Director
President and Chief Executive Officer of Clean Prosperity
Board member since 2026
Michael Bernstein is the president and chief executive officer of Clean Prosperity, a
Canadian non-profit that works toward practical climate solutions that reduce emissions
and grow the economy.
Michael is also the chair of the advisory board for Carbon Removal Canada, a policy
non-profit that works to grow the carbon dioxide removal sector in Canada. In 2023,
Michael was appointed to the Canadian government’s Net-Zero Advisory Body. In
addition, Michael is vice-chair of Canada’s Carbon Competitiveness Commission, and
was the co-chair of the Carbon Management Working Group at the Public Policy Forum
from 2020-2022.
Michael is an economist by training. He is an advisor to elected leaders across the
political spectrum, and a frequent commentator on climate policy. He was named on
The Hill Times’ Top 100 Lobbyists List for 2021. He was also selected as a Clean50
Honouree in 2023 for his work advancing Canadian climate policy.
Michael joined Clean Prosperity in 2018. His career has spanned business,
management consulting, international development, and politics.
Prior to Clean Prosperity, Michael was the CEO of Mama Earth Organics, a small
business that delivered organic produce from local farms to families around the Greater
Toronto Area. He worked directly with dozens of farmers and saw first-hand the effects
climate change was having on the farms he worked with. As a father of two young kids,
he’s also very concerned about the future that we’re leaving to the next generation.
Before working in the local food sector, Michael was a business management consultant
at McKinsey & Company, where he advised Fortune 500 companies, institutional
investors, and governments on key strategic and business issues. He also worked with
InvestEco Capital to set up an advisory service that offered support to companies in the
sustainable food sector.
Michael holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the Harvard University Kennedy
School of Government, and a B.A. in Economics from Yale University.
When he’s not working on climate change, you can find him building Lego airplanes with
his kids or doing his best karaoke impression of Vanilla Ice.