Enjoying a great cup of coffee in Detroit.
Amy Larkin, founder of Nature Means Business and former Vice Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Climate Change, is one of the first to make the direct connections between our global environmental and financial crises—both causes and solutions. An award-winning entrepreneur, producer, and environmental activist, Amy has launched cultural institutions, co-founded one of the first affinity marketing businesses, and worked with Greenpeace for 30 years as a volunteer, board member, advisor, and (from 2005 to early 2012) as Director of Greenpeace Solutions.
She currently leads a new pre-competitive public/private collaboration that includes corporate, government and NGO champions. This skunkworks will catalyze and create scalable reusable packaging systems that will make single-use plastic obsolete for most consumer goods.
In 2010, Greenpeace Solutions worked with the Consumer Goods Forum, a consortium of 400 companies with $3 trillion in revenue, to eliminate HFCs from all new equipment starting in 2015. This industry transformation will eliminate 1-2 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions over the next 30 years. This work won the prestigious 2011 Roy Award from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government for public/private partnerships that protect natural resources.
Through her consulting business, Amy has worked with multinationals (the Consumer Goods Forum), multilaterals (OECD), universities (UC/Davis’ Agricultural Sustainability Institute), scientific institutions (Future Earth), and NGOs (Oceana). She is a strategic partner at Resolve. She has forged partnerships between disparate groups across the globe, helping traditionally opposing interests work together toward lasting, positive change. Amy works to inform and empower citizens, corporations, and policy-makers to take bold steps toward long-term financial and ecological resilience.
Amy is the author of Environmental Debt: The Hidden Costs of a Changing Global Economy. In the book, Larkin connects the environmental and financial crises — both causes and solutions. Amy has appeared on numerous media platforms including Bloomberg Radio, the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, Stand Up! with Pete Dominick, and the Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC (NYC’s NPR Affiliate), as well a dozen long-form NPR interviews. She has given keynote addresses at @GoogleTalks, the Student Climate and Conservation Congress, the Consumer Goods Forum, CannonDesign, the Social Venture Network, the New York Public Library, and numerous other universities, conferences, and private businesses. Amy has served as Board Chair of BiomimicryNYC and the ARChive of Contemporary Music, the largest collection of contemporary music in the world.