Keynote SpeakerClaire O'Neill

Claire O’Neill is considered a global expert on sustainability and decarbonisation with a particular focus on practical action, carbon removal and the catalytic role of the private sector.

Before entering Parliament in 2010 she had a 20-year career in consulting and finance. After her election she held several Ministerial roles including the Cabinet role of Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth. In that position she created the UK’s Clean Growth and Green Finance Strategies, established the global Powering Past Coal Alliance (with Canada), negotiated the world’s first public-private Offshore Wind Sector Deal and led the UK Carbon Capture and Storage taskforce. In 2019 she brought forward the country’s ground-breaking Net Zero legislation and led the UK’s winning bid to host COP26 for which she served as President-Designate until she left politics in 2020. She then led the Climate and Energy team at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the world’s leading corporate sustainability organisation. She now co-chairs the WBCSD Global Imperatives Advisory Board, is Board Chair at Climate Impact X and a non-executive Director at Oxy Petroleum, the Singapore Stock Exchange and Windward AI. She also serves as an advisor and investor for several global clean tech companies and as a Senior Global Advisor to McKinsey and Company.

Claire O’Neill grew up in the UK, studied Geography at Oxford University followed by an MBA at Harvard Business School and had a transatlantic career in consultancy and finance before entering politics. She is a member of the UK Privy Council, a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and the Energy Institute and Is a Business Fellow at the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at Oxford University.