Digital Disruptions for Sustainability

(D^2S Agenda)

About the D^2S Agenda

Expert Advisory Committee

Online coverage

The Digital Disruptions for Sustainability (D^2S Agenda)

The D^2S Agenda explores the opportunities and challenges of leveraging the digital age to disrupt the facets of existing economic, governance, and cognitive systems that are maintaining society on a carbon-intensive and increasingly inequitable path. We identify research and innovation opportunities and near-term actions needed to enable society to steer the digital disruptions already underway to drive transformations to a sustainable, climate-safe and equitable world.

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A short video to illustrate the underlying premise of the Sustainability in the Digital Age initiative and the D^2S Agenda. Co-produced with ClearPath.

About Digital Disruptions for Sustainability (D^2S Agenda)

RESEARCH. INNOVATION. ACTION.

Two powerful forces are shaping human destiny: global climate change and the digital revolution. Both are human creations that pose systemic risks to society. The changing climate is driving systemic shifts that threaten to destabilize the health and wellbeing of humankind. Big data, digital platforms, and artificial intelligence are rapidly transforming society in ways that pose systemic risks to the global social fabric. But fortunately, the digital age also presents systemic opportunities for driving the large-scale societal transformations needed to build a climate-safe and equitable world.

Digital Disruptions for Sustainability (D^2S Agenda) highlights opportunities and challenges for leveraging the digital revolution to drive transformative systems changes for a sustainable and equitable world. Through focused collaboration among researchers, tech innovators, policy and business leaders, civil society, and citizens, we believe we can steer the digital disruptions already underway towards the climate-safe and equitable world we want.

The four digital disruptors identified in the D^2S Agenda are already driving transformations in social and economic systems. It is unclear where these transformations will lead society. They pose many risks for humanity and the planet. They may also hold the power to help society achieve a sustainable and equitable path to net-zero emissions. But this can only happen if researchers, tech innovators, policy and business leaders, civil society, and citizens collaborate together to consciously steer these digital disruptions to drive transformations to a sustainable, climate-safe, and equitable world.

Ensuring the ability of the disenfranchised to influence the design of the digital disruptions for inclusivity would be a big step in risk mitigation.

Expert Advisory Committee

An international team of diverse experts convened to guide the development of the D^2S Agenda.
Valérie Bécaert

Valérie Bécaert

Director of Research and Scientific Programs, Element AI

Anik Bhaduri

Anik Bhaduri

Executive Director, Sustainable Water Future Program; Associate Professor, Griffith University

Nick Beglinger

Nick Beglinger

Co-Founder and CEO, Cleantech 21 Foundation

Mark De Blois

Mark De Blois

CEO and Founder, Upande

Owen Gaffney

Owen Gaffney

Global Sustainability Writer and Expert, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

Dan Hammer

Dan Hammer

CTO, Earthrise Alliance

Tom Hassenboehler

Tom Hassenboehler

Partner, The Coefficient Group; Executive Director and Founder, EC-MAP

Ravi Jain

Ravi Jain

VP Search Science and AI, Amazon

Lucas Joppa

Lucas Joppa

Chief Environmental Officer, Microsoft

Lyse Langlois

Lyse Langlois

Professor, Université Laval; Director, International Observatory on the Societal Impacts of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies (OBVIA)

Mats Linder

Mats Linder

Founder and CEO, MLSH Consulting

Kevin Mo

Kevin Mo

Managing Director, The Paulson Institute

Mathilde Mougeot

Mathilde Mougeot

Professor, École Nationale Supérieure d’Informatique pour l’Industrie et l’Entreprise (ENSIIE) & Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

Per Olsson

Per Olsson

Researcher, Stockholm Resilience Centre

Renata Piazzon

Renata Piazzon

Executive Manager of Climate Change, Arapyau Institute

Valerie Pisano

Valerie Pisano

President and CEO, Mila

Asunción Lera St. Clair

Asunción Lera St. Clair

Senior Advisor, Barcelona Supercomputing Centre - BSC + DNVGL Digital Assurance

Gina Ziervogel

Gina Ziervogel

Associate Professor, University of Cape Town

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Fabien Laurier

Fabien is a strategist and technologist with repeated success leading high-impact initiatives aimed at harnessing the power of technology and innovation to develop solutions to pressing global sustainability and climate change challenges.
As Vice President for National Geographic's Labs, Fabien oversaw technology and product innovation, including technology roadmapping, product design strategy, and advanced engineering projects in support of NatGeo's mission.
Prior Fabien served 4 years in the Obama White House. His roles included Senior Policy Advisor, Director of the National Climate Assessment, Deputy Director for Science and Technology at the National Ocean Council, Director of the Climate Data Initiative, Director of the Arctic Mapping Initiative, and Co-Lead for the Climate Change Implications for Global Security Assessment.
Fabien also held leadership positions in the U.S. Global Change Research Program where he oversaw the coordination and prioritization of federal climate change research and related multi billion annual investments.
Fabien holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Oceanography from La Sorbonne University in Paris, France.

Maren Costa

Maren Costa is a seasoned User Experience Design Leader with extensive knowledge of interaction, information, interface and visual design, as well as branding, technical writing, storytelling, product vision and strategy—skills she uses to invent ways to improve people’s lives. Maren worked at Amazon from 2002 to 2020 and created Amazon’s user-centered design process, still in use today. As the company’s first Principal Designer, she was a leading contributor across several Amazon businesses, and she holds 16 design patents. Maren is also a climate justice activist, and founding member of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, a worker-powered organization credited with monumental wins for climate justice, such as Amazon’s Climate Pledge, and Jeff Bezos’s 100 million dollar Earth Fund. Maren is currently focused on projects centered on the intersection of technology, worker power, and climate justice.

Amy Luers

Amy Luers is the global director of the Sustainability in the Digital Age Initiative and senior advisor to Future Earth. Luers also sits on the Foresight Committee of the Veolia Institute. She has over 25 years of experience working at the intersection of science, technology and policy. A former assistant director on climate resilience and information in the Obama White House and senior environment manager at Google, she is a member of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations and has served on committees of the U.S. Global Change Research Program and the National Academies of Sciences. Dr. Luers started her career working in rural water development in Latin America as co-founder and the first executive director of Agua Para La Vida (Water for Life). She spent a number of years directing the water and climate security work at the Skoll Global Threats Fund. She sits on several advisory boards including the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative, STS Forum Regional Climate Action, the IEEE Committee on Ethically Designed AI for a Sustainable Planet, the International Observatory on the Societal Impacts of AI and Digital Technologies, and the US National Council for Science and the Environment. Amy Luers holds a Ph.D. in environmental science and an M.A. in international policy studies, from Stanford University; a B.S. and M.S. in environmental systems engineering from Humboldt State University; and a B.A. in philosophy from Middlebury College. She has published in both peer-reviewed and popular media on big data and the digital age, science communication, climate policy and vulnerability and resilience of human-environmental systems

Nilu

Nilu joins Sustainability in the Digital Age as Strategic Programs Manager, working collaboratively with the Global Director to streamline and oversee the implementation of the initiative's activities. She holds a BSc in Cell and Molecular Biology from Concordia University and an MSc in Biochemistry from McGill University. After her studies, her interests in neuroscience and music led her to collaborate on research projects at The Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, investigating the relationship between music and mindfulness. Other areas of interest include the preservation of biocultural heritage, as well as the protection and conservation of mountain areas. Nilu is also a musician, a yoga instructor and an avid rock climber who boulders competitively in her free time. 

Paula Monroy

Paula Monroy has been a staff member since 2017. As Communications Coordinator of the Canadian Hub, she also works with the Global Communications team. Paula is formally educated in sustainability and urbanism, specialising in indigenous methodologies and holistic planning. Moreover, she has over two years of practical experience in multimedia communication—including media production as a video journalist and graphic design. For now, Paula is based in Montreal, Quebec, caring for her houseplants and practising Environmental Wellness.

Andrea-Ventimiglia

Andréa currently employs her wide complement of skills in research, analysis, editing and evaluation as Science Editor and Advancement Officer for both Future Earth and Sustainability in the Digital Age. Her approach to writing and fundraising is rooted in her diverse professional experience spanning program evaluation, international development, freelance science writing, and laboratory research. Prior to joining Future Earth, Ms. Ventimiglia worked as a science program evaluator helping to measure and valorize the societal impact of research and research funding. She holds a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Waterloo, and a Masters in Journalism from Carleton University.

Jennifer Gerard

Jennifer Garard brings an interdisciplinary background to the role of Research Manager, where she coordinates, advances, and oversees all research-related activities at Sustainability in the Digital Age. For two years, Jennifer was a Science Officer at Future Earth, acting as liaison to the Advisory Committee, engaging in projects such as the Global Risks Perceptions initiative, and coordinating the Futures CoLab project. Prior to this, Jennifer was a researcher with the working group Scientific Assessments, Ethics, and Public Policy at Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change in Berlin, Germany, and an intern with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity Health and Biodiversity Cross-Cutting Initiative. She holds a BSc in Environmental Science from McGill University, specializing in Biodiversity and Conservation (2008), a Master of Environmental Assessment from Concordia University (2013), and a PhD from the Technische Universität Berlin (“Stakeholder Engagement at the Science-Policy Interface,” 2018). 

Ruben-Garcia-Santos

Rubén García-Santos believes humanity’s biggest challenges can only be overcome through interdisciplinary and systemic approaches, technological innovation and cross-sector collaboration. He has more than 15 years of experience developing and executing integrated business and shared-value strategies and developing public and private collaboration internationally. He has held global positions in the areas of strategy, business development and strategic partnering in the life sciences and biotech industry, United Nations, and the research and innovation sector. In his current role as Head of Scientific Affairs and Innovation Networks at the NOMIS Foundation, he focuses on developing strategic alliances and collaborative research networks and ecosystems with the aim to enable and accelerate discovery and impact. García-Santos holds a master’s degree in International Health Care Management, Economics and Policy from SDA Bocconi School of Management (Italy) and has further postgraduate education in strategy, innovation and sustainability from Cambridge University (UK) and Harvard Business School (US).

Aarti GUPTA

Aarti Gupta’s research area is global environmental politics and policy, with a particular focus on anticipatory governance of novel environmental and technological risk, and the contested role of scientific knowledge and expertise therein, and the links between transparency and accountability in global environmental politics. Aarti holds a PhD in Environmental Studies from Yale University, and a Master’s in Political Science from the University of Chicago. Prior to coming to Wageningen, she was a research fellow for two years at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she participated in the Global Environmental Assessment Project, and focused on the role of science and expertise in global biosafety governance. She has also been a postdoctoral scholar at Columbia University’s Center for Science, Policy and Outcomes, based in Washington DC, where she participated in a Rockefeller-funded project on technological divides and anticipatory risk governance in a North-South context.

Dan Hammer

Dan Hammer is the winner of the Pritzker Environmental Genius Award. He is a Fellow at National Geographic, a TEDx speaker, and founder of Earthrise Media. Hammer works to make satellite imagery of the Earth more accessible to journalists and educators. He was a senior advisor in the Obama White House, a Presidential Innovation Fellow at NASA, and an adjunct professor at both Georgetown University and the University of San Francisco. Hammer served as the chief data scientist at the World Resources Institute, and while there, co-founded Global Forest Watch to monitor deforestation from satellite imagery. He also founded Spaceknow, a satellite image analytics start-up. He received his Ph.D. in environmental economics at UC Berkeley, where he was a Fellow at the Berkeley Institute for Data Science. Hammer received his B.A. in mathematics and economics with high honors at Swarthmore College, where he was a Lang Opportunity Scholar. Hammer spent almost two years in the South Pacific as a Watson Fellow, building and racing outrigger canoes.

Gina Ziervogel

Gina Ziervogel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science and Research Chair at the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town. Her work has focused on climate, development and adaptation through the lens of water and governance. She is particularly interested in transdisciplinary projects that bring together civil society, government and academics to address problems collaboratively and creatively. Gina has published widely and been involved in national and international initiatives related to climate change adaptation, including the recent IPCC AR6 Cities chapter.

Asuncion Lera St. Clair

Dr. Asuncion Lera St. Clair works as Senior Principal Scientist at the Digital Assurance Programme of DNV GL Research & Innovation Unit. She is also Senior Advisor to the Earth Sciences department of the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre. Philosopher and sociologist, Asun has over 25 years of experience on the human dimensions of global challenges, and on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. Her current work focuses on the ethical and societal challenges and potential of digital technologies, including their relevance for climate services and sustainable development. Asun is member of the Board of Governors of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), and was member of Future Earth Engagement Committee during 2017. Her work has contributed to the development of ISSC social science agenda for global change and ICSU science review of the SDGs. She was Lead Author for IPCC AR5 Working Group II Chapter 1, on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Asun has also served as an Associate to the Global Environmental Change and Human Security (GECHS) project under the International Human Dimensions Programme for a number of years and was President of the International Development Ethics Association (IDEA). Before joining DNV GL Asun was Professor of Sociology at the University of Bergen, Norway, and Research Director of the Oslo Centre for Climate Research-CICERO.

Valerie Pisano

Valerie Pisano is President and CEO of Mila - Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute. Founded by Professor Yoshua Bengio, Mila rallies hundreds of researchers specializing in the field of artificial intelligence. Recognized globally for its significant contributions to the field of deep learning, Mila’s mission combines research excellence, technological transfer and business innovation, and the ethical and socially responsible use of AI. Valerie was previously Chief Talent Officer at Cirque du Soleil and cofounded The Mobïus Bias Project, an initiative focused accelerating the dialogue on female leadership roles by exploring unconscious bias. She began her career at McKinsey & Company after a Master Degree in Economics at HEC Montreal.

Renata-Piazzon

Renata Piazzon has more than 10 years of experience as environmental lawyer in Brazil and is the head of the Climate Program at Arapyaú Foundation. Graduated at PUC-SP, Schumacher College and Amani Institute, Renata has a masters in environmental law in the area of sustainable finance and is a professor of climate finance at PUC-SP. She is member of the Consulting Board of Instituto Akatu, of the Legal Group of Sistema B Brasil, of the Climate Reality Project and co-founder of two social innovation projects. Her rankings include Chambers Latin America, Who's Who Legal, The Legal 500 and, more recently, a recognition as the professional who best represented in Brazil the SDG 9 of the United Nations in the year of 2017.

Per-Olsson

Per Olsson leads the research stream on Resilience Science for Transformations at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. His current research focuses on agency and system entrepreneurship, social-ecological innovations, transformations to sustainability, and how to reverse current trends of crossing critical thresholds and tipping points in the Earth system. Recently, Per developed the concept of T-labs (Transformation labs), a new methodology for generating innovative approaches for re-wiring social-ecological systems. He is a transdisciplinary researcher and has worked in the interface of natural and social sciences and humanities and has been instrumental in developing the research fields of local ecological knowledge, adaptive co-management, and adaptive governance. His work has been published in a variety of natural and social science journals, including Science, Nature, Ecology and Society, PNAS, TREE, Ambio, Global Environmental Change, Environmental Management, and the Annual Review of the Environment and Resources. Olsson also works with change makers around the world to strengthen their capacities to achieve transformative change that helps humans and nature thrive together. This previously involved co-leading the Rockefeller Foundation Global Fellowship Program on Social Innovation and Resilience and currently involves serving as the director for the BALTICLEAD and the Transforming Change programs.

Mathilde MOUGEOT

Mathilde Mougeot is a Professor of Data Science at École Nationale Supérieure d'Informatique pour l'Industrie et l'Entreprise (ENSIIE) and adjunct Professor at École Normal Supérieure (ENS), Paris Saclay where she holds the Industrial Research Chair in Industrial Analytics And Machine Learning. She also heads the mission for technology transfer at the Institut national des sciences mathématiques et de leurs interactions (Insmi). In this capacity, she works directly within the innovation ecosystem, helping develop start-ups and relationships between mathematicians and industry. She represents the institute in the Innovation and Business Relations Department (DIRE) of the French Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). In 2017 she led a call for research projects on the contribution of mathematics to artificial intelligence and in 2016 she was part of French government task force (led by Cédric Villani) on AI. She is also the editorial scientific advisor of the web journal, the Data Analytics Post. Professor Mougeot’s research centers on theoretical and practical aspects of machine learning, data mining and computational statistics, with varied applications broadly relevant to sustainability.

Kevin Mo

Dr. Kevin Mo is the Managing Director of the Paulson Institute Beijing Representative Office, in charge of climate and sustainable urbanization, promoting solid collaboration between the U.S. and China in low carbon transition and sustainable development through forward-thinking policy studies, pioneer demonstration projects and innovative financing and investment mechanisms. He has more than 20 years of experience in strategizing and implementing climate and energy policies in both the U.S. and China, with an extensive international network of governments, think tanks, NGOs, and business leaders. Prior to joining the Paulson Institute, Dr. Mo was the director of Energy Foundation’s China Buildings Program, managing a multi-million grant portfolio in building energy efficiency, green buildings, appliance energy efficiency, and non-CO2 emissions abatement. Prior to Energy Foundation, Dr. Mo worked with Natural Resources Defense Council in both DC and Beijing offices and NAHB Research Center in Maryland. He also taught at Tsinghua University. He holds a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University, a master’s degree from Tsinghua University and a bachelor’s degree from Zhejiang University.

Mats-Linder

Mats Linder is the CEO and founder of MLSH Consulting, supporting organisations with strategy and innovation for a circular economy. He has worked extensively for Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) with their toolkit for policy makers and their report on intelligent assets. Today, Mats supports the EMF part-time, mainly by working with their New Plastics Economy Initiative, where he set up and ran a $2M Innovation Prize. Prior to working with EMF he was a consultant at McKinsey & Company. Mats is a chemist by training, holding a PhD from KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Lyse-Langlois

Dr. Lyse Langlois is the director of the Institute of Applied Ethics (IDEA) at Laval University and was recently chosen to lead the International Observatory on the Societal Impacts of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies, a new research initiative that will work across sectors to build a framework to ensure the responsible development of AI. She has been Vice-Dean of Research at the Faculty of Social Sciences 2016-2019. She is a Professor in the Department of Industrial Relations since 2002, teaching human resource management, ethics and professionalism. Lyse is also a regular researcher at the Centre de Recherche Interuniversitaire sur la Mondialisation et le Travail (CRIMT). She is very active in research and her interests include ethics in organizations, specifically ethical leadership, ethical decision-making processes, ethical dilemmas and ethical sensitivity. Lyse is involved with organizations wishing to implement ethical, authentic and responsible practices including hospitals, schools, universities, professional orders, police services, etc. She is a board member of Penn State University's Center for the Study of Leadership, Value & Ethics in the United States.

Ravi-Jain

Ravi Jain is VP of Search Science and AI at Amazon, and previously VP for the Machine Learning Platform for Alexa. Prior to that he was at Vulcan, Paul Allen’s holding company, as CTO and Advisor to the Founder, leading engineering in applied machine learning, technology for social impact, and development of advanced applications. Before that, he was at Google for 10 years, where he led mobile ads engineering; led a diverse team at Google Research; initiated and led Google’s location based services platform; and led Google’s mobile search syndication platform. When Google acquired Motorola Mobility Ravi led engineering as VP for applications and experiences, where his team developed acclaimed intelligent mobile services. Ravi has over seventy published papers, three books, numerous patents, and is a frequent keynote speaker and panelist. He has a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin and is an IEEE Fellow.

Tom-Hassenboehler

Tom Hassenboehler is the Founder and Executive Director of the Energy Consumer Market Alignment Project (EC-MAP). Tom’s career has positioned him at the center of many of the major energy and environmental laws and debates of the last decade. His interest in founding EC-MAP stems from his 15 years of experience seeking bipartisan solutions to the nation’s most pressing energy and environmental issues. He believes the opportunities that digitalization provides to the energy sector can help to reframe the traditional stalemate of politically-driven climate and sustainability debates into market-driven and consumer-led action. He most recently served as the Chief Counsel for Energy and Environment at the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce under Chairman Fred Upton (R-Michigan) and Greg Walden (R-Oregon).

Lucas Joppa

Dr. Lucas Joppa leads sustainability at Microsoft, as the company’s first Chief Environmental Officer. In this role, he works to advance Microsoft’s core commitment to sustainability through ongoing technology innovation, program development, policy advancement, and global operational excellence. With a combined background in both environmental science and data science, Lucas is committed to using the power of advanced technology to help transform how society monitors, models, and ultimately manages Earth’s natural resources. He founded Microsoft’s AI for Earth program in 2017—a five-year, $50 million cross-company effort dedicated to delivering technology-enabled solutions to global environmental challenges. With a PhD in Ecology from Duke University and extensive publication in leading academic journals, such as Science and Nature, Dr. Joppa is a uniquely accredited voice for sustainability in the tech industry. In addition to formerly serving on the Federal Advisory Committee for the Sustained U.S. National Climate Assessment, Lucas is an Associate Editor for the Ecological Society of America’s EcoSphere journal and serves on the boards of leading scientific organizations, such as NatureServe and the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC). Prior to his current role, Lucas was Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Scientist and led research programs at the intersection of environmental and computer sciences in Microsoft Research, the company’s blue-sky research division. He remains an active scientist and one of Microsoft’s foremost AI thought leaders, speaking frequently on issues related to Artificial Intelligence, environmental science, and sustainability. Along with his PhD, Lucas holds a BS in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Wisconsin and is a former Peace Corps volunteer to Malawi.

Owen Gaffney

Owen Gaffney is a global sustainability writer and analyst at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Stockholm Resilience Centre. He co-founded the Future Earth Media Lab and he is on the faculty of Singularity University. Owen trained as an astronautic and aeronautic engineer and he is a qualified journalist, filmmaker and writer. For a decade he has worked in Earth system science communication. His work focuses on policy, media and business impact of global sustainability research and visualizing humanity's impact on the planet through concepts such as the Anthropocene and planetary boundaries, and transformation processes. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the BBC and the world’s leading academic journals Science and Nature. His work on visualisations with Felix Pharand Deschenes have been shown at the UN Rio+20 Summit and the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Mark-de-Blois

Mark de Blois is the CEO and founder of Upande Ltd., a company based in Nairobi developing innovative ICT solutions, besides providing advisory and technical development services. A social entrepreneur with a passion for maps, data, IoT and Africa, his vision is to locally develop world class, innovative, transformative, sustainable solutions for everyday management of resources. Prior to founding Upande, Mark was in charge of the Google Maps team in Kenya. Mark and Upande are graduates of Stanford Seed (2018). His background is in Ecology, GIS and he brings over 22 years of experience from Kenya, the Netherlands and the UK.

Anik Bhaduri

Anik Bhaduri is the Director of the Sustainable Water Future Programme (Water Future) of Future Earth. Water Future is a global platform facilitating international scientific collaboration to drive solutions to the world’s water security problems. Anik coordinates this large network of more than 400 researchers from Water Future’s 15 international and interdisciplinary working groups and facilitates integration and synthesis exercises in collaboration with working group members. He plays a key role in designing and developing key Water Future initiatives like COMPASS, a comprehensive assessment tool for near real-time assessment of global water security, Solutions Lab as well the capacity building activities related to water security like 2030WaterSecure. Anik is also an Associate Professor at the Australian River Institute, Griffith University, Australia and a senior fellow at the Centre of Development Research, University of Bonn, Germany where he works on several topics and projects, ranging from transboundary water sharing to adaptive water management under climate change.

Nick Beglinger

Nick Beglinger is a Swiss economist (LSE). In 2008 he co-founded and currently runs the Cleantech21 foundation (C21). His focus area is sustainable development at the crossroads of finance, innovation, and regulation. From 2009 to 2016, Nick acted as president of Switzerland’s first green business association, swisscleantech, and thereby shaped the country’s climate, energy, and mobility policy. Following COP22 in Marrakesh (2016), Nick co-founded the government-financed Climate Ledger Initiative, bringing distributed ledger technologies (DLT, ‘blockchain’) to UNFCCC. At COP23, C21 organised #Hack4Climate, the first hackathon linked to a climate conference. Based on #Hack4Climate’s success, and its growing community of IoT, DLT and AI developers, C21 started the Hack4Climate innovation program in 2018 with the mission to accelerate exponential innovation for exponential decarbonisation. Nick is a board member of the Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation, and member of WWF’s Leaders for Nature. He started his career with McKinsey in Hamburg, and then founded the first software JV in Saigon/Vietnam. He worked in China, Korea, Singapore, Iran, Iraq, and United Arab Emirates for Maxmakers – where he headed a 3-year engagement with the Government of Abu Dhabi in the first development period of the Masdar Project.

Valérie Bécaert

Since October 2017, Valérie Bécaert has been the Director of the Research Group at Element AI, a Montreal-based provider of artificial intelligence solutions that delivers cutting edge technologies to make businesses stronger, safer and more agile. She was previously Director of Partnerships at the Institute for Data Valorisation (IVADO). Valérie holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Polytechnique Montréal in Environmental Modeling. She began her career in 2005 as a researcher in the field of life cycle analysis. In 2011, she became director of CIRAIG, Centre international de référence sur le cycle de vie des produits, procédés et services, and in 2013 she co-founded and directed CIRODD, centre interdisciplinaire de recherche en opérationalisation du développement durable. It is by working with researchers in optimization and mathematics to solve environmental problems that she became convinced that our ability to generate, analyze and develop data will change the world.

Valérie Bécaert

Since October 2017, Valérie Bécaert has been the Director of the Research Group at Element AI, a Montreal-based provider of artificial intelligence solutions that delivers cutting edge technologies to make businesses stronger, safer and more agile. She was previously Director of Partnerships at the Institute for Data Valorisation (IVADO). Valérie holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Polytechnique Montréal in Environmental Modeling. She began her career in 2005 as a researcher in the field of life cycle analysis. In 2011, she became director of CIRAIG, Centre international de référence sur le cycle de vie des produits, procédés et services, and in 2013 she co-founded and directed CIRODD, centre interdisciplinaire de recherche en opérationalisation du développement durable. It is by working with researchers in optimization and mathematics to solve environmental problems that she became convinced that our ability to generate, analyze and develop data will change the world.

Anik Bhaduri

Anik Bhaduri is the Director of the Sustainable Water Future Programme (Water Future) of Future Earth. Water Future is a global platform facilitating international scientific collaboration to drive solutions to the world’s water security problems. Anik coordinates this large network of more than 400 researchers from Water Future’s 15 international and interdisciplinary working groups and facilitates integration and synthesis exercises in collaboration with working group members. He plays a key role in designing and developing key Water Future initiatives like COMPASS, a comprehensive assessment tool for near real-time assessment of global water security, Solutions Lab as well the capacity building activities related to water security like 2030WaterSecure. Anik is also an Associate Professor at the Australian River Institute, Griffith University, Australia and a senior fellow at the Centre of Development Research, University of Bonn, Germany where he works on several topics and projects, ranging from transboundary water sharing to adaptive water management under climate change.

Nick Beglinger

Nick Beglinger is a Swiss economist (LSE). In 2008 he co-founded and currently runs the Cleantech21 foundation (C21). His focus area is sustainable development at the crossroads of finance, innovation, and regulation. From 2009 to 2016, Nick acted as president of Switzerland’s first green business association, swisscleantech, and thereby shaped the country’s climate, energy, and mobility policy. Following COP22 in Marrakesh (2016), Nick co-founded the government-financed Climate Ledger Initiative, bringing distributed ledger technologies (DLT, ‘blockchain’) to UNFCCC. At COP23, C21 organised #Hack4Climate, the first hackathon linked to a climate conference. Based on #Hack4Climate’s success, and its growing community of IoT, DLT and AI developers, C21 started the Hack4Climate innovation program in 2018 with the mission to accelerate exponential innovation for exponential decarbonisation. Nick is a board member of the Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation, and member of WWF’s Leaders for Nature. He started his career with McKinsey in Hamburg, and then founded the first software JV in Saigon/Vietnam. He worked in China, Korea, Singapore, Iran, Iraq, and United Arab Emirates for Maxmakers – where he headed a 3-year engagement with the Government of Abu Dhabi in the first development period of the Masdar Project.

Mark-de-Blois

Mark de Blois is the CEO and founder of Upande Ltd., a company based in Nairobi developing innovative ICT solutions, besides providing advisory and technical development services. A social entrepreneur with a passion for maps, data, IoT and Africa, his vision is to locally develop world class, innovative, transformative, sustainable solutions for everyday management of resources. Prior to founding Upande, Mark was in charge of the Google Maps team in Kenya. Mark and Upande are graduates of Stanford Seed (2018). His background is in Ecology, GIS and he brings over 22 years of experience from Kenya, the Netherlands and the UK.

Owen Gaffney

Owen Gaffney is a global sustainability writer and analyst at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Stockholm Resilience Centre. He co-founded the Future Earth Media Lab and he is on the faculty of Singularity University. Owen trained as an astronautic and aeronautic engineer and he is a qualified journalist, filmmaker and writer. For a decade he has worked in Earth system science communication. His work focuses on policy, media and business impact of global sustainability research and visualizing humanity's impact on the planet through concepts such as the Anthropocene and planetary boundaries, and transformation processes. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the BBC and the world’s leading academic journals Science and Nature. His work on visualisations with Felix Pharand Deschenes have been shown at the UN Rio+20 Summit and the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Dan Hammer

Dan Hammer is the winner of the Pritzker Environmental Genius Award. He is a Fellow at National Geographic, a TEDx speaker, and founder of Earthrise Media. Hammer works to make satellite imagery of the Earth more accessible to journalists and educators. He was a senior advisor in the Obama White House, a Presidential Innovation Fellow at NASA, and an adjunct professor at both Georgetown University and the University of San Francisco. Hammer served as the chief data scientist at the World Resources Institute, and while there, co-founded Global Forest Watch to monitor deforestation from satellite imagery. He also founded Spaceknow, a satellite image analytics start-up. He received his Ph.D. in environmental economics at UC Berkeley, where he was a Fellow at the Berkeley Institute for Data Science. Hammer received his B.A. in mathematics and economics with high honors at Swarthmore College, where he was a Lang Opportunity Scholar. Hammer spent almost two years in the South Pacific as a Watson Fellow, building and racing outrigger canoes.

Tom-Hassenboehler

Tom Hassenboehler is the Founder and Executive Director of the Energy Consumer Market Alignment Project (EC-MAP). Tom’s career has positioned him at the center of many of the major energy and environmental laws and debates of the last decade. His interest in founding EC-MAP stems from his 15 years of experience seeking bipartisan solutions to the nation’s most pressing energy and environmental issues. He believes the opportunities that digitalization provides to the energy sector can help to reframe the traditional stalemate of politically-driven climate and sustainability debates into market-driven and consumer-led action. He most recently served as the Chief Counsel for Energy and Environment at the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce under Chairman Fred Upton (R-Michigan) and Greg Walden (R-Oregon).

Ravi-Jain

Ravi Jain is VP of Search Science and AI at Amazon, and previously VP for the Machine Learning Platform for Alexa. Prior to that he was at Vulcan, Paul Allen’s holding company, as CTO and Advisor to the Founder, leading engineering in applied machine learning, technology for social impact, and development of advanced applications. Before that, he was at Google for 10 years, where he led mobile ads engineering; led a diverse team at Google Research; initiated and led Google’s location based services platform; and led Google’s mobile search syndication platform. When Google acquired Motorola Mobility Ravi led engineering as VP for applications and experiences, where his team developed acclaimed intelligent mobile services. Ravi has over seventy published papers, three books, numerous patents, and is a frequent keynote speaker and panelist. He has a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin and is an IEEE Fellow.

Lucas Joppa

Dr. Lucas Joppa leads sustainability at Microsoft, as the company’s first Chief Environmental Officer. In this role, he works to advance Microsoft’s core commitment to sustainability through ongoing technology innovation, program development, policy advancement, and global operational excellence. With a combined background in both environmental science and data science, Lucas is committed to using the power of advanced technology to help transform how society monitors, models, and ultimately manages Earth’s natural resources. He founded Microsoft’s AI for Earth program in 2017—a five-year, $50 million cross-company effort dedicated to delivering technology-enabled solutions to global environmental challenges. With a PhD in Ecology from Duke University and extensive publication in leading academic journals, such as Science and Nature, Dr. Joppa is a uniquely accredited voice for sustainability in the tech industry. In addition to formerly serving on the Federal Advisory Committee for the Sustained U.S. National Climate Assessment, Lucas is an Associate Editor for the Ecological Society of America’s EcoSphere journal and serves on the boards of leading scientific organizations, such as NatureServe and the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC). Prior to his current role, Lucas was Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Scientist and led research programs at the intersection of environmental and computer sciences in Microsoft Research, the company’s blue-sky research division. He remains an active scientist and one of Microsoft’s foremost AI thought leaders, speaking frequently on issues related to Artificial Intelligence, environmental science, and sustainability. Along with his PhD, Lucas holds a BS in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Wisconsin and is a former Peace Corps volunteer to Malawi.

Lyse-Langlois

Dr. Lyse Langlois is the director of the Institute of Applied Ethics (IDEA) at Laval University and was recently chosen to lead the International Observatory on the Societal Impacts of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies, a new research initiative that will work across sectors to build a framework to ensure the responsible development of AI. She has been Vice-Dean of Research at the Faculty of Social Sciences 2016-2019. She is a Professor in the Department of Industrial Relations since 2002, teaching human resource management, ethics and professionalism. Lyse is also a regular researcher at the Centre de Recherche Interuniversitaire sur la Mondialisation et le Travail (CRIMT). She is very active in research and her interests include ethics in organizations, specifically ethical leadership, ethical decision-making processes, ethical dilemmas and ethical sensitivity. Lyse is involved with organizations wishing to implement ethical, authentic and responsible practices including hospitals, schools, universities, professional orders, police services, etc. She is a board member of Penn State University's Center for the Study of Leadership, Value & Ethics in the United States.

Mats-Linder

Mats Linder is the CEO and founder of MLSH Consulting, supporting organisations with strategy and innovation for a circular economy. He has worked extensively for Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) with their toolkit for policy makers and their report on intelligent assets. Today, Mats supports the EMF part-time, mainly by working with their New Plastics Economy Initiative, where he set up and ran a $2M Innovation Prize. Prior to working with EMF he was a consultant at McKinsey & Company. Mats is a chemist by training, holding a PhD from KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Kevin Mo

Dr. Kevin Mo is the Managing Director of the Paulson Institute Beijing Representative Office, in charge of climate and sustainable urbanization, promoting solid collaboration between the U.S. and China in low carbon transition and sustainable development through forward-thinking policy studies, pioneer demonstration projects and innovative financing and investment mechanisms. He has more than 20 years of experience in strategizing and implementing climate and energy policies in both the U.S. and China, with an extensive international network of governments, think tanks, NGOs, and business leaders. Prior to joining the Paulson Institute, Dr. Mo was the director of Energy Foundation’s China Buildings Program, managing a multi-million grant portfolio in building energy efficiency, green buildings, appliance energy efficiency, and non-CO2 emissions abatement. Prior to Energy Foundation, Dr. Mo worked with Natural Resources Defense Council in both DC and Beijing offices and NAHB Research Center in Maryland. He also taught at Tsinghua University. He holds a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University, a master’s degree from Tsinghua University and a bachelor’s degree from Zhejiang University.

Mathilde MOUGEOT

Mathilde Mougeot is a Professor of Data Science at École Nationale Supérieure d'Informatique pour l'Industrie et l'Entreprise (ENSIIE) and adjunct Professor at École Normal Supérieure (ENS), Paris Saclay where she holds the Industrial Research Chair in Industrial Analytics And Machine Learning. She also heads the mission for technology transfer at the Institut national des sciences mathématiques et de leurs interactions (Insmi). In this capacity, she works directly within the innovation ecosystem, helping develop start-ups and relationships between mathematicians and industry. She represents the institute in the Innovation and Business Relations Department (DIRE) of the French Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). In 2017 she led a call for research projects on the contribution of mathematics to artificial intelligence and in 2016 she was part of French government task force (led by Cédric Villani) on AI. She is also the editorial scientific advisor of the web journal, the Data Analytics Post. Professor Mougeot’s research centers on theoretical and practical aspects of machine learning, data mining and computational statistics, with varied applications broadly relevant to sustainability.

Per-Olsson

Per Olsson leads the research stream on Resilience Science for Transformations at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. His current research focuses on agency and system entrepreneurship, social-ecological innovations, transformations to sustainability, and how to reverse current trends of crossing critical thresholds and tipping points in the Earth system. Recently, Per developed the concept of T-labs (Transformation labs), a new methodology for generating innovative approaches for re-wiring social-ecological systems. He is a transdisciplinary researcher and has worked in the interface of natural and social sciences and humanities and has been instrumental in developing the research fields of local ecological knowledge, adaptive co-management, and adaptive governance. His work has been published in a variety of natural and social science journals, including Science, Nature, Ecology and Society, PNAS, TREE, Ambio, Global Environmental Change, Environmental Management, and the Annual Review of the Environment and Resources. Olsson also works with change makers around the world to strengthen their capacities to achieve transformative change that helps humans and nature thrive together. This previously involved co-leading the Rockefeller Foundation Global Fellowship Program on Social Innovation and Resilience and currently involves serving as the director for the BALTICLEAD and the Transforming Change programs.

Renata-Piazzon

Renata Piazzon has more than 10 years of experience as environmental lawyer in Brazil and is the head of the Climate Program at Arapyaú Foundation. Graduated at PUC-SP, Schumacher College and Amani Institute, Renata has a masters in environmental law in the area of sustainable finance and is a professor of climate finance at PUC-SP. She is member of the Consulting Board of Instituto Akatu, of the Legal Group of Sistema B Brasil, of the Climate Reality Project and co-founder of two social innovation projects. Her rankings include Chambers Latin America, Who's Who Legal, The Legal 500 and, more recently, a recognition as the professional who best represented in Brazil the SDG 9 of the United Nations in the year of 2017.

Valerie Pisano

Valerie Pisano is President and CEO of Mila - Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute. Founded by Professor Yoshua Bengio, Mila rallies hundreds of researchers specializing in the field of artificial intelligence. Recognized globally for its significant contributions to the field of deep learning, Mila’s mission combines research excellence, technological transfer and business innovation, and the ethical and socially responsible use of AI. Valerie was previously Chief Talent Officer at Cirque du Soleil and cofounded The Mobïus Bias Project, an initiative focused accelerating the dialogue on female leadership roles by exploring unconscious bias. She began her career at McKinsey & Company after a Master Degree in Economics at HEC Montreal.

Asuncion Lera St. Clair

Dr. Asuncion Lera St. Clair works as Senior Principal Scientist at the Digital Assurance Programme of DNV GL Research & Innovation Unit. She is also Senior Advisor to the Earth Sciences department of the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre. Philosopher and sociologist, Asun has over 25 years of experience on the human dimensions of global challenges, and on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. Her current work focuses on the ethical and societal challenges and potential of digital technologies, including their relevance for climate services and sustainable development. Asun is member of the Board of Governors of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), and was member of Future Earth Engagement Committee during 2017. Her work has contributed to the development of ISSC social science agenda for global change and ICSU science review of the SDGs. She was Lead Author for IPCC AR5 Working Group II Chapter 1, on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Asun has also served as an Associate to the Global Environmental Change and Human Security (GECHS) project under the International Human Dimensions Programme for a number of years and was President of the International Development Ethics Association (IDEA). Before joining DNV GL Asun was Professor of Sociology at the University of Bergen, Norway, and Research Director of the Oslo Centre for Climate Research-CICERO.

Gina Ziervogel

Gina Ziervogel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science and Research Chair at the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town. Her work has focused on climate, development and adaptation through the lens of water and governance. She is particularly interested in transdisciplinary projects that bring together civil society, government and academics to address problems collaboratively and creatively. Gina has published widely and been involved in national and international initiatives related to climate change adaptation, including the recent IPCC AR6 Cities chapter.