Meet edie’s 30 Under 30: Talia Berriman Leads Newham’s Green Economy

Key Points

• Talia Berriman, head of green economy at the London Borough of Newham, has been named in edie’s 30 Under 30 Class of 2025, a nomination-based initiative spotlighting talented young ESG professionals under 30 driving sustainability and net-zero efforts.
• Newham is the first UK local authority to publish a Just Transition Plan, with Berriman embedding this across council departments via training and policy, while engaging businesses on sustainability, green jobs, skills, and circular economy initiatives.
• Berriman’s career path includes studying modern languages (Arabic and French) at university, witnessing waste issues in Beirut during her year abroad, completing an MSc in carbon management, campaigning at COP25 with Sail to the COP, and managing UK100’s network of over 100 mayors and leaders, including its COP26 strategy.
• She joined Newham in 2023 as the council’s first head of green economy and serves as a board director of Climate Emergency UK CIC, which publishes data on UK council climate action and advocates for more powers and funding.
• Key achievement: Newham won the Net Zero category at the Local Government Chronicle awards 2025 for a ‘cultural shift for a just transition to net zero’, involving training across council teams like social care, law, housing, HR, libraries, and communications, impacting around 5,000 staff.
• Biggest challenge: Communicating sustainability to those with more pressing daily issues, addressed by leading with co-benefits and just transition principles to ensure inclusivity, target vulnerability, and maximise benefits without always mentioning ‘climate action’.
• Priorities for 2026: Launching the UK’s first Circular Construction Hub in Newham to use reclaimed materials, tackling construction waste (over half of borough waste) amid 48,000 new homes planned; advancing green skills for well-paid jobs via industry and education partnerships; introducing a sustainable procurement policy to cut 90%+ of council emissions from goods and services.
• Describes her generation as ‘innovative’.
• Outside work: Dance, aerial hoop classes, hiking, running, cycling, and exploring nature in London and abroad.
• Mission to business leaders: Embed just transition principles beyond emissions reduction to improve lives, health, wellbeing, cost of living, nature access, and climate resilience.
• Advice to young sustainability professionals: Try diverse tasks and sectors, volunteer for new experiences, align with organisational missions for fulfilment, listen and learn from leaders and events, avoid early specialisation, and value generalist skills.

London (East London Times) February 6, 2026 – Talia Berriman, head of green economy at the London Borough of Newham, features in edie’s prestigious 30 Under 30 Class of 2025, highlighting her leadership in the UK’s first Just Transition Plan and efforts to foster green jobs and circular economy initiatives amid net-zero ambitions. This nomination-based series profiles young ESG professionals under 30 delivering sustainability impacts, with Berriman’s work spanning council-wide training, business engagement, and innovative projects like the forthcoming Circular Construction Hub. Newham’s recent Local Government Chronicle award win underscores her role in a cultural shift towards inclusive climate action across 5,000 staff.​

Who is Talia Berriman and What is Her Role at Newham?

As profiled by edie in their 30 Under 30 series, Talia Berriman joined the London Borough of Newham in 2023 as the council’s inaugural head of green economy. Her remit, as stated by Berriman herself to edie, includes “embedding a just transition across council departments through training and policy” alongside “engaging businesses on sustainability, building green jobs and skills, and developing circular economy initiatives for industry”.​

Berriman also serves as a board director of Climate Emergency UK CIC, a non-profit that, per her comments to edie, “publishes data on UK council climate action, and works with residents, local government and at a national level to advocate for further powers and funding for councils to deliver climate action”. Newham’s pioneering status as the first UK local authority to publish a Just Transition Plan, accessible via the council’s climate action strategy page, forms the backbone of her efforts.

How Did Talia Berriman Reach Her Current Position?

In her interview with edie, Berriman detailed her journey:

“I studied modern languages and cultures (Arabic and French) at university, and was motivated to work in climate change while on my year abroad in Beirut, Lebanon. There, I witnessed issues with the waste and recycling system (or lack thereof).”

She pursued an MSc in carbon management part-time via distance learning, while undertaking environmental campaigning roles, including at COP25 for youth organisation Sail to the COP, advocating for long-distance sustainable transport provision.​

Subsequently, as reported by edie, Berriman worked at UK100, “the only network for UK locally elected leaders who have pledged to play their part in the global effort to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. As network programme manager, I managed UK100’s cross-party and geographically diverse network of 100+ mayors and local authority leaders. This included developing UK100’s membership pledge programme, delivering tailored political consultancy support and leading UK100’s COP26 strategy and event programme.” Seeking local impact after national work, she transitioned to local government three years ago, landing at Newham.​

What is Talia Berriman’s Biggest Career Achievement?

According to Berriman in the edie profile,

“The work we are doing on delivering a just transition in Newham. It’s gained interest regionally, nationally and globally. It’s been very rewarding to share our thinking on the topic and inspire others to move from recognising that a just transition is needed to how to actually embed this across a large organisation.”

This culminated in Newham winning the Net Zero category at the Local Government Chronicle awards 2025 for its ‘cultural shift for a just transition to net zero within the Council’, which includes much of Berriman’s training efforts.​

She elaborated to edie:

“I’ve engaged teams ranging from social care, law, housing, HR, libraries, communications, the list goes on…. The remit of the council is huge, with around 5,000 staff, and it’s crucial that everyone plays their part in helping us to reach our sustainability ambitions.”​

Why Did This Achievement Matter Across Teams?

Berriman’s training integrated inclusive climate action into diverse operations, from social care to libraries, ensuring broad organisational buy-in.​

What Challenges Has Talia Berriman Faced?

Berriman told edie her biggest challenge has been:

“Speaking the language of those who don’t have sustainability front-of-mind. Working in local government and engaging with a wide variety of people, I know that many have much more pressing issues to deal with daily – and so speaking about net-zero, sustainability and carbon emissions can be a challenge.”

Her solution:

“Leading with the co-benefits in communications is key – sometimes you don’t have to mention ‘climate action’ to get people to ‘do’ climate action.”​

This approach draws from just transition principles, ensuring

“policy, programmes and initiatives are inclusive, target the most vulnerable, and maximise co-benefits, enabling and empowering people from all backgrounds to engage in climate action”,

as she explained to edie.​

How Does Talia Berriman Describe Her Generation?

When asked by edie to describe her generation in a word or phrase, Berriman replied: “Innovative.”​

What Are Talia Berriman’s Priorities for 2026?

Berriman outlined three key focuses to edie. First:

“Helping to launch the UK’s first Circular Construction Hub in Newham very soon – a physical space to accelerate the take-up of reclaimed and surplus materials in the construction industry. This project has been years in the making and is now coming together with a motivated and capable consortium of partners who are leading in their fields. More than half of the waste produced in the borough comes from the construction industry, and 48,000 new homes are due to be built within the current 10-year period, so this project has huge potential to both reduce emissions and waste from a hard-to-tackle sector.”​

Second:

“I’m also looking forward to working more on the green skills agenda. There’s a huge potential to deliver real-world impact by providing well-paid, secure, green jobs to local people. We’re still very much in the research and strategy-setting phase at the moment, but looking at how we can maximise partnerships with industry and educational institutions to address future workforce needs.”​

Third:

“Finally, 90%+ of our emissions as an organisation come from our procured goods and services. Introducing a sustainable procurement policy to address this could have a huge impact on our emissions and is a priority in the next 12 months.”​

Why Focus on Circular Construction and Green Skills?

These initiatives target high-impact areas: construction waste exceeds half the borough’s total, while green skills promise local economic uplift.

What Does Talia Berriman Do Outside Work?

As shared with edie,

“Taking dance and aerial hoop classes regularly. And I try to spend as much time as possible outdoors in nature – whether hiking, running or cycling – and discovering new places around London and abroad.”​

What is Talia Berriman’s Message to Business Leaders?

Berriman’s ‘Mission Possible’ to business leaders, as told to edie:

“Don’t just think about reducing emissions – explore how you can embed the just transition principles in your goods, services, activities, operations and communications. Ask how your organisations can improve the lives of people, your customers and your employees. Is this improving physical and mental health and wellbeing, reducing the cost of living, or increasing access to nature? Also, ask how you can build resilience to future climate impacts. Avoiding carbon tunnel vision can help us shape a better place for all.”​

What Advice Does Talia Berriman Offer Young Sustainability Professionals?

Her guidance to edie:

“Be willing to try lots of different things – tasks, sectors, responsibilities – as this is the best way to find out what you do and don’t enjoy doing. Always volunteer to try something you haven’t done before as it’s a great opportunity to gain experience that could help you in a later role. But a note on this – if you are aligned with the vision or mission of an organisation or team, often the tasks or responsibilities are less important, and this can help you to find fulfilment.”​

She continued:

“Secondly, listen and learn. Sitting in on meetings with senior leaders, even if you’re just taking notes, can help to increase your exposure to a wide variety of people, opinions and industries. There are plenty of free in-person events as well as webinars that you can take advantage of to learn about different subject areas and then apply your skills to. Lastly, don’t succumb to the pressure to specialise too early on. There are benefits to being a generalist with a wide skill set, and you can always apply your skills to a different subject matter or sector. It’s much easier and quicker to learn about a different sector than to gain a new skill.”