The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) has announced Lindsay Hooper as its permanent CEO and Head of Department. Her appointment comes during a pivotal time for global sustainability efforts, as the world grapples with record temperatures, extreme weather, and ongoing biodiversity loss.
Under Lindsay’s interim leadership, CISL has tackled pressing questions about making sustainability more relevant to citizens and actionable in the context of political, technological, and economic realities. Early in 2024, the Institute hosted a leadership summit to address these challenges and outline credible pathways for real-world change.
Looking ahead, Lindsay and CISL’s senior team plan to pursue a bold agenda aimed at extending the Institute’s impact within the University and society at large. Priorities include driving systemic changes in markets and economies, fostering collaboration, and delivering on the Institute’s mission to lead transformative change.
Lindsay said, “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.”
She added, “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 the University of Cambridge, welcomed this announcement and said, “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.”
