President: Abyd Karmali
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Global Head of Carbon Markets

Abyd Karmali is Managing Director, and Global Head of Carbon Markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He is the bank’s point person for carbon business opportunities and serves on Bank of America’s Environmental Council.

Mr Karmali has worked for 19 years on climate change and the carbon markets and serves between 2008-2010 as elected president of the Carbon Markets and Investors Association, as well as a member of Her Majesty’s Treasury Carbon Market Expert Group and of the World Economic Forum (Davos) Steering Committee for Advancing Low-Carbon Finance and advisor to the Carbon Disclosure Project. Mr. Karmali has provided strategic advice on the commercial risks and opportunities posed by carbon emissions constraints to scores of European, US, and Asian companies. He is frequently called upon by the media and has been interviewed for TV/radio by BBC, CNN, NPR and CNBC as well as cited in print media such as The Financial Times, New York Times, The Australian, financial /post  and The Economist. Mr. Karmali has also provided expert testimony on emissions trading and on forestry carbon, a.k.a. reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), to parliamentary hearings held by the British House of Commons’ Environmental Audit Committee.
 

His voluntary sector activity includes serving as Chairman of Just Energy, a not-for-profit social enterprise recently set up by Oxfam. He has also undertaken volunteer work with the agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network and a three-year stint on the Board of Trustees of Focus Humanitarian Assistance Europe Foundation.

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Vice president for communications: Matthew Whittell
Climate Exchange plc, Chief Financial Officer 

Matthew joined Climate Exchange in November 2006 after 18 years' investment banking experience. He joined Schroders in 1986, where he specialized in corporate finance transactions in equity capital markets. In 2000, following the acquisition of Schroders by Citigroup, he moved to Singapore as the Director responsible for equity capital markets in India and South East Asia. He returned in 2005 to study for an MSc in Environmental Technology at Imperial College, London gaining a distinction and winning the law prize prior to joining Climate Exchange. He also holds an MA in Physics from Oxford University (1986)and a Certified Diploma in Accounting and Finance. Matthew also serves as a Director of Climate Spot Markets Limited and Climate Spot Exchange Limited.

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Vice president for policy: Geoff Sinclair
Standard Bank, Head of Carbon Finance and Trading

Geoff Sinclair is Standard Bank's Global Head of Carbon Sales and Trading. He has been involved in climate change business and policy in a variety of roles since 2000. Through his role at Standard Bank, Africa's largest bank, Geoff brings a strong developing country perspective. He is Australian and has a MBA from London Business School.

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Adrien Assous
Natixis Environment and Infrastructure Chief Carbon Economist 

Adrien's role is to help NEI's investment decisions by providing recommendations on price trends, policy developments, market opportunities and hedging instruments. He has been involved in the carbon market since 2004 and in financial markets since 2000. He joined Natixis from the research firm New Carbon Finance where he was in charge of its EU ETS analysis. Before this, he led a quantitative analytics team at BNP Paribas' London office as part of the Fixed Income department. Adrien has an MSc in engineering from Ecole Centrale de Lyon, and a Masters in International Economic Policy, specialising in climate change, from Buenos Aires. 

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Mike Bess
Camco Head of Policy and Strategy, and Chairman for Africa

Mike Bess is a trained Economist who began his professional career with the Minerals and Energy Unit of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the US’ overseas investment insurance programme. Mike worked on risk analysis of US, and later OECD investments in the oil and gas sectors in emerging markets.

 

He then served as adviser to the Minister of Energy, in Sudan, in 1981, at the tail end of the second ‘OPEC Oil Boom’. He formed his own energy consultancy company in 1987, and was International Director of Energy for Sustainable Development (ESD) until ESD merged with Camco in 2007. Mike was a founder of Camco and has been a director since Camco’s foundation in 2003. He is currently Managing Director for Africa and Southeastern Europe, and is Head of Camco Policy and Strategy.

 

Mike is a leading player in the development and utilisation of ‘carbon finance’ in the energy sector. He has been active in both the CDM and JI from the beginning. He has been active in both the CDM and JI from the beginning. He has designed activities and projects in each of these fields and is currently providing advice and services to the private sector and various public bodies in these areas. He is working across Camco, specifically, in China, Russia, Africa, Central Europe, Latin America, North America and the European Union.

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Anthony Hobley
Norton Rose, Partner and Head of Global Climate Change Practice

Anthony Hobley is a partner at Norton Rose and heads the firm's global climate change and carbon finance team. He was previously General Counsel to the Carbon Funds and Director of Legal Policy at Climate Change Capital, where he advised on CDM and JI projects including the biggest private syndication of a carbon transaction. Anthony is board member of both the Carbon Markets & Investors Association (CMIA) and the Voluntary Carbon Standards Association (VCSA). He was previously Chairman and one of the founders of the Carbon Markets Association which became the CMIA.

Anthony has a first class honours degree in Chemistry with Physics and a Masters Degree in International Environmental Law from UCL . He specialises in climate change, carbon finance and clean energy law. He advised the EU Commission on the preparation of the EU Registries Regulation for an EU-wide system of GHG registries and is currently part of a time advising the EU Commission on the regulation of GHG emissions from shipping. He currently advises investment banks, carbon funds, project developers and corporates in the carbon market. Anthony has spent a lot of time in Asia and particularly China working on CDM transactions.

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Sandy Nicolson
KPMG, Manager of Carbon Advisory Group
 

Sandy Nicolson has been the tax and accounting representative on KPMG's Global Carbon Advisory Group since 2007. Sandy has worked for 11 years in the tax and accounting profession and for the past 6 years specialising in commodities trading tax matters.

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Gareth Phillips
Sindicatum Carbon Capital, Chief Climate Change Officer

 

Gareth joined Sindicatum Carbon Capital as Chief Climate Change Officer in January 2006 where he now manages a team of six Senior Climate Change Officers and 20 Project Officers in SCC’s head and regional offices. SCC uses its own capital, raised via a fund, to finance the implementation of selected projects which SCC’s staff then build and/or manage. Gareth is responsible for the successful registration and issuance of CERs from this portfolio. Gareth also sits on the Management Investment Committee, which is responsible for recommending projects to the Fund.

 

Prior to joining SCC, Gareth was the Global Manager of the SGS Climate Change Programme where he was responsible for gaining and maintaining accreditation for the UK ETS, the EU ETS and CDM. From 1997 to mid 2000, Gareth worked on forestry projects in the voluntary sector before expanding into energy, process and non-CO2  emissions. His early clients included coal mines and refrigerant manufacturers and in December 2004, Gareth submitted the first request for registration of a CDM project.
 

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Alexander Sarac
Ecosecurities, General Counsel and Associate Director

 

 Alexander Sarac, in his role as General Counsel, heads a team of lawyers located in EcoSecurities’ offices in China, Malaysia, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. Alexander advises EcoSecurities in all carbon related purchase, sales, investment, and joint venture transactions both in the voluntary and compliance carbon markets globally. This includes structuring these transactions from a legal side, mitigating risks and overseeing compliance with EcoSecurities’ internal policies as well as potential conflicts with host countries’ jurisdictions.

 

Alexander  advises EcoSecurities on all policy and regulatory matters regarding the CDM framework, European, national and international regulations related to climate change. In an advisory role, Alexander participates actively in the Clean Development Mechanism negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations.

 

Prior to joining EcoSecurities, Alexander was a fellow at the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE) in Washington DC; worked as a lawyer in the German Court system and in corporate law firms in Germany. Alexander is a member of the German Bar (admitted to represent clients at all State Supreme Courts), the German-American Lawyers' Association, is a member of the board of the Carbon Markets Investor Association (CMIA) and Vice-Chair on the board of the German Emissions Trading Association. Alexander was short-listed by the British Legal Awards 2009 for General Counsel of the Year and holds a Masters of Laws in International and European Business Law (summa cum laude).

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William Thomas
Skadden Arps, Counsel of Environmental and Climate Change Practice

William Thomas is counsel in the firm's Environmental and Climate Change practices.  He advises companies, financiers, developers and other enterprises on all aspects of environmental law, including issues arising in connection with transactions and projects, formulation of management and legal compliance strategy, and litigation and disputes involving environmental, health and safety (EHS) matters.  Mr. Thomas regularly counsels clients on matters with a foreign or global environmental dimension, including risks and opportunities arising under regional and international environmental agreements, emerging EHS legal regimes and related international standards and codes of conduct, and legal aspects of sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Specific experience in the areas of climate law and policy and carbon finance includes conducting greenhouse gas (GHG) due diligence, applying carbon and other environmental standards, and drafting and negotiating related provisions in transactional and financing documents in connection with mergers, acquisitions, financing of projects, and other ventures; advising clients on international, federal, and state GHG regimes and initiatives; and counseling companies, utilities, and financiers on emissions trading activities, emission reduction projects, voluntary carbon market issues, and matters of carbon strategy and governance. 

 

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