In this episode, Nabeel Mahmood and Philip Koblence are joined by Susanna Kass, a computer scientist and thought leader in cloud sustainability with a passion for reaching carbon neutrality.

As a young girl from Hong Kong, living at boarding school in London, Susanna became intrigued by computers and programming. Nabeel inquires what the turning point was that made  her realize she wanted to learn more about this subject,

“What clicked for me was the fact that I could communicate what I had in my mind and express what I was thinking without actually talking to another human - I could systematically write it out with program language and begin to actually start defining and building things.”

This education path led Susanna to where she is today, currently acting as a data center advisor for the United Nations Sustainable Development Program and advocating for clean energy.

The Nomad Futurist team asks for Susanna’s thoughts on the ESG discussion and whether it is going to be a checkbox for major players in the space in 2023, or if we are going to be taking serious corrective actions,

“I think greenwashing will seriously reduce in 2023. There will always be noise, but there are many folks who are genuine and definitely have ambition to do the right thing.”

Susanna believes fundamentally that the focus for 2023 is to address the damage the planet has suffered as a result of humans thoughtless and careless actions,

“Now we have to go back and rethink approaching the environment differently while we are living a purposeful, impactful life on this planet - and leave it a much better place for our children and grandchildren.” 

As leaders in the space, Susanna believes it is pioneers like her and the Nomad Futurist team who can be ambassadors and supporters for the next generation,

“I think one key thing that we need to do is enable the younger generation to be able to genuinely teach us, and we need to listen to them in terms of how they want to live life.”

The Nomad Futurist Foundation and Susanna are working together to bring the younger generation into the forefront of the industry. In 2023, Susanna will be looking for new people who are emerging in the space to join data center events and share some new perspectives on the mission for sustainability.