Olivia Sweeney
Olivia is a purpose-driven Programme Manager at NPC, leading the £1.5 million Everyone’s Environment programme funded by the National Lottery Community Fund. Her career has been shaped by a deep commitment to equity, justice, and environmental sustainability, with experience spanning ethical supply chains, data analysis, policy impact, and stakeholder engagement, particularly within the waste and clean air sectors.
Before joining NPC, Olivia managed a $3 million global portfolio at the Clean Air Fund, supporting projects that advance clean air for all, the majority of which community led in the global south. Her work is grounded in evidence-based decision-making, but she also champions the power of narrative and community-led approaches to drive meaningful change.
A passionate climate justice advocate, Olivia brings both lived experience and professional expertise to her work. As a former Black & Green Ambassador (a National Lottery funded project focussed on exploring the intersection of climate and racial justice in Bristol), she led the To Breathe project, community-led research into air pollution’s impact on Black women in Bristol, which informed local policy and was showcased at COP26. She has co-authored Bristol’s Just Transition Declaration and hosted a radio show on Ujima Radio CIC to make climate knowledge more accessible.
Olivia holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Edinburgh, including a year at Chalmers University in Gothenburg researching biofuel production from waste. She has been recognised as one of the FT’s Top 100 Most Influential Women in Engineering (2019), Rife Magazine’s 30 Under 30 (2022), a Black Cultural Archives 40×40 Future Leader (2022), and one of the University of Edinburgh’s Climate 75 (2023).
She is excited to lead a programme that aims to demonstrate how environmental change in the UK can be both just and locally led, amplifying voices that are too often unheard in environmental debates.
Programme Manager
