For driving the world towards a regenerative future through effective climate solutions for people and planet
Chad Frischmann is interested in real solutions. He works as a system strategist, which is a fancy way of saying he thinks from big picture to microscale, and sees the connections and interactions linking the two. With his interdisciplinary background in public policy, human rights, sustainability and environmental protection, his life work centres around a building regenerative future linking people and planet. He’s previously been involved in promoting international collaboration between universities, civil and private sectors, and his expertise has been used at institutions like UNESCO, the International Working Group on Indigenous Affairs, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, on top of this, he’s been involved as a researcher and consultant for various organisations.
You might have seen one or two of Chad’s 100+ talks, maybe at TED Global’s “We the Future”, various COPs, the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, the Carbon Leadership Forum, the Dutch Sustainability Congress, the MAD Symposium, the Global Sustainable Technology & Innovation Conference… or any of the ones at various universities around the world. Safe to say: Chad knows his stuff. But what exactly does Chad do?
Those of us who work in the environmental space, or those of us who care about saving the planet, will probably be familiar with Project Drawdown. Aside from being a New York Times best-selling book (in fact it was the best-selling environmental book the year it was published), it’s also a non-profit organisation that does ongoing environmental research. Project Drawdown is aimed at helping the world reach “drawdown”—the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline. So they focus their work on conducting rigorous reviews and assessments of climate solutions, to find the top solutions that will help us get there.
Chad is the Senior Director at Drawdown Solutions. There, he’s the lead investigator and architect of the Project Drawdown methodology and models. With a global research team, Chad has devised sophisticated global tools to evaluate the world’s best climate solutions and their cascading benefits to human and planetary well-being. But of course, coming up with scientifically-backed solutions isn’t enough. He leads efforts to create compelling and human communication across mediums, partnering with efforts to accelerate these climate solutions; as a coalition builder, he’s interested in the work of bringing cities, universities, corporations, philanthropies, policymakers, communities, educators, activists, and more together: to build collective impact and move the world toward achieving Drawdown and creating a regenerative future—as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible.