Steering Committee member
CEO of Green Impact Labs
Wataru Baba is the founder and CEO of Green Impact Labs, with over 20 years of experience in innovation and sustainability. Believing that combining systems-level thinking in climate finance coupled with talent and products can help tackle our urgent real-world challenges, he founded Green Impact Labs. He leverages his background in corporate innovation and transformation to identify companies that connect people and technology to solve climate mitigation and resilience problems across energy, mobility, food and agriculture, and ocean applications. He works with CEOs, financial leaders, governments, and entrepreneurs to support the design and growth of businesses that make a positive impact on society.
Previously, he was a Corporate Executive Officer at Panasonic Group, serving as Group CTO of Energy and Environment and leading the climate business. He led the development of the Panasonic GREEN IMPACT initiative, aiming to reduce global CO₂ emissions by 1% through climate solutions.
Before that, he held senior management positions at SAP in Tokyo, Newtown Square, and Palo Alto including serving as Chief Innovation Officer. He serves on several company boards and as a director on not-for-profit boards such as the Japan Professional Football League (J-League) and Code for Japan. Japan’s Modern Weekly magazine named him one of the “50 CEOs Who Will Change Japan’s Future” among the top 100 influencers from business, science, and the arts. He lives in California with his wife, two daughters, and two cats.