About Katharine Wilkinson
Katharine Wilkinson, Ph.D., is one of the world's foremost climate change strategists, and her starting point is unusual for the genre: the solutions already exist. She was senior writer of Drawdown, which outlines 100 solutions to reverse global warming, and editor-in-chief of The Drawdown Review, a research-driven publication cataloging the world's top climate solutions. "While time is of the essence, solutions for a regenerative future are already largely in hand," she says. "But these solutions must be implemented with speed and at scale in order to ensure a vibrant and resilient future."
Wilkinson knows the inside of large organizations. Building on strategy work at The Boston Consulting Group and the purpose consultancy BrightHouse, she has advised American Express, Interface, KPMG, Kroger, New Chapter, Purpose Built Communities and SunTrust Bank on responsible, sustainable and regenerative practices. Her argument to executives is blunt: sustainability, in the sense of doing less harm, is no longer sufficient. "Regeneration is now the necessary aspiration."
Katharine's Keynote Topics
Inclusive climate leadership is about more than fairness, says author and strategist Katharine Wilkinson, Ph.D. A growing body of research shows it’s about efficacy. We need the biggest, strongest team possible, one that puts the work and wisdom of women at its center. In this keynote, Wilkinson draws on her viral TED Talk, which has more than 2 million views, and the acclaimed anthology she co-edited, “All We Can Save,” which features writings by women at the forefront of the climate movement. The climate crisis and its solutions are best understood through a kaleidoscopic lens, Wilkinson explains, and whatever your unique superpowers are, there’s a role for you in this diverse ecosystem of transformation.
Science tells us that wholesale transformation of society is urgent — and that later is too late when it comes to climate action. Alongside solutions like exponential expansion of clean energy and market-shifting movement of capital, we need the most critical infrastructure of all: people. To change “everything, everywhere, all at once” depends on everyone. Melding research, insights, and a framework for wayfinding, Katharine Wilkinson, Ph.D., sheds light on how we shape our roles as leaders — and the roles of our organizations — in bridging between the world as it is and the world as it could be.
Books by Katharine Wilkinson
Climate Wayfinding: Healing Ourselves and the Planet We Call Home
Amber Lotus Publishing, 2026
All We Can Save: Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis
One World, 2020
Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
Penguin Books, 2017
Between God & Green: How Evangelicals are Cultivating a Middle Ground on Climate Change
Oxford University Press, 2012Katharine in the Media
How To Handle Climate Anxiety & Find Harmony In This World
Climate Wayfinding with Katharine Wilkinson
Incorporating Climate Action in Everyday Life Can Start With Community
The Questions We Ask Matter With Dr. Katharine Wilkinson
Pinched Between Peril and Possibility, We Need Climate Leadership
Opinion: What Threatens My ‘City in the Forest’
The Moral Question at the Center of the Climate Crisis
Apocalypse Making Kids Sad? Fake Mozz Sticks!
States with Poor Climate Policy ‘Overlap’ With Those Seeking To Limit Rights, Kamala Harris Says
Could Gender Equality Save Our Planet?
Grassroots 2022: Katharine Wilkinson on Transformational Climate Leadership
7 Resources to Help You Cope With Climate Anxiety
The Paul Hawken presentation I just experienced at Telluride Mountainfilm was simply the best speech I have ever heard. And, not so incidentally, also the most important. To come at the world’s most important issue in an entirely novel fashion is a monumental feat.
Tom PetersAmerican writer on business management practices, best known for In Search of Excellence
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