In this latest ESG Quick Takes podcast episode, ESG Book’s Isabel Verkes speaks to Georg Kell, Founding Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact. In this episode, Georg tells the story of the creation of the Global Compact, which he established as the world’s largest voluntary corporate sustainability initiative, and discusses the evolution of ESG as well as the trends that will shape the future of the sustainability and net-zero transition. https://www.forbes.com/sites/georgkell/2023/04/06/the-role-of-voluntary-business-initiatives-in-an-era-of-political-fragmentation/

Peter Fox-Penner is a partner and Chief Impact Officer at Climate VC firm Energy Impact Partners (EIP), where he directs all ESG and impact measurement, helps EIP’s portfolio companies to improve their ESG performance, and collaborates with EIP’s limited partners to accelerate their clean energy transitions. He is also a founding member of Project Frame, a coalition of leading PE firms developing impact reporting guidelines, and co-founder and senior fellow of the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability. He is also a Senior Advisor to the Brattle Group.

He previously served as a Senior Advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy.

He has served on the boards and advisory boards of numerous companies, including EOS Energy Storage (EOSE), Gridpoint, the Global Energy Group (GHG), and Lighting Retrofit, Inc (now Envocore).

Peter now serves on the global leadership council of the World Resources Institute and on the advisory boards of Mobility Impact Partners, the Rail Electrification Council, and the Boston University IMAP program, a collaboration between industry and academia to improve ESG metrics

To learn more from Peter's views, his book Smart Power: Climate Change, the Smart Grid, and the Future of Electric Utilities (Island Press, 2010) and its sequel Power After Carbon: Building a Clean, Resilient Grid (Harvard University Press, 2020) give a detailed and fascinating insight on the energy system in its complexity. His research has been widely cited, including in one Supreme Court decision.

Peter's firm, EIP is a lead investor of ESG Book.

Tech companies are known for their low emissions profile, but what about their clients? How can big tech not just improve its own carbon footprint, but also help drive corporate sustainability in other sectors? This is what we talk about with Justin Keeble in this episode. He is Managing Director of Global Sustainability at Google Cloud, and leading several initiatives to support Google and its clients with sustainability and related decision-making. To learn more about the work of Justin and his team, see their latest thought piece here.