Zoom in on Net Zero - with Nesta's Ravi Gurumurthy

James Murray
clock • 1 min read

VIDEO: Chief executive of UK innovation foundation chats to BusinessGreen's James Murray about getting consumers onside with the household energy transition

Ravi Gurumurthy is chief executive at Nesta, a foundation which works through programmes, investment, policy and research, and the formation of partnerships to promote social innovation across a broad range of sectors in the UK in order to promote social good.

Gurumurthy begain his career in public policy research at the think tank Demos in the late 1990s, before becoming an advisor to both Ed and David Miliband in the Labour government, where he worked on environmental policy -  Climate Change Act - at Defra and the former Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), as well as foreign policy at the Foreign Office.

After spending several years in the USA at the International Rescue Committee charity, Gurumurthy joined Nesta as chief executive in December 2019, where he decided to focus the innovation charity on three key areas: getting childen a fair start in life, giving people a healthier life, and delivering a sustainable future in the home.

Joining BusinessGreen's James Murray for a chat recently, Gurumurthy discussed how he first became attuned to the huge, all incompassing importance of climate change, his part in getting the UK's Climate Change Act into law, and how to get consumers onside with the green technological changes - such as home heating and transport - in their everyday lives in the coming years. The conversation can be watched in full above.

This article is part of BusinessGreen's Net Zero Innovate hub.

Register now for the Net Zero Festival, which takes place over three days from 29th September to 1st October.

More on Technology

ChatNetZero: World's first climate target chatbot updated to cut energy use

ChatNetZero: World's first climate target chatbot updated to cut energy use

Upgraded climate AI tool outperforms general-purpose chatbots on accuracy and energy efficiency, creators claim

Stuart Stone
clock 22 April 2026 • 3 min read
 IEA: Electricity use from AI data centres surged 50 per cent in 2025

IEA: Electricity use from AI data centres surged 50 per cent in 2025

Global energy use from AI expected to double by 2030, prompting fresh calls for improved collaboration between energy companies, tech platforms, and policymakers to tackle AI's growing power challenges

clock 17 April 2026 • 5 min read
Government announces winners in £50m agri-tech funding round

Government announces winners in £50m agri-tech funding round

Defra and Innovate UK award funding to range of technologies focused on delivering practical, nature-based solutions for the farming sector

clock 15 April 2026 • 2 min read