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.
John Davis, who until recently served as South Pole's Commercial Director for Asia Pacific, has been with the company for eight years. During his initial four years in London, he played a pivotal role in leading and expanding the Sustainable Finance Team. His achievements include successfully scaling and selling South Pole's CNI business to ISS and establishing and developing the company's commercial teams in both New York and Singapore. Currently based in South Pole's Sydney office, John is responsible for running the APAC business and is an active member of the company's Executive Committee. His extensive experience in the environmental markets, accumulated prior to joining South Pole, spans over a decade, including roles at Spectron, an energy brokerage firm, and CF Partners, an energy and environmental trading company, where he contributed to building and managing the environmental trading desk.
Mariette Kloppenburg is the Chief Human Resources Officer and Chief Operations 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.
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.
Antoine Prédour was previously Head of Climate Finance and Member of Senior management at responsAbility investments A.G, a leading impact asset manager headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.
As the fund manager of the Global Climate Partnership Fund, a USD 750m public private partnership fund that finances green projects in the global South, he developed strong investment, governance and credit management processes.
Antoine has over 20 years of experience in investments (debt & equity), business development, fund management and credit risk management. He has extensive knowledge of business practices in emerging economies, having performed due diligence in more than 35 developing countries.
Antoine is a Belgian and French national. He holds a degree in business engineering from UCL Mons, a European master of Microfinance from Solvay Brussels School and is a Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA).
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.
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 years 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.
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 Head of Global Legal, Joseph is responsible for developing and implementing South Pole's global strategy through commercial contracts, legal operations, trading, employment and corporate law. He leads a global legal function, capable of answering all legal questions in each region.
Joseph brings to 20 years of international legal experience gained in private practice in a law firm in Paris, and in several international industrial groups in France, Asia and the Middle East. He has managed international teams of project lawyers, particularly in the offshore renewable energy sector. His main areas of expertise are the negotiation of large international industrial contracts, intellectual properties, M&A and international litigation. He graduated in Economics from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, in Law from the University of Paris 10 Nanterre, and holds a Specialized Master degree in Finance and Tax Law from ESCP Business School.
As Corporate Secretary, Kushal serves as a liaison between the board of directors and company stakeholders, and advises on corporate governance and board management matters.
Kushal also serves as South Pole's Global Corporate and Investment Legal Lead, overseeing multiple facets of the company's legal affairs. Her responsibilities include advising on inbound and outbound investments, strategic activities such as opportunistic M&A, JVs, carbon funds, impact investment advisory, corporate reorganizations, climate tech VC investments, external fundraising and structured finance deals. Kushal has 12 years of private practice experience, working with Milbank, Herbert Smith Freehills, and Norton Rose Fulbright. She graduated in 2010 with a BALLB (Hons) degree from National Law School of India University, Bangalore (India's premier law school) and passed the Indian bar in 2011 before qualifying as a solicitor in England & Wales in 2013.
Christoph is one of the Co-Founders of South Pole and Non-Executive Chairman of the Board. As Chairman, he drives many strategic topics of the company.
Christoph is Member of the Stewards Circle of the B For Good Leaders Network.
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.
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.
Anshari is a Director in the Strategy and Development Group (Policy & Analytics) at GenZero, and he is responsible for providing thought leadership on policy, regulations and standards in support of GenZero's investment activities.
Before GenZero, he was a climate change negotiator with the National Climate Change Secretariat under the Prime Minister's Office. He had represented the Singapore Government at various multilateral fora such as the UNFCCC, UNCBD, IPCC and ASEAN.
Anshari has coordinated whole-of-government initiatives such as Singapore's updated Nationally Determined Contribution and carbon markets strategy. He was also the lead carbon markets negotiator for Singapore, and has co-chaired expert level negotiations on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement (international market and non-market based cooperation). He is currently serving on Verra's Board of Directors.
Patrick Buergi is a sustainability entrepreneur and expert with twenty years of experience in carbon markets, climate policy, corporate sustainability and impact investing. He is a co-founder of both the myclimate Foundation in 2002 and South Pole in 2006.
In mid 2022, Patrick relocated to Tokyo to lead the establishment of South Pole's presence in Japan. In addition, Patrick also acts as a Senior Innovation Advisor within South Pole working across a portfolio of innovation and R&D initiatives, including Net Zero strategies, carbon removals, regenerative agriculture, plastic stewardship and digital growth opportunities, for example.
Michel Pola, attorney at law, is a partner of the law firm Yeriat Legal AG, with offices in Zurich and Frauenfeld, Switzerland. Michel has advised Swiss and international clients for more than 20 years in the field of corporate, commercial and transaction law in various industry sectors (such as software and digitalisation, machinery, medical devices, real estate, and financial services).
He started his career as a lawyer at Wenger & Vieli AG, Zurich, in 2003 and became partner of SwissLegal, Zurich/Zug in 2009. In 2016, he established his own law firm together with his partners.
Michel is a board member of several Swiss corporations and non-profit associations. In parallel to his legal education and practice, he served as a general staff militia officer in the Swiss armed forces, most recently as Chief of Staff of the Swiss Air Defence Brigade.
Michel studied in Zurich (University of Zurich, lic. iur.) and Sydney (University of New South Wales, LL.M. Corporate and Commercial Law).
South Pole develops and implements comprehensive emission reduction projects and strategies that turn climate action into long-term business opportunities for companies, governments and organizations around the world.
The motivation and expertise of our team in 41 locations across 6 continents drives our success and impact.