Robert Connell

Background

About Robert Connell

I am on a journey to change educational and business systems on a macroscopic scale to integrate, reinforce and celebrate sustainability action. Would you like to be a part of it? After obtaining an MA in International Business Management and Languages, where in my final year I co-founded the Heriot-Watt Sustainability Society, I immersed myself in climate change science, economics and business at the University of Edinburgh's MSc in Carbon Management. It was while I studied the various challenging and empowering courses, building climate strategies for various courses and listening to experts from eclectic industries, that I first saw business mobilisation in the face of an external adversity. In March 2021, the UK entered a COVID-19 lockdown. Redundancies, closures, workforces transitioning online during the lockdown period showed the type of significant ramifications and systematic changes that result from external changes to the business environment. The external adversity of climate change requires even greater mobilisation. I understood that the formidable economic and logistical force of the private sector is necessary to halt and reverse the worst impacts of climate change in a timely manner, and wrote my dissertation on the financial and economic benefits of climate action. I am proud to have shared this insight in a book publication and as a speaker for the UK's Place-Based Climate Action Network. During the economic slow-down of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was fortunate to obtain a job as an Assistant Teacher at the American International School of Budapest. Here I began my investigation into sustainability integration into curricula, volunteering as a climate consultant, and building an international school climate action knowledge sharing network. I now also volunteer with Net Zero Scotland Community as an event organiser and panelist for COP26 online events, and empower young people to find industry climate change solutions through volunteering with Fuel Change. I invite you to join me on our collective journey toward sustainability.