Polly Courtice, Director of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, has been awarded the 2015 Stanford Bright Award, given annually to an unheralded individual who has made significant contributions to global sustainability.
In her two-plus decades at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Polly has guided hundreds of corporations toward making responsible environmental decisions and the Institute has built an alumni network of nearly 7,000 leaders for sustainability.
This accomplishment has earned Polly the 2015 Stanford Bright Award, the $100,000 prize given annually to an unheralded individual who has made significant contributions to global sustainability.
In an interview with Stanford Report about her achievements Polly said:
"After the United Nation's Earth Summit in 1992, more and more companies were struggling to deal with public pressures to be more accountable for their environmental and social actions and impacts, ranging from human rights to climate change.
These were complex and messy problems for business to grapple with and very few business leaders really knew how to deal with environmental externalities, or other civil society issues not immediately tied to the bottom line. We helped create some structure around what felt like chaos.
What we are doing is building an inspiring cadre of leaders who are more knowledgeable and confident in what they know, but also who have the kind of courage and determination to do something about it, and the sense of being part of a whole, unstoppable movement towards a better future."
The Stanford Bright Award recognises unheralded individuals who have made a significant contribution to global sustainability. Polly Courtice, Director, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) has won the 2015 award for her efforts in guiding thousands of business leaders to more sustainable business practices.