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 company’s point person for carbon business opportunities and serves on Bank of America’s Environmental Council.  Karmali has provided strategic advice on the commercial risks and opportunities posed by carbon emissions constraints to scores of European, US, and Asian companies.  In 2008, his team won Environmental Finance magazine’s Carbon Finance Transaction of the Year and The Banker Award for Most Innovative in Sustainability.

 

Karmali has worked for two decades on climate change and the carbon markets and is serving as elected President of the Carbon Markets and Investors Association.  Additional appointments include:  member of Her Majesty’s Treasury Carbon Market Expert Group, member of the World Economic Forum (Davos) Steering Committee for Advancing Low-Carbon Finance, advisor to the Carbon Disclosure Project, Chair of the Judging Panel for Business in the Community’s International Climate Change Award, and advisor to the Commission to establish a UK-government funded Green Investment Bank.  Karmali was previously employed with ICF International in Washington DC, Toronto, and London.  In 1996-97 he was Climate Change Officer at the United Nations Environment Programme's Industry office in Paris and participated in the Kyoto Protocol negotiations.

 

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, The New York Times, The Australian, Financial Post and The Economist.  Karmali has also provided expert testimony on emissions trading and on forestry carbon – reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) – to parliamentary hearings held by the British House of Commons’ Environmental Audit Committee.  

 

Karmali’s voluntary sector activity includes serving as Chairman of Just Energy, a not-for-profit social enterprise recently set up by Oxfam, which works with low-income communities in developing countries to maximize revenues from medium-sized renewable energy businesses and to increase the supply of clean energy. 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.  He holds an M.S. in Technology and Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  

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

Matthew Whittell is the Chief Financial Officer of Aggregated Micro Power, a renewable energy company established to develop and operate small to medium scale renewable energy projects in the UK and elsewhere.

Mr Whittell worked at Climate Exchange plc from 2006 as Chief Financial Officer until the sale of that company to InterContinental Exchange in July 2010. From 1986 to 2005 Mr Whittell worked as a corporate financier in the UK and Singapore for Schroders and, following its acquisition of Schroders, Citigroup, Inc.

Mr Whittell is currently a Vice President on the board of the Carbon Markets and Investors Association and he also serves on the board of Trustees of GVEP International, a non profit organisation seeking to reduce poverty through access to modern energy services. Mr Whittell holds a MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College, London, a MA in Physics from Oxford University and a Certified Diploma  in Accounting and Finance.

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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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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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Yvo de Boer
KPMG, Special Global Advisor, Climate Change and Sustainability

Yvo de Boer is KPMG’s Special Global Advisor, Climate Change and Sustainability.  In this role he is responsible for thought leadership on strategy development, driving the development of KPMG’s Sustainability Service and acting as KPMG’s global ambassador.

 

Prior to joining KPMG, Mr de Boer was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), the body responsible for a multi-lateral response to the climate change challenge.

 

Before joining the UNFCCC, Mr. de Boer was Director for International Affairs of the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment of the Netherlands, responsible for international policy, both in the context of the European Union, as well as broader international cooperation.

 

He has also served as Deputy Director-General for Environmental Protection in the same Ministry, as Head of the Climate Change Department and has worked in the fields of housing and public information.  Early in his career, Mr. de Boer worked for the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UN-HABITAT).

 

Mr de Boer has been involved in climate change policies since 1994.  He has helped to prepare the position of the European Union in the lead-up to the negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol, assisted in the design of the internal burden sharing of the European Union and has since led delegations to the UNFCCC negotiations.

 

He has actively sought broad stakeholder involvement on the issue of climate change.  To that end, he launched an international dialogue on the clean development mechanism and has partnered international discussions with the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, aimed at increasing private sector involvement.

 

Mr de Boer is Professional Fellow at the University of Maastricht and a Member of the Board of the Centre for Clean Air Policy.

 

Mr de Boer has served as Vice-President of the Conference of Parties to UNFCCC and as Vice-Chair of the Commission on Sustainable Development.  At the time of appointment, he was a member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, the Bureau of the Environment Policy Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Advisory Group of the Community Development Carbon Fund of the World Bank.

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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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Anna Lehmann
Climate Focus Natural Resource Economist and Climate Policy Expert 

Anna Lehmann is Natural Resource Economist and Climate Policy Expert with Climate Focus and chief representative in Bangkok. She is working on new mechanisms to enhance action on climate change mitigation. In her current role she is also Senior Advisor on Forest and Land Use Policy for the USAID funded LEAF prompt start project. In that role she is supporting Asian countries in designing national REDD+ schemes and institutions and bring REDD+ projects to market. Anna has six years professional experience as investment advisor for climate change mitigation projects, and four years working experience with two carbon market funds (ISCCP US$ 280m, CCI SA EURO 80m). She has worked in changing roles along the entire carbon project cycle with financial as well as technical institutions and is familiar with compliance as well as voluntary schemes. From 2008 to the beginning of 2010, Anna chaired CMIA's Land Use and Forestry Working Group as well as the Post 2012 Institutional Reform Working Group and held a board seat at the London based Carbon Market and Investor Association (CMIA).

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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
DLA Piper, Legal Director

 

 

 

Alexander Sarac, Legal Director, recently joined the Energy, Infrastructure Finance and Commodities team of DLA Piper from EcoSecurities/J.P. Morgan Chase Bank where he was General Counsel heading a team of lawyers located in China, Malaysia, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. Prior to joining DLA Piper, Alexander advised EcoSecurities in all carbon related purchase, sales, investment, and joint venture transactions both in the voluntary and compliance carbon markets globally. This included structuring these transactions from a legal side, mitigating risks and overseeing compliance internal policies and international standards as well as potential conflicts in project host countries’ jurisdictions.

In addition to his transactional work, Alexander advises on all policy and regulatory matters regarding the CDM/JI framework, the European Emissions Trading Scheme, national and international regulations related to climate change. In an advisory role, Alexander participates in the Clean Development Mechanism and Finance negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Alexander is a German qualified lawyer (Rechtsanwalt), was a fellow at the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE) in Washington DC and worked as a lawyer in the German Court system and in corporate law firms in Germany. Alexander is on the board of the Carbon Markets Investor Association (CMIA), Chair of the board of the German Emissions Trading Association and is Co-Chair of the CDM/JI working group of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA). 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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Jonathan Shopley
Managing Director, The CarbonNeutral Company

Jonathan Shopley’s career is focused on market-based, technological solutions to environmental impacts from industry.  Jonathan is Managing Director at The CarbonNeutral Company – a world leading supplier of quality carbon credit portfolios and management advice to companies seeking to mitigate their carbon impacts ahead of or beyond regulatory requirements.  The Company operates from regional headquarters in New York and London, with clients in 32 countries.  

Prior to joining The CarbonNeutral Company, Jonathan was a Managing Director of the Global Environment and Risk Consulting business of the management and technology consulting company Arthur D. Little.  During his ten years at Arthur D. Little, Jonathan advised corporates and government agencies on the mitigation of environmental impacts across a range of sectors including apparel, aviation, cement, chemicals, clean-technology, electronics, energy, food, pharmaceuticals, and waste management.  

Jonathan was a founding co-Chair of The International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA), an industry body committed to defining and meeting best practice in the carbon market, and a Board Director of the Climate Markets and Investors Association (CMIA).  He is a respected speaker at national and international conferences on business and sustainable development, and lectures regularly at universities and business schools.  Jonathan has a B.Sc (civil engineering) and M.Sc (environmental science) degrees from the University of Cape Town, and an MBA from the London Business School.


 

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