Juliet Davenport

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Juliet Davenport OBE (born 1968) is a British businesswoman. She founded and is the former chief executive of Good Energy, a renewable energy company in the United Kingdom.

Contents

Origins and education

Juliet Sarah Davenport [1] was born in Haslemere, Surrey, in 1968. [2] [3]

She read physics as an undergraduate at Merton College, Oxford before taking a master's degree in economics and environmental economics at Birkbeck, University of London. She also worked for a year at the European Commission on European energy policy and at the European Parliament on carbon taxation. [4]

Career

Davenport began working with Energy for Sustainable Development, an environmental consultancy. While there, she ran technology models and analysed policies on renewable energy from countries around Europe. [5]

In 1999, Davenport set up Unit[e], a subsidiary of the Monkton Group, of which she later became CEO. In 2003, Unit[e] was renamed Good Energy. The company was named a Sunday Times Best Green Company in 2008 and 2009, and received The Observer’s Ethical Award for best online retail initiative in 2009. [6] In 2012, Davenport was named as PLUS CEO of the year. [7]

In March 2021, the podcast Great Green Questions launched with Davenport as host. On the series she speaks to a variable panel of celebrities, experts and comedians about the issues of sustainable living. [8]

From 1 May 2021 Davenport stepped down as CEO of Good Energy, [9] and she left the company's board in 2022. [10] She holds a number of non-executive directorships [10] and is chair of Atrato Onsite Energy, a company which installs solar generation on roofs of commercial buildings. [11] [12]

Davenport has been a trustee of the Energy Institute professional membership body since 2019, [13] and in July 2022 was appointed as its president for a three-year term. [14]

Davenport was appointed as a Crown Estate Commissioner in 2020, renewed in 2024 for another four years. [15]

Honours and awards

Davenport was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to renewable energy supply. [1] She holds honorary degrees from the University of Bristol (2018) [16] and the University of Bath (2022). [17]

Published works

Personal life

Davenport was married to Mark Shorrock (now divorced)[ citation needed ] and has a daughter and a stepdaughter. [2]

Related Research Articles

A green economy is an economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and that aims for sustainable development without degrading the environment. It is closely related with ecological economics, but has a more politically applied focus. The 2011 UNEP Green Economy Report argues "that to be green, an economy must not only be efficient, but also fair. Fairness implies recognizing global and country level equity dimensions, particularly in assuring a Just Transition to an economy that is low-carbon, resource efficient, and socially inclusive."

A sustainable business, or a green business, is an enterprise which has a minimal negative impact or potentially a positive effect on the global or local environment, community, society, or economy—a business that attempts to meet the triple bottom line. They cluster under different groupings and the whole is sometimes referred to as "green capitalism". Often, sustainable businesses have progressive environmental and human rights policies. In general, a business is described as green if it matches the following four criteria:

  1. It incorporates principles of sustainability into each of its business decisions.
  2. It supplies environmentally friendly products or services that replace demand for nongreen products and/or services.
  3. It is greener than traditional competition.
  4. It has made an enduring commitment to environmental principles in its business operations.
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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Good Energy</span>

Good Energy Group PLC is a British energy company based in Chippenham, Wiltshire that provides services in the electrification of transport and decentralised renewable energy generation such as domestic solar panels. The company is also an energy retailer, and built a portfolio of wind and solar generation which was sold in 2022. Founded by Juliet Davenport, its CEO is Nigel Pocklington.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Leggett</span> British social entrepreneur and writer (born 1954)

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Celtic Renewables Ltd. is the first company to produce biofuel from the by-products of the scotch whisky industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bristol Energy</span>

Bristol Energy was a municipally owned energy supply company, founded in September 2015 by Bristol City Council. Its business accounts were sold to Yü Energy in August 2020, and in the following month its residential accounts were sold to Together Energy. In October 2020, F&S Energy purchased Bristol Energy's renewable energy generator portfolio, along with its commercial feed-in tariff customers.

Octopus Energy Group is a British renewable energy group. It was founded in 2015 with the backing of Octopus Group, a British asset management company. Headquartered in London, the company has operations in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. Octopus is the UK's largest supplier of electricity to domestic customers, and the second largest in domestic gas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carla Denyer</span> Co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales

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References

  1. 1 2 Cabinet Office press release, New Year Honours 2013, p.26. Accessed on 11 February 2013.
  2. 1 2 Tim Webb, The Good Life still means Sustainability, The Times, 10 December 2012.
  3. Sinclair, Emma (14 January 2013). "How Juliet Davenport went from scientist to chief executive". The Telegraph. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  4. Mark Tran, Ethical powerhouse, The Guardian, 25 June 2004.
  5. Good Energy website, Juliet Davenport, accessed on 11 February 2013.
  6. "Awards and accolades". Good Energy. Archived from the original on 9 March 2011 via Internet Archive.
  7. Ruthven, Hunter (2 March 2012). "New energy entrepreneur Juliet Davenport walked off with the CEO of the Year gong at the PLUS Awards last night". Growth Business. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  8. "Launching my new podcast, Great Green Questions". Juliet Davenport. 18 March 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  9. "Good Energy announces appointment of new CEO". Good Energy. 7 April 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  10. 1 2 Grundy, Alice (20 May 2022). "Juliet Davenport steps down from Good Energy's board to pursue portfolio career". Current. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  11. Ambrose, Jillian (1 January 2022). "Juliet Davenport: Good Energy founder spreads her wings and her expertise". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  12. Makortoff, Kalyeena (25 October 2021). "London Stock Exchange poised to list first company with all-female board". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  13. "Energy Institute: Trustees". Charity Commission. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  14. "Renewables pioneer Juliet Davenport appointed Energy Institute President". Energy Institute. 4 July 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  15. "No. 64545". The London Gazette . 21 October 2024. p. 20702.
  16. "Honorary degrees awarded at the University of Bristol". University of Bristol. 13 July 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  17. "Juliet Davenport, OBE: Oration". University of Bath. May 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2024.