Polly was Founder Director of the University of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, which encourages and supports leaders globally to accelerate solutions to global challenges.

She is a Member of the Supervisory Board for Mercedes-Benz AG, a Non-Executive Director of the British Standards Institute (BSI), and a Sustainability Advisor to Terra Firma Capital Management Ltd.

She is a Deputy Lieutenant for Cambridgeshire, a member of the judging panel for the King’s Award for Sustainable Development, and a Trustee of Cambridge Past, Present and Future, a local charity dedicating to protecting and enhancing the Cambridge area and its green landscapes.

In 2016 Polly was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to Sustainability Leadership. Prior to that Polly had been made a Lieutenant of the Victorian Order (LVO) announced in the 2008 Queen’s Birthday Honours list. In 2015 she received the Stanford University Bright Award for Environmental Sustainability. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Ethical Corporation in 2016, Business Green’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the edie Sustainability Leaders Awards in 2021. She has an Honorary Doctorate from UiT – The Arctic University of Norway.

Polly holds a BA from the University of Cape Town and an MA from the University of Cambridge.

She is Fellow of Churchill College, an Honorary Fellow of Murray Edwards College, and a Fellow of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.