TOP 10 Most-Read Thought Leaders in ESG

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

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

ESG spent the past year under fire from all sides. In the US, it became a political target; pension funds were forced to curtail it, and asset managers grew wary amid litigation threats. In Europe, the Omnibus package and a proposed overhaul of the SFDR disclosure regime redrew the rules mid-game, excluding the majority of previously covered firms from mandatory reporting. Shareholder support for environmental and social resolutions fell sharply, and "greenhushing" – companies pursuing sustainability goals while saying as little as possible about them – became the industry's defensive posture of choice.

And yet the underlying logic refused to disappear. As one observer put it, what looked like retreat was often reframing: ESG repositioned from a values argument to one about risk, resilience, and long-term value. The voices on this list approached that reframing from every angle – nature as a financial risk, the refinement of ethical exclusions, transition finance, and the role of markets and property rights in solving environmental problems.

Markus Müller tops the list this year, as Chief Investment Officer for ESG at Deutsche Bank Private Bank and author of a fourth book on nature as capital. He writes with a rare command of both markets and ecology: his most-read piece dissected China's carbon transition playbook, a clear-eyed look at how the world's largest emitter is turning decarbonisation into industrial strategy.

Joining him on the list, Sasja Beslik, Chief Investment Strategy Officer at SDG Impact Japan,  reflects on why sustainable investing hurts but is worth it, Antoine Mach, co-founder of Swiss ESG rating agency Covalence, examines how ethical exclusions are becoming more refined, and pioneer of free market environmentalism Terry Anderson makes the case for turning markets into environmental tools.

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

1️⃣ Markus Müller - Chief Investment Officer for ESG of Deutsche Bank Private Bank
Country: Germany 🇩🇪
Most-Read Thought Piece: China's carbon transition playbook
Profile: Markus Müller serves as the Chief Investment Officer for ESG and Global Head of the Chief Investment Office at Deutsche Bank Private Bank. He is also a Steering Council Member of the Ocean Risk Resilience Action Alliance and a columnist for the Global Policy Journal at Durham University. A renowned author, Markus has published his fourth book in November 2025, “Natur als Kapital: Evolution oder Revolution? Unternehmerische Steuerung als zentrales Transformationselement unserer Ökonomie.“ He is a member of the illuminem Leaders Cohort.

2️⃣ Sasja Beslik - Chief Investment Strategy Officer of SDG Impact Japan
Country: Sweden 🇸🇪
Most-Read Thought Piece: It hurts, but it is worth it
Profile: Sasja Beslik is Chief Investment Strategy Officer at SDG Impact Japan, with prior leadership roles at PFA, Bank J. Safra Sarasin, and Nordea, where he launched the award-winning Stars funds. He also held executive positions at ABN AMRO and BP, bringing over two decades of global experience in sustainable finance, responsible investment, and ESG strategy across Europe and Asia.

3️⃣ Romie Goedicke - Head of Nature Impact & Regional Delivery at the UNEP Finance Initiative
Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Most-Read Thought Piece: Climate under extreme weather: what lessons can be drawn from nature and finance
Profile: Romie Goedicke is the Head of Nature Impact & Regional Delivery at the UNEP Finance Initiative.  She also leads the work on nature-related risk and disclosure and manages the work on mainstreaming and capacity building. Romie is an experienced senior program manager, with a demonstrated history in managing programs on nature and finance in Asia and Africa. Romie Goedicke works with banks, insurers, and investors to embed nature into financial decision-making and scale capital flows that halt and reverse biodiversity loss

4️⃣ Praveen Gupta - Fmr. General Manager of Bajaj Insurance
Country: India 🇮🇳
Most-Read Thought Piece: ESG: climate of inequality
Profile: Praveen is an Advisory Board Member for Sanctuary Asia, a leading biodiversity conservation foundation and India's leading and best-loved magazine in its genre. He was previously Managing Director and CEO of Raheja QBE General Insurance Company Ltd. Praveen is a certified Chartered Insurer and holds Fellowships from the Chartered Insurance Institute UK and the Insurance Institute of India. He frequently shares his knowledge and insights at leading national and international conferences and renowned publications, authoring more than 250 papers.

5️⃣ Antoine Mach - Managing Partner of Covalence
Country: Switzerland 🇨🇭
Most-Read Thought Piece: Ethical exclusions are becoming more refined
Profile: Antoine Mach is managing partner of Covalence, an ESG rating agency based in Geneva, Switzerland, which he co-founded in 2001. He also teaches sustainable finance at Haute école de gestion de Genève and ISFB. Antoine also received the prize for Best Pedagogical Innovation at the FIR-PRI Finance & Sustainability Awards 2019.

6️⃣ Terry Anderson - Founder of free market environmentalism
Country: United States 🇺🇸
Most-Read Thought Piece: From ranch to reform: the man turning markets into environmental tools
Profile: Terry L. Anderson is the John and Jean De Nault Senior Fellow (Adjunct) at the Hoover Institution and a pioneer of free market environmentalism—the use of markets and property rights to solve environmental challenges. He is Professor Emeritus at Montana State University, past president of the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), and author or editor of 39 books. His work bridges environmental economics, Indigenous policy, and natural resource management.

7️⃣ Pierre Abadie - Group Climate Director of Tikehau Capital
Country: France 🇫🇷
Most-Read Thought Piece: Climate investing: myths, realities, and decarbonising the economy through private equity
Profile: Pierre Abadie is Group Climate Director at Tikehau Capital and Co-head of the Group's private equity energy transition and decarbonisation practice. He has over 20 years of experience in the energy and energy transition sectors. Pierre previously worked at TotalEnergies for 16 years, most notably in the Gas and Renewables division, before joining Tikehau Capital and becoming Co-head of Tikehau Capital's Energy Transition private equity fund, which was launched in 2018.

8️⃣ Miniya Chatterji - CEO of Sustain Labs Paris
Country: United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪
Most-Read Thought Piece: Beyond oil: the Arab region's quiet sustainability revolution
Profile: Miniya Chatterji is the CEO of Sustain Labs Paris, a global venture builder advancing sustainability across India, the UAE, and New Zealand. Formerly Chief Sustainability Officer at Jindal Steel & Power, she brings leadership experience from the World Economic Forum, Goldman Sachs, and HSBC. She is the founder of the Stargazers Foundation, a fellow at Harvard and Columbia, and author of Indian Instincts (Penguin, 2018). A frequent speaker at forums including Davos, the UN, and COP, Miniya works at the intersection of sustainability, policy, and enterprise transformation.

9️⃣ Diego Balverde - Economist
Country: Argentina 🇦🇷
Most-Read Thought Piece: Time is the real cargo
Profile: Diego Balverde is an Economist, focused on climate finance, energy systems and global trade. He is active in international forums such as Davos, the G20 and different COP summits. His work connects climate solutions, financial structures and geopolitical systems to turn environmental action into measurable economic value. He curates a popular illuminem page "in conversation about sustainable finance & emission reduction systems".

🔟 ex aequo Prasad Thakur - CIMO Scholar and Author
Country: India 🇮🇳
Most-Read Thought Piece: Transition finance: need an enabling policy and regulatory interventions
Profile: Prasad Thakur is a CIMO scholar and has authored a book and several articles published with The World Bank, ADB Institute, UN, Government of India, etc. His work in digital-agriculture, clean energy, public finance, international relations, and electric-mobility has received several awards & recognitions. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and Aalto University (Finland).

🔟 ex aequo Labanya Prakash Jena - Fmr. Climate Finance Expert at the Asian Development Bank
Country: India 🇮🇳
Most-Read Thought Piece: Transition finance: need an enabling policy and regulatory interventions
Profile: Labanya has experience in financial services, green finance, and international development. He is a Director at the Climate and Sustainability Initiative (CSI). Besides, he is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He earlier worked with the CEEW, IEEFA, CPI, Commonwealth Secretariat, UNDP, WRI, and Asian Development Bank (ADB). Labanya is an avid writer on climate and green finance. He co-authored a book, “Net-Zero Trio: Synchronizing Technology, Business, and Policy for Green Transition,” published by Bloomsbury.

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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