Karan Kumar

Global Shaper, Mumbai Hub

I define myself as a trouble-maker working to scale and advance climate action, a circular economy, and sustainable fashion with a queer liberation lens.

In 2023, along with other climate activists from around the world I launched Queering Climate – a collaborative studio and sandbox aimed at building a safe and just future for all by accelerating and rooting climate action in queer liberation. On my (almost) decade-long journey, I have worked on unlocking investment to scale innovations and the circular economy in fashion, agri-food systems, and allied sectors across the world. In my current role as a Programme Manager with Laudes Foundation I focus on making fashion (and through it, other heavy-emitting sectors) sustainable by supporting a radical transition away from fossil-fuels across the supply chain. Previously, I worked with an advisory firm to co-develop 'innovation labs' that aimed to commercialise technology in low-resource settings across Asia and Africa for post-harvest loss reduction, food system transformation, and circular fashion. My work has led to early successes in scaling critical low-carbon, circular technologies across different geographies and sectors. I graduated in liberal arts from FLAME University, India where I studied Environmental Studies and Literary & Cultural Studies, and wrote my capstone on the 'prosumerist turn' in India. Apart from this, I am a strong believer in the power of youth in driving change, and have supported efforts around the world to bring young people and their incredible work in policy, innovation, climate action, and climate justice to the fore as a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers Community, an UNLEASH Innovation Lab talent, one of two Indian youth selected to represent the voice of young people at #WEF23.

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