Accelerating
the shift to a sustainable future

The TED Future Forum is an initiative of TED Countdown, focused on the role of business in accelerating solutions to the climate crisis.

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The goal is simple:

PIVOT COMPANIES TOWARDS A

sUSTAINABLE FUTURE

Our Mission

Given its reach and scale, business is vital to transforming the global economy and creating a more prosperous future for all. Yet, insufficient action continues to erode trust in business – both in the public eye and internally. Achieving an equitable, zero-carbon world requires nothing less than a transformation of the global economy. Research shows there is a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity in the transition.

We need a new narrative of possibility and action built on a clear understanding of the problems, tangible pathways towards rapid progress, and real examples of action in the private sector and beyond. All in pursuit of a healthier, fairer world.

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TEd Futureforum community

We are a community of companies committed to stepping up with greater climate ambition to help transform the global economy.

Companies

Vision Council

We are guided by a small cross-sector group of recognized, values-driven leaders

Jim Hagemann Snabe

Vision Council Chair

Jim Hagemann Snabe

Chairman, Siemens AG and Vice Chairman, Allianz SE

Jim Hagemann Snabe

Jim Hagemann Snabe

Chairman, Siemens AG and Vice Chairman, Allianz SE

Jim Hagemann Snabe is the former co-CEO of SAP AG. He is Nominated Chairman of Siemens AG and Vice Chairman of Allianz SE. He is a Former Chairman of A. P. Moller Maersk and a member of the Board of Trustees at the World Economic Forum.

With 25 years of experience in the IT industry, Jim is focused on leadership around innovation, digitization and societal progress. As co-CEO of SAP, Jim was instrumental in driving the strategic development of SAP to double the value of the company and play a more responsible role in society. In 2013 he was ranked #2 on Glassdoor’s listing of the top 50 highest-rated CEOs, based on their 99 percent approval rating from employees. In his capacity as a global business leader, Jim is involved in a number of activities focused on societal progress and the role of business in society. His views on leadership are shaped by his commitment to solving societal issues and his trust in human potential.

Manish Bhardwaj

Manish Bhardwaj

Ethicist and CEO of Innovators in Health

Manish Bhardwaj

Manish Bhardwaj

Ethicist and CEO of Innovators in Health

Manish Bhardwaj is the co-founder and CEO of Innovators in Health whose mission is to deliver world-class healthcare to the rural poor in India. He also directs a program to amplify the societal impact of the humanities and social sciences at Princeton University's Keller Center, where he was previously the James Wei Visiting Professor.

Prior to Innovators, Manish was a co-founder and Chief Architect at Engim Inc., a private, venture-backed wireless semiconductor startup. He is a Fellow of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from where he received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering. He is a recipient of MIT's Graduate Student Council Teaching Award.

Habiba Ahut Daggash

Habiba Ahut Daggash

Associate, Africa Energy Program, Rocky Mountain Institute

Habiba Ahut Daggash

Habiba Ahut Daggash

Associate, Africa Energy Program, Rocky Mountain Institute

Habiba Ahut Daggash is an Associate with the Africa Energy Program at RMI, where she is working to advance productive uses of electricity in agricultural processing in rural communities in Nigeria. She has a PhD in energy systems modelling from Imperial College London. Her research focuses on understanding how electricity systems need to transition to deliver the Paris Agreement targets, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. She has co-authored several books on carbon removal technologies and widely published journal articles on clean energy transitions in the power and transport sectors.

Habiba is a Fellow at the Energy for Growth Hub and an advisory committee member for USAID’s Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) project in Nigeria. Prior to RMI, she was a management consultant at BCG’s Lagos office and chaired the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) Future Energy Leaders Forum.

Nili Gilbert

Nili Gilbert

Vice Chairwoman, Carbon Direct

Nili Gilbert

Nili Gilbert

Vice Chairwoman, Carbon Direct

Nili Gilbert, CFA, CAIA, is the Vice Chairwoman of Carbon Direct, a leader in scaling carbon management into a global industry through both climate technology investments and client advisory.   She is also Chair of the US$130+ Trillion Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero’s (GFANZ) Advisory Panel of technical experts, as well as a member of its CEO Principals Group. Nili also sits as the Chair of US Policy for the UN-Convened Asset Owner Alliance. In addition to serving as a board member and Chairwoman of the Investment Committees of both the David Rockefeller Fund and the Synergos Institute, she is a Senior Advisor at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Nili is also a member of the Social Mission Board of Seventh Generation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Unilever.

Nili received her BA, magna cum laude, from Harvard University, her MBA from Columbia Business School, where she was a Toigo Fellow, and she has completed executive programs in leadership and sustainability at Oxford and Stanford Universities.

Rebecca Henderson

Rebecca Henderson

Economist and professor, Harvard University

Rebecca Henderson

Rebecca Henderson

Economist and professor, Harvard University

A prominent economist and influential professor (The John and Natty McArthur University professor at Harvard), Rebecca Henderson is one of the world’s most articulate, insightful and persuasive scholars focused on driving large-scale change.

A leading authority in organizational and strategic change for more than 30 years, today her research, teaching and speaking centers on purpose-driven capitalism and the role that business leaders at every level can play in reimagining our current system.

Roya Mahboob

Roya Mahboob

Entrepreneur and founder, Digital Citizen Fund

Roya Mahboob

Roya Mahboob

Entrepreneur and founder, Digital Citizen Fund

Roya Mahboob is an entrepreneur and Afghanistan’s first female tech CEO. Roya has used her success and tech expertise to help educate and empower Afghan women and girls, and she has been an outspoken advocate for their rights. She founded the Digital Citizen Fund (DCF), which aims to increase Afghan women’s technological and financial literacy. She also co-founded and supports the Afghan Girls Robotics Team. Roya has worked to build Innovation/Tech Centers across Afghanistan and has launched an online platform to strengthen the voices of Afghan women and journalists.

Roya regularly speaks and writes eloquently about the vital importance of STEAM education and economic opportunity for women and girls as they pertain to human rights. Roya was named to TIME’s 2013 list of 100 Most Influential People and received the 2014 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award, The Advancement of Gender Equality through Education Award, Young Leader of World Economic Forum 2015, Asia Game changer 2019, Doha forum award of 2022, LantosHumanRights awards, the prestigious Presidential Leadership Scholarship and is a founding Leader of The NewNow, a group of rising global leaders tackling global challenges.

Wanjira Mathai

Wanjira Mathai

Managing Director, Africa and Global Partnerships, World Resources Institute

Wanjira Mathai

Wanjira Mathai

Managing Director, Africa and Global Partnerships, World Resources Institute

Wanjira Mathai has over 20 years of experience advocating for social and environmental change on both local and international platforms. She is the Managing Director for Africa and Global Partnerships at World Resource Institute. She is also the current Chair of the Wangari Maathai Foundation and the former Chair of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya – the organization founded by her mother Wangari Maathai (2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate).

Wanjira currently serves on the Board of the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), as a Leadership Council member of the Clean Cooking Alliance and is a member of the High-Level Group of the Africa-Europe Foundation. Wanjira is one of a few Six Seconds EQ Practitioners in Kenya and was named one of the 100 Most Influential African Women in 2018, 2020 and 2021.

Gonzalo Muñoz

Gonzalo Muñoz

Co-leader, Manuia and former UN Climate Change High Level Champion, COP25

Gonzalo Muñoz

Gonzalo Muñoz

Co-leader, Manuia and former UN Climate Change High Level Champion, COP25

Between 2019 and 2021, Gonzalo was one of two United Nations High Level Climate Action Champions for the annual COP conference. Currently he is Chair of the advisory board for the Climate Champions Team. Previously, he co-founded and led TriCiclos, one of the most recognised Latin American companies in circular economy. He also co-founded the global movement of Certified B Corps.

Gonzalo is co-leader of Manuia, a strategic consulting firm founded by TriCiclos, dedicated to helping companies incorporate ESG. He is a board member at the Global Foodbanking Network. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II awarded Gonzalo the Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (CMG) in 2022.

Kim Stanley Robinson

Kim Stanley Robinson

Author and Futurist

Kim Stanley Robinson

Kim Stanley Robinson

Author and Futurist

Kim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer.  He is the author of about twenty books, including the internationally bestselling Mars trilogy, and more recently Red Moon, New York 2140, and The Ministry for the Future.  He was part of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers’ Program in 1995 and 2016, and a featured speaker at COP-26 in Glasgow, a guest of the UK government and the UN.

His work has been translated into 26 languages, and won awards including the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards.  In 2016 asteroid 72432 was named “Kimrobinson.”  

Suzanne Simard

Suzanne Simard

Ecologist and Professor, University of British Columbia

Suzanne Simard

Suzanne Simard

Ecologist and Professor, University of British Columbia

Suzanne Simard is a Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia and the author of Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest.

Suzanne is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence, and has been hailed as a scientist who conveys complex, technical ideas in a way that is dazzling and profound. Her work has influenced filmmakers (the Tree of Souls in James Cameron’s Avatar) and her TED talks have been viewed by over 10 million people worldwide.

Nigel Topping

Nigel Topping

Former UN Climate Change High Level Champion, COP26 and COP27

Nigel Topping

Nigel Topping

Former UN Climate Change High Level Champion, COP26 and COP27

Nigel Topping is the UN High-Level Climate Action Champion for COP26, appointed by the UK Prime Minister in January 2020. His role involves strengthening collaboration and driving action from businesses, investors, organizations, cities and regions on climate change.

Nigel was most recently CEO of We Mean Business, a coalition of businesses working to accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon economy. Prior to that, he was executive director of the Carbon Disclosure Project, following an 18-year career in the private sector.

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