Jane Burston | |
|---|---|
 Burston addressing the 2019 World Economic Forum | |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
| Employer | Clean Air Fund |
Jane Burston (born 1981) is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of the Clean Air Fund, a philanthropic foundation tackling global air pollution [1] that was launched at the UN Secretary General's Climate Summit in New York with $50m from 6 core funders. [2] Previously, Jane was the Head of Energy and the Environment at the National Physical Laboratory.
Burston has strong ethical and environmental principles. She gave up meat when she was eleven, and as a student fought to eliminate plastic in her college canteen. [3] Burston studied philosophy at the University of Cambridge, graduating with a first class degree in 2002. [4]
After graduating, Burston worked for a strategy consultancy for 4 years, before spending a year in Zambia running an NGO recycling computers and training teachers in IT. [5] On returning to the UK she worked on climate policy for Transport for London and the Mayor of London's office.
In 2008, Burston founded Carbon Retirement, a social enterprise that reformed emissions trading and carbon offsetting. [6] Carbon Retirement put pressure on countries and companies to embrace clean technology, by allowing them to buy and use up credits. [7] Carbon Retirement partnered with the New York Stock Exchange in September 2011. [6]
Burston joined the National Physical Laboratory in 2012, where she led a team of 150 scientists and engineers. At NPL, she founded the Centre for Carbon Measurement, looking at carbon markets, low carbon technologies and climate data. [8] In 2015 she gave evidence at the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. [9] In August 2017 Burston was seconded to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as Deputy Director of Science for Climate and Energy. In June 2019, Burston founded and became Chief Executive Officer of the Clean Air Fund. [2]
Jane Burston became a Trustee of Parkinson's UK in 2019. [10]
In 2009 Burston was selected as a Climate Change Ambassador for the British Council. [11] In 2011 Burston was named as one of Management Today's High Flying Women Under 35 and the Square Mile Social Entrepreneur of the Year. [12] [13]
In 2012 Burston was selected as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. [14] [15] [16] She won the 2012 Management Today Future Leaders Award. [17] [4] In 2015, she was named as one of the Top 20 Young People Globally by the International Chamber of Commerce and a Friends of Europe European Young Leader: 40 under 40. [18] In 2021, she was nominated by Christina Figueres as a WIRED changemaker of tomorrow. [19]
Burston was a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council for the Future of Real Estate and Urbanization, [20] a member of the Global Future Council for Energy and she currently co-chairs the Global Future Council for Clean Air. [21] She was instrumental in launching the first global corporate Alliance for Clean Air. [22]
Jane Burston has a strong track record of public engagement. In 2013, she appeared on BBC Radio 4 talking about 'Putting profit in its place'. [23] She gave a TED talk in 2015 at the London School of Economics. [24] [25] That year she also spoke at X. [26] She has spoken at the 2016, 2017 and 2018 and 2021 United Nations Climate Change conferences. [27] [28] Burston delivered a lecture at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment in 2018. [29] In 2021, Burston performed a ‘Letter to the 21st Century’ on BBC Radio 4. [30] She has contributed to HuffPost, Carbon Brief and the World Economic Forum's Agenda. [31] [32] [33]
Environmental finance is a field within finance that employs market-based environmental policy instruments to improve the ecological impact of investment strategies. The primary objective of environmental finance is to regress the negative impacts of climate change through pricing and trading schemes. The field of environmental finance was established in response to the poor management of economic crises by government bodies globally. Environmental finance aims to reallocate a businesses resources to improve the sustainability of investments whilst also retaining profit margins.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer Klaus Schwab.
Serco Group plc is a British multinational defence, health, space, justice, migration, customer services, and transport company. It is headquartered in Hook, Hart, England. The company operates in Continental Europe, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific region, including Australia and Hong Kong, and North America. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is the national measurement standards laboratory of the United Kingdom. It sets and maintains physical standards for British industry.
Climate change mitigation (or decarbonisation) is action to limit the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that cause climate change. Climate change mitigation actions include conserving energy and replacing fossil fuels with clean energy sources. Secondary mitigation strategies include changes to land use and removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. Current climate change mitigation policies are insufficient as they would still result in global warming of about 2.7 °C by 2100, significantly above the 2015 Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to below 2 °C.
Business action on climate change is a topic which since 2000 includes a range of activities relating to climate change, and to influencing political decisions on climate change-related regulation, such as the Kyoto Protocol. Major multinationals have played and to some extent continue to play a significant role in the politics of climate change, especially in the United States, through lobbying of government and funding of climate change deniers. Business also plays a key role in the mitigation of climate change, through decisions to invest in researching and implementing new energy technologies and energy efficiency measures.
Aircraft engines produce gases, noise, and particulates from fossil fuel combustion, raising environmental concerns over their global effects and their effects on local air quality. Jet airliners contribute to climate change by emitting carbon dioxide, the best understood greenhouse gas, and, with less scientific understanding, nitrogen oxides, contrails and particulates. Their radiative forcing is estimated at 1.3–1.4 that of CO2 alone, excluding induced cirrus cloud with a very low level of scientific understanding. In 2018, global commercial operations generated 2.4% of all CO2 emissions.
The United States produced 5.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2020, the second largest in the world after greenhouse gas emissions by China and among the countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions per person. In 2019 China is estimated to have emitted 27% of world GHG, followed by the United States with 11%, then India with 6.6%. In total the United States has emitted a quarter of world GHG, more than any other country. Annual emissions are over 15 tons per person and, amongst the top eight emitters, is the highest country by greenhouse gas emissions per person.
Climate change is having major effects on the Chinese economy, society and the environment. China is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, through an energy infrastructure heavily focused on coal. China's per capita emissions are greater than the world and European Union averages but less than Australia, Canada, and the U.S. China recorded its hottest year on record in 2023, with an average temperature of 10.7 °C. On the basis of cumulative CO2 emissions measured from 1751 through to 2017, China is responsible for 13% of global and about half of the United States' cumulative emissions.
Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is a process in which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere by deliberate human activities and durably stored in geological, terrestrial, or ocean reservoirs, or in products. This process is also known as carbon removal, greenhouse gas removal or negative emissions. CDR is more and more often integrated into climate policy, as an element of climate change mitigation strategies. Achieving net zero emissions will require first and foremost deep and sustained cuts in emissions, and then—in addition—the use of CDR. In the future, CDR may be able to counterbalance emissions that are technically difficult to eliminate, such as some agricultural and industrial emissions.
Atmospheric methane is the methane present in Earth's atmosphere. The concentration of atmospheric methane is increasing due to methane emissions, and is causing climate change. Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases. Methane's radiative forcing (RF) of climate is direct, and it is the second largest contributor to human-caused climate forcing in the historical period. Methane is a major source of water vapour in the stratosphere through oxidation; and water vapour adds about 15% to methane's radiative forcing effect. The global warming potential (GWP) for methane is about 84 in terms of its impact over a 20-year timeframe, and 28 in terms of its impact over a 100-year timeframe.
The Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF) was launched on March 28, 2009. The MEF is intended to facilitate a candid dialogue among major developed and developing economies, help generate the political leadership necessary to achieve a successful outcome at the December UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, and advance the exploration of concrete initiatives and joint ventures that increase the supply of clean energy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Denmark, in its capacity as the President of the December 2009 Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the United Nations have also participated in this dialogue along with Observers.
The climate change policy of the United States has major impacts on global climate change and global climate change mitigation. This is because the United States is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world after China, and is among the countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions per person in the world. Cumulatively, the United States has emitted over a trillion metric tons of greenhouse gases, more than any country in the world.
Michael Liebreich is a businessman in the field of clean energy. He is the chairman of Liebreich Associates, through which he provides advisory services and speaks on clean energy and transportation, smart infrastructure, technology, climate finance and sustainable development. He is also a senior contributor at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a company he founded in 2004 that was acquired by Bloomberg in 2009.
Mina Guli is an Australian businesswoman, active in the environmental sector. She is CEO of Thirst.
Himanshu Gupta is an Indian American energy policy expert, engineer and entrepreneur in climate change. He is the co-founder and chief executive officer of ClimateAI, which was recognized in 2022 by Time magazine as one of the greatest innovations of that year.
Lisa Dyson is an American scientist, physicist, and entrepreneur who is the founder and CEO of Air Protein, a food tech company, reinventing how food is produced using elements of the air. As one of the companies recognized by the World Economic Forum, Air Protein aims to help sustainably and nutritiously feed 10 billion people by 2050.
The Great Reset Initiative is an economic recovery plan drawn up by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project was launched in June 2020, and a video featuring the then-Prince of Wales Charles was released to mark its launch. The initiative's stated aim is to facilitate rebuilding from the global COVID-19 crisis in a way that prioritizes sustainable development.
Kirsty Gogan Alexander is an entrepreneur and environmentalist advocating for the use of all clean energy sources to solve climate change. In 2021, Kirsty was appointed as a member of the IAEA Standing Advisory Group Nuclear Applications (SAGNA). She was awarded the Global Women In Nuclear Special Award For Work On Climate Change (2016), and Nuclear Industry Council Trailblazer Award (2019).
Carbon180 is a nonprofit environmental organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. In 2015, Giana Amador and Noah Deich co-founded the organization at the University of California, Berkeley. Carbon180 advocates for carbon dioxide removal solutions, including, but not limited to, direct air capture (DAC), forest carbon removal, and agricultural soil carbon. Carbon180 engages with lawmakers, academic and science-based institutions, and businesses to fund and deploy carbon removal technologies and methods.