Meet the LCSC commissioners

Ashok is the Chair of the LCSC.

Ashok is CEO of Ashden. Previously, Ashok was Chief Executive of the London Cycling Campaign, and Director of The Climate Coalition, a co-founder of Make Poverty History and Director of the Jubilee Debt Campaign. Ashok has a PhD in renewable energy and conducted research into climate change and renewable energy in academia and Forum for the Future. Ashok has been named one of London’s 1000 Most Influential People by the Evening Standard for the last five years and was named one of the UK’s top 100 Environmentalists by the Independent on Sunday in 2008.

Register of Interests - Ashok Sinha

Alyssa Gilbert is the Director of Innovation at the Grantham Institute - Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London where she leads Imperial’s climate change and sustainability innovation activities, linking innovative students, staff and alumni to opportunities to make a difference. She is the Director of Undaunted, a collaborative activity between Imperial and the Royal Institution that is seeking to create a home for climate innovation in London, supporting successful creation and scale up of businesses that tackle climate change.

Alyssa is also the co-chair of the UK Universities Climate Network, which brought together academic expertise on climate change ahead of the international negotiations in November 2021. Together with the Dyson School of Design engineering, Alyssa and colleagues are running a Master's in Cleantech innovation from October 2024. Previously Alyssa was the Director of Policy and Translation at the Grantham Institute. Prior to joining the university, she worked at a specialist energy and climate consultancy for nearly 12 years on a range of climate change mitigation and adaptation topics. Alyssa has worked with the UK and many other national governments and at an international level. She has also been a member of the Natural Environment Council’s Advisory Network.

Antonia is Chief Executive Officer at the Centre for London (CfL). She joined CfL September 2023, and has over 15 years’ experience in charities, think tanks and campaigning organisations promoting new economic thinking. She has expertise across progressive local economic development and heterodox economics, and prior to joining CfL worked as an Associate Director at the Centre for Local Economic Strategies.  Antonia holds a Master’s degree with distinction in Politics and Communications, and a BA (Hons) in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. She is the former Chair of the board of Rethinking Economics.

Ben Smith is an award-winning environmental consultant with 25 years’ experience delivering consultancy projects for public and private sector clients in the UK, Europe and Australia. He leads Arup’s environmental consulting business in London. Ben’s expertise and experience relates to energy and carbon and climate risk and urban resilience, as well as in sustainable development strategy and stakeholder engagement. For the last decade Ben’s clients have predominantly been local and city government administrations, proponents of large development masterplans and philanthropic environmental funders. High profile clients include C40 Cities, 100 Resilient Cities (now R-Cities) and the National Lottery Community Fund. Ben has held previous non-paid advisory roles for WWF, UKRI, World Economic Forum and the National Lottery, and he was a Founding Trustee of the National Park City Foundation.

Brendan is a Principal Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) leading on their Just Transition Initiative and their investment work related to economic inclusion in energy. He is also a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute at the LSE where he supports the work of the Just Transition Finance Lab. Brendan was previously a senior policy fellow at LSE’s Grantham Research Institute, working on sustainable finance policy with a particular focus on just transition and place-based climate investment. Prior to joining the Grantham Institute, Brendan spent several years working on sustainable finance policy within the UK Government as well as working at the Green Finance Institute. He began his career at Lloyds Banking Group, working there for 5 years.

Calum has advised local and national governments around the world on shaping smart, 'smarter' and 'future' cities. He has extensive experience working with senior political, policy, and government leaders across key areas of sustainable urbanisation - from technical assessments, to shaping digital and innovation strategy and policy for cities; identifying and driving partnerships, convenings, and collaborations; and driving new ways of working, thinking, and delivering in cities. He brings experience from the United Nations, the international development sector, national and local government, research, and consultancy. Calum led the 'smart cities' programme at the United Nations Development Programme (based in Singapore), was previously Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum G20 Smart Cities Alliance Digital Infrastructure Taskforce, a Panel Member of the Mayor of London's Infrastructure Advisory Panel, and a Policy Fellow at the University of Cambridge's Centre for Science and Policy.

Charlie is Environment Agency’s London Area Director. Her teams work closely with key organisations to engage early and work in partnership to make sure that London continues to be a world class city with a high-quality environment for those who live, work and visit it. Charlie’s team brings together the work of implementing the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan. Developed by the Environment Agency and its partners, the Plan sets out a vision for the estuary’s future adapting to a changing climate. Her teams are regulating the construction and permitting of the Thames Tideway Tunnel. More recently Charlie has been supporting the work of the London’s Strategic Surface Water Group with partners and has Co-Chaired this group following the flooding in 2021.

Her specific interests includes sustainable growth, environmental infrastructure, natural capital, net environmental gain and climate resilience. Charlie joined the Environment Agency as a graduate from Kings College London and has since undertaken diverse range of roles and built up a rich knowledge of many of the sectors covered by the organisation. This includes work on incident response, water quality regulation and the 2007 floods and Pitt Review. Charlie sits as an observer on the Thames Estuary Growth Board, is a Commissioner of the London Sustainable Development Commission, is a trustee on the Thames 21 Board and Trustee of a homeless charity, the Upper Room.

Register of Interests - Charlotte Wood

Clover Hogan is a climate activist and the Founder of Force of Nature, the youth non-profit turning climate anxiety into action. She has worked alongside the world’s leading authorities on sustainability, consulted within the boardrooms of Fortune 50 companies, and counselled heads of state. Clover has taken the stage with global change-makers such as Jane Goodall and Vandana Shiva, and interviewed the 14th Dalai Lama. Her TED talk, 'What to do when climate change feels unstoppable', has been viewed 2 million times. At 22 she was recognised on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and has featured in outlets including The Guardian, the BBC, the New York Times, the FT, and Vogue.  

David was appointed as London Wildlife Trust CEO in 2023. His expertise extends to forging partnerships across the public, private, and charity sectors. He is passionate about London’s nature recovery and reconnecting people to the natural world. Focusing on the transformation of urban spaces for the benefit of both wildlife and people.

Jacob Heitland is a passionate urbanist, strategist and systems changer seeking to bring forward an equitable and thriving future of living for people and planet. He is currently the Director of Climate Action at Newham Council focusing on building a Just Transition to address the interconnected crises related to the climate emergency and has previous roles working on major urban regeneration projects, green finance, bio-based supply chains, sustainability and urban health in the U.K., Australia and U.S.

Jo Blackman was elected as a councillor for Wanstead Village in the London Borough of Redbridge in 2018 and re-elected with a significantly increased majority in 2022 and has been cabinet member for the environment and sustainability on Redbridge Council since 2021. Jo is also a trustee of Epping Forest Heritage Trust, an elected executive member of Labour’s environment campaign (SERA), a school governor and Vice Chair of the East London Waste Authority.

Jo Blackman is also an experienced campaign strategist specialising in environmental campaigns with over 20 years’ experience, including heading up a global campaign at Global Witness that was instrumental in securing new laws on deforestation in supply chains in the UK and EU, and pushing the issue of deforestation finance up the political agenda. Jo headed up the Labour Party’s international relations from 2008 to 2015 and has worked for parliamentarians in Brussels and the UK. 

Growing up between Mongolia and the UK, Julia Tserendulam Lamb witnessed how environmental challenges disproportionately impact vulnerable communities. Motivated by this, she founded youth groups and led campaigns on climate and social justice from a young age, laying the foundation for her work today. During university, she researched sustainable diets and how to engage young people in underrepresented schools, shaping her career in the food industry. Julia now supports Tesco’s Nature Programme, which focuses on protecting and enhancing nature across supply chains, while championing youth voices as a Youth Board Member for the London Wildlife Trust, where she helped create London’s Hidden Track, a youth-led film highlighting nature’s mental health benefits. She has led TEDx events, international youth conferences, participated in COPs, and, as part of a team, won the UK track of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Innovation Accelerator, presenting food waste reduction solutions globally. Now, as London’s Sustainable Development Commissioner, Julia’s vision is a city where every community thrives with nature, empowering young people to shape the future they will inherit.

Leonie Cooper was elected to the London Assembly in May 2016 and re-elected in May 2021. She is Deputy Leader of the Labour Group at City Hall and leads for Labour on the Environment. Currently Chair of the Assembly Environment Committee, Leonie previously chaired the Environment Committee 2016-2018, and was Deputy Chair 2018-2021.

Under her leadership, the Committee produced reports on:

1.) how to reduce single-use plastic bottle waste in London, which led to the Mayor’s programme of water fountains and work with Refill London;

2.) how to tackle Londoners’ fuel poverty, which led to the first Mayoral Fuel Poverty Strategy;

3.) how to maintain London’s parks and open spaces, despite budget cuts.

Leonie also produced her own report for the Assembly Housing Committee on biodiversity in new housing developments, with recommendations to introduce biodiversity net gain and an Urban Greening Factor, which were subsequently included in the new London Plan.

During Leonie’s 2 years as Chair of the Economy Committee, 2019-2021, it produced its first-ever report on the Skills required for the Low-Carbon, Circular Economy, as well as looking at Food Insecurity. In 2022, when Leonie was chairing the Oversight Committee, it conducted an investigation into GLA Pension investments, including looking at both divestment and investment.

Prior to her election in May 2016, Leonie worked in the field of environmental sustainability and campaigned on air quality - an issue she has continued to work on since being elected.

Maria is a placemaking and city strategist. Her background is in planning, environment, and human rights law. She is the Director and Founder of the Living Space Project, an urban placemaking social value consultancy. She is also a Senior Fellow for Philanthropy and Place at the New York-based Projects for Public Spaces and co-founder of the UK Place Making Collective.

Maria is a former commissioner of the UK Sustainable Development Commission and the English Heritage Commission and a former Director of the Foundation for Future London. She has been a patron or trustee of several equality, environment, heritage, and placemaking boards, and organisations, including the National Heritage Lottery Fund and the Environment Agency. She also received the first Clore Social Fellowship for Environment and Place.

In addition, she is the author of the short book The Place Making Factor and the Director of the Centre for Knowledge Equity.

Register of Interests - Maria Adebowale-Schwarte

Martha Grekos is passionate about London and placemaking: she works with local communities, government and developers on public private sector partnerships and multidisciplinary and multifaceted projects to bring about transformation change. She has specialised in planning and environmental law for over 25 years and has been appointed by various organisations as a non-executive director and board advisor to provide strategic and inclusive leadership. She is currently Chair of the Royal Docks Management Authority and Chair of the Fleet Street Area Public Realm Working Group, working with various stakeholders to bring about transformational change in that area. She was born and still lives and works in London and is very proud to be a Londoner. 

Syed has close to 20 years’ experience in the sustainable energy industry, in a wide variety of roles and organisations ranging from Friends of the Earth, the Combined Heat and Power Association, the GLA, and Arup. In 2014, he was seconded into the Department of Energy and Climate Change to review the UK Government’s demand-side energy policies. Syed established and is Director of Energy for London, an independent think tank supporting London’s progress to becoming a low-carbon city. Syed’s other current roles include being a Director of the Parliamentary Renewable and Sustainable Energy Group and a trustee of the fuel poverty charity National Energy Action.

Register of Interests - Syed Ahmed

Tayshan founded Grow to Know, a not-for-profit collective offering creative nature-based solutions through impact-driven collaborations that aim to solve environmental and social challenges. Through this he can provide links with grassroots community groups, especially among marginalised Londoners, as well as major arts institutions which can be an important avenue to engage Londoners on sustainability.  

Venus has extensive experience in government, legislation and campaigning in the U.S. and U.K. She has worked across multiple policy areas including housing, land and planning, health, voting rights, women's rights, energy and climate justice. She has had the honour of serving diverse communities and is passionate about civic and democratic engagement.

In her role at Citizens Advice, she serves as a Principal Policy Manager and leads the Energy Retail Markets’ Team. Previously at Shelter, she led the social housing policy portfolio, focusing on how government and developers can end the housing emergency through delivering genuinely affordable homes.

Venus has a master's degree in Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.