LVO for Director of Cambridge Programme for Industry

Polly has been with CPI since its foundation 20 years ago. CPI’s original remit was to provide short high-tech courses for industry, but when Polly took over as Director in 2000 she refocused the organisation to help leaders in business and government around the world address major sustainability challenges - both social and ecological.

CPI now runs sustainability leadership development programmes and dialogues for senior decision makers, helping them run profitable businesses and make good policy decisions that take into account key sustainability challenges. These range from climate change and energy security, biodiversity conservation and ecosystems services, to sustainable economic growth, achieving a low carbon economy, and issues of poverty, social justice and human rights.

In 1994, CPI was commissioned by The Prince of Wales to develop a seminar programme to help senior business leaders respond to these challenges, drawing on an international faculty and on contributions from experts, leading thinkers and practitioners from Cambridge and the international policy and business community.

BEP is now widely regarded as the leading international forum for executive learning, exchange of best practice and cutting-edge expertise on sustainability. It operates in 6 different locations around the world and has an active and influential alumni network numbering almost 2,000 leaders in business and government.

Polly Courtice said: “The Prince of Wales programme is now one of our flagship programmes and it has benefited enormously from His Royal Highness’s personal vision and his commitment to helping businesses make progress towards sustainability. But of course its success is equally dependent on the team at CPI, both in the UK and in overseas, which has worked tirelessly to make this the internationally recognised programme it is. This honour is really recognition of all their efforts.”

BEP attracted widespread publicity at the end of last year, when its Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change issued a communiqué to climate change negotiators in Bali, signed by over 170 international businesses, calling on the UN for a legally binding framework to tackle climate change guided by science, and seen as a pro-growth strategy.

In addition to her work with CPI, Polly Courtice is a member of the University's Council for Lifelong Learning, serves on the Board of the Institute for Continuing Education and is Academic Director of the University’s Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business. She is an alumna of New Hall, Cambridge and the University of Cape Town.