Icebreaker One (IB1) is a neutral non-profit that works on data sharing and sustainability. We convene organisations and governments to design and deliver solutions at market scale.
Our mission is to make data work harder to deliver net zero.
Data is key to good decision-making for reaching net zero. Huge volumes of relevant data are created every day by individuals, businesses, and governments. Right now, it’s too hard to find and access the data we need. Powerful barriers – cultural, technical, legal, commercial – stop it from being shared. That means it is massively under-exploited and often hidden from view.
We break down these barriers. Our goal is to make it easy to find, access, and trust the data we need to reach net zero.
Learn more about
- What we do https://ib1.org/what-we-do
- Who we work with https://ib1.org/who-we-work-with
As a non-profit, we operate through a membership model to deliver our services and solutions. Our funding is blended between research grants, philanthropic sources and commercial membership.
Advisory Board
Advisory Board members are independent experts who advise Icebreaker One in the delivery of its mission.
Celeste Connors has twenty years’ experience working at the intersection of economic, environment, energy, and international development policy. She previously served as the Director for Environment and Climate Change at the National Security Council and National Economic Council in the White House where she helped shape the Administration’s climate and energy policies.
John Elkington is an award-winning world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable capitalism, a bestselling author and serial entrepreneur. John is the founder and chief-pollinator of Volans, which works with leaders to make sense of the emergent future to unlock the potential of their organisation.
Irene Graham is the CEO of the ScaleUp Institute. She is a former senior banker at Standard Chartered Bank and was the Managing Director at the BBA responsible for Commercial Banking.
Founder and CEO of ds30, Volker Buscher is experienced in developing and implementing data and digital strategies. He supports organisations as non-executive director. He was one of 53 Arup Fellows (out of a global staff of 16,000) and the global Chief Data Officer prior to launching ds30.
Baroness Bryony Worthington is a life peer in the House of Lords—a leading expert on climate change and energy policy, and was instrumental to the adoption of the UK Climate Change Act. She was Executive Director for Environmental Defense Fund, Europe and many other initiatives. Baroness Worthington was part of our founding Advisory Board and a collaborator in the design of Icebreaker One.
Team
Gavin Starks – Co-founder and CEO
Founder and CEO of Icebreaker One, Gavin Starks has founded, funded and run over a dozen organisations including as founding CEO of the Open Data Institute, Co-Chair of the Open Banking Standard and CEO of global environmental intelligence company, AMEE. He has also been formally appointed in public office as Co-Chair of the UK Smart Data Council.
Gea Mikic — Co-founder & Programme Director
Gea leads projects focused on systems-level interventions that reduce vulnerability to disasters and protect livelihoods from climate change by changing the cultural mechanics of data sharing. She has a background in disasters, urban resilience, and languages with a particular interest in how we view and communicate risk.
Frank Wales – CTO
Frank has over 25 years of software development, management and innovation experience. From his start as a software engineer for mission-critical systems, he has developed products for many organisations including Hewlett-Packard, Oxford University Press, and the BBC.
Emily Judson – Head of Research
Emily is a sociotechnical researcher who is interested in the interplay between data, technology, sustainability, and social domains. Her PhD explored governance of the digital energy revolution for net zero by 2050. Prior to her PhD Emily worked in international education, research and innovation policy with a focus on the Middle East and North African regions.
Read more about the whole Icebreaker One team
Our principles
We are guided by five key principles:
- Trusted data is essential to delivering net zero.
- Access to net-zero data must be open
- Rules for data sharing should address public and private sector needs
- Net-zero data infrastructure must be governed openly and independently
- Net-zero data infrastructure requires mandates for engagement
Read more about the Icebreaker Principles, and sign up to support them here