Serge de Gheldere

I’m an engineer, entrepreneur, and advocate with a clear goal: help build an attractive, fossil-free future. I do this wearing different hats: as CEO of Futureproofed (the carrot), president of Klimaatzaak (the stick), member of the board and the executive committee of Leuven2030 (community), and through public speaking, writing and media appearances (advocacy). At Futureproofed we help businesses transition to a sustainable business model and capture returns such as lowering costs, anticipating risks, developing new business offerings, and improving your brand. FutureproofedCities is a digital collaboration tool for city teams to develop, monitor and implement their city transformation. Starting from a database covering 95.000 EU areas, we help cities build a climate plan and estimate the financial and carbon pay-off. We enable city teams to work together and manage all their climate actions from one central place. FutureproofedCities also foster an online community of hundreds of mayors, city officials, and civil servants who support and learn from each other. More than 190 municipalities currently run on FutureproofedCities representing more than 80 million inhabitants. I also initiated and lead Klimaatzaak which takes legal action against Belgian governments, highlighting the gaps between the climate commitments and actions of our governments. Strengthened by the victories in a similar cases in the Netherlands, Ireland and France, Klimaatzaak has grown from 11 founders to more than 58.000 Belgian co-plaintiffs, making it the biggest and widest legal case in Belgium, by far. In 2006, I was one of the two first European 'Climate Ambassadors' personally trained by Al Gore in the US. Since, I have since given many hundreds of lectures around the world, about how a fossil-free, circular and biodiverse economy can help companies innovate, create local jobs, and lead to more prosperity and quality of life for citizens. If you’re ready to capture the climate opportunity in your city or in your company, get in touch at [email protected]