The fight for a better tomorrow: Canada’s top 30 under 30 sustainability leaders of 2022

Adria Vasil and Alex Robinson — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 13:00:11 +0000

Presented by

“The oceans are rising and so are we,” chanted a chorus of climate strikers marching through Manhattan.

On the same day that Pakistan’s prime minister was pleading with world leaders gathered at the United Nations General Assembly not to leave his country “alone high and dry” to cope with the catastrophic impacts of flooding, outside, thousands of young people were marching to Wall Street demanding climate reparations for poor countries.

With the latest round of global climate strikes planned in roughly 450 countries in late September (including nearly 40 in Canada and 134 in the United States) members of Generation Z and millennials were once again gathering in the streets to make their voices heard.

Placards and microphones weren’t the only tools they used.

Ten days earlier, seven Ontario youth appeared in court virtually to challenge the provincial government’s decision to gut its climate targets in 2018.

“We are here today to address the dire situation we find ourselves in [so we can] tell our children that we did all we could, while we could, to change our trajectory,” said co-plaintiff Shaelyn Wabegijig of the Rama First Nation at a press conference ahead of the hearing.

They’re in good company. Whether they’re legal advocates, entrepreneurs, activists, engineers-in-training or policy geeks, Corporate Knights’ 2022 Top 30 Under 30 Sustainability Leaders are using their collective skills to challenge the status quo and bend the arc of history toward a more just and sustainable future.

Earlier this year, 29-year-old Anishinaabe lawyer Stephanie Willsey helped First Nations communities win an $8-billion class-action lawsuit against the Canadian government to address the ongoing water crisis on reserves. Sanch Gupta and Milton Calderon Donefer have saved 52,000 pounds of food from going to waste and delivered more than 70,000 meals to homeless shelters in eight cities. At 28, Kurtis Layden, senior policy advisor in the Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, has been a key advisor on the federal ban on some single-use plastics, taking effect in 2025.

More than half the world’s population is now under 30 years old. The largest youth generation in history is coming of age while inheriting a planet marred by extreme climate events, a lingering pandemic, armed conflicts and sharply rising inflation. For its 11th annual youth survey, Deloitte surveyed 4,808 Gen Zers and 8,412 millennials across 46 countries and found that they’re “deeply worried” about the state of the world, but Gen Zers and millennials are putting in the work to drive change.

They’re pressuring their employers, their schools (including MBA programs) and the businesses they support to take environmental action more seriously. (Only 15% of Gen Zers and 14% of millennials strongly agree that businesses are taking substantive actions to address the climate emergency, according to Deloitte.) The two generations marked by rising climate anxiety are also advocating for stronger support for workplace mental health.

For this year’s cohort of Top 30 Under 30 Sustainability Leaders, saving the world while safeguarding their own mental health has become critical to making sure their own leadership is sustainable for the long haul. That’s also central to their advice for up-and-coming sustainability leaders.

“I have seen far too many people in the field, including myself, burn out,” says Kait Tyschenko, founder of the Queer Infrastructure Network. They encourage youth in the sustainability space to “listen to their minds and bodies and to take care of themselves.”

Helen Watts, senior director of global partnerships at Student Energy, knows what it’s like to run on fumes while growing an organization to have a million-dollar budget. “We physically, mentally and spiritually cannot sustain this version of ourselves without committing to rest and recovery, taking time to stay connected to our communities and our motivators.”

One thing the Top 30 Under 30 have in common is that they’re channelling their energies (including climate anxieties) into inspiring, needle-moving solutions, whether that’s fighting for Indigenous rights, building greener buildings and cleaner power, closing the loop on waste, or boosting corporate and government sustainability. Ultimately, they’re standing up for the well-being of all life on this planet – and they’re showing us all how it’s done.

How we found the top 30:

Every April, Corporate Knights opens the 30 Under 30 nominations to the public. An internal team narrowed the list of submissions down to a shortlist of 60, then our panel of judges each submitted their top 30 picks, and we tallied the votes.

Judges

Tabatha Bull | President of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business

Shilpa Tiwari | Founder of Her Climb and global executive vice-president of social impact and sustainability at Citizen Relations

Phil De Luna | Sustainability expert at McKinsey, mentor at Creative Destruction Lab, and a 2021 Corporate Knights Top 30 Under 30

Adria Vasil | Managing editor of Corporate Knights and bestselling author of the Ecoholic book series

Want to be on next year’s 30 Under 30? Visit corporateknights.com in April 2023 to nominate any change agents under 30 that you think should be considered for next year’s list.

Stephanie Willsey

29, Toronto/Rama First Nation
Lawyer, McCarthy Tétrault LLP

Roughly 60 Indigenous communities in Canada don’t have access to clean water. But thanks to Stephanie Willsey, a proud Anishinaabe lawyer and active member of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation, three First Nations received a historic $8-billion settlement agreement earlier this year to rectify their water crises. “To our people, water is life. Water is more than a basic resource. It is a medicine. It is part of ceremony,” says Willsey. She mentors other Indigenous lawyers and law students, as well as Indigenous high school students, so they too can see themselves in the profession. Willsey also provides legal advice at Pro Bono Students Canada’s Indigenous Human Rights Clinics and is a delegate at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Recently named one of Canadian Lawyer’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers, Willsey says, “My goal has always been to use my law degree to help people, and I am so proud to be doing just that.”

Kat Cadungog

27, Calgary
executive director, The Youth Harbour

As an Albertan with friends and family tied to the oil and gas industry, Kate Cadungog feels like she has an “inside scoop” on how to create a more inclusive climate-resilient society. “I’ve always been inspired by narratives that bring people along and unite people, and I owe a lot of my perseverance to the Albertan ‘grit’ that I’ve learned from my peers,” she says. Armed with that experience, Cadungog wants to completely reimagine philanthropic systems and the way we support young climate mobilizers. Under Cadungog’s leadership, The Youth Harbour has raised $1.5 million to support youth-led climate action projects. In just its first year, the group has supported 15 such projects and committed $205,500 in funding to them. “I’m most proud of being able to raise the funds to regrant to youth-led climate movements across what’s currently referred to as Canada and actually getting it to the hands of youth,” she says.

Katie Wheatley

29, Montreal
Head of Canada, UN Principles for Responsible Investment

Incremental progress is Katie Wheatley’s priority. She looks at what she can accomplish in the next week or month as opposed to the next few years. And that’s probably a healthy perspective given that her work focuses on helping pension funds, universities and other institutional investors become responsible investors – a task with challenges that are systemic and long-term. But that doesn’t mean that Wheatley’s work doesn’t have a massive impact. “Changing the way that our financial system works to foster greater transparency and address social and environmental externalities is critical to improving collective well-being in the long-term, and institutional investors can play a significant part in that, given their size and worth,” she says. Her work has included helping Indigenous trusts and investors with aggregate assets of more than $480 million under management to harness their capital for collective good.

Catherine Marot

26, Toronto
CEO, CASE

There’s a story Catherine Marot heard growing up about a man trying to save starfish that had washed up onshore by throwing what he could back into the sea. “A boy comes up to him and asks him why he is bothering, because he’ll never save them all,” she recounts. The man simply bends down, tosses another into the sea and says, “I made a difference to that one.” “This story inspired me on a personal level to take action where I can.” Marot started a solo project saving one takeout container at a time. The daughter of waste-conscious immigrants from South Africa and Zimbabwe eventually started getcase.ca, preventing more than 250,000 black takeout containers from ending up in landfill by sanitizing them and selling them back to restaurants. This also amounts to an approximate savings of 34,644 kilowatt-hours of energy, 97.8 barrels of virgin fossil fuels and 180 cubic yards of landfill space. “Ultimately, I hope to inspire others [so] that we can change the status quo.”

Kurtis Layden

28, Ottawa
senior policy advisor, Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change

Kurtis Layden was just 15 when he was part of the Canadian delegation to a UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network climate change conference in Denmark. The experience cemented a firm belief in Layden that Canada needed to take a leading role on the international stage when it came to tackling the climate crisis. Since then, he has worked in the offices of three successive environment ministers and has been a key advisor on some of the Liberal government’s main environmental policies, including its ban on some single-use plastics. Once the ban takes effect in 2025, it could eliminate an estimated 1.3 million tonnes of plastic waste over the following decade. “These policies are critical to addressing environmental challenges such as pollution and climate change in Canada at a national scale and to help promote environmental sustainability,” he says.

Pratap Sandhu

27, Vancouver
CEO & director, Pangea Natural Foods

By the age of 21, Pratap Sandhu was already marketing director at his family’s global food company. After he got his MBA from the University of Liverpool, Sandhu decided to branch out on his own, founding Pangea Natural Foods in the spring of 2021. With $1.4 million in seed financing, Sandhu shopped his flagship product, Pangea Plant-Based Patties, to grocers across North America. “I was inspired to create high-quality nutritious products while keeping a clean label,” says Sandhu. Just over one year later, Pangea products are now in more than 300 stores, including select Loblaw and IGA stores. Sandhu’s latest product? Vancouver-made vegan Chikken Nuggets made with three types of pea protein. “We are excited to launch another plant-based product given the immense growth that the sector is experiencing.”

Ethan Talbot Schwartz

27, Toronto/Montreal
consultant, CPCS Transcom

As an associate with JCM Power, Ethan Talbot Schwartz led the development of renewable energy projects in Malawi, the world’s fifth-poorest country. With a background in engineering and diplomacy, honed through a master’s in international relations and a stint at the UN, Schwartz worked for months in the East African nation to advance the development of its first utility-scale wind farm. The project should mitigate more than 175,000 tonnes of CO2 per year while increasing the country’s installed generation capacity by nearly 10%. “A key takeaway from my travels was that I needed to use [the] advantage … of simply being born in a place like Canada as best as I could to make the world a better place.” Schwartz recently started as a consultant with CPCS, where he supports the organization in providing sustainable infrastructure solutions to governments across sub-Saharan Africa. With Pathways to Education, he provides weekly tutoring services to students in math and science while leading lectures on climate change to fill a gap in the current Ontario curriculum. Says Schwartz, “They will be the ones making a difference in tomorrow’s society!”

Samia Sami

24, Regina
engineer-in-training, SaskPower

“In Islam, humans are referred to as ‘khalifa’ (guardians) of the earth,” says Samia Sami. Those teachings have helped shape Sami’s attitude toward her two passions, sustainability and engineering. Born in Karachi, Pakistan, she now designs transmission stations to support the increased use of renewable energy (contributing to Saskatchewan’s goal of generating 50% electricity from renewables by 2030). “I have learned that electrical engineers can make a difference in the ecological footprint of the world.” As well, her work at the University of Saskatchewan reduced the school’s overall greenhouse gas emissions by 20% from 2007 levels, and she has helped 12 Canadian mosques implement sustainability initiatives via the Greening Canadian Mosques program. The Starfish board member is also big on empowering youth. As a chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Power and Energy Society student branch chapter, Sami helps students advance their careers in sustainable energy. “It is also important for youth to realize that diversity plays a vital role in our fight against climate change.”

Andy Lam

29, Toronto
manager of climate programs, MaRS Discovery District

When Andy Lam is working late and his friends pressure him to get off early, he has an answer at the ready: “Climate change isn’t going to solve itself.” During his last five years at MaRS Discovery District, Lam has been busy helping Canada’s cleantech entrepreneurs grow their businesses and scale their solutions. “Seeing these innovators take risks and put their careers on the line to make the world a better place also inspired me to join the fight,” he says. That fight? Managing Mission from MaRS: Climate Impact Challenge, which helps 10 Canadian climate tech companies with high potential overcome barriers to adoption. Lam has advice for budding sustainability leaders: “Be solution-oriented rather than problem-oriented. We all know that climate change is a big issue, that pollution is a big issue, but we need to start focusing on how we’ll resolve them and begin actioning.”

Leah Perry

29, Burlington, ON
senior manager, cleantech, venture services, MaRS Discovery District

With less than 20% of Canadian cleantech companies having a female founder, Leah Perry wants to create not only a more sustainable world but one that is also led by a diverse mix of leaders. “It has been amazing to work alongside these amazing women founders to help accelerate their technology to the market,” says Perry, who leads the Women in Cleantech Accelerator at MaRS Discovery District. Raised by two environmentalists, she’s dedicated to ensuring women have equal opportunity to succeed in our net-zero future. The Schulich School of Business grad has been actively involved in the cleantech capital ecosystem since 2015, beginning as a founding member of the cleantech team at Export Development Canada and now as manager of cleantech venture services at MaRS. “There are more jobs in sustainability and impact than there ever have been,” says Perry. “A better world doesn’t just have to be a side hustle. Find a job that embodies your beliefs and you can spend every day chasing your mission.”

Marco Folino

27, Vancouver
manager of sustainable investing, BentallGreenOak

When Marco Folino started working as a management consultant, he found that there were rarely enough sustainability experts to help companies considering integrating ESG into their strategic goals. That’s when he decided to pursue a career in sustainability. Folino now manages sustainability programs for property management firm BentallGreenOak, which has US$80 billion in assets under management. Through this work, Folino has helped deliver custom ESG action plans for more than 120 million square feet of real estate properties across North America. He’s also provided climate adaptation plans for more than 90 million square feet of properties. Last year, Folino’s firm made a commitment to make its operations and assets under management net-zero by 2050 or earlier – a challenge he’s embracing with open arms. “Real accomplishments come when you have a relentless drive to succeed despite many failed attempts. This often means turning over every stone until you find the one that has what you’re looking for,” he says.

Kait Tyschenko

27, Toronto/London
founder, Queer Infrastructure Network

Kait Tyschenko began their career in the environmental non-profit realm and was soon drawn to the construction sector’s low-carbon potential. Working at two of Canada’s largest construction companies, Pomerleau and EllisDon, Tyschenko focused on scaling up sustainability- and equity-driven innovations. These included community engagement programs, an Indigenous-relations roadmap, a sustainable-construction training program, and R&D exploring the powers of life-cycle assessment to reduce the embodied carbon of building projects. “I work tirelessly to ensure that the sustainability and impact projects that I lead have an equity-informed and -integrated lens,” they say. Tyschenko is the founder of the Queer Infrastructure Network, a group working to improve LGBTQ2S+ inclusion, visibility and safety in the Canadian infrastructure sector. “We cannot do the work we need to do without being kind and understanding with one another,” says Tyschenko, who is queer and trans-nonbinary.

Alex Cool-Fergus

29, Gatineau, QC
outreach & engagement advisor, Federation of Canadian Municipalities

Alex Cool-Fergus calls herself “a municipal nerd innovating to build a more sustainable world.” Having witnessed her neighbours and parents win a campaign to protect local greenspace when she was a child, she got interested in both movement-building and sustainability. “Municipalities are the most ambitious level of government for climate mitigation and adaptation yet have the fewest resources to achieve their goals,” says Cool-Fergus, who has spent most of her career working with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ climate programs, including the Global Covenant of Mayors and the Green Municipal Fund. From cofounding a bike co-op at the University of Sherbrooke to helping 10 municipal candidates in Gatineau get elected with ambitious climate platforms, Cool-Fergus has stayed focused on creating a resilient and inclusive world. “As a young woman of colour, I quickly understood that it is essential to apply an equity and reconciliation lens to all sustainability policies.” The avid cyclist also sits on the board of the CREDDO, the largest environmental non-profit in the Outaouais region.

Helen Watts

28, Toronto
senior director of global partnerships, Student Energy

Right out of her undergraduate degree, Helen Watts became the head of fundraising for what would become the world’s largest organization working with young people on the energy transition. Over the next five years she drove the expansion of Student Energy’s global partnerships, growing the youth-led organization’s budget by 680% to help turn it into a multimillion-dollar organization and managing a team that supports a network of 44 funding and strategic partners. “I don’t come from a typical energy or climate background,” says the history major, who is frank about experiencing imposter syndrome when she started in this field. “I’m really passionate now about bridging the gap for young people who don’t feel they have the knowledge or experience to participate in climate and clean energy.” In 2018, Watts co-founded an accelerator for young people in low-income, high-climate-risk countries working on climate start-ups. Now, she’s focused on raising accessible funding for youth-led clean energy projects through the Student Energy Solutions Movement in partnership with the UN. “We need everyone at the table and in this fight with unique solutions to get where we need to be on the energy transition,” she says.

Mark Soberman

29, Vienna, Austria
director of research & development, Evanesce

Mark Soberman says he’s always been sensitive to the impact of human activity on the natural world. So it’s fitting that he is now working on the cutting-edge of sustainable packaging at Evanesce Packaging Solutions, a compostable packaging company based in Vancouver. (He’s currently conducting R&D at a partner lab in Vienna.) In the hope of helping to rid the world of single-use plastics, he is leading the development of Evanesce’s proprietary plant-based packaging material that biodegrades in up to 90 days. And if all goes to plan, he sees the company’s products – which are made of starch, cellulose fibre and agricultural byproducts – diverting thousands of tonnes of waste from landfill to industrial composting, where it can be used to grow plants and take more CO2 out of the air. “I firmly believe in waste reduction and working on leaving the world a better place than I found it,” he says.

Nabeela Merchant

29, Hamilton, ON
founder, Canadian Women in Venture Capital; senior associate, TELUS Pollinator Fund for Good

Nabeela Merchant knows well that every individual action – no matter how small – contributes to collective action. “Big things can grow out of small, consistent steps. That’s the power of compounded action,” she says. What started as a casual dinner she organized in 2018 has grown into Canadian Women in Venture Capital – a national group that looks to empower and connect women in the industry. Through this work, Merchant has contributed to helping more than 350 women get the support they need to succeed in an industry that has been dominated by men. While she was the initial igniter of the community, she is quick to give credit to the larger collective of women who have made it thrive. She began her career in investing five years ago and, as an early-stage investor at the $100-million TELUS Pollinator Fund, has focused on investments that look to tackle the climate crisis, inequality and barriers to healthcare.

Theresa Westhaver

29, Treaty 6 and 8 in the traditional territory of the Secwépemc Nehiyaw, Stoney, Métis, Dene-zaa, and Aseniwuche Winewak (now known as Jasper National Park)
Indigenous liaison, Jasper National Park, & co-founder, Howl Experience

Theresa Westhaver’s parents taught her that we’re all visitors to the animals’ homeland. Her father was a park warden and her mother a park interpreter. She has followed in their footsteps, as she now works as an Indigenous liaison for Parks Canada and teaches other young people about conservation through an educational non-profit called Howl Experience. “Without personal connection to place, people will not be inspired to protect and care for it. This guides the work that I do,” she says. As if that wasn’t enough to keep the single mom busy, she also runs a small business, called Mountain Stek’lep (formerly Left Coast Collective), which sells upcycled beadwork. She hopes that the impact of her work “ripples down to the next seven generations. If at least one youth is empowered to learn opportunities and leadership roles that they may not have otherwise seen themselves in, I would see that as being meaningful change.”

Shivani Chotalia

29, Toronto/Edmonton
director of development & partnerships, NRStor

Growing up in Edmonton, sandwiched between the oil industry and the beauty of the Rocky Mountains, Shivani Chotalia felt a growing sense of responsibility for building the world she wanted to see. “It became clear to me that the way we manage our economy needs to be aligned with stewarding the natural ecosystems that support us all.” As a director at one of Canada’s leading energy-storage project developers, NRStor, she’s particularly proud of contributing to its “partnerships first” approach with First Nations communities. NRStor and Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation are launching one of the largest energy-storage facilities in North America. “We can use our projects as an avenue to enable greater Indigenous ownership and economic benefits resulting from our transition to clean energy.” The engineer and financial professional, with a background in international development, also mentors Indigenous youth with Outside Looking In and in 2020 became the youngest board member of Environmental Defence.

Theresa Dearden

28, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea/Salt Spring Island, B.C.
technical lead, Natural Resource Management Hub, UNDP Papua New Guinea

It’s hard enough for most people to fully grasp the rich cultural and linguistic diversity of Papua New Guinea, a nation where more than 800 languages are spoken. Theresa Dearden helps communities in the country transcend cultural barriers to improve sustainable development. The first-generation Canadian (with parents from Thailand and the U.K.) designs user-friendly, open-source digital tools, including a phone app called Lukim Gather, that allow communities to monitor and report social or environmental issues (such as deforestation or pollution) to policy-makers. “We need good data in order to be able to avoid devastating climate change [and] biodiversity loss,” she says. She hopes to spread the idea that you don’t need to be a tech guru or biologist to collect data that can change the world. “Preservation of these ecosystems is vital for mitigating climate change at a global level.”

Jonathan Edwards

29, Aurora, ON
principal research scientist, CERT Systems

Jonathan Edwards was drawn to sustainability work after learning about climate change in high school. He realized how crucial cleantech was to the future of the world and decided to devote his career to it. His work at start-up CERT Systems focuses on converting carbon dioxide into fuels and chemical feedstocks using only water and electricity. Edwards says that while the climate crisis can be daunting, the world needs to see a huge scale-up of cleantech to meet its 2050 emissions targets. “When you feel that you or your technology [are] very small compared to this global challenge, recognize that you are not alone and that you have a tremendous opportunity before you. Plan for growth, but don’t be afraid to take that first step,” he says. Over the next five years, Edwards and his team will further develop their technology for commercialization.

Anoosha Lalani

27, Toronto/Pakistan
manager of ESG reporting & assurance, KPMG

Born in Pakistan, then raised in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia before arriving in Canada for university, Anoosha Lalani has seen firsthand what happens when people cling to the idea that climate change affects only those far away. “I’m passionate about climate change because I believe equity does not exist without sustainability.” As ESG manager at KPMG, Lalani supports multibillion-dollar companies to develop operating models that actively work toward building a greener future. “What I like most about my job is that I can support organizations trying to make the shift from viewing ESG as simply a marketing exercise to embedding it within their strategy and ensuring effective disclosure.” As a passionate public speaker, novelist, Ocean Wise alumni ambassador and World Economic Forum Global Shaper, Lalani encourages youth to keep telling their climate stories and using their skills to move the needle. “Every inch counts!”

Pierre-Laurent Macridis

28, Montreal
Associate Principal, Asset Management, Fondaction

Pierre-Laurent Macridis tries to develop solutions that will tackle a problem in the most efficient way. And he hopes that the impact-investing management firm he helped launch this summer will play an important role in closing the US$2.5-trillion funding gap needed to achieve the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. His work has helped catalyze more than $500 million in impact investing, primarily targeted toward climate change. He’s also managed funds and financed businesses that will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 1.3 million tonnes. But most importantly, Macridis has mentored more than 20 young people pursuing careers in sustainability-related fields. To inspire his mentees, Macridis reminds them that Rome was not built in a day, nor alone: “Don’t be afraid to dream big and find your peers with whom you can shoot for the moon, because even if you miss it, you’ll land amongst the stars.”

Jasveen Brar

27, Calgary
executive director, Youth Climate Lab

Jasveen Brar was on a university research trip in Antarctica years ago when she saw something that changed her life: a plastic water bottle left between two penguin rookeries in the otherwise pristine landscape. “To see something of our man-made creation at the ends of [the] earth was shocking. I knew that we needed to do more [and] I needed to do more to leave our planet in a better place,” she says. After she returned from her trip, she changed her degree to pursue sustainability. Last year, the former Ocean Wise manager became the executive director of Youth Climate Lab, a non-profit that has raised more than US$450,000 to support youth-led climate action. The lab gives youth the skills, financial access and policy knowledge to become climate leaders. As she becomes an “older youth,” Brar hopes she’ll be able to “leave this space in a better place for future youth and to pave a better, more just and resilient future together.”

Erin Andrews

27, Toronto
executive director, Impact Zero

Erin Andrews’s best advice for tomorrow’s youth sustainability leaders is to find a community of people who inspire you. She founded Impact Zero to do just that. The Toronto-based organization brings businesses, consumers and entrepreneurs together with the goal of creating a circular economy. But Andrews says that no single organization on its own will make the circular economy a reality. “The only option is empowerment, real collaboration and resource-sharing,” she says. Andrews built the organization from scratch, working tirelessly to bring more attention to the idea of a circular economy in Toronto. She says that the circular economy can provide huge emission-reduction opportunities and that we just need to empower people to bring these solutions to life. Since 2020, Impact Zero has informed thousands of people about circularity and connected them with circular businesses through a directory it created. The group has also helped launch seven circular start-ups.

Eric Lam

26, Gatineau, QC
economic advisor on energy transition and finance, Environment and Climate Change Canada

Between 2019 and 2021, private banks and financial institutions invested US$1.5 trillion in coal. Eric Lam is trying to put a stop to that. He’s the private finance lead for Team Canada in the Powering Past Coal Alliance, a joint initiative between Canada and the U.K. that works to phase out global coal power generation. “There’s a lot of talk about greenwashing with all of these financial institutions pledging to meet net-zero by 2050 … I am working to get financial institutions to actually take action on their net-zero commitments.” He also advises public banks on greening their investments. He admits that working in sustainability can be demoralizing, especially when banks keep telling him “no.” Says Lam, “It’s important to remember that by working in this field, you are part of a movement that is doing as much as we can within the means that we have.”

Sabreen Salman

29, Toronto
director of ESG reporting & measurement, Export Development Canada

Sabreen Salman had always enjoyed math and was working toward a degree in business at Schulich, specializing in financial accounting, when she was introduced to the idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Since then, she’s risen in the ranks as a sustainability professional and ESG manager in the financial industry. She’s now director of ESG reporting and disclosures at Export Development Canada (EDC). ”ESG disclosures and reporting have come a long way from voluntary ‘CSR reporting’ to now being a business imperative expected by investors, shareholders and stakeholders.” Her work at EDC and in industry groups has helped create essential ESG standards. Over the next five years, Salman hopes to see ESG embedded in all areas of business, and she wants to play a part in helping companies reach that goal. “I want to play my role in this transition to help educate and empower teams sitting outside of ESG to really understand their ESG impacts and embed it in their work,” she says.

Devesh Bharadwaj

28, Victoria
CEO, Pani Energy

Water is more than just what comes out of a tap or what is needed to flush the toilet. It’s what we use to grow the food we eat, manufacture the products we use and produce the energy we consume. Growing up in India, Devesh Bharadwaj saw the critical role that water, and a lack of access to it, plays in the health and development of communities. “Every drop of that water and wastewater needs to be treated and fit for purpose, and that treatment takes its own toll on the environment.” After completing a mechanical engineering degree in Canada, he started building an industry-transforming software-as-service company called Pani Energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated by water and wastewater treatment processes. “We’re aiming to cut down on 500 megatons of emissions per year from the sector by 2032.” So far, the company has raised more than $8 million working with worldwide partners from across the industry to get as many treatment plants as possible on board in this mission. The mantra that drives him: “Fall in love with the problem, not the solution.” Adds Bharadwaj, “Find a problem that is meaningful, that excites you and is worth solving.”

Jamie Mark

28, Toronto
chief operating officer, Exactus Energy

Jamie Mark was one of the first employees hired by Exactus Energy after its
founding in 2016. Exactus was a small start-up back then, providing engineering
and design services for solar providers. “We started with a handful of employees in
a garage and our team size is now approaching 200.” At the beginning, the
engineering grad designed solar panel layouts herself. Now, as chief operating officer,
she leads six different teams across four countries, having helped build the firm
from the ground up into a leader in solar engineering and design in North America.
“Complacency is dangerous,” says Mark, who has had to constantly adapt and be
open to change in an industry known as the “solarcoaster.” “The status quo and our
comfortable routines are not going to cut it anymore. We need to question how both
our own day-to-day actions and how existing policy and systems are impacting our
planet and start making changes to combat these impacts.”

Sanch Gupta & Milton Calderon Donefer

Both 25, Toronto
co-founders, MealCare

When Sanch Gupta and Milton Calderon Donefer were students at McGill University, they often sat in a school cafeteria until closing, when they saw staff throw out trays of fresh meals. Around the same time, they talked to many unhoused people in downtown Montreal who needed food. They founded MealCare to tackle both issues. “Every day, MealCare makes a tangible impact both in reducing the environmental impact of food waste, as well as helping people in our communities not go hungry,” says Calderon Donefer. With chapters in eight cities, MealCare has already saved shelters more than $300,000 and delivered more than 70,000 meals to the hungry. “Growing up in Canada, it was shocking to me that one in seven people suffer from food insecurity, and I wanted to use my privileged position to help underserved members of my community,” says Gupta. “We believe food is essential and should be available to every human being, especially when we as a nation have an abundance of it.”

Shaelyn Wabegijig

25, Rama First Nation/Lekwungen Territory, Victoria
master’s student in Indigenous governance at the University of Victoria

Since Shaelyn Wabegijig was five years old, she wanted to change the world. “I have always questioned the way the world is,” she says. When she attended university, she connected with the local Anishinaabeg community and learned about teachings such as Ginawaydaganuk (all is related) and Mino Bimaadiziwin (to live the good life) that confirmed her feelings of responsibility to live in a way that respected the planet. The 25-year-old master’s student is now one of seven youths suing the Ontario government for lowering its emission-reductions targets in 2018. “I hope our court case sets a precedent, putting into law that governments have the obligation to protect citizens from climate change and that all people and future generations have the right to a safe and habitable environment.” Before she left to pursue her master’s, Wabegijig was a program and outreach coordinator at Kawartha World Issues Centre, where she worked to assert Indigenous-led conservation in Ontario and empower youth and Indigenous Peoples to steward their lands for future generations.

The post The fight for a better tomorrow: Canada’s top 30 under 30 sustainability leaders of 2022 appeared first on Corporate Knights.

2022 30 Under 30 | Corporate Knights