Karlson 'Charlie' Hargroves - TNEP Executive Director

Charlie Hargroves is the co-founder and Executive Director of The Natural Edge Project, an Australian based Sustainability Think-Tank. Charlie and the TNEP team have developed a number of internationally renowned books on sustainable development, including contributions from the likes of Alan AtKisson, Amory Lovins, Ernst von Weizsäcker, Gro Brundtland, Jeffery Sachs, Leo Jensen, R. K. Pachauri, and William McDonough.

Charlie is a graduate in Civil and Structural Engineering from the University of Adelaide and is currently completing a PhD in Sustainable Industry Policy with Professor Peter Newman at Curtin University. Charlie spent 12 months on secondment as the CEO of Natural Capitalism Inc, Colorado, and represents the team as an Associate Member of the Club of Rome.

The teams flagship collaborative book, ‘The Natural Advantage of Nations: Business Opportunities, Innovation and Governance in the 21st Century’ (Earthscan 2005), was awarded the Australian Banksia Award for Environmental Leadership, Education and Training. Building on from this work the team delivered two online open access books, 'Whole System Design: An Integrated Approach to Sustainable Engineering' (Earthscan 2008), and 'Energy Transformed: Sustainable Energy Solutions for Climate Change Mitigation' and is currently working on an update of ‘Factor 4’, co-authored with Ernst von Weizsäcker, and a response to the Brundtland Commission’s report ‘Our Common Future’ .

Charlie and the team from TNEP have developed a range of projects focused on education, strategy and policy for sustainable development, including working with international partners such as UNESCO, UNEP, Wuppertal Institute, World Federation of Engineering Organisations, Chicago Climate Exchange, World Technopolis Association, Chicago Manufacturing Centre, and Rocky Mountain Institute. The teams Australian partners include Griffith Univeristy, ANU, CSIRO, Engineers Australia, Purves Environmental Fund, Townsville City Council, National Framework for Energy Efficiency, HP, UniSA, KBR, VicUrban, Hatch, RMIT, QUT, and the Queensland EPA Sustainable Industries Division.

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PhD Research Topic