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Former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, with extensive work on climate justice, focusing on equity, human rights and the distribution of climate costs and impacts.
Why environmental messages do or do not change behaviour and how organisations communicate sustainability to different groups, from a co-founder of a sustainability consultancy focused on communication and behaviour.
Climate diplomacy, negotiation and the methods used to build agreement across governments and institutions around a shared climate goal, informed by experience leading the UN climate process through the negotiation of the Paris Agreement.
Clean technology, entrepreneurship and commercially viable environmental solutions, from an explorer who flew a solar aircraft around the world, and whose foundation assembles environmental solutions that turn a profit.
Capital allocation, corporate value and investor decision-making, informed by a finance professor working on responsible business and how markets value factors that are difficult to measure.
Served as a UN Climate Change High-Level Champion and helped build global campaigns mobilising business and cities, focusing on how corporate and city climate commitments are translated into measurable action.
Writer and curator on bioregional economies and how places redesign their material flows, drawing on documented projects to examine local economies, resource use and the redesign of systems around place.
Purpose, corporate values and social responsibility, from a cross-generational pairing on values-led business, drawing on a company built around social mission.
How sustainability is communicated, governed and integrated into leadership and decision-making inside large organisations, from a sustainability leadership specialist affiliated with a university institute.
Political risk, including how climate change can affect stability, supply and investment exposure, from the founder of a political risk consultancy that rates state stability for investors.
Former UN Youth Representative for the Netherlands Hajar Yagkoubi brings a Gen Z perspective to sustainability, ESG and climate action. Her work connects youth participation with sustainable business and the expectations younger generations have of organisations.
Plastic pollution, water and technical approaches to removing microplastics from the environment, informed by an environmental scientist who developed a method for extracting microplastics from water while still at school.
Sustainability within broader questions of growth, development, inequality and the way global systems distribute costs and opportunities, informed by an Oxford economist on globalisation, migration and development.
The scientific limits used to assess pressure on Earth's systems and how those boundaries inform climate and sustainability decisions, from an earth systems scientist behind the planetary boundaries framework.
Sustainability from the chief executive's perspective, including strategy, investors and long-term business performance, informed by a former Unilever CEO who pursued a strategy built around the idea that business should create more value than it consumes.
Manufacturing, materials, packaging and the commercial challenge of scaling alternatives in a price-sensitive market, from the founder of India's largest sustainable packaging business, built from agricultural waste.
Circular economy through resource passports, traceability and systems that keep materials in use, from the founder of a materials exchange that gives discarded resources a traceable second life.
Climate strategist and activist working with boardrooms and researching eco-anxiety, examining generational attitudes, climate engagement and the psychological effects of environmental concern.
Design, materials and the use of natural systems as models for product development, from a biomimicry specialist who designs products and materials on principles borrowed from natural systems.
A humanitarian strategist, academic chair, and former International Red Cross director-general, analysing how climate change, natural resource conflict, and systemic environmental degradation drive global migration risks, altering the social contracts and resilience strategies of international cities.
Writer and adviser on sustainable business strategy, examining how environmental commitments interact with commercial priorities, including the business case for strategies designed to create positive environmental and social outcomes.
Led sustainable business at Unilever, embedding environmental targets into commercial strategy, examining governance, accountability and the processes large organisations use to turn sustainability commitments into business activity.
Designer and futurist who has led moonshot projects in clean energy and materials, examining technology development, adaptation and the design of products and systems for environmental challenges.
Energy economics, transition costs and the data behind changes in energy markets, drawing on experience founding a clean energy research firm and works on the economics of the energy transition.
Works across policy, business and civil society in China on sustainable urbanisation and consumption, covering policy change, urban development and consumer behaviour in China.
Environmental policy, coalition government and the political negotiation required to turn climate priorities into public policy, informed by a former German Foreign Minister who came through green politics.
Endurance swimmer who has swum in waters no one had before to draw attention to ocean change, connecting marine and polar sustainability with first-hand experience of environmental change and advocacy for ocean protection.
Sustainability at systems and policy level, particularly energy transition, infrastructure and the design of large-scale economic change, from an economic theorist who has advised the EU on energy transition and infrastructure.
Company structures, measurable social and environmental performance and regenerative approaches to business, informed by a co-founder of B Lab Europe, where he grew the B Corp movement across the continent.
Connections between polar exploration and environmental advocacy and the protection of Antarctica, informed by a first person to walk to both poles, with extensive campaigning on Antarctic preservation and renewable energy.
Competitiveness economist whose work includes an Olympic sustainability and legacy commission, a conservation advisory board and studies on the socioeconomic impact of large events, focusing on economics and legacy planning.
Supply chains, sourcing and the commercial decisions involved in building an ethically positioned consumer brand, informed by experience co-founding an organic chocolate brand built on ethical sourcing.
Founded the Eden Project, transforming a disused pit into a major environmental visitor site, focusing on regeneration, public engagement and the creation of places designed around environmental themes.
Entrepreneurship and enterprise-led approaches to environmental challenges, from an entrepreneur whose ventures have included environmental and clean energy initiatives.
Long-serving board member of a values-led ice cream business known for its social mission, examining purpose, governance and the role of social mission in business.
Operations, supply-chain decisions, targets and large-scale organisational delivery, informed by a former Chief Sustainability Officer at IKEA, where environmental commitments were applied across a global supply chain.
Founded Ethiopia's commodity exchange, reshaping how smallholder produce reaches market, focusing on food systems, agricultural markets and economic development.
Ocean sustainability through first-hand experience of round-the-world sailing, marine conservation and campaigning on plastic pollution, including a campaign boat dedicated to the issue.
Sustainability speakers can approach the subject through climate science, economics, circularity, innovation, policy, investment or organisational leadership. That breadth makes the event brief especially important.
A science-led conference, a leadership offsite and an industry event may all use the word sustainability while needing very different sessions. Speaker Ideas can distinguish between speakers who explain the evidence, those who work on policy or transition, and those whose experience is closer to business strategy, innovation or organisational change.
Sophie Hackford
Sensing, satellites, data, resource use and business resilience in the context of environmental change, informed by a futurist who advises an agricultural machinery manufacturer on the future of food and climate.