In this episode of If/When, we demystify the terminology surrounding decarbonization and discuss some of the major challenges and opportunities facing the world today. Our guests include Jens Nielsen, CEO of the World Climate Foundation; Zoe Haseman, Jacobs’ Vice President for Global Sustainability; and Pete Adams, Jacobs Global Market Director for Power.
Jens Nielsen, founder and CEO of the World Climate Foundation, is a global executive based in Copenhagen, Denmark. He has worked in more than 20 countries performing strategy work for some of the largest corporations in the world. Jens is the chairman of World Climate Foundation, an impact oriented, not-for-profit organization that focuses on accelerating a resource-efficient economy through meaningful cross-sector partnerships and focused sustainability investments. For over a decade facilitating collaboration between businesses, governments, financial institutions and civil society on formulating and designing markets and solutions for a clean and net-zero economy. World Climate Foundation is hosting several impact platforms such as the World Climate Forum, the Climate Investment Coalition and the World Biodiversity Summit.
Zoe Haseman is Vice President, Global Sustainability with Jacobs and leads the sustainability and ESG strategy direction and delivery for the company. She has 20 years’ international experience as a sustainability executive, working across both public, private and start-up sectors. Since re-joining Jacobs in 2018, Zoe has led the creation of Jacobs first global sustainability strategy – PlanBeyond, as well as its ambitious Climate Action Plan. Jacobs is now a carbon neutral company and uses 100% renewable for its operations and business travel with a commitment to be carbon negative by 2030. In 2020, Jacobs was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index – North America for the first time. Zoe is a member of the UK Business in the Community Net Zero Taskforce and sits on the Senior Advisory Group for the World Economic Forum’s Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders.
Pete Adams, Vice President and Market Director, leads Jacobs Power and Energy market with a focus on achieving the businesses objective of servicing the global energy transition. He is now based back in the UK following 20 years of growing the Jacobs business and servicing clients in the global theatre. This experience has seen him work in Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific. He has experience in the development of both thermal and renewable generation projects and their associated transmission and substation infrastructure. His experience also covers operation and maintenance of process based industrial plants and power stations. Pete’s experience includes project management for several large-scale delivery projects in Australia and South East Asia. In the first part of his career he worked for both private sector business developing power infrastructure and a regulated networks business which has seen him gain experience with systems, processes, and tools to allow for successful outcomes on capital projects as well as regulatory reviews and investment decisions.