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People (2004); Top 100 Global Thinker, Foreign Policy (2011, 2012). Biography Most climate and development debate is framed as moral argument. Lomborg’s career has been spent reframing it as an allocation problem. Through the Copenhagen Consensus Center, which he founded and leads, he works with more than 300 economists, including seven Nobel laureates, to rank global interventions by cost and benefit rather than by political attention. That method produced the thesis running through his published work. The Skeptical Environmentalist, published by Cambridge University Press in 2001, argued that many accepted environmental narratives did not match the data. Cool It and False Alarm, the latter from Basic Books in 2020, applied the same analytic discipline to climate policy. Best Things First, published in 2023, ranks twelve interventions by expected human and economic return and was named a Best Book of 2023 by The Economist. His institutional base reflects the seriousness of the work. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Copenhagen, is a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and a Visiting Professor at Copenhagen Business School. TIME Magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential People in 2004. Foreign Policy placed him on its Top 100 Global Thinkers list in 2011 and again in 2012. Lomborg is a contested figure in climate debate, and boards hire him knowing that. The value is a disciplined, published, defensible argument that forces leadership teams to compare what they are spending on sustainability with what that spend actually delivers. Key speaking topics Cost-benefit analysis in climate and development policy Climate economics and capital allocation Global development priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals Evidence-based policymaking ESG and sustainability trade-offs Long-horizon risk and resource allocation Ideal for Board and executive audiences reviewing climate and ESG capital allocation Chief sustainability officers and chief risk officers working through net-zero trade-offs Investment committees and asset owners stress-testing climate assumptions Policy, philanthropy, and development leaders ranking interventions under fixed budgets Audience outcomes A clear framework for comparing climate and development interventions by measurable return, not political profile. A working vocabulary for challenging internal ESG and sustainability spending claims. Exposure to the Copenhagen Consensus ranking method and how it has been applied to real policy choices. A more defensible position when boards are asked how their climate capital is justified.

Why organisations work with Bertrand Piccard The Solar Impulse Foundation’s portfolio of more than 1,000 independently certified, profitable environmental solutions gives organisations a verified, searchable evidence base – not an aspiration but a commercially assessed library of technologies available today, spanning energy, construction, mobility, agriculture, and industry. His “qualitative growth” framework – articulated in his book RÉALISTE – gives leaders a specific language for presenting sustainability to boards, investors, and governments as a source of economic development rather than a compliance cost. Few speakers can point to a named framework, a published thesis, and twenty years of testing it with heads of state and global executives. As a trained psychiatrist, Piccard applies behavioural insight to the structural reason sustainability arguments fail at decision-making level: not a lack of belief, but the absence of a financial narrative that aligns with existing incentive structures. His diagnosis is precise – and so is the alternative he offers. His advisory roles – Special Advisor to the European Commission and member of the European Investment Bank’s Climate and Environment Advisory Council – provide direct intelligence on the regulatory and financial frameworks that will shape corporate energy transition decisions this decade. The Solar Impulse round-the-world flight covered 43,000 km on commercially available solar technology alone. Organisations working through assumptions about what clean energy can realistically deliver hear this not as a metaphor but as an audit: the gap between what these technologies can do and what most boards believe they can do is not a future problem. Biography highlights Completed the first non-stop round-the-world balloon flight, Breitling Orbiter 3, with Brian Jones (1999) – the longest flight in aviation history by both distance and duration at that time Co-initiated and piloted Solar Impulse: the first solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the globe (2016, 43,000 km, zero fuel), with André Borschberg Founder and Chairman, Solar Impulse Foundation – has certified more than 1,000 clean and profitable environmental solutions via the Solar Impulse Efficient Solution Label UN Champions of the Earth Award (2012, UNEP); UN Goodwill Ambassador for the Environment; Special Advisor to the European Commission; member, European Investment Bank Climate and Environment Advisory Council Mungo Park Medal, Royal Scottish Geographical Society (2018); Harmon Trophy; FAI Gold Air Medal; holds 22 FAI world records in solar and electric aviation categories Author of RÉALISTE, The Greatest Adventure, and Changer d’Altitude; keynote speaker at the United Nations, World Economic Forum, TED, and major UN Climate Change Conferences Biography The argument Bertrand Piccard has advanced for two decades is specific: ecology and economy are not opposites. Clean technology is where the next generation of industrial value is being created. His Solar Impulse Foundation has certified more than 1,000 profitable environmental solutions – available today – to demonstrate that the energy transition is already a market, not a future aspiration. The Solar Impulse round-the-world flight – 43,000 km with zero fuel, completed with André Borschberg in 2016 – was designed to carry a message as much as a pilot. When Piccard landed in Abu Dhabi, the point was not the distance but the technology: every solar system and electric motor that had just circled the planet was commercially available. Most organisations had simply not been shown a coherent financial case for using it. That case is the work of the Solar Impulse Foundation, which Piccard founded and chairs. The Foundation’s Efficient Solution Label certifies technologies, products, and processes across energy, construction, mobility, agriculture, and industry – providing governments, corporations, and investors with a vetted evidence base for capital and policy decisions. His advisory roles extend this work directly into policy: he is Special Advisor to the European Commission and a member of the European Investment Bank’s Climate and Environment Advisory Council, positions that give him current intelligence on the regulatory environment shaping energy transition this decade. Trained as a psychiatrist, Piccard applies behavioural insight to the precise reason sustainability strategies fail at board level: the financial argument is missing. His book RÉALISTE sets out the case for his named framework – “qualitative growth” – as a practical alternative to both degrowth and unlimited consumption. The Climate Impulse project, a hydrogen-powered aircraft designed for a non-stop round-the-world flight, is his current proof-of-concept: another first, built to demonstrate what the next generation of clean technology can already do. Key speaking topics Clean technology and the commercial case for energy transition Qualitative growth: sustainability as an economic strategy The Solar Impulse Efficient Solution Label and cleantech certification Climate policy, regulation, and the role of business Mission-driven leadership and the explorer’s mindset The psychology of organisational change and resistance to transition Hydrogen and the future of sustainable aviation Ideal for Boards and C-suites working through the commercial and investment case for energy transition Chief Sustainability Officers and ESG leads under pressure to translate environmental commitments into language investors and boards will act on Government and policy audiences involved in clean energy planning, regulatory design, or climate target-setting Global executive leadership summits where the intersection of sustainability, growth strategy, and industrial policy is on the agenda Audience outcomes A reframed understanding of the sustainability-profitability relationship – with a specific named framework, “qualitative growth,” that can be used internally to move the conversation forward Awareness of a verified portfolio of more than 1,000 commercially available clean technologies, and how the Solar Impulse Efficient Solution Label works as a practical decision-making tool A clear diagnosis of why sustainability arguments typically fail at board and investment level – and what to substitute for the standard cost-and-compliance framing Insight into the European and global regulatory and financial architecture that will shape energy transition investment decisions over the next decade A more precise distinction between sustainability as an organisational cost and sustainability as a source of new industrial markets – presented with the proof points to make that argument to investors, regulators, and governments

Why organisations work with Børge Ousland The leadership and performance insight he delivers was built at the source – in conditions where failure was real and irreversible. His three polar firsts (first solo Antarctic crossing, first solo North Pole, first winter North Pole) are not analogies for organisational pressure. They are where the understanding was formed. The 2025 Royal Geographical Society Founder’s Medal – approved by King Charles, first awarded in 1832, previously given to Sir David Attenborough and Neil Armstrong – places this engagement in a different credibility category from any other adventure or resilience speaker. His IceLegacy project, crossing the world’s 20 largest ice caps since 2012, means his perspective on climate and environmental change is grounded in active, ongoing field work – not historical expedition. For organisations seeking credible eyewitness testimony on environmental change, this is something no desk-based sustainability speaker can replicate. The pre-expedition career – nearly a decade as a North Sea saturation diver and service with Norway’s elite Marinejegerkommandoen – gives his understanding of operational teamwork, accountability, and high-stakes judgment a grounding that is independent of the exploration narrative and reinforces its relevance to organisational audiences. As one of a small number of speakers on the National Geographic Speakers Bureau, with five magazine features spanning three decades, the engagement carries institutional weight that goes beyond the leadership speaker circuit. Beyond exploration, Ousland founded and operates Manshausen Island Lodge in Northern Norway, a design destination built from scratch that has won more than 60 international architecture, design and hospitality awards, including the Michelin Hotel Guide One Key. The discipline he speaks to is grounded in commercial operation as much as in field expedition. Biography highlights First person to cross Antarctica solo and unsupported (1996-97), covering 1,864 miles with no resupply – one of the most significant feats in exploration history First solo and unsupported journey to the North Pole (1994); part of the first unsupported ski trek to the North Pole (1990, with Erling Kagge) First to reach the North Pole during the Arctic winter with Mike Horn (2006); first to cross the Arctic Ocean from Alaska to Norway in continuous polar winter darkness with Mike Horn (2019), described by National Geographic as “the boldest polar expedition of modern times” 2025 Royal Geographical Society Founder’s Medal – one of the oldest and most prestigious geographical honours in the world, approved by King Charles; previous recipients include Sir David Attenborough and Neil Armstrong National Geographic Speakers Bureau; featured across five separate issues of National Geographic Magazine (1991, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2009) Founder and operator of Manshausen Island Lodge in Northern Norway, recipient of more than 60 international architecture, design and hospitality awards including the Michelin Hotel Guide One Key Author of 11 books on polar exploration; first prize in the Adventure category at the Banff Mountain Book Festival (2009) for “The Great Polar Journey” Former North Sea saturation diver and member of Norway’s Marinejegerkommandoen (naval special forces) Biography Børge Ousland has crossed Antarctica alone, reached the North Pole during the Arctic winter, and spent four decades documenting the world’s changing polar landscape from the ice itself. What makes his perspective valuable to organisations is not the scale of those journeys but the disciplines that sustained them. Decision-making under incomplete information, performance over extended periods of pressure, and leadership when the margin for error disappears – these are the things his expeditions tested at the highest level. Ousland was the first person to cross Antarctica solo and unsupported, covering 1,864 miles from coast to coast with no resupply. He made the first solo and unsupported journey to the North Pole in 1994. In 2006, he and Mike Horn became the first to reach the North Pole during the Arctic winter, running in total darkness at minus 40 degrees over unstable, drifting ice. In 2019, the same partnership crossed the Arctic Ocean from Alaska to Norway in continuous winter darkness, an expedition National Geographic called “the boldest polar expedition of modern times”. Since 2012, his IceLegacy project has been systematically crossing the world’s 20 largest ice caps, building a direct, ongoing physical record of glacial change. Before devoting himself to exploration, Ousland spent a decade as a saturation diver in the North Sea, working at depths requiring weeks inside pressurised chambers. He then served with Norway’s Marinejegerkommandoen – the naval special forces. Both roles demanded precision under pressure, sound judgment in high-stakes environments, and unconditional accountability for the people working alongside you. His expeditions tested those same qualities at a different scale entirely. Alongside the expedition work, Ousland is the founder and operator of Manshausen Island Lodge in Northern Norway. Built from scratch, the lodge has won more than 60 international architecture, design and hospitality awards, including the Michelin Hotel Guide One Key. He arrives in corporate rooms with the credibility of an operator as well as that of an explorer. In 2025, the Royal Geographical Society awarded Ousland the Founder’s Medal – an honour approved by King Charles and first awarded in 1832. Previous recipients include Sir David Attenborough and Neil Armstrong. He is one of the few speakers represented by the National Geographic Speakers Bureau and has been featured across five separate issues of National Geographic Magazine spanning three decades. He has lectured at the Royal Geographical Society in London on multiple occasions, including a standing-ovation address on solo polar exploration. Key speaking topics Leadership under extreme pressure Decision-making in high-stakes, high-uncertainty environments Resilience and sustained performance Risk management and expedition planning Teamwork under isolation and stress Eyewitness climate change and polar environments Endurance and mental discipline Ideal for Senior leadership teams in energy, maritime, defence, and infrastructure – sectors where the consequences of leadership failure are high Boards and executive teams building resilience and risk frameworks for volatile operating environments CEOs and C-suite audiences seeking non-conventional, field-tested models of decision-making under pressure Strategy and transformation conferences where sustained performance under uncertainty is a live organisational challenge Audience outcomes A concrete, field-tested perspective on what sound decision-making under genuine pressure actually requires – not a theoretical model Practical insight into the mental architecture that sustains performance when conditions become extreme: preparation depth, risk calibration, and in-the-moment adaptability A direct, first-hand account of environmental change in polar regions, grounded in 40 years of active field observation Understanding of how strong, distinct personalities can align around a shared objective under conditions of maximum stress – and what that alignment demands in practice A recalibrated sense of what resilience, endurance, and leadership under pressure can mean in organisational contexts

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 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 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 Adrian Hayes A senior commercial career running in parallel with the expedition record. Six years as Airbus Middle East sales director is the kind of credential adventure-only speakers cannot produce, and it changes how executive audiences engage with the material. ICF-accredited executive coaching behind every session. Audiences leave with frameworks they can apply to decision-making and team performance back in the business, beyond the story they will remember. Direct experience of serious failure and life-threatening decisions. The 2013 K2 attempt ended in a fatal avalanche for his teammates. The 2025 Kanchenjunga summit ended in a near-fatal descent and a Sherpa-assisted rescue. His position on risk comes from having made those calls himself. Arabic and Nepalese fluency, with residence in eight countries and operational work in more than a hundred. The cross-cultural perspective comes from years inside those cultures at the 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 over fifteen 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 An avalanche at Camp 3 on K2 killed New Zealand climbers Marty and Denali Schmidt on 27 July 2013. Adrian Hayes was due to begin his own summit push the next day. The expedition stopped. He returned a year later and reached the top. That sequence, the halted attempt followed by the return and summit on 26 July 2014, says something about how Hayes approaches his work with senior leaders. He teaches what decision-making looks like when the cost of mistakes is absolute and the ordinary conditions for clear judgment have gone. The experience behind that work is unusually broad. Eight years in the Brigade of Gurkhas, including training and operational roles across Hong Kong, Brunei, and Oman. Six years as Airbus Middle East sales director, running a major commercial portfolio in one of the world’s more complex regions. Two Guinness World Records: the fastest male Three Poles Challenge in 1 year 217 days, and the longest unsupported Arctic kite-ski expedition for his 2009 crossing of Greenland. 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. In May 2025, he summited Kanchenjunga, the world’s third-highest mountain, completing the three highest peaks on earth. He was injured on the descent and rescued from Camp IV by Sherpa climbers. 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 navigating 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 view of what resilience looks like in practice, distinct from its motivational framing Leadership lessons drawn from senior roles in the Gurkhas, at Airbus, and on major expeditions A clearer picture of what separates teams that hold under sustained pressure from those that fracture

Why organisations work with Stéphane J.G. Girod Co-author of Resetting Management (Kogan Page, 2021), shortlisted for the Business Book Awards 2022 in Change & Sustainability, with diagnostic tools tested against the agility journeys of LEGO, General Electric, LVMH and ING. Co-edited the Summer 2023 California Management Review special issue on business agility with Julian Birkinshaw of London Business School and Christiane Prange, placing him at the academic centre of how agility is studied and taught. Directs IMD’s Luxury 2050 initiative and the Reinventing Luxury Lab, with named C-suite client work at Richemont, La Prairie, Cartier, PUIG, Mazda and Telenor. His Harvard Business Review article “Restructure or Reconfigure?” (with Samina Karim of Northeastern) gives executives the working distinction that one in three reorganisations get wrong: when to change the underlying structure and when only to recombine units within it. Biography highlights Professor of Strategy and Organizational Innovation at IMD Business School, Lausanne. Co-author, Resetting Management: Thrive with Agility in the Age of Uncertainty (Kogan Page, 2021); shortlisted for the Business Book Awards 2022 in Change & Sustainability. Co-editor of the Summer 2023 California Management Review special issue on business agility, with Julian Birkinshaw and Christiane Prange. Forbes columnist on innovation and transformation in luxury industries. Research published in Harvard Business Review, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal and Long Range Planning. DPhil in Strategic Management, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford; MBA, Aalto University; speaks seven languages. Forthcoming with Wiley: Purposeful Luxury, on positive-impact sustainability strategies in luxury industries. Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Entertainment and Lifestyle Economy, 2025 to 2026. Biography Most large organisations are not built for the speed at which their markets now change. Strategy cycles run on multi-year horizons. Org charts assume stable competitive advantage. Both premises are under sustained strain in consumer goods, banking, retail and luxury. Stéphane Girod has spent his academic career on the diagnostic question this raises: when planning fails, what replaces it? His book Resetting Management, co-authored with Martin Králik and shortlisted for the 2022 Business Book Awards in Change & Sustainability, sets out a framework for business agility tested against case studies of LEGO, General Electric, LVMH and ING. Agility, in his account, lives at three distinct levels: strategic, organisational, and leadership. Most companies confuse one for another. His base is IMD, where he is Professor of Strategy and Organizational Innovation, leads the Luxury 2050 initiative, and directs the Reinventing Luxury Lab. He works directly with executive teams at Richemont, La Prairie, Cartier, PUIG, Mazda and Telenor on strategy and transformation. His sectoral focus on luxury, retail and consumer goods places him close to the industries where the agility question has become most urgent, where consumer behaviour, digital channels and sustainability pressure are now moving faster than strategic planning can absorb. His research has appeared in Harvard Business Review, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal and Long Range Planning. With Samina Karim of Northeastern University, his 2017 HBR article “Restructure or Reconfigure?” gave executives a working distinction between two organisational change strategies that produce very different financial results. He co-edited the Summer 2023 California Management Review special issue on business agility with Julian Birkinshaw of London Business School and Christiane Prange. Girod holds a DPhil from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and speaks seven languages. He writes a Forbes column on innovation and transformation in luxury industries. His forthcoming book with Wiley, Purposeful Luxury, addresses how luxury houses move sustainability from brand narrative into operating substance. Key speaking topics Business agility in established organisations Strategy under uncertainty Organisational design and reconfiguration Digital execution in large companies Innovation and disruption in the luxury sector Sustainability strategy in luxury and consumer goods Leading large-scale transformation Ideal for Executive teams in luxury, consumer goods, retail and banking facing structural disruption Chief strategy officers and transformation leads designing the next planning cycle Boards of luxury and premium brands navigating polarisation, sustainability pressure and shifts in the Chinese market C-suites running a major reorganisation who need to choose between restructuring and reconfiguring Audience outcomes A working distinction between strategic, organisational and leadership agility, with a diagnostic for which one their company needs first A test for whether the next reorganisation should be a restructure or a reconfiguration, and what each implies financially Specific examples of how LEGO, ING, LVMH and General Electric have succeeded and failed at agility, with the lessons that travel across sectors A sector-specific read on how luxury and consumer-goods incumbents are responding to digital channels, sustainability pressure and shifts in the Chinese market

Why organisations work with Matthew Gitsham Two decades of research focused on what CEOs of named multinationals actually do on sustainability, not what they say in annual reports. Direct experience advising the UN Global Compact, Business in the Community and corporates including Unilever, IBM, HSBC, GSK, De Beers, Cemex and Pearson on sustainable development strategy. Thinkers50 Radar recognition and the Aspen Institute Rising Star award give boards external validation when commissioning content on a contested topic. His Rio+20 report “Leadership in a Rapidly Changing World” shaped how the UN framed corporate leadership on sustainable development, evidence that his frameworks travel beyond the classroom. Research on corporate modern slavery leadership, conducted with the Ethical Trading Initiative, gives him operating substance on supply chain ESG that most academic voices lack. Biography highlights Professor of Business and Sustainability, Hult Ashridge Executive Education. Director of the Ashridge Centre for Business and Sustainability. Thinkers50 Radar, Class of 2021. Cited as “global expert on CEOs and sustainability.” Aspen Institute and Academy of Business in Society European Faculty Pioneer Award, Rising Star category. Hult International Business School Researcher of the Year, 2016 to 2017. Lead author of “Leadership in a Rapidly Changing World,” referenced at the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. Biography Most ESG conversations stop at the disclosure framework. The harder question, which Gitsham has spent twenty years researching, is what CEOs of Unilever, IBM, HSBC, GSK and similar companies actually do with sustainability once it leaves the sustainability report. His work tracks the decisions boards take on capital allocation, supplier governance and public policy advocacy when sustainability stops being narrative and starts being operating substance. That research base is what earned him Thinkers50 Radar recognition in 2021, with Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove naming him a “global expert on CEOs and sustainability.” His Rising Star award from the Aspen Institute and the Academy of Business in Society European Faculty Pioneer Awards reflects the same point. He is not a commentator on sustainability. He is one of the few academics with sustained, named access to CEOs of large multinationals on the subject. At Hult Ashridge, he directs the Centre for Business and Sustainability and teaches across the MBA and executive education programmes. His report “Leadership in a Rapidly Changing World” was used to inform debate at the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. Current research partnerships include Business Fights Poverty on corporate SDG embedding and the Ethical Trading Initiative on corporate leadership on modern slavery, giving him an operating view of supply chain ESG that bridges academia and practice. His work appears in The Economist, Financial Times and Harvard Business Review. His corporate clients span Tesco, Bayer, Rolls Royce, Swarovski, Marks & Spencer and Pearson, alongside the UK Senior Civil Service. The throughline across all of it is the same question: how do leaders of large organisations make defensible sustainability decisions when the stakes are now financial, political and reputational at once. Key speaking topics Corporate sustainability and ESG strategy CEO leadership on sustainable development The UN Sustainable Development Goals and corporate practice Modern slavery and supply chain governance Business and public policy advocacy Climate action in commercial strategy Executive development for sustainability Ideal for Boards and executive committees translating sustainability commitments into capital allocation and operating decisions Chief Sustainability Officers, CFOs and General Counsels handling ESG scrutiny and regulatory exposure Senior teams in companies with exposed supply chains are addressing modern slavery and human rights Corporate affairs and public policy leaders shaping CEO advocacy on climate, SDGs and sustainable development Audience outcomes A clearer view of what CEOs of large multinationals do differently when sustainability moves from narrative to operating substance. Named research evidence on corporate SDG embedding, modern slavery leadership and CEO public policy advocacy. A defensible framing for board conversations on ESG that withstands investor, regulatory and political scrutiny. Practical reference points from Unilever, IBM, HSBC and other named corporates, not generic sustainability case studies.