If you're looking for true inspiration for how to tackle climate change and make a difference, these five influencers are an excellent place to start:

• Shayle Khan -  San Francisco

Known for:  Partner at Energy Impact Partners, Canary Media Podcast Host

Shayle Kann is an expert on the energy transition. He is partner at Energy Impact Partners, the leading venture capital fund investing in companies shaping future of energy and infrastructure. He is also the host of Catalyst, a podcast that tackles big questions about how to decarbonize the planet. Previously, Shayle built and ran GTM Research, the market intelligence arm of Greentech Media, where he led a 30-person team tracking and forecasting the evolution of the electricity sector. Shayle is a renowned writer and speaker on the future of energy. He has spoken at conferences around the world, testified in front of U.S. Congress, and is regularly cited in outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Economist, and Bloomberg.

• Donnel Baird - New York 

Known for:  Green innovation, Founder and CEO, BlocPower

Donnel Baird is the founder and CEO of BlocPower, an early stage startup that markets, finances, and installs solar and energy efficiency retrofits in churches, synagogues, non-profits, and small businesses in financially underserved neighbourhoods. BlocPower connects portfolios of these clean tech installation opportunities to impact investors via an online marketplace. Donnel is an Echoing Green/Open Society Foundation BMA Fellow and the first Entrepreneur in Residence at Jalia Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in for-profits with a social and environmental mission. Donnel spent 7 years as a community and political organiser. 

• Kiran Bhatraju - Washington

Known for: Founder and CEO Arcadia, Environmentalist

Kiran Bhatraju is an entrepreneur and environmentalist from eastern Kentucky coal country. He is currently CEO of Arcadia, the nation’s first digital utility focused on renewable and efficient home energy options for customers in all 50 states. He also serves on the board of AppHarvest, building North America’s largest controlled-environment agriculture facilities growing pesticide-free produce. He is also on the National Council for World Wildlife Fund. 

• Ramez Naam - Seattle

Known for: Climate Tech Investor, Clean Energy Advocate, and Author

Ramez Naam is a former Microsoft executive, an entrepreneur, and the co-Chair for Energy and Environment at Singularity University. He’s also the award-winning author of five books, including the Nexus trilogy of science fiction novels. Ramez spent 13 years at Microsoft, where he led teams working on machine learning, information retrieval, and internet scale systems. He’s also become a globally recognised expert on the future of solar energy. Ramez also specialises in clean energy and how related technologies are bringing to the $6 trillion energy, transportation, food, and water industries.

• Sharina Perry - Oklahoma 

Known for: Founder/Inventor Utopia Plastix, CEO Edengrow, Climate Action, Sustainability 

Sharina is the Founder/Inventor of Utopia Plastix and Creator/Developer of The Utopia Model – her vision is for creating and developing sustainable solutions across global platforms. She is also known for her strategic business and out of the box thinking, a true innovator. Sharina serves on the Oklahoma Governors Minority Business Council. She is one of twenty minorities selected by the Governor and Secretary of Commerce to represent the interest of minority business in Oklahoma. Sharina also serves on the Board of Black Women Business Owners of America.

• Helen Clarkson - United Kingdom 

Known for:  OBE, CEO Climate Group

Helen joined the Climate Group in March 2017 as Chief Executive Officer. The Climate Group is an international non-profit organisation with a mission to drive climate action, fast. It brings together coalitions of ambitious companies in demand-side campaigns such as RE100, EV100, and SteelZero which work to shift markets and policies and every year delivering Climate Week NYC, the world’s largest climate week. 

She’s also worked on countless humanitarian missions in countries including Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Pakistan and Nigeria.? Helen was awarded an OBE in June 2022 for services to tackling climate change and supporting the UK Presidency of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26).

• Andrea Licata - Germany

Known for:  Green innovation & Climate Action, Founder of TalentEco 

Andrea is working on multiple green initiatives. He’s dedicated to finding the most promising green startups and investors who can make a difference in the world, as well as advising SME’s on how they can be sustainable businesses. He regularly organises in-person and virtual events with great startup teams, where discussions on climate activation and implementation are key. 

He is also the Founder of Talenteco based in Berlin, which offers a variety of services including strategic consultancy for green startups, organises local and international events and provides a wealth of resources related to the green and climate sector. Talenteco don’t expect change; they want to be an active part of it!

• Tim Steppich - Germany 

Known for: Founder and CEO ClimatEU, Forbes 30 under 30

Tim Steppich is Founder and CEO of ClimatEU, the largest platform and online community for all those in Europe who want to dedicate their careers to the fight against climate change - job seekers, founders, employers and investors. The respective parties can be linked to each other automatically - job seekers and investors can contact companies directly and vice versa. In the meantime, over 3,000+ companies, 4,000+ investors and 8,000+ jobs are shown on ClimatEU. At least 1,000 new jobs land on the platform every week.

• Lubomila Jordanova - Germany 

Known for: CEO & Co-Founder Plan A & Co-Founder Greentech Alliance, MIT Under 35 Innovator, LinkedIn Top Voice

Lubomila Jordanova is Co-founder and CEO of Plan A, a Berlin-based startup developing an end-to-end platform that enables companies to measure, monitor and reduce their environmental footprint and improve their ESG performance using machine learning and science. She is also the co-founder of the Greentech Alliance, a community of 1000+ startups which are connected to over 500+ advisors from VC, media and business.

Lubomila has also managed to win countless awards celebrating her outstanding achievements in the green and climate space, such as the World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer 2022-2025, Top 50 Women Entrepreneurs of Germany 2022 by Handelsblatt and Forbes 30 under 30 2020. 

• Jan Rosenow - United Kingdom 

Known for: Director, European Programmes at Regulatory Assistance Project, Key Note Speaker, LinkedIn Top Voice

Jan is passionate about making this planet a better place for us all. For the last 15 years Jan has been working towards creating a clean, fair and efficient energy system as a policy advisor, consultant, researcher, and volunteer. He is the the Director of European Programmes at the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) as well as having several board appointments. 

He is regularly invited as a keynote speaker and has spoken at close to 200 international and national conferences and workshops. Named one of the world‘s top 25 influencers in renewables and the future of energy by Onalytica, one of the 10 LinkedIn Top Green Voices in the UK, amongst the top 30 SDG influencers by rise.global and a top 50 global environment and sustainability influencer by Onalytica.

Today, we’re living in a world where climate change is happening faster than ever before—and it’s important that we work together to eliminate all the influencing factors that affect it. As a purpose-driven staffing agency, 4zero Talent Solutions in GreenTech commit to playing our part in delivering a thriving, sustainable future for the world.

Sources:

• https://www.theclimategroup.org/helen-clarkson 
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenclarkson/ 
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrealicata1/
• https://www.forbes.at/artikel/tim-steppich.html 
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-steppich/ 
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/ljordanova/ 
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/janrosenow/
• https://www.slush.org/person/lubomila-jordanova/#:~:text=Lubomila%20Jordanova%20is%20Co%2Dfounder,using%20machine%20learning%20and%20science. 
• https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/author/donnel-baird#:~:text=Donnel%20Baird%20is%20the%20founder,businesses%20in%20financially%20underserved%20neighborhoods. 
• https://www.worldwildlife.org/leaders/kiran-bhatraju 
• https://www.canarymedia.com/about/people/shayle-kann 
• https://futurist.com/futurist-think-tank/futurist-ramez-naam/ 
• https://okcrotary.club/utopia-plastix-sharina-perry/