In conversation with Tom Steyer

Join us for this conversation about sustainability and economics with climate investor, businessman, hedge fund manager, philanthropist, environmentalist, political candidate and liberal activist, Tom Steyer.

Meet our speakers and chair

Tom Steyer (@TomSteyer) is a California business leader, climate advocate, and philanthropist. After earning his Stanford MBA, he founded Farallon Capital Management in San Francisco, growing it into a global firm managing $36 billion. In 2012, Tom stepped away to focus entirely on climate and economic justice.

Tom founded Galvanize Climate Solutions, an investment firm built on the standard that clean solutions must be cheaper, faster, and better than carbon-intensive options. This philosophy is the title of his 2024 New York Times bestseller, Cheaper, Faster, Better: How We’ll Win the Climate War.

In 2017, Tom founded Need to Impeach, mobilizing millions to lay the groundwork for Trump's impeachment. In 2020, he ran for president, treating climate change as a national emergency and central primary issue.

Tom links climate progress to economic opportunity. He co-founded Beneficial State Bank, defended California’s Cap & Trade system, and worked to close corporate tax loopholes to raise revenue for schools and hospitals. He is running to be the next Governor of California.

Larry Kramer has been President and Vice Chancellor of LSE since April 2024. A constitutional scholar, university administrator, and philanthropic leader, he was previously the President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Dean of Stanford Law School.

Susana Mourato is Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) at LSE, where she is also Professor of Environmental Economics. She joined LSE in 2008 from Imperial College London and has held several senior leadership roles, including Head of Department of Geography and Environment (2017–2020) and Academic Director of LSE Summer School. She is an Associate of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.

Jonathan Pershing is the inaugural Dean of the Global School of Sustainability at LSE. He has extensive experience at the highest level of US climate policy and has played a key role in creating international climate agreements. He has held significant positions in the US Department of State — including as the US Special Envoy for Climate Change — and at the US Department of Energy. Most recently, he was the Director of the Environment Program at the Hewlett Foundation.

Nicholas Stern is IG Patel Chair of Economics and Government and the inaugural Chair of the Global School of Sustainability at LSE. His latest book is The Growth Story of the 21st Century: The Economics and Opportunity of Climate Action.

More about this event

Launched in 2025, the Global School of Sustainability at LSE (GSoS) is the centre of social science expertise for sustainability impact at LSE. We work in partnerships across the LSE community and beyond to advance pioneering sustainability research and global policy engagement.

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