Dr. Sarah Burch

Biography

Sarah Burch is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Sustainability Governance and Innovation at the University of Waterloo. She serves as the Executive Director of the Waterloo Climate Institute and has been a lead author for the United Nations’ Sixth Assessment Report for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, contributing to Canada's National Adaptation Strategy. Her research focuses on transformative responses to climate change at the community scale, examining political justice dimensions of energy transitions and the unique contributions of small businesses to solving complex challenges. Burch leads the TRANSFORM project, which accelerates sustainability entrepreneurship and has collaborations with various universities and civil society organizations globally. She holds a PhD from the University of British Columbia and has previously been a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute. Recognized as a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars in 2017, she was also named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2018 and included in Clean50 in 2021. Burch’s recent publications examine themes like climate change governance, sustainability transitions, and the role of small-medium enterprises in fostering resilience through sustainable practices.

Research Interests

Experience