WHO WE ARE
CO2eco has been set up by a multi-disciplinary leadership team who are passionate about accelerating the flow of funding to climate and nature solutions – and to do this urgently and at scale.
CO2eco has been set up by a multi-disciplinary leadership team who are passionate about accelerating the flow of funding to climate and nature solutions – and to do this urgently and at scale.
Charles Anderson
BSc MBA
Chair
As a former director of the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative and insurance company CEO, Charles has played key leadership roles in promoting ESG issues at global and corporate level in the UK and Asia-Pacific. Charles is a landowner/farmer in North Devon, developing a “carbon-negative” farm based on regenerative principles and silvo-pasture. He is also Chair of Trustees at Embercombe and a non-executive director of Ecocharger, an electric quad bike manufacturer.
Clare Nickson Havens
BA MSt GAICD
Associate, Investor Relations
A highly ranked and experienced expert in bank analysis, with a passion for governance and board-level decision-making, Clare is a strategic advisor to start ups and established companies globally. Recent research as part of Clare’s masters degree in Leadership in Sustainability at the University of Cambridge examined the role of active mindset in the climate response of bank board directors. Clare speaks at sustainability and governance events and is a Board adviser and investor in B2B agroforestry company Tierra Foods, a member of the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative Working Group, a member of the Finance and Investment Taskforce NSW Circular and a member of the UN Principles for Responsible Management Education Working Group on Sustainability Mindset.
David Jones
MA MSt ACA
Chief Executive
David began his career as a chartered accountant in the City of London, followed by leadership roles in finance and operations in the private and public sector. His sector experience includes spatial data, digital B2C, landscape engineering, commercial property, management consultancy and government regulation. Always passionate about environmental causes and solutions, in 2021 David completed a masters degree in Leadership in Sustainability at CISL University of Cambridge which inspired him to set up CO2eco with a mission to create new contract solutions to scale up long term investment in nature-based solutions. He has a wide ESG network, is a thought leader on rapidly-emerging markets for carbon and nature and regularly speaks at events and webinars.
Derek Brett Gallo
BA (Hons)
Advisor, Brazil
Derek has a background as an investment banker, impact angel investor and social entrepreneur, with experience in VC, PE raises, credit and project finance in sectors such as renewable energy (solar, wind and waste to energy), energy efficiency, water treatment, and more recently founded a branded superfoods food tech with an agroforestry farm in the Amazon. He is passionate about personal development and connecting purpose with vocation, having organized Rick Jarow’s “Creating the Work You Love” workshops in Brazil from 2012-2015 and as a Tony Robbins Platinum Partner. Derek studied Econ & Latam Studies at Duke and left JP Morgan in New York to manage a Brazilian clean energy SME impact fund. He has remained in Brazil, returning to investment banking with middle market M&A, capital raising and turnarounds and as co-founder of several impact companies, including rural infrastructure pioneering drinking water to ~300 indigenous villages.
Neil Holiday
FRICS
Director & Land Use Advisor
As a managing partner of a land agency practice, Neil has 40 years’ experience of managing private and institutional, estates across a wide geographical area. His expertise includes farm & countryside management, environmental schemes, forestry, valuations and renewables. Neil is a Fellow of Royal institution of Chartered Surveyors, Member of Royal Forestry Society and chairman of the Berkshire, Oxfordshire Buckinghamshire Farming Community Network.
Marcela Flores
MA MSt PGCE
Board Advisor
Marcela is an award-winning entrepreneur and food industry professional with 15 years’ experience in senior global corporate commercial and sustainability roles and now CEO of Tierra Foods. She is highly experienced in regenerative food systems, including working with indigenous peoples and local communities on ecosystem conservation and restoration. Marcela holds a masters degree from University of Cambridge including thesis on barriers and enablers for indigenous peoples and local communities to conserve and restore the Maya rainforest in Central America.
Prof Jim Lynch
OBE FRSC FRSB FRSA FRGS
Chief Scientist
Jim is Distinguished Professor of Life Sciences Emeritus at the University of Surrey in the Centre for Environment and Sustainability. He previously worked in government departments and agencies, universities, and private businesses. He has served on boards in both executive and non-executive roles, often as Chief Executive or Chair, and covered agricultural, forestry, environmental, earth observation and health sectors. He is widely published and cited, has extensive networks and his special skill is the development of sustainable policy.
Alice Edwards
BA (Hons)
Project Coordinator
As a student of Spanish and Portuguese at Oxford University, Alice has experience working in legal and financial translation as well as volunteer experience with Brazilian NGOs. Her work with CO2eco involves the coordination of its reforestation projects as well as investigation and research.
Xaira Adebayo
BA MSc
Project Coordinator
Xaira has a background in working with organisations and collectives that prioritise social, cultural, and educational transformation. As a recent postgraduate (African Studies MSc) from the University of Oxford, their interests and work on carbon colonialism, racial histories of inequality and indigenous systems are in the Global South. They have also delivered workshops on the connections of climate change and colonialism to young scholars on essay writing programmes. Their role as Project Co-Ordinator, involves data management marketing research and execution, and scaling organisational workflows.