Elise Buckle
Co-President
Climate & Sustainability
Creating positive impact for people and the planet
Elise Buckle, Co-President, Climate & Sustainability, is highly committed to making this world a better place for people and nature. She has been working in the sustainability and climate action field for over 20 years.
Elise is a smart, hard-working, passionate person with a rare level of intelligence. After graduating from Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics with Distinctions and receiving several awards and special scholarships, she chose to actively contribute to making the world a better place. Indeed, Elise is always aiming for the best for others; supporting them, coaching them and giving them the self-confidence they need to succeed. In her various projects and initiatives, she leads with empathy and compassion and sometimes forgets about herself when trying to help her team to make collective success possible for everyone.
Élise was born in France, married to Matthew (Canada) and is the proud mother of Lucas and Leïla (Switzerland). She is also passionate about mountain trail running and skiing.
Elise has initiated and developed several global alliances and campaigns to deliver positive impact for People and the Planet by working with a wide range of stakeholders, including the UN, governments, civil society, global trade unions, and the private sector. She has the rare quality of being able to quickly see through the various stakeholders' lens, facilitate the emergence of alignment, and focus on unlocking the potential of collective action. This has led to being highly sought after. Indeed, she has advised several top-level UN diplomats, including Ambassador Khan and Dr. David Nabarro. More recently, she has specialized in systemic thinking and leadership, partnership building, and radical collaboration to address the planetary emergency.
In December 2019, after witnessing the massive bush fires with her family in Australia, she set up Climate & Sustainability as a collaboration platform for change-makers to facilitate partnership-building and accelerate climate action. The organization's DNA is the spirit of “radical collaboration” and the imperative to go beyond egos, logos, and institutional boundaries, working as one on One Team for One Planet to address the triple crisis of climate, people, and nature. With a team of highly dedicated individuals, she works as a catalyst to allow the emergence of a systemic transformation of society.
Most recently, she coordinated the Planetary Emergency Partnership, which grew from 30 to 300+ partners and strongly influenced the G20, the EU Commission, and various Summits organized by the Secretary-General. Some of the positive outcomes included the adoption of the Leaders Pledge for Nature by nearly 100 Heads of States and Governments, and the massive sign-on (more than 1 million citizens) to the online petition for a green economic recovery. She worked with the EU Commission on the EU Green Deal as well.
Currently, she is working with the COP27 Egyptian Presidency to make the next climate COP a more inclusive process that values diversity and equity. According to Marie-Claire Graf – Swiss Youth Negotiators and Sustainability Week for Business, “Elise is a smart and eloquent strategic thinker and practical doer. She connects international high level political conversations with local actions and excites people with her radical collaboration approach. She is fully committed to solving the climate and biodiversity crises and has countless solutions at hand. Through her experience in different roles and positions, she gained so many insights; hence I see her as an incredible source of inspiration and wisdom. I adore her compassion and dedication.”
The raves don’t stop there. Owen Gibbons, UK Cabinet Office, states, “Elise is not only very professional, but an easy person to work with and a great team player. In working together, we were able to align communications and policy goals smoothly.” Yanli Hou, the WWF China Program Director, adds, “I worked with Elise for the G20 Summit in France. Elise was the team leader. I was very impressed throughout the entire time I worked with Elise by her intelligence, hard work ethic, commitment, professionalism, and passion. She led by example, working the longest hours, chipping in to do whatever tasks had to be done, and encouraged and brought the best out of others. I certainly benefited from her experience and willingness to coach.”
For 2022, Elise and her team are supporting many women leaders worldwide through the She Changes Climate; which is being hosted and developed by Climate & Sustainability, together with Bianca Pitt and Antoinette Vermilye, co-founders of the initiative with Elise. They will convene a Women Leaders Climate Summit on November 4th, during COP27. This event will allow many women to shine and share their vision for the most sustainable future by 2030. “We will connect women in power, with other women championing climate solutions on the ground who don’t always get the recognition for their work, or not yet. We will out them on stage, under the spotlight, to empower them, and connect them with key influencers and funders,” elucidates Elise. WL
Company
Management
Elise Buckle
Co-President
Climate & Sustainability
Description
Climate & Sustainability is a platform of collaboration facilitating partnerships among organizations and people who share the same vision and are ready to go faster and further to address the planetary emergency.