Young climate leaders are driving change at some of the world’s largest organizations internationally.
Every year, at the annual GreenFin sustainable finance and investing event, a roster of “30 under 30” chosen by the Trellis Group’s editorial team highlights the rising stars of sustainability. These climate leaders are driving change, at scale, at some of the world’s largest organizations internationally.
The reasoning is pretty obvious: “younger adults are leading other generations in seeking purpose-driven work,” writes Elsa Wenzel of the Trellis editorial team. “A large majority of Gen Z (86%) and Millennial (89%) workers say that having a meaningful mission is important in their career, according to a Deloitte survey of 22,800 younger workers. They’ll even “climate quit” if their employers renege on sustainability commitments.”
What’s more, “they’re doing hard, difficult work that often goes unsung, like electrifying truck fleets and home appliances, embedding circularity into food and textiles, and installing renewable energy sources at companies that previously burned oil. It’s important work, and it’s just beginning.”
We agree. Here are four examples from GreenFin 24. For the full list, click here. – The editors.
Kayalin Akens-Irby, 28, helped sign up the first 50 consumer goods customers—including Blue Apron, Compass Group, Patagonia Provisions and Ritual—for Planet FWD, a product life-cycle assessment startup. She was also instrumental in closing its $10 million Series A fundraising round in 2022. Before joining Planet FWD in January 2021, Akens-Irby conducted due diligence for ESG investments by Malk Partners and other private equity firms, which had a total of more than $300 billion in assets under management.
Edward Freer began his career as a steward while a college student, guiding crowds at Liverpool FC’s Anfield stadium. Its “Red Way” sustainability campaign inspired his career. Now, he’s leading climate communications at the $48 billion London Stock Exchange Group. The 25-year-old led the firm’s communications on its double materiality assessment (reporting on how the company affects the environment and how the environment affects the company), London Climate Action Week and educated employees on sustainability progress.
Tin Dalida leads mangrove and forest restoration at carbon finance company Wovoka where two million tons of carbon will be sequestered over four decades. Dalida, 26, previously quantified carbon stocks in mangroves and seagrasses across 16 Philippine provinces as a researcher at the University of the Philippines. In the California carbon compliance market, she traded credits for electric vehicles and Renewable Energy Certificates for solar farms, generating more than $3 million.
Raunak Barnwal, 29, was a lead architect of JP Morgan’s “Carbon Compass” framework, aligning its financial portfolio with the Paris Agreement. He was instrumental in setting portfolio-level emissions intensity reduction targets for carbon-intensive sectors — a first for U.S. banks. Barnwal, an electrical engineer, also advises companies on financially pragmatic climate transition strategies.
This article originally appeared on Trellis (formerly GreenBiz.com as part of our partnership with the media and events company that accelerates the just transition to a clean economy.
Featured photo: (clockwise) Kayalin Akens-Irby, Edward Freer, Tin Dalida, Raunak Barnwal. Source: Greenbiz, LinkedIn
