Warren Karlenzig, Common Current CEO

Common Current founder and president Warren Karlenzig has catalyzed broad-based and inclusive sustainability for more than two decades for executive clients requiring clear vision with practical networked implementation strategies backed by actionable metrics. He wrote the language for the original San Francisco Municipal Green Building Ordinance—one of the world’s first—and created the original Beijing pilot for what became China’s national Sponge City initiative in 30 cities. In smart cities and technology, he has advised initiatives for companies such as General Electric, Autodesk and IDEO, and start-ups including Aclima, Drink, Autocase and others. 

Warren Karlenzig has advised on sustainability and climate change focused policy and metrics for the European Union, World Bank, the United Nations, national governments in China, South Korea and Japan, along with several US White Houses, national research laboratories and numerous federal or state agencies.

His most well-known book How Green is Your City?: The SustainLane City Rankings benchmarked US city sustainability across the nation’s largest 50 cities. Warren was the lead co-author of the United Nations original case study compendium for urban sustainability, The Shanghai Manual: A Guide for Sustainable Urban Development in the 21st Century (2011). He has worked with individual cities and constituents on multiple facets of sustainability and resilient, equitable communities, including Los Angeles; Oakland, California; Guangzhou, China; Makati, (Manila) Philippines; and Seoul. 

He guest lectures in graduate-level engineering, economics, sustainability and technology courses at universities (Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley, University of Chicago, Seoul National University and Vienna’s Technikum) and speaks frequently at other venues including TEDx. He has a Master’s degree from Naropa University and a bachelor’s from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.  

Residing in the San Francisco Bay Area, Warren practices regenerative food production and urban foraging, along with adventure sports, wilderness exploration, writing and performing music, and historic research.