The University of Liverpool’s Centre for Sustainable Business Director, Professor Jo Meehan, has made it into the Net Zero 50 2025 list of individuals driving meaningful progress towards Net Zero across the UK.
Jo secured a joint 31st position in this year’s national ranking, standing alongside prominent figures including Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and overall winner and CEO of Octopus Energy, Greg Jackson.
Created by Digital Leaders and supported by partners CGI and Green Business Journal, the final 50 shortlist have been decided by a panel of judges and a public vote to identify public sector pioneers to community champions and business innovators leading the way to Net Zero.
The Top 50 and category winners were revealed in an awards ceremony held at the House of Lords on 28 November, where Jo was announced as the only sustainability leader from Liverpool being part of this year’s list.
Jo’s achievement reflects her leadership in promoting sustainable business practice and translating academic research into actionable change, and highlights the University’s growing national influence in policy transformation.
Under her direction, the CSB has delivered innovative ‘business-not-as-usual’ research across social value, governance, non-financial accounting and modern slavery.
This work has informed the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority in shaping their Social Value Framework, contributed to substantial changes to Government guidance on the reporting obligations set out in Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and launched the Centre’s Shaping Sustainable Futures executive education course.
Reacting to the announcement, Jo said: “The nomination recognises our collective effort at the Centre for Sustainable Business. Over the past three years, we’ve been turning academic research into courses, events and resources that help businesses, organisations and policymakers navigate sustainability and human rights.
“A huge thanks to everyone who voted or supported our work and events.”