Cambridge
Climate Innovation
Summit 2026

Lindsay Hooper is Chief Executive of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), where she works with businesses and financial institutions to address climate, nature and social risks and to mobilise innovation and investment for market-wide action.

She previously led CISL’s international education portfolio, building a global community of more than 40,000 executives. Her external work spans board-level engagement, strategy support and cross-sector collaborations across critical sectors: finance, the built environment, food, manufacturing and mining, as well as work with major cities and state-owned enterprises in China and the Middle East.

Lindsay speaks and writes on global trends and their implications for business competitiveness, investment and leadership. Her recent publications include Survival of the Fittest: From ESG to Competitive Sustainability and Competing in the Age of Disruption. Her Reuters column explores how geopolitics, AI and climate and nature-related risks are reshaping the conditions for business strategy, investment and long-term resilience.

Nigel Topping, CMG has led and been involved in many global initiatives uniting business and government in tackling climate change. He is the cofounder of AmbitionLoop, a not-for-profit organization working to facilitate systemic change through radical collaboration between businesses and governments. He served as the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP26, where he launched global initiatives like Race To Zero, Race To Resilience and GFANZ. He is the Chair of the UK Climate Change Committee, Non-Executive Director of the National Wealth Fund, Board Member of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Senior Fellow at Mission Possible Partnership and Strategic Advisor to the Breakthrough Agenda, the 57-country collaboration launched at Glasgow. Prior to this he was CEO of the We Mean Business Coalition following an 18-year career running and owning manufacturing businesses. Nigel was awarded a CMG in 2022 in Queen Elizabeth II's final honours list for his contribution to accelerating action on climate change and is also an Honorary Professor of Economics at Exeter University.

James has spent 20 years working at the intersection of business, sustainability, innovation and entrepreneurship. As a member of CISL’s Senior Leadership Team he works across international policy finance and business leadership initiatives. In 2022 he launched The Canopy – a leading European startup incubator, accelerator and workspace activating an international community of entrepreneurs, investors and corporate partners – which has now supported over 500 startups since launch. Prior to CISL James developed business partnerships and alliances at Friends of the Earth; founded a digital media startup; developed social impact projects in Peru; and held various senior commercial roles at Vodafone. James is a Trustee of TPI, The Partnering Initiative; PECT, The Peterborough Environment City Trust; and a member of the investment panel for the Social Innovation Trust.

Lamé Verre is an award winning energy executive and Co founder of Lean In Equity & Sustainability (LiNES), a global social impact organisation advancing gender diversity and inclusion in the energy and sustainability sectors.

With 25 years of experience across the energy value chain, she has worked in the UK, Europe, the US, and Sub Saharan Africa, bringing deep expertise in energy transition, decarbonisation, and sustainable development.

Lamé is currently Director for Net Zero at The Crown Estate, leading strategic efforts to accelerate the UK’s transition to a low carbon future. She recently served on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council for Energy Transition and sits on the boards of Equitable Origin, a US nonprofit promoting responsible energy development, and the UK environmental charity Green Alliance. Across these roles, she champions transparent, equitable, and sustainable natural resource governance.

Previously, Lamé was Head of Strategy, Innovation, and Sustainability for SSE PLC’s customer businesses, where she played a pivotal role in embedding net zero principles into operations, supply chains, and customer engagement.

Her earlier leadership positions include Director for Renewable Energy and Energy Transition at Alaric & Associates and Co founder of ScanTech International, a company providing low carbon pipeline construction and rehabilitation solutions. Lamé began her career as a Petroleum Economist with ENI E&P and later held key roles at Sterling Energy (now Afentra), E.ON Ruhrgas E&P, Baker Hughes, and Halliburton, where she led Regional Treasury for Europe, Eurasia, and Sub Saharan Africa.

In 2021, she launched the African Female Leaders Power List, celebrating influential female executives in Africa’s energy sector. Now in its fifth cohort, the initiative reflects her commitment to amplifying diverse leadership.

A sought after speaker and faculty member at several institutions, Lamé brings a global perspective, industry depth, and a strong network to her work in shaping a just energy transition.

Based in Emerald’s Toronto office, Neil brings deep domain expertise in advanced materials and processes, with a particular focus on technologies driving a more circular, sustainable economy. As a Venture Partner, he works across the full investment lifecycle, helping deep tech founders turn breakthrough science into global impact. He also partners with Emerald’s corporate clients to fuel open innovation programs that push sustainability and profitability forward.

Neil has held past and present Board roles with companies including Xampla, Phase Change Energy Solutions, Tropic Biosciences, actnano, and others.

He holds a PhD in Chemistry from McGill University and a BSc in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of King’s College (Dalhousie University). A citizen of the global village, Neil gravitates toward anything with mass, that occupies space with intrigue, and value — and he’s equally comfortable in English or French.

Ursula Woodburn is Director of CISL’s Europe office and the Corporate Leaders Group Europe. Through her role she supports CISL’s work on systems change and leads the work across CISL’s Europe office, in particular driving corporate support for a sustainable, resilient and competitive European economy. She sits on the Strategy Board of the We Mean Business Coalition, and directs the Green Growth Partnership, which creates a common space for governments, businesses and parliamentarians to collaborate in support of a greener EU economy. Ursula joined CISL from Weber Shandwick Brussels, where she led the sustainability practice. She previously worked in the European Parliament and for an environmental NGO and brings more than 20 years of Brussels public affairs and strategic communications experience across energy, climate and transport sectors.

Alexandra has a degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge. She brings extensive global experience from 25 years at Johnson Matthey and as CEO of an AIM listed business, as well as being an accredited coach. She has a proven track record of creating high performance teams, and is leading Xampla in delivering its growth strategy and as it launches Morro materials into the market at scale.

Lucy leads CISL’s work to drive systems-level change in sectors like aviation and the built environment, leveraging CISL and the University’s expertise for impact. She is the CISL sector lead for the built environment which includes CISL’s living lab. Prior to this, she spent 8 years leading CISL’s executive education programmes with the built environment sector, Chinese city governments, and the extractive industry before tilting her focus towards innovation and policy engagement. She holds Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Value Chains from University of Cambridge focused on embedding sustainability across the University’s construction projects.

Lucy joined CISL in 2015 from Earthwatch, an international environmental charity where she headed up Earthwatch’s Hong Kong office and oversaw operations in South-East Asia. Lucy studied Geography at the University of Edinburgh and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Viola Meyerweissflog is CISL’s UK Policy Lead and Programme Manager for the Corporate Leaders Group UK (CLG UK). She leads and manages work streams on UK policy engagement and influencing, business and stakeholder engagement, and wider strategic planning. She works with senior decision makers internally and externally in both the public and private sector to drive ambitious policies at UK and international level.

Before joining CISL in 2023, she worked in government affairs as Senior Manager for Consulting and Corporate Development at the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Washington D.C. leading on the implementation of the US-Germany Climate and Energy Partnership and advising clients on US federal policy and market entry strategies. Shortly after moving to Washington D.C., she researched on US foreign and transatlantic policy issues at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Atlantic Council, and the Bertelsmann Foundation.

Viola holds an MA in International Relations from Syracuse University and a BA in Politics with International Relations from the University of York.

As Director for CISL's Policy and Systems Change Collaborations Team, Bev leads CISL's UK policy (she is Director for the UK Corporate Leaders Group), international policy, and business and nature work. With over 20 years’ experience as a sustainability professional, she leads a team that develops high impact, systemic solutions to drive policy and industrial change towards a climate neutral, nature positive and socially inclusive economy.

During her 13 years at CISL, Bev has led programmes of work that include looking at national and international leadership priorities for the UK Government, the issues of resource efficiency and industrial transformation, and a series of sustainability leadership programmes for businesses. Bev is an expert convenor and moderator, who brings experience in programme management, stakeholder engagement, event planning, research and producing concise written materials for a range of audiences.

Before joining CISL, Bev spent ten years working in the public sector, in local, regional and then national government, most recently working for the Sustainable Development Commission with a particular focus on education and health policy. Bev holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business from the University of Cambridge.

Anum Yousaf Sheikh is an experienced researcher, writer, and analyst. She currently works at CISL as a policy research lead and has made key contributions to the research and development of multiple workstreams across the organisation’s priority areas, including accelerating the renewable energy transition, retrofitting and sustainability of the built environment, industrial decarbonisation, circular economy, nature-aligned business model transformation and raising climate and nature ambition within the UK and EU. Her work has also been carried by the FT's Sustainable Views, Euractiv, the Cambridge Independent and Inside Housing.

She has worked in policy analysis and advocacy in various roles previously, especially in emerging and developing economy contexts: writing longform features and editorials as a journalist, as a programme development officer with the UN, and as an academic researcher at the University of Cambridge Research for Equitable Access to Learning Centre. She is trained in political economy analysis of policy processes and discursive analysis of policy networks. She continues to focus on generating actionable insights from her research and engagement to maximise impact.

Jie is a sustainability and circular economy expert with over 15 years of experience scaling innovation at the intersection of academia, investment, and the public sector. As a founding member of the CISL’s Accelerator & Innovation Hub (Canopy), she has played a pivotal role in supporting over 500 impact-driven startups, helping the hub earn its reputation as a leading European startup incubator for three consecutive years.

A bridge-builder by nature, Jie has built and expanded institutional partnerships with global organizations like UNICEF, the British Standards Institute, Full Vision Capital, and partners across Europe, Asia and Africa. Through partnership she identifies emerging market gaps and co-creates initiatives that enable sustainable startups to scale internationally. She also heads the Sino-UK Centre for Sustainability Innovation founded by CISL, acts as a bridge connecting the UK and China's innovation ecosystems.

A frequent speaker at COPs and the World Economic Forum, Jie translates her field insights into tangible resources, including the Climate Fit toolkit and the Sustainability Innovation Strategy course, which have benefited thousands of startups and SMEs worldwide.

Beyond her role at CISL, Jie serves as a research advisor at Newham College (Cambridge), Trustee at Dialogue Earth (London), and Advisor at Undivided VC (Hong Kong). Driven by her cross-cultural experiences as an ethnic minority, Jie is a passionate DE&I advocate, and part of CISL's Equality Action committee. Her leadership was recognized with the University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor’s Social Impact Award (2022), and Chinese Woman of the Year - Sustainability (2025).

Jie holds three Master's degrees from University of Cambridge (Sustainability Leadership) and UCL (Economics and Politics of Energy and Environment), and ECNU (Environmental Science).

Professor Sir John Aston is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Harding Professor of Statistics in Public Life at the University of Cambridge.

John is an applied statistician with particular interest in statistical neuroimaging, official statistics and statistical linguistics. John also leads research into the use of quantitative evidence in public policy making. John is a non-executive board member of the UK Statistics Authority and in 2017-2020 he was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Home Office and Director-General for Science, Technology, Analysis, Research and Strategy. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2024. He is a member of the London Policing Board and the current President of the Royal Statistical Society (2025-26). Prior to joining the University of Cambridge, John held academic positions at the University of Warwick and at Academia Sinica in Taiwan. John was knighted in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to statistics and public policymaking.

Wendy leads BSI's Sustainability Innovation Lab in Cambridge. She started her career at Innovia Technology, a global innovation consultancy, where she specialised in managing complex, multidisciplinary projects across a number of sectors, covering areas such as innovation strategy, product development and prototyping, and consumer-facing communications. She has also worked at the Royal Society of Chemistry, where she developed and managed activities to advance the chemical sciences, including "Digital Futures", a cross-organisational programme on the role of data and digital technologies in the future of science R&D. Wendy has a background in physics, with a PhD in Nanoscience from the University of Cambridge.

Viola Jardon is Director of Innovation Programmes at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), specialising in accelerator partnership building, programme design, ecosystem development, and support for sustainability innovators. With over 20 years of international experience across Asia and the UK, her contributions to startup acceleration were recognised with the SME News Award (2025), she was named on edie 100 (2026), UK's most impactful sustainability leaders, and she was a Finalist for the Asian Women of Achievement Awards. Originally from Taiwan, she holds degrees from the University of Cambridge.

Dr Spencer Brennan is Founder and CEO of Neutreeno, a Cambridge University spinout. With a PhD in applied renewable energy, physics and advanced measurement systems from Cambridge and 15 years' experience as a sustainability scientist, Spencer's team includes scientists who inform UN IPCC and IEA climate policy. His work challenges the Scope 3 status quo: rather than choosing between speed and accuracy, Neutreeno changes how industry makes products, cutting both emissions and costs at the source.

Rachel Barré is a passionate advocate for sustainability and social empowerment at L’Oréal Groupe, where she currently serves as the Vice President of Sustainability, Environmental Leadership. Her career reflects a deep commitment to making a positive impact. Barré began at L’Oréal's Research & Innovation department, pioneering the company's sustainable innovation strategy and leading on sustainable sourcing for biodiversity-based ingredients. In 2015, she transitioned to the Corporate Responsibility team, focusing on nature-based solutions for climate change and playing a key role in accelerating L’Oréal’s zero deforestation policy. As Environmental Leadership Director, she architected "L’Oréal for the Future," the company's comprehensive sustainability program launched in 2020, which she actively guides with a focus on climate, nature and circularity. Additionally, she manages three impact funds, including the L’Oréal Fund for Nature Regeneration, dedicated to restoring biodiversity, the Circular Innovation Fund, focused on promoting the circular economy, and the L’Oréal Climate Emergency Fund, which supports vulnerable communities to develop greater resilience in the face of climate disasters. She is also leading the Group’s newly launched Sustainable Innovation Accelerator, a 100-million-euro program to further catalyze new breakthrough technologies in the pursuit of sustainable solutions. Her background in agronomy and CSR management provides a solid foundation for her work merging business with environmental and social responsibility.

Zoë leads the Canopy Innovation Community. Part of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), the Canopy supports impact driven startups, small businesses and entrepreneurs to thrive and grow. Zoë was part of the team to build the innovation function at CISL having previously worked across programme marketing, external communications, publications, Network development, and the Unilever Young Entrepreneur Awards at CISL.

Zoë has over a decade of experience in sustainability across the public, third sector, and innovation ecosystems, with specific knowledge in circular economy and sustainable food systems. She has worked with organisations including Sustain, WasteWatch, Glopolis, and Green Alliance, is former founder of a social enterprise, and former Board member for Cambridge Sustainable Food.

Russell Gould is Commercial Director at Planarific, a University of Cambridge spin-out developing spatial intelligence for the built environment. The platform converts imagery into high-fidelity 3D models and property-level data to support large-scale retrofit, planning, and the energy transition across housing.

Russell leads partnerships and commercial strategy, working with local authorities, housing providers and the wider retrofit ecosystem to scale the adoption of Planarific’s technology. The company is currently involved in initiatives including Transform-ER and local authority pilots exploring how digital building models and property intelligence can accelerate neighbourhood-scale decarbonisation.

Russell has over 25 years’ experience leading digital, technology and product-led businesses across financial services, travel, utilities, property and consumer platforms. He has founded multiple technology ventures, held senior leadership roles within FTSE 250 companies, and is a mentor on the Cambridge Judge Business School MSt in Entrepreneurship programme

Salla Mankinen is a Computer Scientist and entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in technology and a decade of experience in technology systems for smallholder farmer-based supply chains. She is an expert in technology targeted at cocoa and coffee producers and farmers, covering field conditions, traceability, compliance systems, EUDR, and AI. Salla holds a unique position at the crossroads of deep domain knowledge in both technology and agricultural production.

Tom is a technologist and entrepreneur dedicated to making energy cheaper and greener for everyone. He is the Founder and Managing Director of Decent Energy, a UK startup reimagining how homes, businesses, and communities generate, store and use energy and making the decentralised assets currently deployed on the grid more able to participate in energy markets. By leveraging intelligent automation and decentralised control, Tom’s software only vision helps democratise energy and enable grid services and cheaper energy to become a reality for all.

With over a decade of experience leading agile teams and digital transformation initiatives for Nasdaq-100 and FTSE-100 firms, Tom brings a strong background in customer-centric design and agile delivery methodologies to the climate tech space. Tom’s transition into energy was sparked by a hands-on project integrating solar, storage, and smart controls in a residential setting—an experience that revealed how fragmented and under-optimised household energy systems often are, even among early adopters.

This insight laid the groundwork for Decent Energy’s platform, which helps energy suppliers, aggregators, and local networks coordinate small-scale assets like batteries and smart devices in near real-time and enables the homeowners and asset owners the ability and incentives to participate in the grid of the future. Under Tom’s leadership, the company is preparing to launch “Shîfter,” a product that intelligently shifts energy usage to greener, cheaper times—cutting costs by up to 25% for households.

Tom is also a community builder in the UK’s sustainability ecosystem. He has spoken at industry events including Cambridge Wireless and the Cambridge Innovation Summit, is a member of CISL’s Canopy accelerator, and co-hosts People Planet Pint in Cambridge.

Paul is the CEO of Mavarick, a technology company that develops AI solutions for supply chain optimisation. He has previously held senior AI positions at Apple and IBM. He holds a PhD in Machine Learning and is a published author in several academic peer-reviewed journals.

Dr Liz (Zijing Li) is the Founder and CEO of Mimicrete, a soin-off company from Cambridge developing self-healing concrete for the construction industry. She holds a PhD in Engineering from the University of Cambridge and has secured over £3 million in funding and investment from organisations including UKRI and Morgan Stanley to advance the commercialisation of sustainable construction materials.

Liz is a UKRI Women in Innovation Award winner and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), making her one of the youngest professionals to achieve this distinction. Her work has been recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering Shott Programme and the ADB Ventures Impact Award, and has been featured by the BBC and the SXSW London Innovation Awards.

She represented the UK in clean technology innovation as a delegate at One Young World and now leads Mimicrete’s international collaborations with major infrastructure partners across the UK, Europe, and Asia, driving the deployment of next-generation sustainable building materials.

Jaroslaw is a technical leader with over 20 years of experience working in cutting edge technology. He holds a PhD in astrophysics and his professional career includes academic research, video games development, engineering, and ML research and productisation. Prior to joining Monumo as a CTO, Jaroslaw held senior software engineering positions at Siemens, Arm and Microsoft Research.

JoAnna Abrams is Founder and CEO of MindClick, a product intelligence platform transforming how the hospitality industry evaluates and selects the products used to build and operate hotels. MindClick’s ratings and analytics cover more than 150,000 products, helping leading hotel brands and owners grow revenue and capture market share through leadership in wellness and environmental responsibility. JoAnna pioneered hospitality supply-chain sustainability innovation with Marriott International and previously led innovation and growth initiatives across global consumer brands in the food and automotive industries. She is an Inc. 2026 Female Founders 500, a Top 100 Leader in Environment + Energy, an IMAGINE Leader, and a participant in the CISL & BSI Trust in Sustainability Accelerator Programme 2026. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Based in Belgium, Tomohito Okuda leads the expansion of WOTA’s decentralized water recycling systems across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He brings over a decade of experience improving water and sanitation infrastructure in both developed and developing regions, drawing on experience in infrastructure development at Mitsubishi Corporation and management consulting at McKinsey & Company. He holds an MPA/ID from Harvard Kennedy School and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Seth Warren is the Senior Manager of Sustainability Consulting at Asuene Europe Ltd., where he leads advisory engagements focused on corporate sustainability strategy, ESG compliance, and carbon management. With over a decade of global experience spanning five continents, Seth has worked with Fortune 500 companies, governments, startups, NGOs, and mission-driven organisations to design and implement sustainability and impact frameworks that are both rigorous and practical. He has worked with companies including Google, IBM, Coca-Cola, Guinness, Kellogg’s, McKesson, AtkinsRéalis and the Adecco Group.

Neutreeno, built by leading climate scientists and engineers from University of Cambridge, the IPCC, and the IEA, is transforming how companies reduce emissions and improve efficiency through proprietary technology that models how products and services are made within their complex supply chains. Drawing on two decades of world-leading research and real-world data from over 40,000+ facilities across sectors responsible for 80% of global emissions, Neutreeno generates precise, science-based emissions estimates and automatically creates bespoke reduction strategies prioritised by impact that drive value and save costs. Companies can now deploy decarbonisation at scale across thousands of suppliers in weeks rather than months.

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Orijin is a B2B SaaS platform digitizing agricultural supply chains at the first mile in Africa and Latin America. We build operational systems designed around the daily realities of coffee and cocoa producers, enabling them to improve efficiency, reduce costs, access premium markets, and meet global traceability and compliance requirements such as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). With 10,000+ farmers onboarded and 12+ customers across 10 countries, Orijin is proving that producer-first digitization drives better outcomes for people, business, and the planet.

We’ve built a software platform that optimises when and how home batteries and solar panels are used—cutting bills and carbon, automatically. Our flagship tool, Shîfter, predicts the greenest and cheapest times to charge or discharge, using data on demand, price, weather, and grid carbon intensity.

No hardware. No behaviour change. Just real savings.

We also connect these homes via the Decent Energy Grid, enabling new services like virtual power plants and, eventually, peer-to-peer energy trading.

Our mission is to decarbonise demand and make every electron work harder for people and the planet

Mavarick utilises AI technologies to enable highly regulated manufactures to reduce upstream supply chain risk, costs and emissions.

Mimicrete Ltd is a UK-based deep tech company pioneering advanced self-healing concrete technology. Originating from the University of Cambridge, Mimicrete has developed a patented biomimetic vascular network system that enables concrete structures to autonomously detect and seal cracks exceeding 500μm using an embedded healing agent.

Our innovation dramatically enhances impermeability and provides robust anti-corrosion performance, especially in environments exposed to moisture, saline water, and high humidity. This reduces structural degradation, extends asset lifespan, and significantly cuts lifecycle emissions and maintenance costs—making it ideally suited for cities like Miami confronting flooding and sea-level rise.

Monumo is a deeptech company focussed on optimising complex engineering systems.

We have developed and now deploy proprietary Engineering AI to transform the way engineering is done. Starting with electric motors and drives, our Anser® AI Engine has already proven its value by delivering significant cost savings and performance improvements in diverse markets that range from automotive to domestic appliances.

MindClick is a Product Intelligence™ platform that helps hotels choose better products when building and operating their properties. Using AI, MindClick extracts sustainability data from manufacturers and converts it into simple, comparable product ratings. The platform enables hotel owners and developers to meet growing demand for responsible supply chains while improving business performance.

WOTA Corp. is a private company committed to solving the structural challenges driving global water issues. Since its founding in 2014, the company has developed decentralized water recycling systems and autonomous water treatment control technologies that recycle household wastewater for extensive reuse, tackling issues such as water scarcity, pollution, and uneven distribution. WOTA has launched two products that support emergency water use during outages and enhance public hygiene. In addition, the company has developed a household water recycling system that supports daily water reuse and has begun providing water services in select regions in Japan and internationally.

ASUENE Inc. is a TIME Top 100 GreenTech Company 2025, dedicated to building a decarbonised society for the next generation. Our powerful AI-driven product suite—including “ASUENE” for Scopes 1-3 tracking, “ASUENE Supply Chain” for risk management and deep supplier engagement, and “NZero” for high-fidelity energy data insights and cost management—simplifies sustainability reporting and enables meaningful action to accelerate decarbonisation at scale. Headquartered in Tokyo with an international footprint across the UK, Europe, US, and Asia, ASUENE is the trusted partner for enterprises navigating the global transition to net zero.