TOP 10 Most-Read Thought Leaders in Sustainable Finance

Discover also our 2026 Rankings of the Most Read Thought Leaders in Business Impact, Carbon, Circularity, Climate Change, Energy, Energy Transition, Environmental Sustainability, ESG, Ethical Governance, Green Tech, Nature, Renewables, Social Responsibility, Sustainable AI, Sustainable Business, Sustainable Lifestyle, and Overall. Explore how this year's leaders compare to the most influential Sustainable Finance voices of last year!

illuminem is proud to present the most-read Thought Leaders in Energy globally, as recognised by illuminem's ever growing community of 700,000+ readers.

Sustainable finance in 2025 was a field being rebuilt. In November, the European Commission proposed a sweeping revision of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, scrapping the Article 6, 8, and 9 classifications that the market had turned into de facto labels and replacing them with a new categorisation system.

Beneath the regulatory churn, a more fundamental question persisted: how to move capital at the scale and speed the transition requires, and to the places that need it most. The adaptation finance gap, blended finance structures, transition finance for hard-to-abate sectors, and the role of private capital where public protections fall short were the recurring themes, and the voices on this list approached them from law, banking, multilateral institutions, and the frontlines of project finance.

What distinguished Andreas Biermann and Marta Simonetti in that conversation was the clarity they brought to a field too often shrouded in jargon. Through their Sustainable Finance Academy at Globalfields - the most comprehensive and trusted guide on green finance, published here on illuminem - they set out to demystify the field, drawing on decades of combined experience across the EBRD, the Green Climate Fund, and multilateral development banks. In a year when the rules themselves were in flux, their foundational, plain-language guide to how sustainable finance actually works was exactly the anchor the conversation needed.

Joining them on the list, Lisa Sachs examines the structural blind spots in how markets price climate risk, Galit Palzur makes the case that disaster statistics could become the Basel III of climate risk, and Doris Honold reframes green taxonomies for a world already living with climate impacts.

Drawn from over 2,500 thought leaders publishing on illuminem Voices, the ranking below reflects the voices that shaped how the sustainable finance conversation evolved in 2025. Please join us in congratulating the Thought Leaders of the Year in Sustainable Finance, and every voice contributing to this vital global debate on illuminem.

1️⃣ ex aequo Andreas Biermann - Director of Sustainable Finance and Business Development at Globalfields
Country: Italy 🇮🇹
Most-Read Thought Piece: Green Finance Academy: everything you need to know about sustainable finance
Profile: Andreas Biermann is Director of Sustainable Finance and Business Development at Globalfields. He is a senior energy and climate policy expert, with over 25 years' experience gained at various levels in the academic, national, and multilateral contexts. Previously, he served as Senior Adviser to the Managing Director for the Sustainable Infrastructure Business Group, as Deputy Director Mitigation at Green Climate Fund, and as Head of Climate Finance at EBRD.

1️⃣ ex aequo Marta Simonetti - Fmr. EBRD multilateral climate finance expert and Managing Director and Founder of Globalfields
Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Most-Read Thought Piece: Green Finance Academy: everything you need to know about sustainable finance
Profile: Marta Simonetti is the Managing Director and Founder of Globalfields, a consulting and training firm focused on green finance, sustainable development, and governance. She is affiliated with SOAS University of London and previously worked in transition banking at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Her work spans sustainable finance, blended finance structuring, and climate and environmental governance, with assignments for multilateral institutions including the Green Climate Fund, World Bank, and Asian Development Bank.

2️⃣ Lisa Sachs - Director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Country: United States 🇺🇸
Most-Read Thought Piece: The real tragedy of the horizon
Profile: Lisa Sachs is Director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment and Associate Professor at Columbia Climate School. She leads work on natural resource governance and climate finance, and previously served as Vice Chair of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Mining and Metals and co-chaired the SDSN network on land and extractives.

3️⃣ Galit Palzur - Economist and Risk Strategist
Country: Israel 🇮🇱
Most-Read Thought Piece: Why disaster statistics may become the Basel III of climate risk
Profile: Galit Palzur, PhD is an economist, risk strategist, and a board member at Kessler Projects for the World and the Israeli Energy Forum. She is also a Fellow at SIGNAL Group. Galit specializes in risk management of natural disasters, sustainability and climate change, and climate finance. Previously, she was the Director of the Economics and Standards Division of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Chair of the Bureau of the OECD Working Party on Climate, Investment and Development. Galit holds a PhD in Management from the Poznań University of Economics and Business.

4️⃣ ex aequo Laura Garcia Cancino - Senior Legal Researcher at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Country: Colombia 🇨🇴
Most-Read Thought Piece: A specialised guarantee facility for industrial decarbonisation
Profile: Laura Garcia Cancino is a Senior Legal Researcher at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, focusing on law and metrics for climate change and the energy transition. She previously worked at the International Energy Agency and has experience advising on energy, mining, and infrastructure projects. She co-founded coMpower, a non-profit supporting women in the energy sector.

4️⃣ ex aequo Rhian-Mari Thomas - Chief Executive Officer at Green Finance Institute
Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Most-Read Thought Piece: A specialised guarantee facility for industrial decarbonisation
Profile: Rhian-Mari Thomas is Chief Executive Officer at Green Finance Institute. She previously served as Global Head of Green Finance at Barclays Corporate & Investment Bank. Rhian-Mari studied at Trinity College Dublin and has expertise in sustainable finance, green investment, and financial innovation.

5️⃣ Monty Simus - Senior Advisor for Blue Finance at The Ocean Cleanup
Country: United States 🇺🇸
Most-Read Thought Piece: Adaptation finance is failing where it matters most
Profile: Monty Simus is Senior Advisor for Blue Finance at The Ocean Cleanup and a PhD researcher at the University of Birmingham's Treatied Spaces Research Group. His work focuses on the intersection of ocean governance, innovative finance, and Indigenous environmental stewardship, with field and policy experience across Asia, the Pacific, and North America. His academic research examines resource politics and ecological resilience in Bristol Bay, Alaska.

6️⃣ Jessica Smith - Nature Lead and Academic Engagement at the UNEP Finance Initiative
Country: South Africa 🇿🇦
Most-Read Thought Piece: Nature needs a new capital stack, and family offices can lead the way
Profile: Jessica Smith is Nature Lead and Academic Engagement at the UNEP Finance Initiative. She works on integrating nature considerations into finance and has a background in sustainable finance and environmental policy.

7️⃣ ex aequo Rob Karpati - Partner and Senior Advisor to The Blended Capital Group
Country: Canada 🇨🇦
Most-Read Thought Piece: Stakeholder prosperity bonds: the perspective of CFOs
Profile: Rob Karpati is a multi-national finance leader, currently serving as Partner and Senior Advisor to The Blended Capital Group. His focus is on delivering significant positive social and environmental impact through the definition and delivery of paradigm altering approaches to the global artisanal mining sector based on commercially realistic formalization methodologies.

7️⃣ ex aequo Doris Honold - Chair of the Climate Bonds Initiative
Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Most-Read Thought Piece: Exclusive case study – from mitigation to resilience: reframing green taxonomies for a climate-impacted world
Profile: Doris Honold is Chair of the Climate Bonds Initiative and serves on the Board of Directors at The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market. She is also Vice Chair at SEFE Energy and a Non-Executive Director at Encompass Corporation. Previously, she held senior leadership roles including Chief Risk Officer and Chief Operating Officer at global banks. Doris brings over 25 years of experience in finance, risk, and change management across Germany, Japan, Singapore, the UK, and the US.

8️⃣ ex aequo Robert W. van Zwieten - Founding Partner of Route17
Country: Poland 🇵🇱
Most-Read Thought Piece: Symphony of transition: financing Asia's next-gen energy infrastructure
Profile: Robert W. van Zwieten is a founding partner of Route17, an independent blended finance advisory firm. He is a research fellow of the Transition Investment Lab at NYU Stern School of Business Abu Dhabi, and a former adjunct professor in Finance with the Asian Institute of Management. He previously worked in senior executive positions at Emerging Markets Private Equity Association, Asian Development Bank, Singapore Exchange, General Electric and ABN AMRO Bank.

8️⃣ ex aequo Pariphan Uawithya - Senior Partner at GreenShift Partners
Country: Thailand 🇹🇭
Most-Read Thought Piece: Symphony of transition: financing Asia's next-gen energy infrastructure
Profile: Pariphan Uawithya is a Senior Partner at GreenShift Partners. He is an experienced climate strategist, specializing in strategic planning, alliance building, and impact investment. He previously held senior executive positions at The Rockefeller Foundation and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), where he played a key role in building climate organizations and programs that bridge public and private sectors to accelerate sustainable energy transitions.

9️⃣ Felicia Jackson - Founder and CEO of SUFINDA
Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Most-Read Thought Piece: The trust dividend: how human-centered finance builds resilience from the ground up
Profile: Felicia Jackson the Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SUFINDA, an advisor to companies across sectors. Co-founder of New Energy Finance and author of Conquering Carbon, she also chairs the Learn2Think Foundation and contributes to global policy as part of a UN expert group on SDG 17.7.1.

🔟 ex aequo Joy Zhang - Head of Responsible Investment at the Thomson Reuters Foundation
Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Most-Read Thought Piece: Building Bridges 2025 turns sustainable finance into a business case
Profile: Joy (Chi) Zhang is the Head of Responsible Investment at the Thomson Reuters Foundation. She has experience integrating ESG, climate risk, and sustainability frameworks across investment strategies, including Private Equity, Green Bonds, and Equity. Joy holds an MPA in International Finance and Economic Policy and an MSW in Social Enterprise Administration from Columbia University.

🔟 ex aequo Karen Hitschke - Chief Executive Officer of Building Bridges
Country: Switzerland 🇨🇭
Most-Read Thought Piece: Building Bridges 2025 turns sustainable finance into a business case
Profile: Karen Hitschke is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Building Bridges, a joint initiative that accelerates the global transition to a sustainable economic model by aligning public and private stakeholders. She is also the Co-founder & Shareholder of Yunus Social Innovation, as well as a Board Member at both Yunus Social Business and Uncap. Previously, she served as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the WHO Foundation. Academically, she holds an MSc in Biology, focusing on Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology from the University of Konstanz, and an MBA from INSEAD.

🔟 ex aequo Marie-Laure Schaufelberger - Chief Sustainability Officer at the Pictet Group
Country: Switzerland 🇨🇭
Most-Read Thought Piece: Building Bridges 2025 turns sustainable finance into a business case
Profile: Marie-Laure Schaufelberger is Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) at the Pictet Group, where she leads the firm's sustainability strategy, and also serves as President of Sustainable Finance Geneva and Vice Chair of Building Bridges. With over six years in senior sustainability roles at Pictet and a background in ESG integration, stewardship, and thematic impact strategies, she brings deep expertise in responsible finance and holds a Master's in International Relations and the CFA charter.

🔟 ex aequo Patrick Odier - Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Lombard Odier Group
Country: Switzerland 🇨🇭
Most-Read Thought Piece: Building Bridges 2025 turns sustainable finance into a business case
Profile: Patrick Odier is the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Lombard Odier Group, where he has held leadership roles for over four decades, including Senior Managing Partner and Chairman of the Board. He is also the President of Swiss Sustainable Finance and Chairman of Building Bridges. He is a member of the illuminem Leaders Cohort.

🔟 ex aequo Yasar Jarrar - Managing Partner at GOV CAMPUS
Country: United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪
Most-Read Thought Piece: Beyond oil: the Arab region's quiet sustainability revolution
Profile: Yasar Jarrar is the Managing Partner at GOV CAMPUS, a strategy and capacity-building platform focused on government transformation, public sector performance, and GovTech. He is also a Professor of Practice at Hult International Business School, where he teaches Leadership, Strategy, and Consulting Skills. Yasar serves as a Columnist at The National, writing on governance, AI, and public sector strategy in emerging markets. He is an alumnus of Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Stanford University executive programs.

Congratulations to our most-read thought leaders of the last year. In a time when the sustainability conversation was pulled in every direction at once, the voices on this list helped move it forward with clarity and intellect. We are proud to amplify their voices, and look forward to what comes next.

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