The path Dr Cle-Anne Gabriel has followed was largely unplanned, but her passion has pushed her forward and given her great purpose.
“I studied sustainability. In high school, I did geography and environmental studies. My bachelor’s degree was in Geography and Environmental Management at UWI (St Augustine). I just kept studying sustainability but from the perspective of different disciplines, so I started off with a science degree in sustainability then I did two masters, one in policy around sustainability and environmental management and one in engineering for sustainability. Then I got a doctorate in the business to know anything to do with sustainable-business models and how businesses are trying to achieve sustainable development goals,” Gabriel told the Business Guardian in a telephone interview.
Her studies saw her leave Trinidad and advance her learning in Canada, Japan, Germany and New Zealand.
“None of the steps I took in my life were actually sort of planned in advance. I just go where life takes me, honestly. I was living in New Zealand at the time. I lived there for five years. I did my PhD in New Zealand. I was doing an academic role when a job came up at the University of Queensland here in Australia,” said the Bishop Anstey High School Port-of-Spain alumna, who grew up in Mayaro.
“I applied for a job that looked interesting, went through the interview process, got the job, they relocated me, and that’s how I came to Australia for work.”
Now, 16 years on from her academic pursuits and study of sustainability, she has become a major figure in the push for carbon literacy in Australia, where she currently resides and is now seeing to push her courses worldwide through her company ThinkZero.
But what is carbon literacy exactly?
“Carbon literacy just means fundamental knowledge. This is the basic knowledge you need in order to really understand what we mean when we talk about climate change, carbon offsets, carbon pricing, all stuff net zero. Some people, I have to say, at first are a bit apprehensive and even find it a little bit insulting because the word literacy can be can seen as a little bit demeaning to people. Especially for senior executives who are at the top end of their careers to have to be offered a course in any kind of literacy,” said Gabriel.
The idea for ThinkZero, she explained, came as she stepped away from the purely scientific aspect of her academic focus and instead adopted new perspectives through business school.
“I guess learning business was a little bit of a wake-up call experience for me to realise that actually it’s one thing to know the science of sustainability and it’s one thing to have an understanding of the technical solutions we need. But if we don’t convince the people who have the power and the money to actually make change happen, if we can communicate effectively for them and build solutions for them, meaning private sector businesses, then we’re not actually going to see any larger shifts and changes in sustainability,” said Gabriel, who developed this new understanding while at the University of Queensland.
It was then ThinkZero was catalysed. The Queensland-based profit-for-purpose business provides sustainability consulting as well as learning and development services.
The company’s focus is to inspire organisations to understand the implications of climate change through an introduction to the language of decarbonisation, as well as more advanced tools, advice and solutions to support organisations on their low-carbon journeys.
“I think, compared to some others that I’ve worked with or studied with, throughout my career in sustainability who have stayed true to pure science careers or pure policy careers, I decided that I wanted to do the really difficult thing of trying to speak to business people, and so I spent a lot of time in university business schools talking to small and large businesses about their business models for sustainability,” she said.
As her reputation grew, major corporations came calling. Dr. Gabriel and her company offered sustainability and decarbonisation projects in four OECD countries, including low-and zero-emission transition programmes for the European Commission, AusAID and the World Bank, two national governments and multi-national corporations. She has also provided advice on regional-level policy and planning in Japan, the European Union, and New Zealand. Additionally, she served as head of decarbonisation globally for RPM Global, then head of decarbonisation at KPMG, before recently deciding to focus on ThinkZero full-time.
Gabriel’s efforts saw her named Australian Global Talent of the Year last year. That came as a surprise to her.
“I came from another country, so to win the award for the 2023 Australian Global Talent of the Year, I was surprised. It definitely was not something I planned or ever imagined, to be honest. I’d actually hadn’t even imagined I’d be living in Australia. Somebody else nominated me for this award. I didn’t even know that they did that, “ she said, “I just got an email one day saying that I’ve been shortlisted and I’m one of the finalists for this award, which was a complete shock. Then I won on the day.”
While her resume and achievements are impressive, the mother of one has stressed that she has seen her share of challenges.
“It’s been a really interesting journey. Because it hasn’t been easy, and it’s difficult coming from a different country. Also as a black woman in a foreign country, it’s just been really challenging trying to make my way and make your own make my mark in my field,” said Gabriel.
As a self described “chronic multitasker” the Australia-based Trinidad national said she viewed work-life balance as more of a myth. Instead, she has a different mantra in terms of juggling her responsibilities.
“It’s like it’s more of a rhythm than a balance as it’s not at any one point in time. I don’t think I’m juggling everything and doing everything well. I am choosing the times when I am all in with my son and then I’m choosing the times I’m all in with my career,” said Gabriel, who explained that while most may look at her success, she too has had her fair share of struggle and adjustment to make things work.
“I think in our life we go through seasons. And we go through them on a day-to-day basis and right now I’m in the season. My son is nine and a half. He’s obviously not an adult yet.
“So I’m in this season of parenting until he’s an adult and he can look after himself on a day-to-day basis. Like today. I spend a lot of time with him watching movies, and doing things that he enjoys. And then when he’s in bed, now I’m all in work,” she said.
Despite her achievements down under, Gabriel is very much interested in pushing her message of carbon literacy and sustainability in the Caribbean and is hoping that home will be her base in the Western Hemisphere after current plans to expand ThinkZero’s operations in the Middle East.
“I would like to take things over to the Caribbean, obviously starting with Trinidad and Tobago, because that’s home,” said Dr Gabriel, “I just got a big corporate partner in the Middle East, so ThinkZero will soon be launching in the Middle East to deliver the ThinkZero courses there. So I would love to have a Caribbean base or a Trinidad and Tobago based delivery partner for the ThinkZero carbon literacy and sustainability courses.”
Gabriel said she currently looking at options to establish ThinkZero in the Caribbean.