Mitchell Beer is publisher of The Energy Mix, a thrice-weekly e-digest on climate change, energy, and what he calls carbon-free futures, and president of Smarter Shift, a climate communications and content marketing firm in Ottawa, Canada. He traces his background in renewable energy and energy efficiency to 1977, in climate change to 1997. Improv comedy practices are often the best part of his week, and a proud moment was building a model wind turbine out of wooden stir sticks with his then-11-year-old daughter.

Mitchell was an accredited observer at three United Nations climate conferences, including the Paris conference in 2015, serving as a communications advisor to Canadian civil society groups. He's looked closely at how the shift away from carbon-emitting energy can make our lives better and our industries more efficient, creating tens of millions of jobs around the world and improving energy access for countries and communities that face energy discrimination and poverty. In October 2010, he delivered a TEDx Ottawa talk entitled #ClimateChange: What if We're Asking the Wrong Question, looking at how to shift the conversation about climate change and climate solutions so that everyone can see themselves in the picture.

He previously spent about a quarter-century in the meetings industry, running a firm that delivered conference publishing services to an estimated 3,000 events in more than 200 communities and 18 countries.