Senior Advisor Sustainability
Member of German parliament (MdB), Alliance 90/The Greens, and management consultant for sustainability.
We are careful with our resources and profitable from day one. This gives us the opportunity to make small contributions to what we want to help bring about on a much larger scale: a good life for everyone within planetary boundaries.
Forests play a central role for carbon sequestration, as bastions of biodiversity, and as vital ecosystems for local communities. We’re working with our partner Eden Reforestation Projects to plant a million mangroves in Haiti, Madagascar, and Mozambique since 2021. This helps capture CO2, finances over 9,000 working days, and strengthens the coasts and fisheries that sustain local livelihoods.
Reforestation projects may be popular, but they don’t replace protection of existing forests. Especially the old stocks that have stored away lots of CO2 over the centuries and house complex ecosystems. We were inspired by Wilderness International and have already begun to protect our first areas. In addition, we are currently looking for ways to effectively protect 100 hectares of forest in the long term.
Founder and CEO
For more than 15 years, Philipp dedicated himself to the topic of sustainability. First as international change manager at Save the Children, then for several years as project manager at McKinsey, before helping to develop the Circular Economy offering at Accenture Strategy and leading the Sustainability and Decarbonization division at innogy Consulting. In between, he successfully founded a Circular Economy startup and realized that with his own company, he could build up more long-term expertise and increase quality and impact of his work. That's why he founded Better Earth.
Co-Founder
Sebastian wants to shape the future in collective action. After more than 10 years at the intersection of innovation and sustainability, he decided against a return to big consulting to found Better Earth with Philipp. He had started his career developing visions for a future economy and society at a UNEP think and do tank. In search of more leverage, speed and immediacy, he had then moved on to Asian Development Bank, Accenture Strategy, and finally to the Bahlsen Family, a German midcap for whom he built a consulting team on the future of the food.
Consultant
Fenja wants to translate the forces of science and activism into entrepreneurial action. Her economics and political science studies focused on renewable energy and statistics. She worked on decarbonization of the transportation sector and human rights in the value chain. After stints at the United Nations, the German Foreign Office, and Joschka Fischer & Company, she knows that there is great potential for dynamic change in organizations. She chose Better Earth to contribute to sustainability transformation and lead organization on the 1.5° path.
Junior Consultant
Erica focuses on the integration of ESG aspects and sustainability policy into everyday decisions within businesses. Her background is in economics and public policy, with a focus on climate and energy policy. Erica started her career by gaining insights in the public sector at the German Parliament and Ministry of Economics. Given the key role businesses play in the sustainable transformation, she joined Better Earth to focus on advancing sustainable business strategies and practices. Erica enjoys working on quantitative analyses and bringing assessment tools to life.
Consultant
To Manuel evidence-based action is key to successful sustainability transformation. As a scientist and sustainability consultant, how could he think otherwise? At the Chair of Sustainable Business at the University of Mannheim, he is researching new paths to corporate sustainability with corporations and medium-sized companies. Manuel regularly flourishes when analyzing large data sets and using a wide variety of quantitative methods. His broad scientific base makes him a highly regarded consultant, formerly with Accenture Strategy, among others. With Better Earth, he develops sustainability strategies and manages innovative transformation projects.
Why we work together:
Birgit and the Better Earth team share a passion for ambitious sustainability strategies and jointly believe in the importance of incorporating sustainability strategies into the day-to-day decision making of core business functions. After leaving her full-time role as SVP Group Corporate Responsibility at Deutsche Telekom Birgit is now making her decade long experience of how to implement and deliver ambitious sustainability strategies in practice available as a Senior Advisor at Better Earth.
Über Birgit Klesper:
Birgit Klesper has a decade long track record in leading sustainability teams. Her leadership has been marked by several prestigious distinctions such as the German Sustainability Award acknowledging the leading CSR activities of Deutsche Telekom. In addition to her most recent responsibility as SVP Group Corporate Responsibility she has been responsible for various management positions since joining Deutsche Telekom in 2006 (Corporate Communications, Future Work, Transformational Change , among others). Prior to that, she was the Spokeswoman of the Wella Group and responsible for Corporate Communications (worldwide). Birgit Klesper is an honorary Chairwoman of the board of “econsense“ (Forum Nachhaltige Entwicklung der Deutschen Wirtschaft e.V.). She has also been a member of the board of “Global e-Sustainability Initiative”, of the Board of trustees of “Aktion Deutschland hilft” (alliance of German aid organizations) and of the German “CSR-Forum”. Birgit has a Master of Arts of New York University and is also a trained journalist.
Why we work together:
Birgit and the Better Earth team share a passion for ambitious sustainability strategies and jointly believe in the importance of incorporating sustainability strategies into the day-to-day decision making of core business functions. After leaving her full-time role as SVP Group Corporate Responsibility at Deutsche Telekom Birgit is now making her decade long experience of how to implement and deliver ambitious sustainability strategies in practice available as a Senior Advisor at Better Earth.
Über Birgit Klesper:
Birgit Klesper has a decade long track record in leading sustainability teams. Her leadership has been marked by several prestigious distinctions such as the German Sustainability Award acknowledging the leading CSR activities of Deutsche Telekom. In addition to her most recent responsibility as SVP Group Corporate Responsibility she has been responsible for various management positions since joining Deutsche Telekom in 2006 (Corporate Communications, Future Work, Transformational Change , among others). Prior to that, she was the Spokeswoman of the Wella Group and responsible for Corporate Communications (worldwide). Birgit Klesper is an honorary Chairwoman of the board of “econsense“ (Forum Nachhaltige Entwicklung der Deutschen Wirtschaft e.V.). She has also been a member of the board of “Global e-Sustainability Initiative”, of the Board of trustees of “Aktion Deutschland hilft” (alliance of German aid organizations) and of the German “CSR-Forum”. Birgit has a Master of Arts of New York University and is also a trained journalist.
Why we work together:
We are connected to Katharina through our longstanding collaboration in sustainability consulting. We are currently working together on a book that sums up our joint experience in sustainability transformation.
Über Katharina Beck:
Nach Stationen u.a. bei Accenture Strategy, Schlange & Co, dem Institute for Social Banking und oikos International hat sich Katharina Beck entschieden, Ihre Kompetenzen Vollzeit in der Politik einzubringen. Dort will sie die heute oft schlechten Rahmenbedingungen für nachhaltiges Wirtschaften zum Besseren ändern. Sie tritt als Spitzenkandidatin der Hamburger Grünen und als Direktkandidatin für den Wahlkreis Hamburg-Nord zur Bundestagswahl an.
Why we work together:
Many people in large organizations want to act more sustainably. However, they often do not know how to translate this enthusiasm into daily decisions. Clear goals, guardrails, and incentive schemes help, but they need to go hand in hand with lasting enablement of teams and individuals. Together with Remotly, we offer this enablement in a way that avoids the common and often expensive “flash in the pan.” We deliver effective, cost-conscious, and thus scalable support.
About remotly:
remotly systematically and measurably shifts business areas with 20 to 100+ teams to new levels of purpose-orientation, empowerment, and sustainability competency in 3-9 months through remote team coaching on the job.
Why we work together:
Many people in large organizations want to act more sustainably. However, they often do not know how to translate this enthusiasm into daily decisions. Clear goals, guardrails, and incentive schemes help, but they need to go hand in hand with lasting enablement of teams and individuals. Together with Remotly, we offer this enablement in a way that avoids the common and often expensive “flash in the pan.” We deliver effective, cost-conscious, and thus scalable support.
About remotly:
remotly systematically and measurably shifts business areas with 20 to 100+ teams to new levels of purpose-orientation, empowerment, and sustainability competency in 3-9 months through remote team coaching on the job.
