The Climate 100 List: Join our inaugural event celebrating the world’s leading environmentalists

Join us for The Independent’s first Climate 100 event, a landmark celebration to honor those committed to the fight against climate change.

The event will take place in New York City on September 25 to mark the launch of the Climate100 List, a roll call of leading climate activists, innovators, scientists, business leaders, creators, policymakers and entrepreneurs from around the world, selected by The Independent.

Taking place during Climate Week NYC, the event will be broadcast over Zoom, and you can attend online for free. Simply register here to reserve your place.

Our inspiring speakers include former British Prime Minister Theresa May; bestselling author John Vaillant; The Independent’s award-winning, chief international correspondent Bel Trew; and Wawa Gatheru, climate activist and founder of Black Girl Environmentalist.

The keynote address will be given by our preeminent speaker, Theresa May, the 76th prime minister of the United Kingdom and the second woman ever to hold the office. Her premiership marked the culmination of 21 years’ continuous service on the front bench.

During her time in Downing Street, May introduced legislation to end the UK’s contribution to global warming entirely – making the UK the first G7 country to legislate for net zero emissions. She also oversaw the publication of the Clean Growth Strategy and the decision to end unabated coal-fired electricity generation in the UK.

She served as the Member of Parliament for Maidenhead for more than 27 years, standing down earlier this year. She continues to undertake philanthropic and campaigning work around the world and was recently appointed to the House of Lords.

The Climate100 event will open with Wawa Gatheru, a powerful advocate for inclusive climate action who is dedicated to amplifying the voices of Black women.

Her work challenges the traditional narratives that often depict marginalized communities as victims rather than leaders and problem solvers in the climate crisis.

Growing up, Gatheru first became deeply aware of the climate crisis when her first-grade art teacher showed An Inconvenient Truth, the Oscar-winning climate documentary by former vice president Al Gore. As she got older, she came to recognize the disconnect between decision-makers on climate issues and those most affected — often people of color, and women.

In response, she founded Black Girl Environmentalist, the largest Black, youth-led climate organization in the U.S. The group supports Black girls, women, and gender expansive people interested in joining the climate movement and pursuing green careers.

Her numerous achievements include being the first Black person to receive the prestigious Rhodes, Truman, and Udall scholarships for her environmental work. She graduated from the University of Oxford in 2022 with an MSc in Nature, Society and Environmental Governance.

She is an inaugural member of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s National Environmental Youth Advisory Council and serves on boards of organizations including EarthJustice and Climate Power.

She has been recognized as one of Forbes 30 under 30; a Glamour College Woman of the Year; and featured on the cover of VOGUE alongside Billie Eilish.

Gatheru’s life goal is to help create a climate movement made in the image of all of us. As Climate 100’s opening speaker, she will share what it means to be an environmentalist now - and how we can make the tent of climate activism big enough for us all.

Next to speak will be award-winning author John Vaillant. Rather than relying on traditional activism, the writer, who is based in Vancouver, BC, uses both fiction and non-fiction to illuminate the often-overlooked consequences of human impact on the environment.

His bestselling books, The Golden Spruce and The Tiger, are testament to his ability to bring critical issues to light through masterful narrative.

Vaillant’s latest work, Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World was a 2024 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in General Nonfiction. This powerful book recounts the catastrophic 2016 wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alberta – a devastating event that melted vehicles, incinerated neighborhoods, and displaced 88,000 people in just one day.

Through this harrowing tale, Vaillant provides a stark warning about the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires in our rapidly warming world. With cinematic detail and profound insight, he explores the deep connections between the oil industry, climate change, and the new era of megafires.

Attendees will also hear from Bel Trew, The Independent’s award-winning chief international correspondent, photographer and documentary filmmaker.

Trew started a career in the Middle East at the start of Arab Spring in 2011, reporting on uprisings and wars from South Sudan to Yemen, from Israel/Palestine to Syria. She has since widened her scope to covering news events across the globe, including Europe, Pakistan and Ukraine, where she made her first feature-length documentary, The Body in the Woods.

Most recently she has crisscrossed the US for her new film ahead of the elections. Bel was named Foreign Reporter of the Year at the UK Press Awards and also won the Marie Colvin Award last year.

The focus of Bel’s work is on uncovering evidence of war crimes, the devastating impact of conflict on civilians, and so on bringing the very real human reality of war home to audiences thousands of kilometres away. Bel’s talk will focus on the impact of the planet getting hotter and drier and how this drives conflict – from fuelling recruitment for jihadi groups to gender-based violence.

The Climate 100 speaker sessions will be moderated by Geordie Greig, David Callaway, and Louise Boyle.

Geordie Greig is Editor-in-Chief of The Independent; it is his fifth UK national editorship. He has been Editor of Tatler,The Evening Standard, The Mail on Sunday and The Daily Mail.

Geordie is Chairman of The Friends of the National Libraries, a charity which safeguards Britain’s literary heritage. He is the author of The Kingmaker, the story of the friendship between George VI and his grandfather and Breakfast with Lucian a biography about the artist Lucian Freud.

David Callaway, a former editor of USA Today, is founder of Callaway Climate Insights, a daily newsletter covering the entrepreneurs and businesses of the renewable energy transition. He is an occasional columnist for The Independent.

Louise Boyle is The Independent’s Deputy News Editor in New York and was previously Senior Climate Correspondent. In this role, Louise has reported from the United Nations climate conferences; on California’s extreme wildfires; and environmental issues at the US-Mexico border wall and on the Navajo Nation.

How to join Climate 100

The event will be hosted on Zoom and starts at 2pm EST (11am PST or 7pm BST) on Wednesday 25 September. You need to book a place in order to access the stream.

Once registered, you can attend as little or as much of the event as you like. It is set to run until 5.30pm EST (2.30pm PST/10.30pm BST).

For more information and to book a place click here.