London Climate Action Week 2025

Dr Daniel Klier is South Pole's Chief Executive Officer.

Daniel joined South Pole from sustainability data and technology platform ESG Book, where as CEO he oversaw the company's growth and established the business as global industry leader. He was previously Global Head of Sustainable Finance and Group Head of Strategy at HSBC, where he established the bank's net zero target and ambition to support the energy transition with 1 trillion dollars. Daniel started his career at McKinsey & Company, where he was a Partner, supporting companies to enhance their organisational performance and international growth.

A widely recognised sustainability expert, Daniel has served as the Chair of the Bank of England's Climate Working Group and Chair of the Institute of International Finance's Sustainable Finance Working Group. He serves on the Boards of the global sustainability reporting standard GRI and the international organisation Sustainable Energy for All.

Having spent the past 12 years working in the voluntary carbon market, compliance carbon markets, climate policy and thought leadership, Marco brings unrivalled knowledge to the role of Executive Director, Climate Certificates. With practical experience in carbon project development, implementation and trading, Marco is passionate about placing innovation and partnership at the heart of our certificates business. This ethos provides South Pole's global network of partners and clients with 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, where he lives today.

Dara Olufon is a seasoned executive with over 15 years of experience in sustainability, decarbonisation, and large-scale business transformation. Prior to joining South Pole, he served as a Partner at McKinsey & Company in the UK, where he was a leader in the Global Energy and Materials practice. His expertise spans several key areas including energy transition strategies for hard-to-abate industries, clean hydrogen, biofuels, carbon capture, e-mobility, and renewables, as well as strategic counsel to global financial investors on climate-focused investments. His work has helped drive large-scale, impactful change within industries seeking to evolve and reduce their environmental footprint. Dara holds a strong track record in delivering high-level strategic insights and facilitating the transition to a more sustainable, low-carbon future. He holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge.

Megan Kemp is Global Head of Strategy at South Pole, having previously headed up Carbon Dioxide Removal and led the advanced buyer facility NextGen CDR. In this role Megan leads on, building innovative carbon products, scaling voluntary and compliance carbon markets, and collaborating across the CDR ecosystem to stimulate corporate and government demand before it is too late. Previously Megan has been an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Co, driven international cooperation at No10 in the Prime Minister's Covid Implementation Unit and developed no deal policy at the Department for Exiting the European Union. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School and BA from the University of Oxford.

Leila Kamdem is a senior climate risk professional whose career spans nearly two decades, and includes senior leadership roles at various organisations, including HSBC and Mazars. Prior to her role as Group Head of Climate Risk for HSBC, she was a Partner at Mazars where she held various roles, including UK Head of Financial Services Consulting and Lead Partner for Climate Risk. Leila has extensive experience leading regulatory compliance projects and developing risk management frameworks aligned with international climate standards.

Kushal brings over 14 years of experience in the energy, commodities and renewables space including the development, financing and restructuring of over $32 billion of greenfield and special situation style transactions. Her career as an English qualified solicitor spans elite international law firms in London including Milbank, Herbert Smith Freehills, and Norton Rose Fulbright. At South Pole she is a member of the Executive Committee, Corporate Risk Committee and Investment Board as well as attending the Audit and Risk Committee and Group Board of Directors.

Before joining South Pole, Kushal represented a broad range of stakeholders such as governments, energy majors, infrastructure funds and financial institutions such as private credit funds, banks, DFIs such as the World Bank and IFC and special situation lenders, leading multidisciplinary teams in 40+ jurisdictions.

At South Pole Kushal advises on strategic matters such as M&A, JVs, executive compensation, capital raises, public affairs and corporate governance for the SP Group as well as overseeing regulatory compliance and legal strategy across South Pole’s global operations in 25+ countries. She manages a team of 18 legal and compliance professionals responsible for shareholder management, regulatory advice, sustainability, employment and equity incentives, data privacy, insurance, grievance management, complex investigations, IP, litigation, entity management, commercial contracts as well as the development of innovative products including Article 6 deals, structured carbon transactions and climate tech investments.

Nadia leads South Pole's Global Marketing, Communications and Public Affairs function, reporting to the CEO.

With well over a decade of experience in carbon markets, reputation management, corporate sustainability, and media relations, Nadia works with South Pole's global Marcomms team to successfully launch and position new growth-driving initiatives for the business.

Nadia joined South Pole in 2015 and has been instrumental in developing group-level marcomms strategy, as well as spearheading efforts to accelerate growth in areas of strength. This includes the development and launch of South Pole's annual Net Zero Report, a critical analysis of the corporate landscape and progress towards net zero.

Before joining South Pole, Nadia led a variety of communications for the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finnish National Commission on Sustainable Development and the European Commission. She holds a masters degree in International Business Communication from the Aalto University School of Economics.

Alice is a senior managing consultant at South Pole, specialized in climate strategies. Her work focuses on GHG accounting, science-based targets setting, decarbonization roadmaps, net zero strategies and carbon credit advisory.

Prior to South Pole, she worked at the non-profit CDP and guided major European companies across multiple sectors in their environmental journey. She also has a strong background in Agronomy as she gained experience as a Senior Global Ingredient Scientist at Mars and holds an MSc in Agronomy, Food Science and Agri-Business from Montpellier SupAgro.

Roby Crean supports UK companies in understanding and navigating the complexities of the carbon market, embedded in environmental strategies. With three years of experience at South Pole, he has a strong insight into the dynamics of the carbon market.

Mariana is a sustainability advisor and business development manager at South Pole. She works with clients based in Europe, with a primary focus in the United Kingdom. Mariana is a former lawyer with over a decade of commercial experience liaising with big corporations, in multiple industries, helping them navigate through diverse needs for their businesses. Her experience in corporate climate action has been built mostly in technology companies, helping businesses to measure their footprint and automate climate action through their operations, investing in nature based solutions with co benefits that fitted their brand ethos.

Mark has over 15 years experience working across conservation, environmental management and sustainability roles. At South Pole, he works across multiple disciplines, most notably developing climate and no deforestation strategies for global companies sourcing deforestation-link commodities. Before joining South Pole, Mark worked at Unilever in their Sustainable Agriculture team, evaluating the biodiversity, carbon, soil, and water impacts of Unilever's Sustainable Sourcing programme.