I have worked with ESG, sustainability and CSRD at F.C. Copenhagen since 2024. During this time, I have led the delivery of two CSRD reports and worked to strategically embed sustainability into the club’s everyday operations and initiatives, both as a football club and as a stadium.
2026
Rishin Tandon
Rishin Tandon is an ESPY Award winner, a winner of the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award as one of just three National Honorees, and the winner of the American Climate Leadership Award (Youth Category) by ecoAmerica. He is the 17-year-old founder of the patent-pending Youth Eco Sports Scorecard (YESS), a first-of-its-kind digital platform that functions like a FICO-style score for youth sports sustainability, using behavioral science, community-generated data, and youth leadership to measure, benchmark, and accelerate climate action.
Rishin was also one of six recipients of an Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program grant supporting innovative work in sport and social impact. He has delivered mainstage talks at the Green Sports Alliance Summit in Miami, became the youngest two-time global speaker at Play the Game in Tampere, Finland, and has been a guest speaker at NC State University and the University of Washington Bothell.
His work grew from original research examining sustainability across the 2018, 2022, and 2026 FIFA World Cups, including interviews with 12 global experts spanning sport, sustainability, academia, and World Cup organizing committees. He translated lessons from global mega-events to the grassroots through YESS, which turns everyday decisions from transportation and waste to extreme heat and air quality, into measurable climate actions, behavioral nudges, and data that can reveal where change is most needed.
Rishin’s work sits at the intersection of climate action, behavioral science, environmental justice, public health, and sport. His broader goal is to democratize climate leadership by giving young people the tools, data, and agency to drive systemic change through the teams and communities they already belong to.
Jeremy Mathieu
Jeremy is the Head of Sustainability at ITV, the leading UK commercial broadcaster and international production group.
He drives all aspects of the environmental strategy for the company, including shaping the roadmap to net zero, ensuring business resilience by managing climate-related risks and engaging audiences on the sustainability transition through content and advertising.
He drives change across sectors through industry collaboration projects and currently sits on the Board of BAFTA albert.
He transitioned into sustainability roles in 2014 after a decade working as a sport TV producer and retains a great passion for the world of sport and its potential to be a force for good in the world.
Dr. Sasha Sutherland
Dr. Sasha Sutherland is the Executive Director of the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organization (RADO). In her role she manages teams in the 18 Caribbean RADO member countries to strengthen their anti-doping frameworks. She is also a lecturer at The University of the West Indies and serves as a Director of the Barbados Olympic Association Inc., where she is Chair of the Education Commission, a member of the Governance Commission and Sustainability Lead.
With a desire to increase awareness around issues of gender (in)equality, governance and doping in sport, she has published work on menstrual health, Sport for Development, sexism and sport impacts on girls and women, and gender and race in sport. She is also Chair of the Barbados Girls Cricket Club- the first of its kind in the Caribbean. Here she is committed, with her team, to provide safe spaces for girls to participate in and thrive in and through sport.
She is a former triple-discipline athlete of Lawn Tennis, Football and Hockey and enjoys Open Water Swimming who brings her knowledge of being athlete, administrator and academic together to inform the world in any way she can.
Abby Freney
Abby Freney is the National Club Experiences Manager at Golf Australia, where she leads national initiatives designed to support golf clubs across the country — including the development of Golf Australia’s Environmental Sustainability Framework and the newly launched Golf Australia Club Governance Program. Abby joined Golf Australia as an intern four years ago, fresh out of her studies in sport management, and has since been championing new perspectives in her role within the sport. Abby and her team are focused on strategic planning and modern governance that drive sustainable, lasting outcomes for golf clubs nationwide.
Anneke Siebert
I’m passionate about sports – especially about handball, running and, of course, soccer. At the same time I’m driving for a sustainable business transformation that respects planetary and social boundaries.
After my studies in Sports, Business & Law, I focused on sustainability management. But I soon found my way back to sports, starting as a sustainability manager at SV Sandhausen, a soccer club that played at that time in the second league.
Since 2023, I’m the sustainability manager of TSG Hoffenheim, which includes topics such as sustainable development, activation, reporting and communication.
I’ve been part of the GARFIELD project since the beginning.
Jordi Portabella
Born in Barcelona, Jordi Portabella i Calvete holds a degree in Biology from the University of Barcelona and a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering. Since mid-2021, he has been Director of the Sustainability Area of Futbol Club Barcelona.
Previously, he developed his professional career as General Director of the Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca i Innovació, Director of the Research and Knowledge Area of the Fundació Bancària La Caixa, as well as Councillor and Deputy Mayor of the Barcelona City Council. Previously, he was also a member of the Catalan Parliament.
He has written many articles related to science and sustainability for educational centres, magazines and several media and has collaborated for five years in the supplement ‘Science and Life’ of La Vanguardia and in Catalunya Ràdio with his own space for popularising science. He participated in the board of directors and editorial board of the magazine ‘TOTS’ of the UNESCO Centre of Catalonia, published in four languages and distributed worldwide.
He has written the book ‘Històries de Can Fanga’ and has participated in several collective books.
He is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Science and Art of Barcelona, Gold and Brilliant Medal of Tourism of Catalonia and Gold Medal of the Fira de Barcelona.
Cat Ainsworth
Cat Ainsworth leads the team at Protect Our Winters UK, mobilising the outdoor community to turn concern about climate change into meaningful collective action. Cat works to build alliances across the outdoor sector, amplifying trusted voices and pushing for the policies and decisions needed to create a fair transition to a low-carbon future.
A qualified ski instructor, Cat’s connection to the outdoors runs deep. Her career has spanned humanitarian response, international development and running a technology cooperative, giving her a distinctive perspective on how communities can come together to tackle complex systemic challenges. She believes individual action matters but that our biggest opportunity for change lies in using our collective influence to challenge the systems that threaten the places we love.
At POW UK, Cat is driven by a simple conviction: the future of our mountains, rivers, coastlines and winters will be shaped not by those who care, but by those who act.
Annie Horn
Annie Horn is Associate Vice President, Social Impact & Inclusion and Sustainability at the NBA, where she leads the league’s environmental sustainability strategy across the NBA, WNBA, NBA G League and Basketball Africa League, working across league operations, events and partners to integrate sustainability into the business of basketball, in addition to NBA’s health and wellness platform, NBA Total Health. She has guided the NBA’s climate commitments, including becoming the first professional sports league in North America to sign the United Nations Sports for Climate Action Framework, and led the league’s first carbon footprint assessment and public greenhouse gas emissions disclosure.
Her work focuses on helping the league measure, reduce and report its environmental impact while advancing practical sustainability initiatives across marquee events and year-round operations. Through collaboration with teams, venues, corporate partners and industry stakeholders her work advances scalable solutions strengthening both sustainability and fan engagement. She is passionate about harnessing the power of sport to create positive social and environmental impact.
Karishma Ali
Karishma Ali is a pioneering female footballer and the founder of the Karishma Ali Foundation, a women-led organization that uses sports and physical activities as strategies for social change and women empowerment, particularly in marginalized communities. Born and raised in the remote and conservative region of Chitral, Pakistan, Karishma Ali challenged social norms by taking up football at a time when few girls had the opportunity to play. She later founded the region’s first organisation dedicated to advancing girls’ and women’s participation in sport, creating pathways for thousands of young women to play, lead, and thrive.
Today KAF works directly with 1000+ young girls and 120 coaches from across different regions and communities of Pakistan. KAF combines sports training with mental health support, art therapy, climate education, awareness sessions on gender-based violence, and leadership development.
Karishma’s work has earned her numerous awards and recognition. In 2018, she was selected as the UNICEF Pakistan Adolescent Champion. In 2019, at the age of 20, she made it to the Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 list and was appointed to Pakistan’s first National Youth Council. In 2020 her story won “Tell her story” organised by UC Berkley and Facebook. In 2022, she received the Pride of Pakistan Award and became a member of UN Women’s 30 for 2030. In 2024, she was honored with the Sports Positive Next Generation Trailblazer Award in the UK.
