Rupert Robinson is a global finance and sustainability leader with over 30 years’ experience shaping capital, real assets, and climate-aligned investment strategies. He has held senior roles at Norges Bank Investment Management, the sovereign wealth fund of Norway, RSBGi, a German environmental fund, and KPMG, where he led or advised on landmark projects including London’s Regent Street regeneration, the Olympics, World Games, Manchester City’s Commonwealth Games, and FC Barcelona’s sustainable finance program. He also helped structure one of the first African environmental infrastructure funds to mobilise blended capital into climate solutions. Now working as an Independent Sustainable Finance Lead, Rupert develops models that embed climate action and economic value into sport, entertainment, and infrastructure — bridging finance, strategy, and transformation to deliver solutions that are commercially sound and socially meaningful.
Main Summit
Fran James
Fran James is co-founder and co-lead of Sustaina-Bees, an independent Brentford FC supporters’ group, founded in 2023. The group is for Brentford FC fans with knowledge, interest, and concern about environmental issues. Fran also writes the Football and Climate Change Newsletter.
Piera Abramo
Alex Mearns
Partnerships Director for the first music publisher in the world to launch a green music initiative: Green Production Music. It’s my role to help broadcasters, agencies, federations, teams, and production companies to sync music more sustainably.
Rafael Muela Pastor
General Manager at Real Betis Balompié Foundation since 2018, with experience in policy design, institutional coordination and field interventions in Asia, Central America, Europe, and United Nations global events. Specialising in environmental issues, sports, youth employment, social inclusion of vulnerable groups of people, within the framework of Corporate Sustainability.
Dr. Denise Ludlam
Denise joined Sport England in May 2023 to promote environmental sustainability initiatives within the organisation and to work with partners to improve the environmental performance of the sport and physical activity sector.
Denise Ludlam has spent many years working in the environmental sustainability sector. She started her professional career in agroecology research. Denise then spent several years working for national parks in the UK and in central and eastern Europe before moving to environmental work in the charity sector. Much of the focus of her work has been on education and training; sharing experiences in, and communicating about, the importance and value of our natural environment, whether this be a protected landscape or an urban nature reserve. Further work specialised on sustainable travel and transport.
After a ten-year stint as a primary school teacher, leading on science and Forest Schools, Denise stepped back into the sustainability sector. She spent several years working for Derbyshire County Council on strategies and projects to improve the environmental performance of the Council and of the county.
Lindita Xhaferi Salihu
Lindita Xhaferi Salihu leads work on sectors engagement in climate action as part of UN Climate Change wider Global Climate Action work. She led development of both Sports for Climate Action and Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action and works closely with a variety of stakeholders to mobilize key actors and catalyze ambitious action towards decarbonization. Before joining UN Climate Change, Lindita worked in public relations and coordinated projects promoting multi-stakeholder engagement in policy and sustainability. Lindita has an educational background in engineering, international relations and global energy & climate policy.
Tiberio Daddi
Tiberio is Associate Professor in Sustainability Management at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, a public University located in Pisa, Italy. His research interests range from corporate environmental management to sustainable consumption and production, from Environmental performance and LCA to circular economy. He is author of more than 60 international publications and project manager of numerous international projects funded mainly by European Commission. At Sant’Anna University he coordinates the Sport Sustainability Management research area, focused on environmental sustainability activities applied in different sports like Football, Biathlon, Athletics, Floorball, Canoeing, Sailing.
Dr. Madeleine Orr
Madeleine is a researcher, educator and advocate working at the intersection of sport and climate change. After earning her PhD in Kinesiology from the University of Minnesota in 2020 and a postdoc in strategy at University of British Columbia in 2021, Maddy joined the Institute for Sport Business at Loughborough University London where she developed the world’s first MSc in Sustainable Sport Business. She joined the University of Toronto as an Assistant Professor of Sport Ecology in Fall 2023, and is a visiting professor for sustainability in sport with the FIA University.
Maddy is the founder of The Sport Ecology Group, an international consortium of academics who drive climate action in the sport sector through research and public education initiatives. She currently serves as Industry Lead with the SEG which sees her collaborating with several industry partners to drive evidence-based decision making on ESG, climate risk, and strategic communications. Her research in sport ecology examines the impacts of climate change on the sport sector, with a focus on resilience and adaptation. She has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and several industry-facing reports on the topic, many of which have gained global attention. Her work has been covered by the BBC, Time Magazine, ESPN, Sky Sports, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, and more. Her first book Warming Up: How Climate Change is Changing Sports (for Bloomsbury) was published in 2024 and named a Top 5 Sports Book of 2024 by The Guardian.
Dr. Sheila Nguyen
For over 20 years, Dr. Sheila Nguyen has championed the protection of our planet through the power of sport. Her impact has been recognized globally — named the inaugural Regional Leader (Oceania) by Sport Positive, awarded Honorary Lifetime Membership by BASIS (2022), and listed among the Australian Financial Review’s Top 100 Women of Influence (2019).
As Head of Sustainability for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, she led groundbreaking initiatives to embed sustainability into one of the world’s biggest tournaments. She also co-founded the Sports Environment Alliance, uniting sport and planet leaders to protect the places where we play.
