Innovation Zero Announces 2025 Co-Chairs Baroness Bryony Worthington and Dr Rhian-Mari Thomas OBE

Innovation Zero is proud to announce its two co-chairs for the 2025 World Congress; Dr Rhian-Mari Thomas OBE, Chief Executive of the Green Finance Institute and Chair of the National Wealth Fund Taskforce, and Crossbench Peer The Baroness Bryony Worthington, key architect of the UK’s world leading Climate Change Act. Together, Rhian-Mari and Bryony exemplify Innovation Zero’s mission to provide a platform for innovation in its broadest sense.

Here, we discuss what this means, and hear from our new Co-Chairs, who we are pleased to say will be opening Days One and Two of the Main Stage Programme.

Updating Innovation: The Concept of New Ideas

Innovation in the Spotlight
Type ‘innovation’ into any well-known search engine, and you’ll almost certainly encounter images of the lightbulb—the classic archetype of innovation—with references to its inventor, Edison. Similarly, when considering the climate challenge, one might think of electric cars, renewable energy sources or the latest agricultural technology. While these are all groundbreaking achievements, we believe that innovation encompasses so much more than machinery and technology – innovation in its fullest sense is about the implementation of new ideas.

Innovation Beyond Technology
Innovation is not just about tech; it also encompasses the novel policy, financial and business models needed to turn scientific evidence into action and accelerate the deployment of solutions. It lights the spark for the brightest change-makers and entrepreneurs, and it is vital in rethinking the systems that support a low-carbon future.

“Our mission at Innovation Zero is to create a platform to accelerate the transformation to an economy that is reducing climate risk. We do this by connecting the leaders, the original thinkers and the practitioners from the worlds of policy, finance and business. For us innovation refers to new ideas, new approaches and new paradigms across these intersecting domains. We are delighted therefore that two outstanding, proven innovators in these fields accepted our invitation to Co-Chair our London-based event and to help us craft and present the most valuable edition to date.” – Tim Mann, Director, Innovation Zero

Policy Innovations Leading the Way
Whether it’s China’s clean tech targets in their five year plans, the US’s tax incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act or the UK and Europe’s legal frameworks that are driving down greenhouse gas emissions, there are huge policy levers in place now that are shifting trillions of dollars in investment. Each bloc is pursing strategies that align with their political and economic circumstances and there are signs that a race to the top is underway in terms of benefiting from a climate safe transition.

Innovative Approaches to Climate Finance
In financial markets, blended finance solutions are working to get first of a kind projects derisked and new approaches are revolutionizing climate finance. Debt-for-nature swaps, for instance, could provide $100 billion to restore nature and help countries adapt to climate change. Although this concept has been around since the 1980s, it is gaining renewed traction with investor confidence. In May 2023, Ecuador sealed a landmark deal that will protect the endangered ecosystem of the Galapagos Islands through the sale of a blue bond set to mature in 2041.

Business Innovation
Innovation also extends to how  companies realign their strategies to deliver on climate-friendly commitments,  ranging from changes to internal policies and metrics to  the ways in which shareholders engage with businesses to hold them to account. With the right enabling ecosystem, which includes enlightened leadership, supportive policy models and forward- thinking investors, truly innovative initiatives can be supported and accelerated.

Overcoming Resistance
There are those who are reluctant to embrace change, who revel in pointing out the challenges and complexities of the net zero transition. But taking our inspiration from the inventor of that most iconic symbol of innovation, it was Edison who famously said “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time”.

Giving up is not an option when it comes to the climate challenge.

Indeed it is through embracing innovation in its broadest sense that we will succeed.

REGISTER INTEREST     VIEW PROGRAMME