--- title: Rick Wilmer: The 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders of 2025 description: Find out why Rick Wilmer is on TIME's 2025 list of the 100 most influential leaders driving business climate action. canonical: https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326577/rick-wilmer/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-10-30T11:30:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-03T01:01:29.943Z article:section: Climate og:title: Rick Wilmer: The 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders of 2025 og:description: Find out why Rick Wilmer is on TIME's 2025 list of the 100 most influential leaders driving business climate action. og:url: https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326577/rick-wilmer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf48359349277f76e/6998cb0e47fe5141f655c31c/Titans-Rick-Wilmer.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Rick Wilmer: The 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders of 2025 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rick Wilmer: The 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders of 2025 twitter:description: Find out why Rick Wilmer is on TIME's 2025 list of the 100 most influential leaders driving business climate action. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf48359349277f76e/6998cb0e47fe5141f655c31c/Titans-Rick-Wilmer.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 30, 2025 # Rick Wilmer President and CEO, ChargePoint by Rick Wilmer  Photo-Illustration by TIME (Courtesy Photo) _Rick Wilmer is the CEO of_ [_ChargePoint_](https://www.chargepoint.com/en-gb)_, which has one of the world’s largest electric vehicle charging networks. With more than 1.25 million charging ports worldwide, ChargePoint has powered some 16 billion electric driving miles. Under Wilmer’s leadership, this year the company has focused on rolling out new innovations that break down barriers to electrification, including the EV industry’s first_ [_cut-resistant charging cable and accompanying alarm system_](https://www.chargepoint.com/about/news/chargepoint-leads-fights-against-industry-wide-ev-charger-cable-theft-anti-vandalism) _to prevent port vandalism and increase charging security for both drivers and station owners. In August the firm partnered with intelligent power management company Eaton to unveil the ChargePoint Express Grid, an ultrafast charging architecture designed to reduce charging costs and help balance the grid._ **What is the single most important action you think the public, or a specific company or government, needs to take in the next year to advance the climate agenda?** The single most important action we need to take in the next year is accelerating the broad electrification of transportation. Passenger vehicles, commercial fleets, and heavy-duty trucks remain some of the largest contributors to global emissions and electrifying them at scale creates a foundation for progress across the entire climate agenda. Electrification is a tipping point for systemic decarbonization across all industries and teaches lessons across aligning public policy, private investment, and leveraging consumer behavior insights to reach a shared goal of a zero-emission future. **What gives you hope about the future of the planet?** What gives me hope is seeing that the transition to cleaner, more sustainable mobility is no longer a vision: It’s happening now. Automakers are past the tipping point as more EVs are on the road and demand continues to increase. At ChargePoint, we are seeing charger utilization growing significantly, indicating the need for more charger installations and the infrastructure to support. I’m also encouraged by the innovation we’re seeing across not only hardware or battery technology, but also in the systems and software that make charging reliable, interoperable, and more user-friendly. Integrating multiple plug standards, smarter station monitoring, driver feedback loops, and software tools to anticipate driver needs rather than just reacting is exciting for us here at ChargePoint. Finally, the growing recognition among governments, businesses, and property owners that sustainable practices are good economics gives me hope. It’s exciting to see businesses benefit from lower operating costs and reduced total cost of ownership, which translates into increased motivation for change. **If you could stand up and talk to world leaders at the next COP, what would you say?** The time for incremental steps is over and we need to accelerate deployment and equity in the clean energy transition. We must prioritize interoperability, standardization, and reliability, as a unified, smooth experience will remove friction and build trust. Drivers shouldn’t have to think twice about whether a charging station will work for them. Policies should reward uptime, transparency, and performance, as well as ribbon-cutting. Governments can play a critical role in de-risking investment and streamlining permitting so infrastructure can scale quickly and efficiently. The climate window is narrowing, and although we have the technology and business case, what we need from leaders is urgency and support. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326577/rick-wilmer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326577/rick-wilmer/"},"headline":"Rick Wilmer","datePublished":"2025-10-30T11:30:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T01:01:29.943Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326577/rick-wilmer/","keywords":["TIME100 Climate 2025","list","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf48359349277f76e/6998cb0e47fe5141f655c31c/Titans-Rick-Wilmer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"Climate","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf48359349277f76e/6998cb0e47fe5141f655c31c/Titans-Rick-Wilmer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/climate/","name":"Climate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time100-climate-2025/","name":"TIME100 Climate 2025"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326577/rick-wilmer/","name":"Rick Wilmer"}}]}] ```