Dr. Vanessa Timmer
Executive Director | Co-founder
Prompt goes here...
“Big Life Changes,” such as moving, becoming a parent, or retiring, as powerful opportunities for lasting shifts in how people live.
Advancing sustainable living through systems change.
Dr. Vanessa Timmer is an award-winning global expert and strategist advancing sustainable living, systems change, and social innovation. For more than 25 years, she has focused on transforming how people live so that everyone can thrive within Earth’s ecological limits.
As Co-Founder and Executive Director of OneEarth Living, Vanessa leads a global think-and-do tank advancing sustainable everyday living. She works with partners including IKEA, C40 Cities, and the United Nations Environment Programme to design strategies and solutions that shift behavior, reshape systems, and enable sustainable living at scale. She also advises the UN Sustainable Lifestyles and Education Programme and serves as an Expert Advisor to The Earthshot Prize.
Vanessa has played a foundational role in shaping sustainable living as a key pathway for climate action, equity, and wellbeing. Her contributions include helping advance Sustainable Development Goal 12 on Responsible Consumption and Production and convening leaders across sectors to accelerate systems change. Her work bridges research, real-world experimentation, systems innovation, and cultural change.
She holds a PhD from the University of British Columbia, is a Senior Research Fellow at Utrecht University, studied at the University of Oxford as a Chevening Scholar, and was a Fulbright Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.
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Dr. Vanessa Timmer
Executive Director | Co-founder
Prompt goes here...
“Big Life Changes,” such as moving, becoming a parent, or retiring, as powerful opportunities for lasting shifts in how people live.
Advancing sustainable living through systems change.
Dr. Vanessa Timmer is an award-winning global expert and strategist advancing sustainable living, systems change, and social innovation. For more than 25 years, she has focused on transforming how people live so that everyone can thrive within Earth’s ecological limits.
As Co-Founder and Executive Director of OneEarth Living, Vanessa leads a global think-and-do tank advancing sustainable everyday living. She works with partners including IKEA, C40 Cities, and the United Nations Environment Programme to design strategies and solutions that shift behavior, reshape systems, and enable sustainable living at scale. She also advises the UN Sustainable Lifestyles and Education Programme and serves as an Expert Advisor to The Earthshot Prize.
Vanessa has played a foundational role in shaping sustainable living as a key pathway for climate action, equity, and wellbeing. Her contributions include helping advance Sustainable Development Goal 12 on Responsible Consumption and Production and convening leaders across sectors to accelerate systems change. Her work bridges research, real-world experimentation, systems innovation, and cultural change.
She holds a PhD from the University of British Columbia, is a Senior Research Fellow at Utrecht University, studied at the University of Oxford as a Chevening Scholar, and was a Fulbright Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.