The Centre for Climate Engagement plays a unique role in bringing leading academic research to a targeted audience of chairs and non-executive directors to accelerate climate leadership on boards in the private and public sectors.
The Centre is uniquely placed to develop insights drawing on academic expertise from across the University of Cambridge and the wider research community, together with independent expertise from the business sector.
The Centre supports new areas of research particularly relevant for board members with a specific focus on climate law, governance, and organisational change. Our research is carried out directly by postdoctoral researchers, and indirectly via partnerships and collaboration with relevant experts.
Our mission is to encourage academic excellence in climate law, governance and organisational change, and to translate and transfer this knowledge to corporate boards to accelerate the race to net zero emissions and climate resilience.
Our Story
The Centre was launched in 2018
The Centre was set up in 2018 as part of The Bridge initiative at Hughes Hall which leverages the College’s multi-disciplinary perspective, international nature and external focus to bring the research and expertise of its academic community to solve real world problems.
Founders of the Centre, Dr Ron Zimmern and Julie Baddeley, were particularly concerned that boardrooms of listed companies (with few exceptions) were not sufficiently engaged with the climate agenda. Many boards had not given it the priority that it deserves, and some had not discussed it at all.
The Centre was initially set up to provide general guidance and toolkits that might be of assistance to boards and non-executive directors, but explicitly not to provide consultancy services or direct educational activity. This has allowed for successful partnering and collaboration with academics, professional services firms and increasingly, law firms.
Chapter Zero was launched in 2019 and the Centre became the secretariat for the Climate Governance Initiative in 2020
Chapter Zero was launched in 2019 and became one of the first networks of chairs and non-executive directors supporting increased awareness and understanding of climate change. Working closely with the World Economic Forum, it helped to spur a global movement and in 2020 the Centre became the secretariat for the Climate Governance Initiative. The success of these growing communities has driven a need for expansion and continued focus on the role of the Centre to bridge between academia and the boardroom.
In 2021, Emily Farnworth joined the team to develop the research and knowledge brokering teams, help strengthen links with the University through Cambridge Zero and the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance in additional to supporting growing networks of critical importance to the overall mission of the Centre.
Our Team
Dr Ron Zimmern
Chair and Co-Founder of the Centre for Climate Engagement
Ron has a distinguished career in human genomics and is also Chair of the PHG Foundation, successor to the Public Health Genetics Unit, which he established in 1997.
Julie Baddeley
Co-Director and Co-Founder of the Centre for Climate Engagement and Chair of Chapter Zero
Julie has served on the boards of major organisations in the public and private sectors for more than 20 years. Julie has a background in change management and sees delivering a zero-carbon economy as the biggest change challenge for business in her lifetime.
Emily Farnworth
Co-Director of the Centre for Climate Engagement
Emily has over 25 years of experience working with businesses, governments and non-profit organizations to support the transition to a low-carbon economy. Emily was previously the Head of Climate Initiatives at the World Economic Forum where she was involved in setting up the Climate Governance Initiative.
Harriet Harthan
Senior Knowledge Broker
Harriet has over 15 years’ experience working in climate, energy and sustainable development in a policy and business context. Harriet collaborates with academic and industry experts to understand key areas of climate research and how these can be translated for non-executive directors to accelerate climate action.
Nick Scott
Knowledge Broker
Nick has Law degrees from University of Cambridge and Berkley, California. Nick translates university research and determines how climate issues might affect a corporate audience. Current topics include greenhouse gas removal, carbon offsetting, and nature-based solutions to climate change.
Dr Ethan Aines
Research Assistant
Ethan leads the centre’s local engagement programme working across the university, local authority networks and business leaders in Cambridgeshire to accelerate climate mitigation and resilience in the region. Ethan was previously Policy Assistant at the Centre for Science and Policy and Cambridge Zero, where his work included liaising with Cambridge City Council on their policies to tackle the climate crisis and researching regional climate risk for the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Independent Commission on Climate. Ethan’s background is in archaeology and his doctoral dissertation explored human-environmental interaction and the persistence of landscape and environmental changes in East Anglia over the past 5,000 years.
Rachel Allen
Project Assistant
Rachel has a Natural Sciences degree from the University of Cambridge and is driven by a delight in communicating complex data to a broad audience. Rachel works across Centre projects, including the Climate Governance Initiative as well as Hughes Hall community engagement and outreach.
Sylvie Baird
Secretariat Manager of the Climate Governance Initiative
Sylvie supports the national networks of boards of non-executive directors, known as Chapters, that are part of the Climate Governance Initiative. Sylvie works to maximise the impact of the growing network of Chapters on climate action.
Join our team
We are recruiting for researchers. Please see the opportunities below:
Hoffmann Fellow: Post-Doctoral Position in Assessing Business Risk from Climate Change
Closing date: Midnight GMT on 29 October 2021
The Centre for Climate Change Engagement at Hughes Hall is partnering with the Department of Computer Science and Technology to explore the role of machine learning in supporting the ability of companies and investors to accurately assess and quantify the business risks of climate change. The aims of this partnership are aligned with the Hoffmann Fellowship Programme at the World Economic Forum and match funding for this post will be available. The Centre for Climate Change Engagement currently collaborates with the World Economic Forum as secretariat for the Climate Governance Initiative and this provides useful synergies for the findings and outputs of the research. The Hoffmann Fellow will be working in collaboration with the Forum, the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the University of Cambridge.
Further information about this role can be found on the job description. To apply for this vacancy, please complete the application cover sheet. All documentation should be emailed to hr@hughes.cam.ac.uk .
The College welcomes expressions of interest and applications from candidates from all communities and a diversity of backgrounds. You are encouraged to complete the College’s Equality and Diversity form which should be emailed to hr@hughes.cam.ac.uk.
The closing date for applications is Midnight GMT on 29 October 2021.
Slingshot