ABOUT US
Why Ambition Loop?
ABOUT US
Our History
The power of the ‘ambition loop’ was recognized by countries negotiating the Paris Agreement in 2015 when they created the role of UN Climate Champions to drive ambition and action among non-state actors to support and inspire faster action among national governments. The partners of the We Mean Business coalition [where Nigel was then CEO] picked this up and made it central to their approach to systems change.
As UN Climate Change High Level Champions we embedded this idea in the work of our teams and partners which led to the launch of the Race to Zero, Race to Resilience, GFANZ [in partnership with Mark Carney], the Breakthrough Agenda at COP26, the Sharm el Sheikh Adaptation agenda at COP27, and the Foods Systems Transformation program at COP28.
ABOUT US
We Believe
Boldness drives innovation.
In order to provoke new thinking and innovation at the scale required, we need to set transformative goals. These must be uncomfortable, even stretching credibility. Just as when JFK committed to landing on the moon and was ridiculed because many of the required technologies were not available, our bold goals should challenge the status quo, make us feel uncomfortable and force us to explore new frontiers. By holding fast to them we believe that the very best of humanity will emerge — our ability to innovate beyond our dreams!
Generosity of spirit builds a basis of trust needed for change.
Each of our breakthrough goals is enormous, daunting, way more than can be tackled by any one organization or sector. We believe the only way to move forward amongst mission-driven organizations is to consistently act with generosity — taking time to understand the world view and capabilities of partners, and encouraging the growth and improvement of existing initiatives.
Radical Collaboration is essential for transformative change.
Multiple stakeholders must align on breakthrough goals and implementation pathways to bring about the scale of change we must deliver. This means collaborating up and down supply chains, across different regions of the world, between public and private sectors. In particular it means ensuring the right balance of voices in all initiatives, which is why we will have a bias towards actors from emerging economies, where the challenges are greatest across all our campaigns.
ABOUT US
Partner Organizations
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Using their own innovative model, One Point Five quantifies how businesses can maximize their return on investment and impact through a marriage of financial & environmental modeling.
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A collaboration powered by TED and Leaders’ Quest, Countdown is TED’s first issue-specific initiative to champion and accelerate the bold ideas and underinvested solutions that can bring us closer to achieving a zero-carbon world.
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Operating as a family of projects and partnerships, Global Optimism elevates leadership, transforms mindsets and accelerates action to protect and regenerate the web of life.
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With 20 years of delivering transformational programs globally, LEADERS’ QUEST is Ia unique network of generous people who lead successful change — from grassroots communities to boardrooms through thoughtuflly designed learning journeys, offsites, advisory committees and more.
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Race to Zero is a global campaign rallying non-state actors – including companies, cities, regions, financial, educational, and healthcare institutions – to take rigorous and immediate action to halve global emissions by 2030 and deliver a healthier, fairer, net zero world.
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Capital for Climate is a climate solution investment accelerator facilitating strategy formulation, asset allocation, and opportunity sourcing across all science-based decarbonization pathways through a variety of services.
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Working with philanthropists, business and policy leaders, scientists, artists, activists, faith leaders, and community builders, Blue Dot Collective is on a mission to ignite change at an individual and collective level.
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GMH collaborates with governmental and non-governmental entities to scale up cost-effective solutions in methane mitigation and contribute to transformational change in the energy, agricultural, and waste management sectors.
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A global team of adaptive innovators, creative problem solvers, and facilitators of societal transformation, striving to make the world more peaceful, just, and sustainable through enhanced multi-stakeholder collaboration.
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For 25 years, Meridian Institute has worked on an extensive array of food system issues, both aquatic and terrestrial, to connect leaders from across sectors to forge new partnerships, helping them move beyond polarized debates into constructive discussion.
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The Race to Resilience campaign – the sibling campaign to Race to Zero – is the race to catalyse a step-change in global ambition, to accelerate the investment and implementation of adaptation solutions, and to put people and nature first in pursuit of a resilient world where we do not just survive climate shocks and stresses, but thrive in spite of them.
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A diverse network of change-makers committed to sharing strategic insights, inspiration and impactful specific opportunities to crack the crises of climate, covid, conflicts and inequalities and achieve our Sustainable Development Goals.
ABOUT US
Our Team
Nigel Topping, CMG
UN Climate Change High-Level Champion, COP26 Presidency & Co-Founder
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Nigel Topping, CMG has led and been involved in many of the global initiatives uniting business and governments in tackling climate change. He is cofounder of AmbitionLoop, a not-for-profit organization working to facilitate systemic change through radical collaboration between businesses and governments. He served as the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP26, where he launched global initiatives like Race To Zero, Race To Resilience and GFANZ. He is a Non-Executive Director of the UK Infrastructure Bank and business champion on the UK Climate Change Committee, and strategic advisor to the 57-country collaboration launched at Glasgow, the Breakthrough Agenda. Prior to this he was CEO of the We Mean Business Coalition following an 18 year career running and owning manufacturing businesses. Nigel was awarded a CMG in 2022 in Queen Elizabeth II's final honors list for his contribution to accelerating action on climate change and is Honorary Professor of Economics at Exeter University.
Gonzalo Muñoz, CMG
UN Climate Change High-Level Champion, COP25 Presidency & Co-Founder
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Gonzalo is the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion from the COP25 Presidency, appointed by the Chilean Presidency in 2019. From that position, he co-led with Nigel Topping the Race To Zero, Race To Resilience and GFANZ campaigns. Previously, he co-founded and led TriCiclos, one of the most recognised Latin American companies in circular economy and recycling. Gonzalo also co-founded Sistema B (B Corp in Latin America), Manuia and Polkura Winery. He is also a member of the Club of Rome. Currently, he sits on the board of the Global Foodbanking Network, CDP Latin America, TED future forum, Chapter Zero Chile, among others. For COP28 he chairs the non state actors strategy on food systems. And for INC he is the general coordinator of the Friends of the action agenda to stop plastics pollution. Gonzalo has been recipient of the Chilean national awards on environment, innovation and social entrepreneurship; and he was awarded the honor of CMG in Queen Elizabeth’s final honors list in 2022.
Paula Guerra
Co-Founder, Plastics Lead
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Paula has more than 15 years of experience in the solid waste sector in Latin America and the Caribbean. She has held positions at Quito (EMASEO EP), as manager of the National Program for the Integrated Solid Waste Management of the Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition (MAATE) of Ecuador, in the development of public policies and waste management at the national level. She is an external consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and for MANUIA/TriCiclos, based in Chile. Paula is co-founder and CEO of ReciVeci, a social and technological innovation startup in Ecuador and Peru. She is an Agricultural Science Engineer from EARTH University in Costa Rica with a Master's Degree in Sustainable Development from the University of London and advanced studies in Solid Waste Management at UNESCO IHE in Holland.
Jennifer Lenhart
Co-Founder
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Jennifer joins Ambition Loop with nearly 20 years of experience addressing environmental challenges via integrated approaches. She comes most recently from WWF, where she supported urban climate strategy in circa 900 cities, together with efforts on urban nature and planning as Global Cities Lead. She holds a PhD in multilevel governance from Wageningen University (Netherlands) and an Erasmus Mundus joint-MSc in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (MESPOM) from Lund University (Sweden) and Central European University (Hungary/ Austria). She previously worked at UN-Habitat (Kenya); the City of Malmö Environment Department (Sweden); a sustainability consultancy in Seattle (USA); and a youth education project (Haiti). She is part of IISD’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin team, covering various multilateral environmental agreements, including the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Describing herself as a cosmopolitan nomad, Jennifer has lived in 25 cities in 8 countries, now calling Santiago de Chile home, where she can live out her motto, “Good Cities, Good Nature,” in the Andes Mountains.
Jacinda Njike
Co-Founder, CCMA Lead
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Jacinda Njike is an attorney and Managing Director of the Climate Capital Mobilization Accelerator housed within the Ambition Loop. As a wife, mother and attorney Jacinda strives to contribute to sustainable development. Based in Douala, Cameroon with her family, she also serves as the Africa Finance Lead for the UN High Level Climate Champions. Her experience as a corporate attorney, strategist and advocate for climate finance began in the large law firms of Chicago and Douala, subsequently she joined a big 4 accounting firm covering 11 sub saharan francophone african countries where she built the Sustainability practice. In her current role she focuses on unlocking the 2.4T USD (set forth in the Songwe & Stern Climate Finance Framework) which is necessary to achieve the clean energy and nature positive transition in the global south to keep the Paris Agreement alive. She speaks English as a first language, French and Spanish at the conversational level and is also learning her family's mother tongue Medumba. Jacinda received her Bachelors of Science in Business Administration, Juris Doctorate in International Corporate Law from Northwestern University and studied Public Policy at the University of Chicago.
Carolina Escobar
Co-Founder, Director of Communications
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Carolina Escobar is an international media personality specializing in sustainability and currently serves as the Director of Communications at Ambition Loop, where she leads strategic efforts in collaboration, sustainability, and ESG. With over two decades of experience, she is recognized for her expertise in sustainability, social impact, and journalism.
Carolina has contributed to global events like COP28 in Dubai as a communications consultant, moderator, and speaker for the Future Mobility Hub. In Chile, she is a respected advocate for social and environmental issues and was honored by the Ministry of the Environment in 2024 for her commitment to environmental education.
Her career spans prominent roles at CNN en Español and Chile's TVN, where she led programs on news, health, sustainability, and social matters. She also directs content across television, radio, and digital platforms, and is the Director of Sustainability at BE Mass, a global communications and content creation company focused on sustainability and ESG.
Melissa Pinfield
Co-Founder, Senior Advisor, Food Systems
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Melissa Pinfield is a Senior Partner at Meridian Institute and Executive Director of the Just Rural Transition Secretariat, which is partnering with Ambition Loop and the Climate Champions Team to deliver the Food Systems Call to Action.
Melissa has helped develop and launch a range of multi-stakeholder initiatives to tackle complex issues including nature crime, voluntary carbon market integrity, and regenerative food systems. She has more than 20 years of experience working on climate, environment, sustainable development and international relations. Prior roles include Program Director of the Food and Land Use Coalition and various positions in the U.K. and Australian Governments focussed on forests and land use, climate finance, policy and partnerships and China. She holds a Masters in Foreign Affairs and Trade from Monash University.
Born in Adelaide, Melissa currently lives just outside of London. She loves cooking healthy food for friends and family, travelling and hiking.
Daniel Vercelli
Chair
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Co-founder and Managing Partner of Manuia, a Latin American consulting firm in ESG and sustainable business development. He also serves as board member or board advisor in companies related to circular economy, energy generation / efficiency and technology. He also sits on the board of Chapter Zero Chile, the Chile-Brazil Chamber of Commerce, the advisory board of Fundação Eco+ in Brazil and on ProChile’s Sustainability Council. In addition, he teaches strategy, sustainability and climate governance at several graduate and corporate governance programs in Chile. Previously Daniel spent 21 years in The Coca-Cola Company, where he held different positions in Latin America including General Manager of the subsidiary in Chile. Daniel has an undergraduate degree in economy and business administration, an MBA degree and studies in corporate governance.
Gaspar Guevara
Plastics Advisor
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Gaspar Guevara is a multifaceted professional at the forefront of sustainability and innovation. Currently, as Strategy and Business Development Manager at MANUIA, he spearheads initiatives to advocate for global agreements at high-level UN events and designs pioneering energy transition strategies for major players in Chile's private sector. With a keen focus on sustainability. Simultaneously, Gaspar is a dedicated educator, shaping the minds of tomorrow through courses on circular economy, entrepreneurship, and innovation at Universidad Católica de Chile. Gaspar holds a B.A. in Business Management and Strategic Design and is certified in GRI Standards, Circular Economy Pioneer, and Design Strategy Activation, embodying a holistic approach to driving positive change in both corporate and academic realms.
Clarisa Marambio
Project Manager, Plastics
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Clarisa Marambio, Chilean based in New York City, is Project Manager at Ambition Loop, where she works positioning climate action agendas and leading the coordination of efforts to engage key stakeholders and partnerships. She recently graduated with an MPA in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), with a focus on capital markets, international law, social impact campaign, impact investing, and environmental science. Clarisa also conducted extensive research on geopolitics of critical minerals and ESG mining policies in emerging markets at Columbia's Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP). Before this, she worked as a Sustainability Consultant at Deloitte and has a background in strategic communication and investigative journalism.
Claudia Nicolini
Partnerships manager
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Claudia is an experienced practitioner with ten years of experience. She holds a bachelor's degree in architecture and urban planning and an MSc. in Environment and Sustainable Development from the University College London. She brings a passion for driving creative solutions towards system change and sustainable development. Her expertise lies in leading and coordinating teamwork proposals and managing multicultural and international teams, where she translates fresh ideas into actionable plans. Her creative spark is further ignited by teaching courses in "Sustainable Cities and Communities" and "Circular Economy in Cities" at the Built Environment Faculty. She cultivates a dynamic learning environment where students explore innovative pathways for building resilient and sustainable urban spaces. She builds strong stakeholder relationships, fostering a collaborative environment where creativity thrives, ensuring a just transition toward a sustainable future.
Rebecca Brooks
Co-Founder, Food Systems Lead, Climate Champions Team
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Rebecca Brooks is Food Systems Lead at the Climate Champions, where she works closely with Ambition Loop to deliver the Food Systems Call to Action launched at COP28. Rebecca was previously managing the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation’s Land Use & Food Systems portfolio, and before that was at a climate consultancy working on land use, food systems, and water infrastructure in the sub-Saharan Africa region. Rebecca holds an MSc in International Development from the London School of Economics and a BA in Human Geography from the University of Leeds.
Benjamin Navarro
Executive Assistant to Nigel Topping
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Benjamin Navarro is a Chilean Forestry Engineer with a specialization in territory and sustainability from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Within the Ambition Loop team, he works as an assistant to Nigel Topping, as well as supporting tasks across the whole team. His international experience has led him to participate in different projects coordinating actors from diverse cultures and backgrounds, complemented by his knowledge of various group management tools. Due to his major, he has a profound connection with nature, enjoying it through trekking and photography, which leads him to find deep motivation to work in the field of climate change.
Isadora Pla Carlin
Food Systems Program Manager
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Isadora is the Food Systems Program Manager at Ambition Loop and also works as a Food Systems Associate at the Climate Champions Team. Her background includes research on food systems at the Co-Laboratory of Ecology, Complexity, and Society, UC. Additionally, she has served as a lecturer and facilitator for the Institute for Sustainable Development and various other entities, fostering impactful dialogues on global change. Isadora has a BSc. in Biology and an MSc. in Natural Resources. She grew up in Chile and she is passionate about nature and the outdoors, often spending her free time climbing or hiking.
ABOUT US
Key Partners
Patricia Espinosa
Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
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Patricia was executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (2016-2022); with an outstanding career as a member of the Mexican Foreign Service: secretary of Foreign Affairs between 2006 and 2012; ambassador to Austria and Germany; as well as ambassador emeritus of Mexico since 2012, and COP16 President among other diplomatic missions of high responsibility. Patricia has received numerous awards, as well as Decorations from the governments of Argentina, Austria, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, the Netherlands, Paraguay and Peru.
ABOUT US
Associate Partners
Adam Kahane
Mahmoud Mohieldin
Manuel Pulgar Vidal
Kim Stanley Robinson
Bogolo Kenewendo