The Sustainability Award 2023
Awardees 2023
The first awardees of the first competition are Prof. Elena Bou of EIT InnoEnergy for her contributions to promoting energy start-ups, and Lord Nicholas Stern, Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, for his achievements relating to the economic aspects of climate change.
Prof. Elena Bou
Outstanding Research and Development in the field of Energy Award
In 2010 Prof. Elena Bou co-founded EIT InnoEnergy, where she currently holds the position of Innovation Director. She is deeply involved in promoting start-ups in the field of sustainable energy, including financing. EIT InnoEnergy, a company co-funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), has supported over 500 start-ups in the field of sustainable energy since its inception. It focuses on energy storage, sustainable buildings and cities, renewable energy sources, intelligent power grids, energy efficiency, circular economies as well as transportation and mobility.
Elena Bou conducts research and teaches in the field of Knowledge and Innovation Management as an Associate Professor of Operations, Innovation and Data Sciences at the Spanish business university ESADE (Escuela Superior de Administración y Dirección de Empresas). She earned her doctorate in economic sciences at ESADE and is the author of several publications in the fields of knowledge management, collaborative innovation, and entrepreneurialism.
© EIT InnoEnergy
© LSE
Lord Nicholas Stern
Leadership in Implementation Award
Professor Lord Nicholas Stern is an expert on the economic aspects of climate change. He has been Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science since the Institute's founding in 2008. Over the last twenty years, he has made outstanding contributions to international climate policy and to promoting the transition to sustainable, integrative, and resilient economic development.
His report "The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review", created in 2006 on behalf of the British government, had a major impact at national and international levels on responsible stakeholders in politics and the economy. He fosters understanding of the expense of inactivity in the face of global climate change with advisory roles including functions at the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Economic Forum.
Mr. John Kerry
Sustainability Medal Recipient
the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, former Secretary of State
Mr. John Kerry, U.S. politician who served in the Senate (1985–2013) and later was Secretary of State (2013–2017) in the administration of President Barack Obama. Mr. Kerry is one of the world's most effective climate champions. As Secretary of State in 2015, he helped negotiate the Paris Agreement on climate change. In 2019 Kerry was a key figure in the creation of World War Zero, an organization dedicated to fighting climate change. In 2020 he was announced as the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate in the administration of President Biden. Mr. Kerry has been crisscrossing the globe rallying foreign allies and adversaries to make bolder commitments to fight climate change, urging governments and industries to bring concrete plans to boost renewable energy and cut greenhouse emissions by 2030.
Dr. Robin Zeng
Sustainability Medal Recipient
Chairman of CATL
Dr. Robin Zeng established CATL in 1999 and built it the world's leading company in the field of lithium-ion batteries for consumer electronics. In a new endeavor in 2011 he established the CATL, a world leading power battery provider and a global leader of new energy innovative technologies. The company has made continuous breakthroughs in key technologies of EV and energy storage batteries, providing premier solutions and services for new energy applications worldwide. CATL's global market share of power battery ranks first in the world for six consecutive years. It also ranks first in the global market share of energy storage battery production.