Topic - Sustainability

Sustainability Speakers

38 keynote speakers, curated by Speaker Ideas
World-Class Sustainability Speakers

Meet our Curated Sustainability Speakers

Ready to spark powerful conversations at your event? Discover how a Sustainability speaker can inspire your audience—enquire now for availability and speaking fees.

Prof. Dr. Johan Rockström

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.

Paul Polman

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.

Rhea Mazumdar Singhal

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.

Maayke-Aimée Damen

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.

Clover Hogan

Climate strategist and activist working with boardrooms and researching eco-anxiety, examining generational attitudes, climate engagement and the psychological effects of environmental concern.

Daphne Fecheyr-Lippens

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.

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.

Yves Daccord

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.

Andrew Winston

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.

Sue Garrard

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.

Maurice Conti

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.

Michael Liebreich

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.

KEYNOTE THEMES

Key Topics Covered by Sustainability Speakers

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.

  • Climate and environmental systems
  • Circular economy and resource use
  • Sustainable business and innovation
  • Energy and transition
  • Policy and regulation
  • Finance and investment
  • Leadership and organisational change

Choose the lens before the speaker

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

A sustainability keynote can address climate, the circular economy, sustainable business, innovation, leadership, transition, regulation, resources and the relationship between environmental and commercial priorities. The right focus depends on the organisation, industry and level of knowledge in the audience.
Speakers may have backgrounds in science, business, economics, policy, innovation, climate, the circular economy, investment, campaigning or organisational leadership. A scientific or policy perspective may suit one event, while another may need a speaker who connects sustainability more directly with business strategy and innovation.
A corporate sustainability keynote can place more emphasis on leadership, strategy, innovation, transition or commercial implications, provided the brief clearly sets out the audience and the issues that matter to the organisation. The speaker should still remain within their genuine area of expertise.
A broader sustainability speaker can be a better fit when the brief includes business strategy, circular economy, resources, innovation or organisational change as well as climate. A climate specialist may be more appropriate when climate science, climate policy, decarbonisation or the energy transition is the main focus.

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