Rajiv Joshi to Lead Project Regeneration

Dear Friends,

As we embrace this season of gratitude and generosity, I want to take a moment to thank you for your unwavering commitment to our common future.

I have been a steadfast supporter of Project Regeneration since its inception because I believe it represents a road map for the survival of our species. That’s why I'm delighted to be stepping into the role of Executive Chair of the Board and to be writing to you today with important news.

Building on the strong foundations laid by our founder and author, Paul Hawken, and our remarkable team of researchers, we are poised to take Project Regeneration into a bold new era. In 2025, we will publicly launch Nexus—the world’s largest database of solutions to the converging crises facing people and our planet. This global public good reflects years of meticulous research and innovation, covering 95 transformative topics from Agroforestry and Microgrids to Rewilding, Marine Protected Areas, and Urban Farming, imbued with a combination of science and earth-based wisdom. Nexus also highlights essential inner qualities needed to drive real change, such as the power of Compassion and solidarity, and integrates a groundbreaking rating system that evaluates solutions through the lens of social justice, culture, women, biodiversity, and carbon.

We believe Nexus will become much more than a database—that it can serve as a dynamic tool for education, community-building, and regenerative practice, with the potential to strengthen humanity’s collective agency in addressing the intersectional challenges we face.

In this pivotal context, following a period of onboarding, I am thrilled to announce the appointment of Rajiv Joshi as our new leader at Project Regeneration. Raj brings intersectional leadership, creativity, and a unique vision that transcends traditional boundaries. I am confident he will embolden our movement, unleash new possibilities, and guide us in this next chapter, working across generations, sectors, and worldviews. He is a natural bridge builder, having worked across the political spectrum and has played instrumental roles in movements to protect nature, address climate change, tackle poverty, combat corruption, protect democracy, uphold Indigenous rights, transform philanthropy, and advance better business. He has advised countries, companies, artists, and civil society, and he has worked across the Global South and North, as well as with faith-based communities around the world.

Raj has played a number of critical roles throughout his life. He recently helped launch the Columbia Climate School, serving as its inaugural Associate Dean for Climate Action, and continues to Co-Chair the Earth Network on the Social Climate. In 2020, after launching Bridging Ventures, he was commissioned by former UN Climate Chief Christiana Figueres and Oxford University as a Lead Author and Director of the Decisive Decade Inquiry into the Future of Climate Action. Recently, he has been working with Indigenous leaders to support the development of The Earth Elders.

In 2021, at COP26, Rajiv was appointed as a member of Scotland’s Just Transition Commission, and he continues to serve on the International Working Group, where he is pioneering the formation of a Just Transition Investment Fund working closely with the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.

As a steward to leadership collectives, he spent seven years helping a group of eminent leaders, including Co-Founders Sir Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz, to establish The B Team, with the goal of advancing a ‘Plan B for Business’ in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crises. This followed his time as Chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament, after which Rajiv led the international secretariat of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, an initiative first launched by Nelson Mandela and Brazilian President Lula da Silva in 2005 ahead of the G8 in Scotland that year. He will continue building on these efforts as a core part of his leadership.

As we enter this new phase, Paul Hawken, author of Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in a Generation, will focus on finalizing the 2025 release of his new book, Carbon: The Book of Life. During this leadership transition, we remain grateful to Paul for his unwavering dedication, deep insight, innovative spirit, and continued support for our endeavors.

Looking ahead, Project Regeneration aims to be a unifying force in a fragmented world—a beacon of hope that inspires collective action at the scale necessary. Under Rajiv’s leadership, alongside a growing constellation of leaders, we will harness the power of Nexus, mobilize communities globally, and champion the urgent solutions needed to safeguard our shared future.

We are excited to have you with us on this journey and look forward to sharing more news as we build a fresh board and council in the new year. We invite you to co-create this movement with us, acting with boundless courage, deep humility, and endless love for all life on Earth.

Thank you in advance for your support.

In solidarity,

Julia Jackson  

Executive Chair, Project Regeneration