Montreux, 2 April 2025: WBCSD is proud to announce the five distinguished recipients of the 2025 Leading Women Awards. This prestigious recognition honors outstanding female leaders who have made significant contributions to advancing corporate sustainability and driving transformation. The awards ceremony was held during WBCSD’s annual Liaison Delegate Meeting in Montreux, Switzerland.
The recipients of the 2025 Leading Women Awards are:
- Alice Chow, Strategic Development Director, Arup
- Béatrice Conde-Petit, Chief Sustainability Officer, Bühler Group
- Kara Hurst, Chief Sustainability Officer, Amazon
- Mariola Domenech, Sustainability Director, ACCIONA Energía
- Yuko Kitakaze, Global Chief Sustainability Officer, dentsu
The Leading Women Awards highlight exemplary leadership in corporate sustainability, recognizing women who have successfully embedded sustainability into their organizations’ core strategies. This honor celebrates their vision, impact, and dedication to inspiring change within their industries and beyond.
The five recipients will receive a tuition funded place in WBCSD’s 2025 Leap Program – designed for women executives to further develop leadership skills and impact – conducted in partnership with Yale University, ESADE Business School, and the National University of Singapore.
This year, WBCSD received a record number of nominations globally, highlighting an exceptional pool of candidates driving positive change toward a sustainable future.
Learn more about the recipients below.
Their stories inspire. Their impact transforms.
Alice Chow
Strategic Development Director, Arup
Heart + Foresight = Accomplishment
In a rapidly evolving world, staying agile is essential — but true progress comes from remaining grounded in our values and the inspiration that guides us. My principle has always been: Heart + Foresight = Achievement. With empathy and a forward-looking vision, we have the power to create lasting, positive change. I am deeply grateful for this recognition and the opportunity to share my beliefs with global leaders. More importantly, I hope this serves as a catalyst for more women to lead in sustainable development, drive innovation, and make a meaningful impact.
Alice is a globally recognised leader in engineering and sustainability, with over 35 years of experience delivering transformative projects across East Asia. In her roles as Arup Fellow and Strategic Development Director, she established the region’s project management and advisory services, building a highly respected team known for best-in-class consultancy. She has been instrumental in integrating the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into project delivery, policy discussions, and industry-wide initiatives, reshaping Hong Kong’s sustainable infrastructure policies through collaborations with government, academia, and NGOs.
As a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and soon-to-be the first female President of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE), Alice is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion. She mentors women in engineering, champions flexible workplaces, and has developed tailored SDG educational materials to inspire future engineers. Through co-founding the ‘HKIE Enginpreneurs’, she nurtures startups, fostering engineering ventures that integrate sustainability into their business models. Alice’s hands-on experience in underdeveloped regions like Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Banda Aceh further underscores her commitment to driving real impact.
Her mission is clear: to empower more women to lead in engineering, embed sustainability deeply within the profession, and demonstrate how engineering excellence can drive positive changes.
Béatrice Conde-Petit
Chief Sustainability Office, Bühler Group
Inspiring, Courageous, Impact-driven
I am deeply honored to receive the Leading Women Award, a recognition that reflects Bühler’s collective commitment to drive a customer-centric sustainability agenda to create positive impact for people around the world within the planetary boundaries. This award underscores our dedication to making sustainability an integral part of our business strategy and operations, supporting customers in the food, feed, and automotive industries succeed while reducing their environmental footprint. I hope this achievement inspires young leaders to create business cases that foster innovations for a better world.
Béatrice, a distinguished food scientist and engineer, has played a pivotal role in advancing Bühler’s sustainability strategy. As Group Sustainability Officer, she has integrated sustainability into the business, leading materiality assessments, compliance, and environmental impact initiatives. She has driven Bühler’s 505050 targets, ensuring technologies are in place to reduce energy, waste, and water by 50% across the customer value chain. Additionally, she established Bühler’s Environmental Impact Services, providing clients with software and consulting solutions to measure and reduce their environmental footprint.
Béatrice has spearheaded Bühler’s future food strategy, leading to key business innovations, including the company’s entry into insect technology in 2014, the creation of Eridia in 2023 to develop fermentation-based food and feed ingredients, and the 2024 launch of the Cultured Hub to scale up biotechnology and cultured meat production. Under her leadership, Bühler has reduced its Scope 1 and 2 carbon footprint by 20% since 2019.
She has demonstrated exceptional leadership through strategic partnerships and mentoring initiatives, supporting women in STEM and engaging with start-ups via MassChallenge Switzerland. Her contributions to polysaccharide technology earned her the 2023 EPNOE Technology Award. She also guides Bühler’s innovation efforts, serving on multiple boards and industry committees.
Kara Hurst
Chief Sustainability Office, Amazon
Visionary, Transformational, Collaborative
Addressing climate change is a global challenge that requires diverse perspectives and inclusive leadership. I’m honored to receive an award that reinforces the importance of supporting women-led climate solutions and ensuring equal access to opportunities, funding, and networks. Throughout my career, I’ve been passionate about creating pathways for more women to lead and at Amazon, our teams are powered by countless talented women and men who push boundaries every day. I’m particularly proud of how we’re inspiring the next generation of women leaders in sustainability. This recognition from WBCSD motivates us to continue breaking barriers and accelerating progress toward a more sustainable and equitable future.
Kara has been a driving force behind Amazon’s sustainability transformation, leading the Worldwide Sustainability team since 2014. As Chief Sustainability Officer, she orchestrated Amazon’s strategy to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 through The Climate Pledge. Under her leadership, Amazon became the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy, reaching its 100% renewable energy goal in 2023—seven years ahead of schedule. She also spearheaded fleet electrification and operational efficiency measures, leading to a 24% reduction in carbon intensity since 2019 and absolute emissions reductions in 2022 and 2023 despite rapid company growth.
Kara’s leadership extended beyond Amazon, growing The Climate Pledge to over 550 committed companies and securing a $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund to invest in sustainable technologies. She also championed gender equality, launching the Climate Gender Equity Fund with a $53 million investment and supporting BSR’s HERproject to empower women in global supply chains.
She has demonstrated exceptional leadership in managing large-scale cross-functional initiatives across Amazon’s vast business units, including her commitment to putting 100,000 electric delivery vans on the road by 2030, pioneering ILFI Zero Carbon Certified facilities, and promoting sustainability as a driver of business success. Kara inspires others through advocacy, board leadership, and championing diversity in climate leadership.
Mariola Domenech
Sustainability Director, ACCIONA Energía
Committed, Cooperative, Reliable
I am deeply honoured to receive the 2025 WBCSD Leading Women Award on behalf of ACCIONA and to be recognized alongside incredible women who are shaping a more sustainable and equitable future. This award is not just a personal milestone, but a testament to the collective eƯorts of my colleagues at ACCIONA and the power of collaboration in driving meaningful change. Embedding sustainability into business strategy is essential to achieving the SDGs, and I am proud to contribute to this mission. I am grateful to WBCSD for this recognition and for amplifying the leadership of women who are accelerating the transition to a net-zero, nature-positive world.
As Sustainability Director at ACCIONA Energía, Mariola has successfully integrated sustainability into the company’s business strategy, driving initiatives that align with key SDGs. Under her leadership, the company committed to cutting Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 90% by 2040 and achieving net zero by 2050. She has enhanced the environmental impact of renewable energy projects, overseeing the planting of over 460,000 trees in four years, promoting circular economy solutions that recover 98% of waste, and repurposing wind turbine blades for new uses.
She has strengthened ACCIONA Energía’s leadership in sustainability by spearheading partnerships with startups, clients and local communities to address critical sustainability challenges in the renewable energy sector. ACCIONA Energía’s Social Impact Management strategy has directly benefited over 300,000 people in 2024 through 241 initiatives supporting education, employment, and economic development.
Mariola has demonstrated exceptional leadership by aligning sustainability with business success, leading multicultural teams across nine countries, fosters innovation in decarbonization and biodiversity projects, and shares knowledge through global forums. Her strategic vision has positioned ACCIONA Energía as a sustainability role model in the renewable energy sector.
Yuko Kitakaze
Global Chief Sustainability Office, dentsu
Dreamer, Fighter, Doer
I am truly honored to receive this prestigious award. It brings me great joy to see the efforts of our entire team recognized. We will continue to unite as one team, striving to generate ideas for the future to solve challenges facing society.
As Global Chief Sustainability Officer at dentsu, Yuko has led the development and execution of the company’s 2030 Sustainability Strategy. She has spearheaded dentsu’s GHG emission reduction efforts, overseeing the setting of new Group-wide science-based targets verified by SBTi. Under her leadership, dentsu joined the Japan Climate Leaders’ Partnership and launched the Decarbonization Initiative for Marketing to amplify impact through strategic partnerships.
Earlier in her career, Yuko drove inclusivity initiatives, founding dentsu’s first research lab, “Mama Lab,” and launching the “Bye-Bye Bias” training series to address workplace bias. She also created “Lavender Café,” a peer-support group for cancer survivors. Her leadership extends beyond dentsu as a Board Member of the Japan Wheelchair Basketball Federation and a convener of the PRIDE 1000 Corporate Executive Ally Network.
Yuko’s visionary leadership, rooted in backcasting, has shaped dentsu’s sustainability strategy and industry-leading climate targets. Her ability to unite a global team around a shared vision has strengthened the company’s sustainability impact. Through mentoring and advocacy, she continues to inspire future female leaders and drive meaningful change in sustainability and inclusivity.