Innovating
Sustainability
In Schools

Who We Are

We are a team of technical sustainability professionals passionate about the transformative potential of education for sustainability.

We partner with students, school principals, teachers, facilities managers and leadership teams to unlock the sustainability learning that is embedded in school campuses and operations.

Our Team

Our team of engineers and environmental scientists have expertise spanning renewable energy, air conditioning, energy efficiency, building design, low carbon transport, air quality, finance, education for sustainability, communication, and data visualisation.

Our approach to sustainability in schools ​combines practical and substantive solutions with authentic educational opportunities and school-wide stakeholder engagement​.

Our Founder – Anthony Dixon

Anthony Dixon is a renewable energy and sustainability expert and the founder of Metanoia and Helios Renewable Energy. Anthony founded Metanoia to offer schools an opportunity to make a difference to the sustainability of their campus and community through practical, accessible and effective solutions that benefit the operations of a school while also educating and empowering students.

Anthony’s diverse career has included Chief Executive Officer of ASB Biodiesel, Managing Director of Citigroup, Director of China Hydroelectric Corporation, Chief Operating Officer of ZEDFactory (a zero-carbon housing company), and Director of the Solar Electric Light Company. He holds an undergraduate degree in physics and a masters in renewable energy engineering from Imperial College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Anthony has three children attending schools in Hong Kong.

“One Friday morning in March, 2019, over a thousand Hong Kong students gathered peacefully in Chater Garden to add their voices to those of millions of other school students around the world calling for more urgent progress addressing the climate crisis.

The response to this call, from educators and government ranged from condescension to silence, with little in between.

There was barely a word of acknowledgement from those quarters of the central issue – the seriousness of climate change for these students’ futures (Sir David Attenborough has called it “humanity’s greatest threat”) and the disastrous state of the planet they are inheriting from us.

“Our house is on fire and no one’s reacting,” was Greta Thunberg’s furious admonition. Silence and condescension must not be our only responses.

I established Metanoia to offer schools a better way to respond – not merely by making their campuses a little more sustainable but by engaging wholeheartedly with students to achieve the kind of deep transformation that a sustainable future requires and through that engagement to “make hope possible, rather than despair convincing” in the words of Raymond Williams.”

– Anthony

“Anthony helped us undertake a green audit that would set us on a path to reducing our impact on the environment. He has continued to be a great sounding board for school initiatives and a driving force for sustainability schools”
- Laura Tyson, Director of Development and Community Relations, Kellett – The British International School in Hong Kong
“The team at Metanoia is extraordinary. Their technical expertise across all aspects of school sustainability is astonishingly comprehensive and always accessible. Yet it is the depth of understanding and intelligence which they bring to their student-centered approach that is most impressive. I cannot recommend them highly enough.”
- Sean Lynch, Head of School Chinese International School
“Sodexo recognizes the contribution that food and food waste make to schools’ environmental footprint, as well as the educational opportunities inherent our business. We have been pleased to collaborate with Metanoia to support student-led inquiries on this issue.”
- Benjamin Parsons, Director, Sodexo Education Segment Hong Kong
“Each day we borrow from the future to pay for the present. We owe it to our children to keep track of just how much we are borrowing”
- Dr. Malcolm Pritchard, Head of School The ISF Academy
“Thanks to Metanoia’s partnership and expertise, we have been able to help our students swiftly become confident and competent agents of systemic environmental change. Metanoia was not only responsive but proactive in creating space for student responsibility, accountability, and leadership even when grappling with highly-technical analysis and evaluation”
- Matt Peterson, Sustainability Coordinator Chinese International School
“ISF Academy students have benefited greatly from working with Metanoia on many sustainability related projects. The projects are academically based and allow the students to ask authentic, challenging questions. It is inspiring to work alongside a passionate team. ”
- Diana Ibarra, Director, Shuyuan The ISF Academy
“I can’t think of any more important work for our students to be doing”
- Head of student affairs