Nancy H. Chen, MA, LL.M., is a former Greenpeace China and Greenpeace International Climate & Renewables Campaigner. Currently, she is the China Director of a global Charity Foundation as well as Expert Member of Global Climate Forum.

A short tipping point story: “I remember in my early career that a report (Wind12) was used to persuade China law-makers to embrace renewables. After various rounds of political lobbying, China finally issued in 2005 the China Renewable Energy Promotion Law, removing obstacles for wind and solar energy. Through subsidies and clean development mechanisms, China’s renewables nearly grew double each year until it became world no. 1 solar / wind manufacturer and installer. The power of the Chinese single legal system to make big industries move from top down combined with a bottom-up governance approach created a tipping point for the Energy transition in China. “

Sander E. van der Leeuw, is an archaeologist, from the Arizona State University and the College of Global Futures. As archaeologist and medieval historian, he developed an interest in the long-term evolution of the interaction of societies with their environments, and in using the complex adaptive systems approach in analyzing and understanding it. He taught and did research in The Netherlands, Britain, France and the USA, fieldwork in Syria, Mexico, the Philippines, Japan and China.

Mark C.J. Stoddart is Professor in the Department of Sociology at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. His diverse research interests include sociology of climate change, offshore oil and energy transitions, environmental movements, and tourism and community sustainability. He is Associate Editor of the journal Environmental Sociology and is on the Board of the International Sociological Association Research Committee 24: Environment and Society. He has published widely in international environmental social science journals and is co-author of the recent book, Industrial Development and Eco-Tourisms: Can Oil Extraction and Nature Conservation Co-Exist? (Palgrave Macmillan 2020).

Dr. Vanessa Timmer is the Executive Director of One Earth, a Vancouver, Canada-based environmental ‘think and do tank’ creating and imagining sustainable ways of living in cities and around the world. One Earth collaborates with partners to transform how people live their lives – what they need, what they consume and produce, and what they aspire to – enabling everyone to live good quality of lives within their fair share of our planet’s resources.

Vanessa is, also, a Senior Research Fellow at Utrecht University with the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development and the Urban Futures Studio. She holds a Doctorate and studied at Queen’s University, Oxford, UBC and Harvard. Vanessa sits on the Multi-stakeholder Advisory Committee for the United Nations 10YFP Sustainable Lifestyles Programme. In Canada, she is a Board member of the National Zero Waste Council. In 2018, Vanessa received the 2018 YWCA Women of Distinction Award in Environmental Sustainability.

Prof. Coleen Vogel is a climatologist by training and has undertaken research in climate change, climate vulnerability and adaptation, with a particular focus on disaster risk reduction and climate variability. Her current research interests include transformative education for global environment change and sustainability, climate change in its broader context and adaptation and disaster risk reduction focusing particularly on the interactions between physical and social dimensions shaping change. Coleen is currently project lead on the City of Johannesburg Adaptation and climate change. In addition to being an adaptation specialist, Coleen is also undertaking research into transdisciplinary research approaches in various African contexts.