EEM Grad Makes Sustainability Headlines Throughout the South Pacific

October 19, 2023

Kristin posing with Greenpreneurship Jump-Start participants in Vanuatu

Kristin Deason, Senior Regional Officer with the Global Green Growth Institute in Fiji and a 2009 EEM Ph.D. graduate, has been making headlines with several green entrepreneurship and sustainability programs she is leading throughout the South Pacific area.

In July 2018, Kristin was a key organizer and speaker at the Employers Climate Action Forum conducted in Suva, Fiji. The event drew over 160 participants representing the private sector, governments, and other organizations from across the Pacific region, and focused on the effects of climate change on the private sector, supporting resilient and low-carbon businesses, and the private sector’s role in addressing climate change and meeting national goals for emissions reductions.

Kristin speaking at the Fiji Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism's World Tourism Awareness Seminar in Rakiraki, Fiji, October 17, 2018

The theme of the forum was Resilient Businesses and Communities, and built on the signing of the Fiji Declaration at COP23 in which businesses agreed to partner with governments and other actors in the implementation of the Paris Agreement and promote the emergence of a new low-carbon economy that combats climate change while creating new jobs and advancing shared economic prosperity. Kristin made a plenary session presentation at the event on the status and progress of the Pacific NDC Hub, and facilitated a break-out workshop on NDC and SDG linkages in the Pacific. More information on that event can be seen at http://gggi.org/global-employers-climate-action-forum-held-in-fiji/.

In October 2018, Kristin organized, in conjunction with the Pacific Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, the Pacific Green Business Centre and the Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce, organized a week-long series of workshops Port Vila, Vanuatu. The event was aimed at cultivating development of local businesses that help address environmental or social issues as a core part of their business model, and was well attended by new entrepreneurs and experienced sustainable business owners.

The week began with “Jumpstart Your Green Business” – a one-and-a-half-day workshop led by GGGI that focused on supporting new and early stage green businesses in clarifying their business concepts and giving participants tools they need to take their business to the next level. News coverage of the event quoted Kristin as saying that “We recognize the important role played by the private sector in driving and implementing green growth, and this is why we have organized this event. There are already many successful, impactful green businesses in Vanuatu, but we want there to be more, and we believe there are many sectors and opportunities where this can happen.” More details about that event can be seen at http://gggi.org/vanuatu-greenpreneurs-week-cultivates-local-green-busin….

A similar event led by Kristin was the Greenpreneurs Week in the island nation of Kiribati . At that event, participants learned about trends in agriculture, waste, and low-impact tourism in Kiribati, requirements for starting a business in the country, and studied examples of existing successful green businesses in the Pacific region. Each participant was paired up with a mentor experienced in starting and running their own business.

Kristin and other speakers at the Global Climate Action Forum,

Suva, Fiji, August 2, 2108

Information about other programs led by Kristin from her Fiji hub in the second half of 2018 can be seen at http://gggi.org/country/fiji/. She has been the subject of extensive media coverage for her work in sustainability throughout the South Pacific as illustrated by a full-page article about her in the Fiji Sun (click here to see the article) and a guest appearance on the ABC Radio Australia program Pacific Mornings - Pacific Mornings (click here to hear the broadcast).

Kristin with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme signing an MOU for a Sustainable Pacific Environment

Prior to joining GGGI in 2017, Kristin worked for the International Renewable Energy Agency in Abu Dhabi, UAE; the Nationale Organisation Wasserstoff- und Brennstoffzellentechnologi Gmbh in Berlin, Germany; Booz Allen Hamilton in support of the U.S. Army Energy Initiatives Task Force; the Spanish energy management company Gnarum; and the U.S. Department of Energy renewable energy support corporation SenTech in Washington, D.C. More information about Kristin’s work at the GGGI can be seen at http://gggi.org/staff/kristin-deason/