Pooran Desai is a serial social entrepreneur, author and advisor to companies and government. He put together the world’s first zero carbon urban village development, Beddington Zero fossil Energy Development (BedZED), and created the framework on which the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are based.
He studied medical sciences and neuroscience at Oxford and Cambridge Universities before co-founding environmental organisation, Bioregional, in 1994.
With colleagues he established enterprises in sustainable forestry, organic farming and recycling, and put together the BedZED project.
In 2002, Pooran coined the term One Planet Living® (OPL), subsequently leading an international initiative embedding the holistic framework across government, manufacturing, retail and $30bn of zero carbon real estate in 30 countries. OPL served as the inspiration and basis for the UN SDGs.
In 2018 he founded OnePlanet.com, an intuitive ‘systems-thinking-joined-up-action' digital platform enabling users to identify and collaborate in Shared Outcomes.
He has been made Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and named World Economic Forum Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2011.
Join Pooran at Summit Photo 2026
Pooran will be speaking at Summit Photo 2026 on Friday 17 July at 4.30pm to the title Reimagine – the neuroscience of creating the future.
We can't separate the way we understand reality from the way our brains work. Imagination needs to lead and thinking needs to inform.
The left half of our brain sees the world as separate parts and divides us from each other and the rest of the universe. It controls, cannot see the bigger picture and is quick to anger. The right half sees the world as massively interconnected, ultimately indivisible, and understands context and nuance. It is collaborative and responds with awe.
With a background in neuroscience, sustainability and technology, Pooran has been working with photographers and artists in Brighton and Hove, exploring a methodology he describes as 'imagination-led, science-informed, technology-enabled' to enable us to rise to the urgent challenges we face today.
