Climate Change
Why business and government must act on the IPCC climate change report
Hundreds of global companies are building the foundations for exemplary corporate climate action, showing it’s possible to halve carbon emissions by 2030.
María Mendiluce
María Mendiluce is the CEO of the We Mean Business Coalition and brings 25 years of experience working in business, international organizations, academia and governments in sustainable development, energy and climate action.
As chief executive of the Coalition, María is working to mainstream net-zero in the business sector encompassing companies of all sizes and sectors. She sits on the Executive Board of The Science Based Targets initiative and has taken an active role in the founding and is a Board member of the Mission Possible Partnership, an initiative that develops decarbonization roadmaps for the high emitting sectors. María also co-founded the SME Climate Hub, a one-stop-shop for smaller companies to commit to net zero and work with the value chain on implementation.
Formerly Managing Director and member of the Senior Management Team at WBCSD, María has a history of establishing transformative industry projects. These include the Alliance to End Plastic Waste which pledged $1.5 billion to address plastic leakage to the environment; the Transforming Urban Mobility project to drive clean, safe and efficient mobility for all and WBCSD’s flagship Low Carbon Technology Partnership initiative which was recognized as a key contributor to the Paris Agreement.
She has also held senior positions at the Economic Bureau of the Spanish Prime Minister, in the CEO’s office of Iberdrola and at the International Energy Agency. Maria has a PhD in energy economics. She is a Commissioner on the Energy Transitions Commission, a Co-Chair of the Global Environment Outlook Business Advisory Board (UNEP), and she is a board member of the Centre for International Environmental Studies (CIES) in Geneva.
María was awarded the Spanish Climate Personality of the year in 2021 by The Climate Reality Project in Spain as part of the third edition of their Climate Leaders Awards. María has been listed as critical influencer on climate action by different media groups such as GreenBiz or edie. María is Spanish, has three kids and lives in Geneva.
