Ep30: Claire O'Neill 'Ecopragmatism and Policy Innovation'

Having first met in Business School in Harvard, Claire O’Neill and Michael Liebreich go back a long way. However, he has never been surprised at how much she's achieved since then. From finance to politics and now to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, she has been behind some of the key implementations in the UK’s fight to Net-Zero. Bio Claire O'Neill is a Managing Director responsible for Climate & Energy at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Claire is also a board member of Ikigai, a sustainable investment consultancy. Claire was the Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth in Theresa May’s government between 2017 and 2019. She was responsible for the UK’s first clean growth plan, launching the Powering Past Coal Alliance, preparing the legislation for the UK to become the first major economy to target net-zero emissions by 2050, and for leading the bid to make Glasgow the location for COP26. Her political career started with working as an advisor for George Osborne. She went on to become MP for Devizes between 2010 and 2019. Before becoming the Minister for Energy and Clean Growth she was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Rail between 2014-2016. Apart from energy-related issues, Claire also led works on online safety, specifically removing child pornography, through a 2011 Independent Parliamentary Inquiry. Before Claire started her career in politics in 2007, she had worked in finance and consulting for companies like Bank of America, McKinsey & Company, and Credit Suisse. Claire O’Neill attended Brasenose College, Oxford University where she read Geography. She then went on to complete her MBA at Harvard Business school (in fact Claire and I go back a long way we were members of the same study group). She is also a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society. She was recently named one of Bloomberg’s ‘Green 30 for 2020’. Links World Business Council for Sustainable Development https://www.wbcsd.org/ COP26 https://ukcop26.org/ The Green 30 for 2020 https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-green-30/#:~:text=The%20pioneers%2C%20leaders%2C%20and%20ideas,to%20solve%20the%20climate%20crisis.&text=The%20climate%20crisis%20seems%20to,floods%20inundate%20our%20news%20feeds. Royal Geographic Society https://www.rgs.org/ Ikigai Capital https://www.ikigai-capital.co.uk/ The Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA) https://poweringpastcoal.org/about/who-we-are ‘Wing it with a few press releases’: Claire O’Neill slams UK Govt’s ‘cavalier attitude’ to COP26 (December 2020) https://www.energyvoice.com/renewables-energy-transition/283168/claire-o-neill-uk-government-cavalier-cop26/ New Year’s Resolutions for the Planet (December 2020) https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/12/29/climate/new-years-resolutions-climate.html UK Government announces a sovereign green bond (November 2020) https://www.greenfinanceinstitute.co.uk/uk-government-announces-a-sovereign-green-bond/ Ex-energy minister Claire O’Neill joins sustainability consultancy (October 2020) https://www.powerengineeringint.com/emissions-environment/ex-energy-minister-claire-oneill-joins-sustainability-consultancy/ Climate change: Former minister O’Neill blasts government "inaction" (September 2020) https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-54085182 A Conversation with The Rt Hon Claire O'Neill (February 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hhsJUgqCZA COP 26: Everybody's In | Sunjoy Joshi | Claire Perry O'Neill (January 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix-b1tZoWPA Green Finance Taskforce (March 2018) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/accelerating-green-finance-green-finance-taskforce-report UK and Canada lead global alliance against coal (November 2017) https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42014244 UK Clean Growth Strategy (October 2017) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/clean-growth-strategy Edie – Sustainable Leaders Forum https://event.edie.net/forum/ About Cleaning Up: Once a week Michael Liebreich has a conversation (and a drink) with a leader in clean energy, mobility, climate finance or sustainable development. Each episode covers the technical ground on some aspect of the low-carbon transition – but it also delves into the nature of leadership in the climate transition: whether to be optimistic or pessimistic; how to communicate in order to inspire change; personal credos; and so on. And it should be fun – most of the guests are Michael’s friends. Follow Cleaning Up on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MLCleaningUp​​ Follow Cleaning Up on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clea...​ Follow Cleaning Up on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MLCleaningUp​​ Links to other Podcast Platforms: https://www.cleaningup.live​​