Gaya Herrington is an internationally known sustainability researcher and wellbeing economist. She shapes conversations at local and global levels with her message that true sustainability requires transforming our economic system away from an obsession with perpetual growth to one centred on human and ecological wellbeing. Showcasing her multidimensional approach to effecting change, Herrington has held pivotal roles in both policy and the corporate world.
Herrington first gained international acclaim in 2021 when Yale’s Journal of Industrial Ecology published her study, “Update to The Limits to Growth”. Her subsequent book, Five Insights for Avoiding Global Collapse, further solidified her reputation as a thought leader. She has spoken as a guest lecturer at colleges around the world and has been featured in media outlets and conferences, including The Independent, Vice, Wired, The Guardian, UN Today, and the Bloomberg Green Festival on 11 July 2024, where she delivered a TED talk.
Herrington is Vice President of Sustainability Research at Schneider Electric, a company working in the energy transition, which was voted the most sustainable corporation in the world by TIME magazine in 2024. She is also a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Working Group for a Wellbeing Economy in the USA and a Research Collaborator in York University’s Ecological Footprint Initiative. Herrington holds a Master’s degree in Econometrics from the Liberal Amsterdam University and another Master’s in Sustainability from Harvard University.
