Kaya Axelsson is a research fellow and head of Policy and Partnerships at Oxford Net Zero, an interdisciplinary climate change mitigation research programme at the University of Oxford.

Kaya earned a distinction for her research on politically unlikely renewable energy coalitions. Her current research is on the emerging net zero policy landscape. She has recently served as a strategic advisor to the UN-backed Race to Zero campaign and as a technical author on the International Standard Organization’s new Net Zero Guidelines. With 15 years of experience in social and environmental sustainability, Kaya speaks and consults regularly for organizations and initiatives on their climate strategies.

Kristof is the co-founder and managing director of Cultivo Advisors, a specialist investment manager focused on natural capital projects and nature-based high-quality carbon credits. He has over 20 years of experience managing money for institutional investors in environmental commodities, farmland, forestry, water rights, agriculture, climate tech, and energy efficiency. Previous roles included senior positions at BMO and Liontrust, having started his career at Goldman Sachs and subsequently joining Griffin Capital. He is a CFA charterholder and earned an undergraduate degree from Durham University and a master’s degree in Economics from LSE.

James is Director of CDP’s Sustainable Finance Program, overseeing the organization’s work financial institutions and businesses, facilitating engagement, disclosures and data insights through a customized questionnaire.

Prior to this, James managed CDP’s UK & Worldwide Supply Chain team, working with large businesses to engage their suppliers and drive impactful disclosure throughout their supply chains. This included launching CDP’s program in India and overseeing expansion in the UK and Middle East markets.

Earlier in his career, James worked in international development, focusing on rural, last-mile development in Africa, and in India’s agricultural sector. James holds a master’s degree in international development from SOAS at the University of London, and an undergraduate degree from the Aberystwyth University.

Emily is a Senior Fellow at Harvard University, where she focuses at the nexus of climate finance, net zero transition, scaling and speeding innovation and the commercialization of new climate solutions. She is a member of the IFRS Foundation Advisory Council advising the ISSB and IASB Sustainability and Accounting Boards, and earlier led IBM Global Climate Offerings and Climate Tech Partnerships. As a World Economic Forum AI Fellow, Emily represented IBM in the cross-industry Responsible Use of AI program, building on her experience in the AI financial services practice. Emily’s earlier strategic and operating business career spans JP Morgan, Fidelity Investments, Prudential Financial and American Express where she built, scaled and ran industry-leading businesses.

Emily is founding co-chair of the 100 Women in Finance ESG Peer Advisory Group, is a member of the Economic Club of New York and of the Harvard Data Science Initiative Advisory Board. She is published with Harvard Business School in financial innovation, is a senior editor for Harvard Social Impact Review, and holds a patent for digital capabilities now used by Amazon.com.

Cynthia is a Sustainability and Climate Specialist Leader at Deloitte. She provides strategic and technical advice to Deloitte staff and clients on sustainability and climate related topics such as Greenhouse Gas (GHG) accounting and reporting, science-based target setting, Scope 3 GHG emissions reductions strategies, carbon credits and climate-related claims, preparation for national and state climate disclosure legislation, and climate transition planning.

Cynthia has been a pioneer in the corporate GHG management space for more than 25 years, working to define corporate climate leadership and designing and managing various government and NGO programs that incentivize companies to reduce GHG emissions. Most notably, Cynthia worked at the World Resources Institute where she co-founded and co-led the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and was the Deputy Director of the GHG Protocol where she led the development of various corporate GHG accounting and reporting standards and research on emerging GHG management issues. Earlier in her career, Cynthia was the founding director of the U.S. EPA’s Climate Leaders Program, which was the first effort in the U.S. to incentivize companies to measure and disclose their corporate GHG emissions and set ambitious emissions reduction targets.

She is currently an Expert Advisory Group member of the SBTi’s Finance Net Zero Standard and a Governance Committee Member of the Advanced and Indirect Mitigation (AIM) Platform.

Cynthia holds a MPA from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and an undergraduate degree from Cornell University.

Charles co-founded and is a partner at Impact Delta, a specialist advisory firm created in 2020 to accelerate the adoption of a more responsible capitalism. The firm advises clients, principally private markets investors, on developing and implementing industry-leading approaches to sustainability, in order to drive superior returns and asset-raising performance. He served in 2019 as a Senior Advisor with TPG’s Rise Fund, and from 2008-2017 held a range of leadership and operating roles at PIMCO, a global investment management firm. He began his career as a consultant with McKinsey & Company in London. Charles holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Edinburgh, an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Dexter is CDP’s Chief Commercial and Partnerships Officer, leading its mission-led work with investors, companies, cities, states and regions to build a sustainable economy by measuring and acting on their environmental impact.

Since joining CDP in 2008, he has applied his passion for the standardization and harmonization of environmental reporting standards to change the way large companies and governments think about climate change and sustainability. This includes spearheading CDP’s world-leading Supply Chain program and developing market-leading products for companies.

A champion for technology’s role in helping to solve our environmental crisis, Dexter also sits on the advisory boards for AI for the Planet, Giki and NZDPU.

As Chief Technical Officer at The Gold Standard Foundation, Owen leads the technical team at Gold Standard, overseeing all the Foundation’s standards and assurance work as well as its technical policy, R&D and innovation. Owen’s work encompasses the financial and MRV-related mechanisms of the Paris Treaty, the SDGs and corporate strategies. Owen led the development of the pioneering ‘Gold Standard for the Global Goals’, a first of-its-kind impact-standard focused on the Sustainable Development Goals.  Owen is currently the technical lead on the Climate Ledger Initiative’s ‘Next Generation MRV’ approaches that incorporate innovative technologies, along with major innovations in the carbon markets, corporate reporting and  finance markets. He also serves on the technical council of SBTi, and holds a master’s degree in geographical sciences from the University of Bristol. 

Lars Kvale is Vice President of Market Solutions for Climate Finance at Chia Network, a sustainable, secure, and regulatory compliant blockchain. Kvale’s work centers on improving the efficiency, accessibility, and simplicity of environmental markets. Prior to Chia, he spent time in leadership roles at Greenprint, APX, NYSE Blue and the Center for Resource Solutions with a focus on creating and enabling sustainability markets.  He continues to serve in an advisory capacity for initiatives developing blue carbon projects and Caribbean sustainability projects, solutions for scope 3 decarbonization, and international renewable energy markets.

Mark has worked on market-based mechanisms for environmental protection for over 25 years. He is currently the Executive Director of VCMI and co-founded both the Gold Standard and the Verified Carbon Standard. He was formerly CEO of international non-profit The Climate Group, Managing Director of the Orbitas climate transition risks initiative and Climate Advisor to the Government of Ecuador. Mark is a member of the Governing Board of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Markets and Verra and a member of the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Markets. 

James is Head of Impact at the Center for Climate-Aligned Finance and a Senior Expert at RMI. A practitioner and thought leader with expertise in climate, sustainable finance, and industrial decarbonisation, he works to align capital with climate targets through innovative research and ambitious cross-sector collaborations. James led the development of the Poseidon Principles and was the founding director of RMI’s Center for Climate-Aligned Finance, which delivered the Sustainable Steel Principles, the Sustainable Aluminum Finance Framework, the Pegasus Guidelines, and more. James has also held roles at the University of Oxford Sustainable Finance Group and Carbon War Room.

Imogen is a managing associate in Linklaters’ energy and infrastructure team, focusing on project financings in the renewables sector. She joined the firm in 2017, after a 13-year career in the UK civil service. Her experience in government includes customs, border-related matters and EU negotiations; she was the deputy director of contingency operations for the UK Border Force in the Home Office and also the UK policy lead for the EU’s satellite navigation programme (Galileo) at the UK Space Agency.

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Imogen is a trustee for an education charity and a school governor. She holds a masters in law from the University of Law, and an undergraduate degree from LSE.

Chris is a Senior Market Engagement Director with S&P Global Sustainable 1. He represents S&P Global in sustainability leadership, working with key influencers both externally and internally to inform and shape the evolving agenda and strategic opportunities.  Prior to his current role, Chris worked in senior roles at the World Resources Institute in Washington D.C., and at IUCN in Switzerland.  He has an undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences from Durham University and a graduate degree in Management Research from Oxford University’s Said Business School.

Clifford is an independent expert advising various international clients on climate and development finance.

Until recently, he was Resident Adviser to the Alliance for Green Commercial Banks – an initiative of the International Finance Corporation and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to accelerate the green transformation of financial institutions in Asia. Previously, he spent seven years with the Green Climate Fund, where he spearheaded country programming for over 140 developing economies. Earlier in his career, he led research on mainstreaming climate in development finance at the Sustainable Finance Center of the World Resources Institute, USA, and worked on climate finance at the Stockholm Environment Institute US Center where he co-authored the first Handbook of Carbon Offset Programs in 2010.

Cliff has a Master’s degree from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA, and a Bachelor’s degree from St. Xavier’s College, University of Mumbai, India.

Alex is a cross-border structured debt partner at Linklaters LLP in London, with 20 years’ experience of market firsts in the performing and distressed securitisation space. Alex is experienced in the monetisation of non-standard asset classes and financial assets considered more difficult to securitise or repo. Alex leads the ESG structured finance team at Linklaters.

As part of his volunteer work, Alex was the Chair of the governing body of a Hackney (London) primary school in difficulties and led its turnaround programme. During his eight years as governor, Alex and his colleagues saw the school go from the bottom of Hackney’s exam results table to being in the Top 3 in London