Exclusive to Insiders – From Panama to the Papacy: TIME100 Climate 2025

When TIME unveiled its TIME100 Climate 2025, one theme stood out: as legislative momentum falters in major economies, the world’s climate agenda is being carried forward by business leaders, innovators, and reform-minded officials reshaping governance itself. The list celebrates 100 individuals driving climate progress across finance, technology, and public policy — from those building AI-driven clean-energy systems to heads of state turning pledges into measurable impact.

Among this year’s honorees are three figures whose influence spans moral authority, institutional reform, and next-generation governance: Pope Leo XIV, King Charles III, and Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez, Panama’s Special Representative for Climate Change and Co-Founder of the Nature Summit. Together, they represent a powerful trifecta of faith, diplomacy, and action at a decisive moment for the planet.

Reimagining governance from Panama

At 33, Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez is among the youngest leaders on TIME’s list — and one of its most disruptive thinkers. As Panama’s first Special Representative for Climate Change and Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean of the COP30 Bureau, Monterrey has become known for tearing down bureaucracy that stalls climate progress.

“People talk about lack of money, people talk about lack of time,” he told TIME. “But the bureaucracy is killing us.”

To fix it, he designed the Nature Pledge, the world’s first national framework to unify climate, biodiversity, ocean, plastics, and land-restoration commitments under one strategy. The model is already inspiring replication in Colombia and the Dominican Republic, proving that efficiency in governance can unlock financing as much as political will.

“If you put an investment plan with this holistic vision and you only have to present one instead of 15 plans, it’s easier to get the resources you need,” he explained.

Monterrey’s inclusion signals recognition of a new generation of Global South leadership — pragmatic, reform-minded, and impatient with incrementalism — emerging just months ahead of COP30 in Belém, where he will help shape the global negotiating agenda.

Moral leadership from the Vatican

Two months after his election in May, Pope Leo XIV moved swiftly from words to deeds. In July he approved a 1,000-acre solar farm north of Rome that will make Vatican City the world’s first carbon-neutral state. He also opened a 135-acre ecological training center at Castel Gandolfo to teach sustainable agriculture and stewardship — reviving a project begun by Pope Francis in 2023.

At an October conference marking the tenth anniversary of Laudato Si’, Leo urged citizens to act: “Everyone in society, through non-governmental organizations and advocacy groups, must put pressure on governments to develop and implement more rigorous regulations… Only then will it be possible to mitigate the damage done to the environment.”

His call reflects a widening moral consensus that environmental neglect is no longer a scientific or political issue alone, but an ethical one.

From royal advocacy to coordinated action

For King Charles III, 2025 marks the year his decades-long environmental advocacy evolved into institutional transformation. The British monarch’s Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) now convenes hundreds of CEOs and heads of state to mobilize capital for climate solutions. Over the summer, the SMI hosted its first China Forum to expand collaboration on renewable-energy investment and green-supply-chain innovation.

At home, Charles has ordered sweeping sustainability measures across royal estates — from a 2,000-panel solar installation at Sandringham to converting historic gas lamps to LED. The Royal Household’s latest Sovereign Grant Report named “environmental sustainability” as a core operating priority, embedding climate accountability into the institution itself.

A new map of influence

By placing Monterrey Gómez alongside Pope Leo XIV and King Charles III, TIME spotlights three distinct but complementary spheres of leadership: moral (Leo), institutional (Charles), and systemic (Monterrey). Each demonstrates that climate action now transcends traditional boundaries of diplomacy and faith — it is becoming a shared architecture of governance, investment, and collective courage.