Meet the faces behind the Ecologi Climate Committee
In the last article, we discussed how we use scientific knowledge to guide our impact decision-making, and also introduced the concept of the Ecologi Climate Committee.
Here at Ecologi, we work closely with our Climate Committee to ensure that all the money we receive via the Ecologi platform goes as far as it possibly can to have the greatest possible climate impact.
The Committee is made up of academics and industry experts across many different sectors, and meets once per month for a formal discussion, chaired by myself. At our monthly Committee meetings and in between, the group discusses the latest developments in climate action, helps to answer challenging questions that arise from our work — or fed back by our community — and sets out the scope and direction of our climate impact.
Together with our Impact team, the Committee is also helping us to develop our Climate Impact Strategy Framework — a public-facing strategy document that will set out and explain our impact decisions, discuss the mechanisms for maximising impact, and show how we intend to reach our goal of reducing 50% of global emissions by 2040. We’ll be publishing this document later in 2021.
Let’s meet some of the team…
Nicoletta Piccolrovazzi
Co-Founder & Chairman — Applied Sustainability GmbH
Nicoletta draws on thirty-plus years’ experience leading diverse organisations and developing sustainability-driven business and collaboration programs with leading corporates and NGOs. Recently, she founded Applied Sustainability GmbH with the purpose of helping organisations “make sustainability real”.
Miranda Gorman
Project Drawdown
Miranda Gorman, Ph.D. is an environmental engineer and Senior Research Fellow for Industry at Project Drawdown whose research focuses on the sustainability of material resources. She has published peer-reviewed research papers and presented at international conferences on the topics of material flow analysis, resource availability forecasting, the circular economy, and non-fuel mineral mining.
David Markowitz
Ecologist and Sustainability Expert
David has two degrees in biology and ecology with additional specialisms in forestry and carbon accounting. With experience from the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and working with satellite imagery to analyse protected areas and wildfires, David provides support to the Ecologi team regarding new and existing forestry-related projects.
Daniel Keir
CyStellar
Daniel is the Climate Change, Natural Perils and Sustainability Project Manager at CyStellar, a SpaceTech company using remote sensing data to deliver natural hazard and weather insights to various sectors. Day-to-day, he works with climate and weather data to aid companies monitoring natural hazards such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and wildfires. He previously co-founded the sustainability consultancy, Ecofye.
James A. King
Research Associate, University of Sheffield
James King, Ph.D. is a climate scientist and Research Associate at the University of Sheffield, whose work mainly focuses on climate models; investigating reasons why their performance varies in some parts of the world, developing ways to identify what makes a model more reliable, and using models to understand the ways that humans might be able to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Now, James’ research focuses on the broader impacts on the Earth system of nature-based carbon dioxide removal strategies.
Amelia Crews
Climate Advocate & Energy Innovation Co-ordinator
Amelia is Energy Innovation Co-ordinator at Your Co-op Energy, working on many projects focused on community development utilising renewables. She actively engages the voice of youth in pivotal conversations around climate change: in 2021, she was an ambassador for the G7 Youth Summit (‘Y7’) in Cornwall.
Andrew Ritchie
Director, ALR Business Solutions Ltd
Within previous roles, Andy managed validation and verification activities relating to EU ETS and the UNFCCC’s Clean Development Mechanism, plus a number of other schemes. More recently, he works in assessing forestry management against certification standards and is working with large organisations developing sustainability frameworks to help effectively manage their environmental and social challenges.
Melissa Hobson
Sustainability communications consultant
Melissa Hobson is a consultant working in the sustainability and for-purpose sector. In communications, Melissa has worked with companies and charities big and small (both in-house and agency side) for over 11 years. She is passionate about marine conservation and has been a certified SCUBA diver for 13 years.
David Dennison
Climate & Energy Advisor
David is an experienced climate change advisor with a strong technical background and deep knowledge of the energy sector, including renewables. He is particularly passionate about climate trends and impact on the environment. His goal is to help business, government and the community navigate a successful transition to net zero.
Rebecca Dobbin
Ecologist & Environmental Scientist at Victoria University of Wellington
Rebecca has a BSc in Ecology and Biodiversity, and a Master’s degree in Climate Change Science and Climate Policy. Her research is focused on climate science and modelling, mitigation, adaptation, conservation biology and carbon markets. She write reports on opportunities for mitigation and adaptation in New Zealand, and assists Ecologi with climate research.
Nicolien Van Zwieten
Geoscientist
Nicolien works as a geologist specialising in ground hazards, having completed degrees in BSc Physical Earth Science, and MSc Structural Geology and Geophysics. Her experience also includes GIS work addressing biodiversity loss and the climate crisis, and researching carbon capture and storage initiatives.
Stefanie Kaiser
Communications, forestry and sustainability expert
Stefanie works at the intersection of communication and sustainability. She specialises in sustainable land use and forestry, but spends most of her days thinking about the wider implications of sustainability solutions. In previous work, Stefanie worked in impact investing, and she also previously trained as a biologist.
Chris Webb
CEO, GreenGrowth
Chris is an environment and sustainability expert and currently CEO of GreenGrowth investments, helping people have a positive environmental impact with their money. He is well experienced in evaluating and improving business’ sustainability profiles both in the UK and abroad. His work in carbon reduction, circular economy and resource efficiency has received national and international sustainability awards.
Next time in this series, we’re going to talk about the key external, democratic and market forces that impact our work in finding and funding the most effective climate solutions.
