Navigating Net Zero: Dr. Lea Borkenhagen’s Playbook from Nike to Nonprofits & Reasons for Optimism

Alexia Kelly interviews Dr. Lea Borkenhagen, SVP at Environmental Defense Fund, about her career spanning economics, NGOs and corporate sustainability. Dr. Borkenhagen traces her path from studying orangutans in Borneo to exploring how markets shape resource use, then working with WWF and earning a PhD before joining Oxfam to help launch the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. They discuss Dr. Borkenhagen’s experience at Nike, and what it really takes to “win hearts and minds” as a sustainability professional. Dr. Borkenhagen’s work at EDF focuses on sustainability as a driver of business value—and she shares her expert perspective on how emerging topics like CBAM, climate impacts on supply chains, innovation, methane action, and more are reasons for hope in corporate climate progress, despite political headwind.