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Jamel Toppin for Forbes; Aska Liu Forbes; Guerin Blask for Forbes; Michael Prince for Forbes
Last week, Forbes launched its inaugural Sustainability Leaders list. The stakes in addressing climate change could not be higher: Without fast and significant action, it will get worse – more extreme weather, food and water insecurity, mass displacement and public health crises. That’s why we’ve chosen to spotlight 50 superstar entrepreneurs, scientists, funders, policymakers and activists who are leading the charge to combat the climate crisis with real, tangible impact.
These are people like Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, who is pumping billions into clean tech; Sunrun CEO Mary Powell, who is easing the electric power crunch one home at a time; and MIT professor Yet-Ming Chiang who has launched eight climate-related startups.
Four mayors worldwide – Boston’s Michelle Wu, Paris’s Anne Hidalgo, Freetown, Sierra Leone’s Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr and Quezon City, Philippines’ Joy Belmonte – made the cut. So, too, did Wang Chuanfu, founder of Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD; British fashion designer Stella McCartney, a long-time advocate of sustainability; Rev. Lennox Yearwood, chair of the Hip Hop Caucus, a non-profit that engages young voters in the political process; and Andrew Steer, CEO of the Bezos Earth Fund, a philanthropic organization charged with disbursing $10 billion in grants to fight the climate crisis and protect nature.
One person not on the list: Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and CEO of the biggest electric vehicle company.
We’ll be hosting our........