Speakers of the 9th edition (2024)

After a career in business, Amber Rudd became the Member of Parliament for Hastings and Rye from 2010 to 2019. She held three cabinet roles over 4 years and under 3 Prime Ministers, first in Energy & Climate Change, then the Home Office as Home Secretary and until September 2019 in Work and Pensions.  

Amber was appointed Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in 2015 and led the UK team to the successful completion of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. This UN sponsored Conference of the Parties (COP 21) achieved the first ever legally binding global commitment to reduce national carbon emissions.  

From November 2018 to September 2019, Amber served as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. She has also served as Minister for Women and Equalities. Since leaving Government at the end of 2019 Amber has taken up roles in cyber security, in the energy transition sector and around women’s empowerment.  

She has become a Trustee for The Climate Group (www.theclimategroup.com) working with businesses and Government to promote tangible climate action. She chairs the International Advisory Group for Equinor (www.equinor.com), the Norwegian energy transition company and she is a trustee of RUSI https://rusi.org/ The Royal United Services Institute.  

Amber holds other roles focused around energy, women and security and is a regular contributor to media and on international discussion panels on these topics. On Jan 10th 2022 she became a Non-Executive Director of Centrica Plc, an energy and services company in the UK.