Our leadership team is made up of recognised leaders with decades of robust experience.
Our leadership guides the company, but it is our staff around the world that allows us to make strong climate impact every single day. You can read more about life at South Pole here.
Renat is a pioneer and social entrepreneur in the field of sustainability, climate change and renewable energies, where he is engaged since 1999. As a founding partner and CEO of South Pole, he coordinated the set-up of the company's global sustainability finance business. Before founding South Pole, Renat was co-founder and CEO of the myclimate foundation, one of the world's first players on the voluntary carbon markets.
Renat has been elected "Social Entrepreneur of Switzerland" by the World Economic Forum's Schwab Foundation, and he serves as a member of the Expert Network of the WEF. He is a member of the Innovation Council of InnoSuisse, board member of Climate-KIC, Board member of M-Power, and member of the advisory board of Impact HUB Zurich.
Renat holds a Masters degree in environmental sciences from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and has completed executive education programs at INSEAD and the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS).
As Head of Global Legal & Compliance, Alexandra is responsible for developing and implementing South Pole's global strategy through commercial contracts, legal operations, and risks & compliance management, leading the global legal & compliance team. Within an international group, it implies creating and maintaining a world-class legal and compliance function that will scale with the growth of the company and that will continuously improve and adjust to the company's strategy.
Alexandra brings to South Pole 18 years of international legal experience gained in France, in the US and in the UK, where she now lives. She has managed international teams of legal, intellectual property and compliance experts in various areas, from space telecommunication to research and technology transfer, in SMBs, scale-ups and international groups. Her main areas of expertise are in building and scaling teams, being a business and strategic advisor and showing assertion to finalize complex deal negotiations. She graduated in European Business Law from the University of Paris 2-Assas, France.
Christoph is one of the Co-Founders of South Pole, Chairman of the Board, and Managing Director Capital Markets. As MD Capital Markets he is responsible for investments into South Pole and acquisitions and investments by South Pole. As Chairman, he drives many strategic topics of the company.
In his earlier career, Christoph worked for over 12 years at McKinsey, where he was responsible for sustainability and energy-related topics, such as the Review of EU Emissions Trading Scheme for the EU Commission.
Christoph holds an MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Karlsruhe University, an MSc in Energy Management & Policy from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and IFP School, Paris, and a Ph.D. in Economics in the field of Energy from Oldenburg University. His studies also included extensive internships in France and South Africa.
Mariette Kloppenburg is the Chief Human Resources Officer at South Pole.
Mariette is an HR leader with an interest in building high performing leaders, teams, workforces and a stimulating context to work in. What drives her is making an impact by taking ownership of the people agenda and build sustainable relationships while challenging the business and HR in order to develop and shape (future) leaders and strong organisations.
Mariette previously worked at ING, where she built her capabilities in different HR functions as expert, business partner and leader of diverse teams in an agile context.
Martin Christen joined South Pole's growing team in 2009 after working in administration and trust accounting at Xerox and Ernst & Young. Our Senior Director Central Functions is a Swiss certified expert for accounting and controlling, and a Swiss certified specialist for finance. Martin leads and oversees South Pole's global central functions (Accounting/Controlling, HR, IT and Administration) which provide all vital services to ensure we operate our core business smoothly and efficiently.
As South Pole's Head of Sustainability Consulting - Anne-Franziska is responsible for the strategic development and implementation of our global advisory services. She leads our consultancy team to implement solutions which help companies to assess sustainability risks and impacts, manage sustainability throughout their business and across their supply chains and to develop resilient business strategies. Anne-Franziska is a consultant by heart. She brings 20 years of experience in corporate consulting with focus on carbon markets and climate strategy. She has built carbon price models, abatement curves, modelled risks and developed hundreds of GHG footprints. She also designed broader sustainability strategies, outlined mitigation roadmaps, set targets (also science based) and developed net zero implementation plans for global sustainability leaders. She is always hands on to provide value to our clients “on the ground". At the same time she holds her clients accountable, pushes their ambitions, aims for new sustainability solutions to demonstrate leadership but also strives for making sustainability more mainstream.
Prior to joining South Pole in 2015, Anne-Franziska has worked for KPMG in the US and various consulting firms in North America and Europe advising on corporate sustainability management, assurance, sustainability strategy design, sustainability program set up, policy and market analyses.
Isabel Hagbrink is the Director of Communications at South Pole, a leading climate strategy and solutions company, responsible for strategic communications, branding, stakeholder engagement and advocacy efforts. She is based in Amsterdam.
Isabel was previously responsible for carbon and climate finance communications at the World Bank in Washington DC, with a focus on projects and technologies around the world that reduce emissions and earn carbon credits. Previous to the World Bank, Isabel was the Vice President for voluntary carbon markets at MGM International, originating projects that reduce emissions in the US and responsible for the relationship with US clients and Morgan Stanley, its main shareholder.
Before working at MGM International, Isabel spent nine years at the Inter-American Development Bank, where she worked with project finance as well as outreach and corporate communications.
Marco Hirsbrunner is one of South Pole's co-founders. In his current role he is responsible for the management of the global operations team and ensures that the business lines and the innovation team operate smoothly. Marco holds a degree in Media and Chinese studies from the University of Zurich and has solid experience in business development, project sourcing and implementation.
As Head of Solutions, Naomi leads South Pole's product development and implementation for the private sector. She works closely with the practice leads to develop our products along the climate leadership journey.
Naomi previously lead South Pole's Agricultural Value Chains practice. In that context she developed supply chain-focused climate strategies & programs for some of the world's largest businesses in the food, cosmetics, retail and textile industries.
Prior to joining South Pole, Naomi worked at UNCTAD, and in sustainable and conservation finance in Zurich, Switzerland.
Martin, Head of our Climate Investments Business Line, is a climate finance expert with a background in political science (PhD), geography (MSc) and economics. He has more than 15 years of experience in developing, implementing and evaluating climate action projects, programmes and funds in developing countries, with a focus on clean energy and adaptation to climate change.
He contributed to innovative mechanisms under the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance (Climate Investor One, Debt Fund for Prepaid Energy, Energy Savings Insurance), the Global Landscape of Climate Finance reports and the finance chapters of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report and the UNEP Adaptation Gap report 2014.
Until 2009, he managed climate action projects in developing countries at myclimate. During 2009-2018, he advised governments, development banks and climate funds on the costs and effectiveness of international climate finance. He represented the Swiss government in the international climate negotiations and advised several other governments on climate finance negotiations and implementation.
In the last few years, he initiated several innovative climate action funds and platforms, including the Landscape Resilience Fund or the City Finance Lab.
Sarah has worked in the sustainability sector for over twelve years. Sarah started her career at South Pole in 2014 as a Consultant. Quickly, she became Head of Operations for Latin America and Director of the Mexican office. Today as Director of Operations for Consultancy, Sarah is in charge of coordinating and managing the overall resources to enable the successful implementation of our consultancy services.
Prior to joining South Pole, Sarah has worked with OTEK Australia where she consulted for contaminated sites and soils. She also has teaching experience, and experience working with the public sector, non-for-profit and intergovernmental organisations.
Sarah holds a MSc in Environmental Engineering from the IMT, France; in addition, Sarah has studied in Colombia at the Los Andes University.
Having spent the past 12 years working in the voluntary and compliance carbon markets and on climate policy thought leadership, Marco brings unrivalled knowledge to the role of Executive Director Climate Projects. With practical experience in carbon project development, implementation and trading, Marco is passionate about placing innovation and partnership at the heart of our climate projects. This ethos provides South Pole's global network of partners and clients a vehicle to boldly speed towards a prosperous low-carbon future.
His work has taken him to Canada, the United States, Belgium, Turkey, India, Switzerland and the UK, London, where he lives today.
Ladaporn has over 15-year experience in GHG mitigation project development in Southeast Asia. With her progressive proficiency in the region, she has developed multiple project types in the scopes of sustainability technologies, communities based activity, including forestry, agriculture and land use. At South Pole, she is leading multiple-location teams and manages pipelines in ASEAN region. Her focus is on the development of climate mitigation projects and certification which generate more than 1 million tCO2 per annum. She has a rich background in climate change areas, climate change policy and carbon markets as well as project finance & investment.
Christian Dannecker is Senior Director of the Global Sourcing team. He is in charge of starting new climate change mitigation and biodiversity projects that have the potential to reduce emissions and generate substantial sustainable development benefits. These projects include nature based solutions - REDD+ as well as removals -, sustainable technologies, renewable energy and technical removals as well as plastic reduction and biodiversity offset projects. For many of these projects, South Pole provides the technical expertise needed from carbon standards, financial as well as social side, and often also the funding to make them happen, and offers them in the global carbon market or in regional biodiversity offset markets. He is involved in many cutting edge projects such as one of world's largest REDD+ projects, the Kariba REDD+ project in Zimbabwe.
Christian co-founded and joined South Pole in 2006, where he previously also had other positions such as Director of Sustainable Supply Chains. He also serves as board member of NatureRe Capital and is founding Director of Fundación Magnolios, a Colombian conservation organization focused on conservation of Magnolia trees.
Christian holds a MSc in Environmental Science from ETH Zurich, Switzerland; in addition, he has studied in Bayreuth, Germany and Concepción, Chile.
As Director of Operations, Sophie supports the Climate Solutions business line in Europe with operational matters to ensure it can work in the most effective way.
Sophie joined South Pole in 2008. Since then, she has been evolving in her role, beginning as project manager implementing emission reduction projects in Asia and in Africa, then senior consultant to Head of Operations and finally to the Director of Operations for Climate Solutions.
Sophie holds a double master degree in Environmental Engineering and Management from the French engineering School Centrale Nantes and from the Italian University Politecnico of Milan.
As the Head of Project Development & Implementation, Bamshad is responsible for overseeing the generation of climate action credits, renewable energy certificates, biodiversity credits, and other products from South Pole's projects worldwide, both for the voluntary and compliance markets globally. The work covers a wide range of mitigation scopes in nature-based solutions and sustainable technologies and coordinates the supply side of South Pole's portfolio of climate action and other credits with South Pole's global sourcing team.
In the past 23 years Bamshad has been leading research, project development, and business management services for the sustainable technologies and natural resource conservation sectors. Since the early days of the CDM he has focused his efforts on developing and promoting climate mitigation solutions that make a positive climate and socio-ecological impact, especially those solutions that allow public-private institutions, businesses, and most importantly involved communities to play a key role in the global battle against climate change. As an engineer and a social entrepreneur, he strives to design optimum sustainable systems that demonstrate - to both businesses and societies - the clear benefits of living a sustainable lifestyle and transitioning the existing economic system to one that is fair and sustainable for all.
Bamshad's past experience and affiliations include serving as a methodology panel member for the UNFCCC Executive Board, as a technical member of the Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT) by VCS (aka Verra), involvement with WRI, UNEP DTU, the California GHG Program Registry - Climate Action Reserve (CAR), and being listed on the Roster of Experts for UNFCCC and the Gold Standard.
Chantelle is a registered Chartered Accountant both in South Africa and with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Chantelle has an unparalleled understanding of the commercial and operational demands and needs of multinational organisations with over 15 years' experience working as CFO with industry leading multinationals in the agricultural, timber and sustainability sectors. She is highly skilled in strategic business planning, financial reporting, integration, change management and process improvement. She has successfully grown organisations through merger and acquisitions which included fund raising and post-acquisition implementation.
Christoph is one of the Co-Founders of South Pole, Chairman of the Board, and Managing Director Capital Markets. As MD Capital Markets he is responsible for investments into South Pole and acquisitions and investments by South Pole. As Chairman, he drives many strategic topics of the company.
In his earlier career, Christoph worked for over 12 years at McKinsey, where he was responsible for sustainability and energy-related topics, such as the Review of EU Emissions Trading Scheme for the EU Commission.
Christoph holds an MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Karlsruhe University, an MSc in Energy Management & Policy from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and IFP School, Paris, and a Ph.D. in Economics in the field of Energy from Oldenburg University. His studies also included extensive internships in France and South Africa.
Ms Neo Gim Huay is Managing Director and Head of the Center for Nature and Climate at the World Economic Forum. Prior to the Forum, Gim Huay held various Managing Director roles in Temasek International, including Climate Change Strategy, Sustainability, and Enterprise Development. She was responsible for spearheading Temasek's climate and sustainability strategy and initiatives including ESG policy, decarbonisation, impact investing and blended finance as well as capability building and stakeholder engagement.
Gim Huay has also worked as a Management Consultant in various locations at McKinsey & Co where, among others, she co-led the set up of the company's first office in Sub Saharan Africa in Lagos, Nigeria. In addition to McKinsey, Gim Huay has held multiple positions in the Singapore Government, including in the trade and finance ministries and US Embassy in Washington DC.
Gim Huay holds an MBA from Stanford University, graduating in the top 10% of the class as an Arjay Miller Scholar. She has a Masters in Engineering (Distinction) and Bachelor of Arts (First Class) from Cambridge University. She was selected an Eisenhower fellow in 2015.
Mahua Acharya has almost two decades of international experience in carbon markets, carbon finance, and environmental finance more broadly. She is a well-known professional in the industry and is also active in the graduate school community. She has lectured at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, and she is currently the co-founder of the country's first executive education programme in sustainable finance at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. She often presents at conferences and occasionally contributes to newspapers.
Mahua currently serves as Senior Advisor and Director of Asian operations of Climate Policy Initiative, where she leads high-level strategic planning and the overall management of the teams in Asia.
She was most recently the Assistant Director-General of the intergovernmental organisation the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), where she put green finance on the organisation's corporate agenda and established a team that worked across 16 countries. In less than three years, this practice mobilised USD 500M of financing commitments for 10 sustainable investment projects and funds in Asia and Africa. Prior to joining GGGI, Mahua was Managing Director at C-Quest Capital LLC. She has also held positions at the World Bank and in the private sector at ArcelorMittal, London.
Mahua has a master's degree from Yale University.
Dr. Priyanka Belawat brings over fifteen years of experience in private equity, public equity, and transactional experience from the biotech industry. She is a partner and investment advisor at HBM Partners – a Swiss healthcare investor with US$3.0 billion assets under management – and actively manages a portfolio of companies in biotech across the United States, Europe, and India. She has taken several companies through private financings, IPOs and M&A exits for HBM. Dr. Belawat holds a doctorate in molecular biology and genetics from the University of Zurich and a post-doc from HKUST. She currently advises and serves several companies as a board member, including Neurelis Inc. (USA), Adrenomed AG (Germany), and IO Biotech (Denmark).
Ann-Marie is a Director in the Investment Group at GenZero, an investment platform launched by Temasek to accelerate decarbonisation globally. She is responsible for investments in technology-based decarbonisation solutions.
Before GenZero, Ann-Marie was Head of Asia Pacific (Direct Investments/Impact Investing) at an UHNW European single-family office. There, she led the sourcing of growth equity deals across Southeast Asia, Australia and Hong Kong, focusing on Cleantech, Sustainable Food & Agri, and Circular Economy. Ann-Marie also worked as a Thailand coverage banker at Deutsche Bank and UBS serving clients from the real estate, technology, industrials and FMCG sectors.
Ann-Marie graduated from Carnegie Mellon University (USA) with a MSc in Information Systems, a BSc in Business Administration (IT track) and a Double major in Economics.
Cornelius Walter is an impact investor focusing on climate change, green infrastructure as well as industry innovators
Cornelius invests in and serves on the boards of early and later-stage companies with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals and sustainable business models. He is also an advisor at Lightrock, a leading global impact investing platform backed by the Liechtenstein family. At Lightrock, Cornelius spends s significant portion of his time predominantly focusing on energy transition and how to further scale the platform overall.
Prior to embarking on his journey as an impact investor, board member and advisor, Cornelius was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he advised financial institutions, energy companies, public-sector organizations, and clients in a broad range of other industries on growth strategies and large-scale transformations.
First based in Germany, he moved from Frankfurt to Budapest in the late 1990s to help build McKinsey's presence in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). He served as Managing Partner of McKinsey in Central Europe and, before that, Managing Partner of McKinsey's Budapest office. In these positions, he aspired to drive growth and profitability for CEE clients while role-modelling servant leadership among the local partner groups. Cornelius also helped lead the people initiatives across the EEMA (Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) region. In addition, he was a co-leader of McKinsey's Global Banking Practice, advising major banking and insurance groups in the West and in the East on a broad range of topics, including corporate and business-unit strategy, business building, organization and operations.
Suzanne DiBianca is EVP and Chief Impact Officer at Salesforce. She leads Salesforce's stakeholder capitalism strategy—including the company's global corporate relations and sustainability efforts. She leads the company's Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy and reporting with a depth of focus on climate action programs on the global journey to net zero emissions. Through the Salesforce Ventures Impact Fund, she invests in innovative, diverse cloud companies driving positive change across sustainability, education, equality and social sector technology solutions. Previously, Suzanne was co-founder and president of the Salesforce Foundation and Salesforce.org, co-created Pledge 1%, and drove Salesforce's workforce development efforts, with a focus on upskilling and hiring nontraditional talent.
