Pavan Sukhdev

Founder and Chief Executive Officer - GIST Impact

Pavan Sukhdev is a scientist by education, an international banker by training, and an environmental economist by passion. Years of work in sustainability and the invisible economics of nature led to his appointment to head the United Nations’ “Green Economy Initiative” and to lead the G8+5 study TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity).

In his book ‘Corporation 2020’, Mr. Sukhdev describes four changes in micro-policy and regulation which can rapidly transform today’s corporation to deliver tomorrow’s green and equitable “economy of permanence”. As founder and CEO of GIST, his sustainability consulting firm, he works with asset managers, C-suite executives and senior government officials on transition techniques, with an emphasis on metrics for sustainability. GIST Impact launched two platforms for Corporate Sustainability at Davos 2020, for large corporations and a simpler version for SME’s in partnership with the International Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Sukhdev is a Goodwill Ambassador for UN Environment Programme, promoting TEEB implementation and Inclusive Green Economy transitions. He has served on the boards of Conservation International (CI), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC), and on the TEEB Advisory Board. He has won several awards for his work including the Blue Planet Prize (2016) and the Tyler Prize (2020).