2 December 2024 – The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership today announces that Lindsay Hooper has been appointed as its permanent CEO and Head of Department.
Lindsay’s appointment comes at a critical moment for the sustainability movement and for CISL.
Following another year of record temperatures, extreme weather events and sustained biodiversity loss, the evidence is clear that the world is not on track. Confidence within the sustainability movement has faltered and big questions are being asked about what is needed to deliver the change we need.
Under Lindsay’s leadership as interim CEO the Institute has engaged with these important questions – convening a leadership summit at the start of 2024 to explore how we can better engage with real world political, technology and economic imperatives, to make sustainability relevant to citizens. Lindsay has led CISL’s work to develop new thinking and campaigns to outline credible pathways to real world change.
In the year ahead, Lindsay’s focus, along with CISL’s senior team, will be on providing the leadership that our purpose demands and delivering a bolder ambition that goes beyond ‘CISL as usual’. This will involve extending CISL’s contribution to the wider University’s mission and to society; pursuing the most effective pathways for impact; contributing to necessary change to markets and economies and, most importantly, bringing others with us.
Lindsay said: “The need for CISL’s work has never been greater and I’m delighted to be working with an exceptional team and international network of collaborators at this important juncture for our collective efforts to secure a sustainable future. There is a narrowing window of opportunity to address global challenges and, in spite of decades of evidence, commitments, and innovation, we are not on track.”
She continued: “The greatest opportunity for CISL’s impact lies in market transformation to align economic competitiveness with sustainability. This means we have to contribute to reshaping markets and incentives to reward superior sustainability performance and foster and scale innovative solutions. The task ahead of us is one of building geopolitical, commercial, industrial and innovation strategies that are not only relevant to today’s concerns, but that also deliver long-term resilience and a cleaner, greener, fairer and more prosperous future.”
“Our focus will be on working with the private sector – from multinational businesses to entrepreneurial startups, from major financial institutions to next generation wealth owners - in order to support and empower them to contribute to genuine change, both shifting ‘the rules of the game’, and also innovating to transform sectors, from aviation and buildings to food and land use.”
Bhaskar Vira, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Environmental Sustainability at University of Cambridge, welcomed this announcement: “Lindsay's appointment as CEO of CISL comes at a critical juncture for global progress on sustainability. Universities such as Cambridge have a critical role to play in providing the research base, developing sustainability literate leaders, innovating for solutions and convening across industries to chart a path forward.”
Professor Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor, said: "As the world faces unprecedented global difficulties, it looks to universities for solutions. The University of Cambridge is uniquely placed to offer evidence-based insights, and to educate current and future leaders. These tasks are at the heart of CISL’s mission. I look forward to continuing to work with Lindsay Hooper and the CISL team to harness Cambridge's full potential as it seeks to tackle some of the planet’s greatest sustainability challenges.”