Young leader harnesses AI to help streamline sustainability disclosure

Written By Peter Allan

Fatou Dieng speaks to youth participants at the Leading Change summit. Photo courtesy: Leading Change

 

By Patricia Lane & Fatou Dieng

Fatou Dieng combines sharp technical expertise with a deep commitment to ensuring young people have a seat at decision-making tables as we work toward a net-zero, socially just economy. This 29-year-old Montrealer, originally from Senegal, was named to Corporate Knights’ 30 Under 30: Canada's youth sustainability leaders of 2025 for her work with Manifest Climate, where she helps train artificial intelligence to support organizations to better understand and align with regulator preferences for climate action disclosure, as well as with Leading Change Canada, where she empowers youth to participate meaningfully in decision-making.

Tell us about your projects.

At Manifest Climate, I support organizations in integrating climate disclosure frameworks, meeting regulatory requirements and building robust climate action strategies and am helping use AI for sustainability. In 2025, we provided a major financial regulator with in-depth analyses of corporate disclosures, enabling it to assess which companies had board-level awareness, credible plans and robust systems for measuring and evaluating progress. This allowed the regulator to fine-tune its approach and make its oversight more effective. Companies can use this data to compare themselves with peers and identify both strengths and areas for improvement.

As a volunteer, I also lead youth engagement at Leading Change Canada, where I work to empower emerging sustainability leaders. A particular focus is ensuring youth from the African diaspora understand how much the sustainability movement benefits from their perspectives and contributions. Young people are deeply worried about the future and having our voices heard and respected makes a real difference.

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Peter Allan
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