Women in Clean Energy

Hi Audra - taking up your 'ask'. My story as a woman in clean energy starts when working for a Boston-based environmental tech co that went bankrupt in ~1995; and later returning to the industry in 2008 when working and raising my family in Beijing, China and realizing I could no longer send my kids (and others) out each day into the heavily polluted environment of Beijing. Thus, I co-founded and launched in 2008 The China Greentech Initiative that became the 'voice of the market' and the leading collaboration hub for 200 global and local businesses and governments all working on a shared passion-project - accelerating China's green economy. In 2014, Hank Paulson (Goldman Sachs/US Treasury) approached me to merge my platform into his to create the China-side of his Paulson Institute, affiliated with the Univ. of Chicago in Hank's home town. And so we did - all of China Greentech's team, IP, operations and our collaboration platform of business / government leaders became the China-half of Hank's Paulson Institute. When my transition commitment for Hank was completed, I moved back home to the US as my kids were now going to college in the US and the China adventure was always meant to be equally about life, family and professional contributions. That led to an assignment for my alma mater, Georgetown University via the President's Office to help actualize a 'sustainability strategy' into a coordination across 9 schools and the university's operations for its 'town' of 21,000 residents and commuters. And then in 2019, one of the former China Greentech members, a global leader from IBM, recruited me to support his mission at IBM to update and focus IBM's strategy for its global electric and gas utility clients on sustainability. As a continuum to IBM's deep partnerships and relationships with the leading energy utilities around the world, today IBM is evermore focused with its clients and partners on "Electrifying Energy; Sustainably Fueling the Future". Finally, in Feb. 2021, I was recruited to IBM Global Business Services - Enterprise Strategy to focus this IBM unit's consulting services on the disruptors of 'digital and sustainability' and support our clients to manage the risks/challenges and seize the opportunities at the intersection of these two major drivers of global transformation for the next several decades ahead. I would love to share, collaborate and talk with anyone in the Energy Central Network. Just let me know when and how. All the best, Elle Carberry