Executive Lead – Transforming Tomorrow: from climate emergency to prosperity at the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity

David Bent is passionate about playing his part in a generation that puts the world on a sustainable footing. David has worked at Forum for the Future, an independent non-profit working globally to solve complex sustainability challenges, for the last 13 years, most recently as Director of Sustainable Business. He advised dozens of companies in the UK, USA and India on strategy and innovation so they can be more successful by creating a sustainable future.

His perspective is that our global natural and social systems are overwhelmed, and we need to act as a global ‘innovation function’ so those systems are coping, and people have access to what they need to choose their own lives. David sees his role as supporting institutional efforts that shift the macro patterns and dynamics of our lives. Under that umbrella, his current priorities include: advising the Cabinet Office on inclusive economy; researching a pro-sustainability industrial strategy as an Associate Fellow of the Centre for Science and Policy, University of Cambridge; and developing a 'Gigatonne Lab' to accelerate a rapid transition to a zero carbon world.

David has a Masters in Physics from Oxford, where he was part of the first Alternative Careers Fair in 1996. He qualified as an accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and has a Masters in Responsibility and Business Practice from the University of Bath. David used his CSaP Policy Fellowship to investigate the role of business in the transition to a global sustainable economy.