TOP 10 Most-Read Thought Leaders in Nature

Discover also our 2026 Rankings of the Most Read Thought Leaders in Business Impact, Carbon, Circularity, Climate Change, Energy, Energy Transition, Environmental Sustainability, ESG, Ethical Governance, Green Tech, Renewables, Social Responsibility, Sustainable AI, Sustainable Business, Sustainable Finance, and Sustainable Lifestyle. Explore how this year's leaders compare to the most influential Nature voices of last year!

illuminem is proud to present the most-read Thought Leaders in Nature globally, as recognised by illuminem's ever growing community of 700,000+ readers.

Nature had its biggest policy year in a generation, and its biggest implementation gap. The resumed Convention on Biological Diversity COP 16 in Rome agreed to mobilise $200 billion annually for biodiversity by 2030, the first time finance targets have approached the actual scale of the problem. Brazil's Tropical Forest Finance Facility secured over $6 billion in pledges at COP30, the largest forest-related commitment ever announced at a climate conference. 

And yet the global biodiversity financing shortfall remains an estimated $700 billion per year, a majority of countries have yet to submit updated national biodiversity plans, and the 30x30 target – protecting 30% of land and sea by 2030 – is running well behind schedule. The nature conversation in 2025 was defined by this gap: between what the frameworks now require and what the money and political will can actually deliver. 

Patricio Lombardi, as Executive Director of the Environmental Markets Fairness Foundation and the first ever climate minister appointed in the Americas, spent 2025 giving a voice to those most affected by this gap, and holding those whose decisions shape nature outcomes to a higher standard. His most-read piece, reporting exclusively on Pope Leo XIV's private meeting with the world's largest mining and energy executives at the Vatican, captured exactly this, and that is why he tops this list.

Joining him on the list, Marco Lambertini highlights the need for public support of climate initiatives in the age of political backlash, Camille Parmesan urges a rethink of how we approach biodiversity from her work protecting the endangered Edith’s checkerspot butterfly, and Martin R. Stuchtey brings lessons on sustainable forestry from Kenya and how nature is integral to systemic sustainability.

Drawn from over 2,500 thought leaders publishing on illuminem Voices, the ranking below reflects the voices that shaped how the nature conversation evolved in 2025.

1️⃣ Patricio Lombardi - Executive Director of the Environmental Markets Fairness Foundation
Country: Argentina 🇦🇷
Most-Read Thought Piece: Exclusive: Pope Leo XIV holds private meeting with world's largest mining and energy leaders in the Vatican
Profile: Patricio Lombardi is the Executive Director of the Environmental Markets Fairness Foundation, a strategic alliance forged between regions, governments and civil organisations from the Global South. Patricio was the first ever appointed climate minister in the Americas, as Secretary of Climate Change of Argentina. He also contributes his expertise to the development of illuminem's Data Hub™, helping shape its insights on sustainability, and he is a member of the illuminem Leaders Cohort.

2️⃣ John Scanlon - Fmr. Secretary-General of CITES
Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Most-Read Thought Piece: Ecological connectivity transcends habitats and species
Profile: John Scanlon AO is a seasoned leader in environment, nature conservation, and sustainable development, with extensive experience across multiple continents, disciplines, and organizations. He served as Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). He has also held senior positions at the United Nations Environment Program, the private sector, government, and not-for-profit institutions.

3️⃣ Marco Lambertini - Former Director General of WWF International
Country: Italy 🇮🇹
Most-Read Thought Piece: The great green step back
Profile: Marco Lambertini is Convener of the Nature Positive Initiative and a global conservation leader with extensive experience in ecological research, advocacy, and NGO development. Prior to this, he served as WWF International Director General and Special Envoy, and is a member of various sustainability councils and boards. Marco is the author of Becoming Nature Positive: Transitioning to a Safe and Just Future.

4️⃣ Michael Wright - CEO of Intercepting Horizons and Founder of Biomimetics International
Country: United States 🇺🇸
Most-Read Thought Piece: Biomimetics: de-risking the future by borrowing nature's playbook
Profile: Michael Wright is the CEO of Intercepting Horizons and founder of Biomimetics International. He previously served as President of Nasdaq-listed conglomerate Entegris (ENTG) and worked with DARPA-Sematech and WWK in semiconductor innovation. He sits on several boards and advises organizations in AI, biomimetics, regenerative agriculture, and smart technologies.

5️⃣ Ismahane Elouafi - Fmr. Chief Scientist of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Country: Morocco 🇲🇦
Most-Read Thought Piece: A strategy designed to solve the challenges of today and tomorrow
Profile: Ismahane Elouafi is the fmr. Chief Scientist of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and CGIAR executive managing director.

6️⃣ Sylvia Earle - Founder & Chairman of Mission Blue
Country: United States 🇺🇸
Most-Read Thought Piece: Efforts to save the planet must start with the Antarctic
Profile: Sylvia Earle is the Founder & Chairman of Mission Blue as well as the Founder of Deep Ocean Exploration and Research (DOER). She set the deepest untethered seafloor walk record in 1979 and holds a Ph.D. in Phycology from Duke University.

7️⃣ Martin R. Stuchtey - Founder and Co-CEO of The Landbanking Group
Country: Germany 🇩🇪
Most-Read Thought Piece: Integrity over imitation: lessons from Mt. Kenya, whose forests hold a nation together
Profile: Professor Dr. Martin R. Stuchtey is the Founder and Co-CEO of The Landbanking Group and a Professor of Resource Strategy and Management at Innsbruck University. He previously founded SYSTEMIQ, a global firm driving system transformations in land use, energy, materials, and urban development. A former Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, he has served as a strategic advisor to the World Economic Forum and sits on multiple international boards. He is the author of A Good Disruption (Bloomsbury) and an International Fellow of The Explorers Club. Prof. Stuchtey holds a PhD in Business Economics from the Technical University of Dresden.

8️⃣ Camille Parmesan - Professor at CNRS
Country: United States 🇺🇸
Most-Read Thought Piece: We need to rethink how we approach biodiversity: an interview with IPCC ecologist and refugee scientist
Profile: Camille Parmesan is a Professor at CNRS (SETE - Experimental and Theoretical Ecology) and an Adjunct Professor at The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Geological Sciences. She specializes in the study of biodiversity and its relationship with climate change. Camille holds a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from The University of Texas at Austin.

9️⃣ Matt Ross - Founder of INDO EDEN
Country: Indonesia 🇮🇩
Most-Read Thought Piece: The dead navigate the living
Profile: Matt Ross is the Founder of INDO EDEN and an Advisor at Blue Green Future. He focuses on turning overlooked opportunities into valuable, investable systems across natural resources, decentralised economies, and regenerative finance. Matt has led impactful projects in regenerative agriculture, supply chain innovation, and reforestation, with a global reach including work in Indonesia.

🔟 Kevin Trenberth - Honorary Academic at the University of Auckland
Country: New Zealand 🇳🇿
Most-Read Thought Piece: COP30 shows climate forum is severely broken
Profile: Kevin Trenberth is an Honorary Academic at the University of Auckland. He has served as a Distinguished Scholar at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), a former research scientist in the New Zealand Meteorological Service, and as a Professor at the University of Illinois for nearly 7 years. He has been prominent in most of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientific assessments of Climate Change and has also extensively served the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).

Congratulations to our most-read thought leaders of the last year. In a time when the sustainability conversation was pulled in every direction at once, the voices on this list helped move it forward with clarity and intellect. We are proud to amplify their voices, and look forward to what comes next.

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