Long-time Ceres CEO Mindy Lubber to step down in 2027

Sustainability nonprofit Ceres is seeking a successor to Mindy Lubber, who is stepping down as its long-time president and CEO at the end of 2027 after more than two decades of leadership.

There was no specific catalyst for Lubber’s decision or the timing, but “institutions do well with change,” she said, acknowledging her lengthy tenure. 

Between now and next fall, much of Lubber’s schedule will be focused on the role that clean energy resources and lower-carbon options for infrastructure — including steel and cement — can play in the massive U.S. data center buildout. 

“I think there’s an appetite on the part of the hyperscalers to listen, to meet with their stakeholders to figure out how to do what they want to do, and move forward if they’re going to move forward, but do it in a way that’s not environmentally damaging, that helps build the new economy of energy systems and truly addresses communities,” she said.

Lubber has long championed the idea that businesses should be closely involved in shaping climate and energy legislation that supports the transition to a clean, just economy. 

When asked to reflect on her most notable achievement, she points to Ceres’ role in encouraging prominent financial institutions to consider corporate climate risk in investment decisions. This was a novel concept when Lubber stepped into her job 23 years ago: “In today’s world, climate risk is sort of old hat. It is ingrained into the way that capital market leaders think.” 

Career highlights

A regional administrator in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Bill Clinton, Lubber was dubbed “Climate Warrior” along with other prominent female leaders who shaped the Paris Agreement in a 2015 Vogue magazine feature.

Before joining the EPA in 1995, she founded investment firm Green Century Capital Management; Lubber was its president and CEO for five years.

Ceres was closely involved in the negotiations that helped pass the Paris Agreement, in advocating for President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and in shaping the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rule to require corporate disclosure of climate-related risks. More recently, Lubber has defended against the backlash against responsible investing and encouraged the inclusion of more conservative voices in the climate movement.

“I think we definitely need to depoliticize the issues we’re working on,” she said. “The fact that water shortages or nature or climate change and the implications that it creates have become so partisan, we’ve got to change that.”

Lubber is not seeking another full-time role, but doesn’t call this a retirement. “Given how much I want to get done in the world, I’m allergic to the word retire,” she said. “What I do expect to do is have a very different schedule and lifestyle.”