Launching, exploring sustainable cities and recycling is a new nonprofit, founded by McKinsey & Company, to have lasting and substantial impact on complex social challenges.



Mona Mourshed is the CEO of

Mona is a Senior Partner and Head of Global Social Responsibility at McKinsey & Company. She is also the CEO of Generation, a nonprofit founded by McKinsey in 2014 to tackle global youth unemployment., which takes on the work of McKinsey Social Initiative, will become a cornerstone of McKinsey’s long-standing commitment to social impact and its aspiration to help build better societies.

Helping sustainable cities tackle their waste challenge


Cities are struggling with overflowing landfills but plastics can be recycled.




McKinsey’s research frames the sustainability challenge cities face

More than a decade ago, McKinsey & Company published its revolutionary greenhouse gas cost curve. Since then, the firm has continued to help businesses, governments and not-for-profit organizations to address the sustainability and resource productivity challenges they face.

Shannon Bouton, who as COO of McKinsey Center for Business and Environment (MCBE) led research that sought to help global leaders make better decisions on sustainability questions, will drive’s work to help build sustainable communities, looking first at how cities can use recycling to better manage waste.

“As cities continue to grow, so do the sustainability challenges they face,” says Shannon. “From MCBE’s research, we know there are leaders who want to act and we know there are promising ideas that could be part of the solution. What we hope to do at is build powerful partnerships that can identify solutions that can be scaled and achieve the triple bottom line goal of being good for people, the environment, and have a positive return on investment.”

McKinsey & Company’s recent research has included: