Join experts from CISL’s global flagship HRH Prince of Wales’s Business and Sustainability Programme Global Steering Committee, to explore how they engage senior leaders in letting go of the search for easy answers to tackle the most fundamental and messy challenges that we face.
About this event
A new type of leadership is emerging. It is one that requires a different approach to navigating the critical and complex leadership challenges of our time that often do not have readily available or elegant solutions. Such wicked problems are not only complex but multi-faceted, dynamic, unbounded, contested and cannot be solved without employing a systems thinking mind set.
Join experts from CISL’s global flagship HRH Prince of Wales’s Business and Sustainability Programme Global Steering Committee, to explore how they engage senior leaders in letting go of the search for easy answers to tackle the most fundamental and messy challenges that we face.
The Net Zero Festival brought together some of the world's foremost thinkers on what it takes to accelerate and expand the net zero transition. It aimed to engage business executives, investors, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and campaigners to join us in exploring how to navigate what is the defining economic, political, and technological trend of the age
The 2021 virtual event was hosted by BusinessGreen editor James Murray alongside top broadcast journalists Gavin Esler, Lucy Siegle and Roger Harrabin.
Highlights included keynote speeches from COP26 President-designate Alok Sharma, climate scientist Professor Michael E. Mann, former Home Secretary Amber Rudd, award-winning science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson, and futurist Alex Steffen, as well as exclusive interviews with CBI chief economist Rain Newton-Smith and top executives from Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Netflix to name but a few.
The line-up also included panel sessions on how to decarbonise buildings, steel, and transport, and workshops on carbon accounting, corporate leadership, small business engagement with the net zero transition, and how to develop a net zero restaurant.
Further details can be found on the Net Zero Festival website.
Speakers' Bios
Alice Spencer, Programme Director, CISL: Alice joined is responsible for developing and delivering CISL’s customised executive education programmes for senior leaders. She is also responsible for delivering CISL’s annual series of programmes in Australia and for the Cambridge Earth on Board programme, which equips non-executive directors to engage with strategic business decisions to align sustainability and profitability.
Anna Lungley, Chief Sustainabilty Officer, Dentsu International: Anna is Chief Sustainability Officer at Dentsu Aegis Network and a senior associate at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Sustainability Leadership. Anna works at the intersection of strategy, communications and sustainability, helping organisations embed purpose at the heart of everything they do.
Tony Juniper CBE, Chair, Natural England: Tony Juniper CBE is Chair of the official nature conservation agency Natural England and a Fellow with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. Before Joining Natural England he was the Executive Director for Advocacy and Campaigns at WWF-UK and President of the Wildlife Trusts.
Dr Alan Knight OBE, Group Director of Sustainability, Drax: Alan has over 30 years’ experience of working with global companies and governments on sustainability. In April 2021 he joined Drax as the Group Director of Sustainability.