John O'Brien

John has 30 years’ experience in the global clean energy, clean technology, carbon markets and water sectors and lead Deloitte’s decarbonization work in the US and previously in Australia. He works extensively with global clients on translating decarbonization ambitions into practical economic, financial and strategic actions.

John is the co-founder of the Australian Climate Leaders Coalition and global lead for Deloitte’s work with the World Economic Forum on best practice climate governance for Boards. He is also Deloitte’s Global Lead for climate and nature in the Mining and Metals sector and US lead for the firm’s work on Nature Finance initiatives.

John started his career in the oil & gas industry in Scotland and the Middle East, engineering roles in London and Adelaide before joining the Australian energy sector in corporate development. In 2007, John established Australian CleanTech, a boutique advisory firm that led the development of the cleantech sector in Australia for ten years.

John is widely published with his most recent books, ‘Visions 2100’ and ‘Stories from 2030’, launched at the Paris COP21 Climate Conference in 2015 and the Glasgow COP26 conference in 2021 respectively. The latter sets out practical steps of what is likely to happen locally and globally over the next decade.

He has engineering degrees from Oxford and Trinity College Dublin and an MBA from Adelaide. John lives in Adelaide, Australia with his wife, Kate, and has two annoyingly tall sons..