The Future is Now
Toronto, Ontario
Presented by
Harbourfront Centre
The culmination of the Nordic Talks series featuring a Sustainability and Social Impact Consultant, Norway’s Ambassador to Canada, a top 30 under 30 Sustainability Leader and an International Environmental Lawyer to discuss society’s role in the next seven years.
In 2015, at the start of a three-day Summit on Sustainable Development, an ambitious new global agenda to end poverty and pursue a sustainable future by 2030 was unanimously adopted by the 193 Member States of the United Nations. At the heart of this agenda are the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the 5Ps of the SDGs: People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnership. Are we on track to transform the world in seven short years and what does the future hold for 2030 and beyond?
Presented as part of Harbourfront Centre’s Festival of Cool.
See full list of event participants below.
Event Supporters
Before becoming Norway’s ambassador to Canada, Jon Elvedal Fredriksen was a diplomatic advisor to the Prime Minister of Norway (2016-2020). Prime Minister Solberg at the time co-chaired the UN Secretary General’s Sustainable Development Goals Advocates group together with President Akufo Addo of Ghana. Positions currently held by PM Trudeau of Canada and PM Mia Mottley of Barbados, who took over in 2021. Fredriksen travelled globally with PM Solberg to advocate the goals and worked with the Secretary General’s office and UNOP on planning outreach and events for the advocacy group.
Fredriksen has previously been Norway’s Ambassador to Ukraine and Consul General of Norway in Murmansk, Russia, and has extensive experience with Arctic affairs and security policy. Mr. Fredriksen is a graduate of the University of Tromsø, Norway in Russian studies, world literature and structural linguistics.
Proudly Franco-Albertan, Chúk is passionate about the ways in which the environment impacts human health and the role of justice in our understanding of how our societies function. This passion manifests itself in his work as one of the founding directors of Future Ancestors Services where he focuses on environmental and climate justice in his efforts to not only make green spaces accessible for everyone; but to fight environmental racism in all its forms and to popularise the understanding that you cannot create a society that is environmentally friendly if that same society is not just. Chúk is also a PhD candidate in Medical Geography where his research seeks to build from several forms of knowledge to better understand the impacts of the environment (biophysical, socio-cultural, socio-economic and socio-political) on the vulnerability/resilience of a community to disease.
Chúk has worked in a variety of industries, including oil and gas, fashion retail, and academia. He is interested in the multidisciplinary nature of our existence and in exploring new solutions that respond to recurring problems. Chúk was ranked amongst the top 30 Sustainability Leaders under 30 by Corporate Knights, the top 30 Change-Making Albertans under 30 by the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation, the top 10 young Franco-Albertan leaders by Radio-Canada and the top 25 environmentalists under 25 in Canada by the Starfish for three years. Chúk was MEC’s ambassador for the outdoors and is an alumni of the first Ocean Bridge cohort, a group of young Canadians leading ocean health and literacy projects across Canada.
Clarisse Kehler Siebert is a Canadian-Swedish international environmental lawyer with expertise in climate change research, intergovernmental negotiations and impact investment. For a decade, she managed a broad climate impacts research portfolio at the Stockholm Environment Institute and contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a nominee of Sweden. Recently she served as Executive Director of a Cambodia-based organization that catalyzes public and private finance for small-scale renewable energy and clean water solutions in South-East Asia.
Clarisse holds degrees in International Relations, and Common and Civil Laws from McGill University. She lives in Stockholm with her husband and daughters and is a civil servant at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.
Alicia Richins is a Sustainability and Social Impact Consultant based in Toronto, and a fierce advocate of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With extensive experience in international development, nonprofits and community organizations, she works with forward-thinking organizations to assess, amplify and embed their desired social and environmental impact, using the UN SDGs as a guiding framework.
As the Partnerships and Standards Lead at the Common Approach to Impact Measurement, Richins leads the development and adoption of the Common Approach’s four flexible standards for impact measurement. She also serves as Director of Programming for Leading Change Canada, an organization focused on activating youth sustainability leadership for the transition to a low carbon economy within a generation.
A dual citizen since birth of Canada and Trinidad and Tobago, Richins holds a Master in Environmental Studies, Planning Concentration, and a BA in Economics and Social Science (Honours), both from York University.
