Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, President and CEO of Frontier25 and The Climate Tribe, and Chairwomen of Alliances for Global Sustainability, RESET MENA and Aurora50 joined Lindsay Hooper, CEO of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, on stage at Robinson College, part of the University of Cambridge, for an in-depth conversation about meaningful climate leadership. The session was held as part of Cambridge’s Sustainability Leadership Alumni Insight Sharing Day.
Exploring how the UAE and wider region are responding to the urgent need for climate action, she said: “We need to scale the solutions we know we have and remove any barriers to innovation, but we also need to see a more consolidated ecosystem approach, and we need sustainability protocols to be embedded into organisations, not just as boxes to be ticked. In a globalised world that is increasingly divided, we all have a responsibility to act as a bridge for the betterment of future generations.”
Discussing how everyone can have an impact, regardless of their position, she stressed that everyone has a part to play in realising climate ambitions. “One doesn’t have to work for a climate organisation to be a climate leader. Use your network intentionally. Anything to do with climate is interdisciplinary and collaboration is key. Climate is cross-cutting and you can bring it into the room wherever you are. Professionals who carry climate thinking and systems thinking with them will create the most enduring impact.”
Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan holds a Master of Studies in Sustainability Leadership and an MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Cambridge.
